I have the best of intentions.

I always, always have the best of intentions when the school year starts. Blogs are not my thing. At all. In an effort to help that, I have opened a Twitter account just for my classroom! I am pretty excited about it...please follow @BechtelBuzz for (hopefully) regular tweets and insights from the classroom. If you are like me, I love knowing what's up in my own kid's classroom, and I hope that this will help keep everyone in touch. Please follow!

It's Opening Day!

Happy Friday! I don't know about you, but I have been a busy teacher/mom/wife/PERFORMER!! It has been a crazy month and a half, but Shrek! The Musical opens tonight! Your children have been so amazing as I have been rehearsing and while my patience could be wearing thin, they have kept me going with their amazing-ness! I can't wait for them to see the show on Monday. On that note, thank you for being so understanding at Open House! Obviously, I was not there. :/ If you need answers to anything not covered or clarification on something, just ask! We are well into our study of communities, and I hope that you have been able to glean from your student at least a little bit of what has been going on in class. We are planning a new city, learning how other communities around the world are similar to and different from our own, discovering what cities need in order to stay organized...in other words, we are learning a LOT. This morning, we had a visitor from the City Development department and learned even more about what goes into building something new. The students were even issued building permits for their contribution to Electric City. Be on the lookout tonight for more about that! In Math, students are exploring problem solving strategies. A few things have come home for practice. You will probably notice that, more than likely, we are not learning math in exactly the same way you (and me, too!) learned Math. It is much more focused on number sense and the development of thinking strategies. If you ever need support for math at home, please let me know! Small group reading is going, and I am constantly making adjustments. At home, please make sure your student is reading and completing their bookwork. It shouldn't take more than 15 minutes. If they are reading a picture book, have them read it to you in the car on the way to your evening's activities! :) It is difficult to have an appropriate discussion if students only touch the book in class. Lastly, I have absolutely LOVED your feedback in the student Newsbooks. I have been able to provide additional support and reflect on my practices simply through what your student writes and how you respond. I hope you are enjoying them, too. Thank you, thank you for you positive support through the first month of the school year. I feel that we are off to an incredible start, and I hope you do, too!

After only 8 days...

Wow! I can't believe everything we have accomplished in a week and a half of school! We are well into our first Math investigation. Be sure to ask your students about using math tools, the games they play in math, and math workshop in second grade. In reading, we are diligently working to finish start of the school year assessments so we can accurately move students forward in their reading. We have started reader's workshop and learned how to rotate through stations while I am working with a student or small group. The new writing program is off and running! I am learning a lot this year as well, and am excited to see how I improve as a writing teacher while my students improve as a writer. Ask your student about "letting their story grow" and telling it across their fingers. Remind them to think of ideas to record in their idea file, and that those ideas can come from anywhere! We have introduced the first I.B. theme of the year, How We Organize Ourselves. Students should be able to start telling you what it means to be part of a community, both locally and globally. The first project letter came home today (Wednesday), and I can't WAIT to get this project started. I already have photos from a few really awesome places, thanks to my friends. I used FaceBook to network with my well-traveled friends- you can do the same in addition to the mailed letter. This is the first time for this particular project in second grade. It came about in our reflection on last year's community unit. We really want to emphasize the internationally-minded aspect of I.B., and hope that this project will be a great start. For all of the truly wonderful things, we have had a few bumps in the road. Most of them will fade as students adjust to second grade and move away from being first graders. However, please talk with your students about listening the first time, asking friends for help first, and taking care of themselves rather than making sure everyone else is doing the right thing. :) This has been THE best start to a school year. This year is going to be great!

Getting ready for a new school year

I am a terrible blogger. Now that I have that out in the open, I can also tell you that I really, really, want to be better. I would seriously love it if I had one (very kind) classroom parent who would sort of be my "blogger cop" and just gently remind me with a sweet text message to post something on the blog. :) Speaking of text messaging, I do have a really cool new way to stay in touch with parents through texting! It's an app called Remind 101 and I would love it if ALL of this year's families would join our classlist. All you have to do is text @bechtel to (205) 409-4702. I can send group and individual texts with important information and you can text me as well! Please know that this is a text only number and is not a live phone number. I'm so excited to give this a try, especially for those days that I might need to very quickly reach everyone. Sign up!

While Pinterest-ing One Day...

I don't know about you, but I LOVE Pinterest. It can be overwhelming and way too time-consuming, but it can also be a fantastic place to find resources for school (and my kids, and my kitchen, and...you get the point). This time, I came across a FANTASTIC website for kids with a ton of great games! It's abcya.com, and all of the games are organized by suggested grade level. Obviously, your student does not have to play only what they have listed for second grade, but it is a great place to start! The site is very attractive and really "modern" in the way it looks. I know that in the past, many school sites I have found turn out to be pretty boring. This one is not! Check it out tonight! Happy surfing!

Week Two!

Week two is off and running! Today, we learned about our first transdisciplinary theme for I.B. We are beginning the year with "How We Organize Ourselves" through a study of community. I hope that everyone has looked over and saved the newsletter that tells you a bit more about this unit. We are also well into our first Investigation in Math. The first unit is all about strategies for counting, working with coins, and introducing problem solving strategies. It was very interesting to watch students work together this morning to decide whether or not their bag of chips contained enough for the whole class. I learned a LOT about how this group of students interacts with eachother, and I saw several amazing leaders emerge. I am excited to allow them more opportunity to work together to develop as learners. Thank you so much for your overwhelming positive support as the school year has started. Often, we have our first "glitches" within the first three weeks of school, and I have been so excited at the prompt and positive responses when difficulties have been addressed or changes in routine have already taken place. Be sure to follow along with us as we take the journey through second grade!

Welcome Back!!

Welcome back to TMSE! Or, if you are new to us this year...welcome!! I hope that by the time I make my next post, I have lots of new followers that make up my new great group of parents! We are off to a great start in second grade. It always so amazing to me to see how much the first graders have changed over the summer and also how many changes take place over the course of the school year! The biggest change in second grade (in the classroom) is how independent we encourage our students to become. For some, this has happened naturally between first and second grade, and it is a more daunting task for others. Rest assured that we will work throughout the school year to grow independent learners who are beginning to take responsibility for their own learning and actions. I have learned a LOT in just the first few days of school! There is a student in my room who was born in Indiana (just like me!!), I have tennis players, horseback riders, readers, world travelers, artists, writers...it is AMAZING! I can't wait to see how they all continue to grow and learn. Yesterday, LOTS of things came home from the district, and thank you so much for returning it so quickly! Today, there is a classroom packet from me that I hope will help outline for you what second grade is all about. Additional information will continue to come home as we move further into the year, but please keep that packet to answer many questions you might have. Also, there is a special assignment in their folder for tonight. I have asked that ahead of reading Chrysanthemum, students ask a few questions about why their name is special and how it is a perfect fit for them. Lastly, thank you so much to the parents who are being so patient and flexible as we work out afternoon car pick up. Already today, the administration between all three schools have made some adjustments that I hope made your afternoon much better! Always, if you have any questions or concerns, send me an email (lnbechtel@tusc.k12.al.us) or put a note in your students folder. I promise I will respond within 24 hours, or sooner if necessary! We are off to a great start to what I know is going to be an amazing school year! Thank you for the support you have already shown and in advance for your continued support throughout the school year!