Saturday, October 17, 2009
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Our Books in a Series Voicethreads - Click on the series title to hear patterns and passages
Important Dates
April 21 and 22 - StarLab
April 22 - Vista Space Showcase
April 23 - Ms. Rabe's Last Day
April 24 - May 2 - Spring Vacation
Mrs. Bianchi's Help Wanted Section
- If you plan on attending the Space Showcase breakfast and Open House on April 22nd and can bring in a breakfast item to share, we would greatly appreciate it.
- We would love to have some tissues for our classroom. Please send some in if you can.
Check Out These Websites
Weather Pixie
Voicethread - Comments about a Photo of Immigrants
Four Winds - Snow
Writers' Workshop - Head and Heart Stories Celebration
Books We Have Read
Lessons Learned from Swimmy
On the last day of the 2008-2009 school year, I had the pleasure of meeting with my new second grade class for the 2009-2010 school year. Now, in reality, the class wasn't really new to me nor were they new to each other; at a minimum we had spent every math class together for the past year. Despite this familiarity, there was something different and special about this half an hour that we spent together. I had chosen to read the book Swimmy by Leo Lionni to the group. In the story, a little black fish named Swimmy befriends a group of small red fish who are hiding because they fear that they will get eaten. Swimmy teaches the red fish to swim together in the shape of a large fish so that other sea creatures will leave them alone. Swimmy is the eye. His plan works and they all live happily ever after. As I often do when I finish reading a story to the kids, I asked them why they thought I had read this story to them. Several children raised their hands. The first girl who I called on said she thought that I had read the story because it is about creative thinking. I agreed and we talked about the importance of creative thinking for a few minutes. Then a boy raised his hand and explained that the story is about leadership. I thought to myself "these responses can't get any better." Then I called on a third child who shared that she felt that I had picked the story because it is about teamwork. I was and am overwhelmed by the profoundness of these first grade responses. If on their last day of first grade, these children can understand and articulate the importance of creative thinking, leadership, and teamwork, we all have a lot to look forward to during the 2009-2010 school year.
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