For those of you who couldn't join us this month or for those of you who want to relive the excitement of today's morning meeting, here was what the second graders voted to do:
1. First we greeted one another with High-5s. When we greet one another we look at the person, we say "Good morning, ____" using their name to acknowledge them.
2. Next we read our Morning Message. Morning Messages tell us the day of the week, the date, what is happening in our classroom that day, and then asks us a question. Sometimes it is a question about ourselves, a question about something academic, a question about our feelings, or maybe just a question to ponder throughout the day.
3. We usually then do sharing/show-and-tell. Two students sign up each morning to share and one signs up to share in the afternoon. There was quite a debate about whether it was fair to have only some kids get to share in front of parents while other kids didn't, so we left out the sharing and instead answered our Morning Message question of "What is something new you learned during your research that you did not know before?" Students shared that they learned the length of the Brooklyn Bridge (1 mile!), how tall the Statue of Liberty is (305 feet!), and how many windows are in the Empire State Building (6,500!).
4. We then did both a song and a game. Usually we do only one, but the students voted to share both with our families. We first did Aroostasha. It's simply a silly song that adds a new movement each time through. Here, you can see teachers practicing the song during a training:
Next we played a round of Hot Potato! It's always a class favorite - especially because when you get "out" you get to go to the center of the circle and dance! Today's song was Under the Sea from The Little Mermaid. We had some great kid and parent dancers!
After our Morning Meeting, we shared our writing. First we shared our class book, "All About Parks" to show parents our writing process. Next, we broke into small partnerships or groups and shared our writing about New York City with our families and friends. I hope you enjoyed hearing all about our transportation and landmarks in our amazing city!
Our "All About" books are now displayed in our classroom for all to see!
Next month we will be having a Family Friday about math - you'll get to play some math games, see what we've been learning in second grade, and even be part of our first Family Pocket Day! Hope to see you then!
