Curse of the Second Grade Girls

Second grade girls are the worst.   I have a little ring leader- a blond ringleted darling named Number 14.

One thing for sure, she has in-tact phonemic awareness. She has a way of twisting anyone's name into something mean, nasty or just plain silly.

I read a book about Native Americans, which talked about the tribe, Wompanoag. I happen to have a boy in my class, Number 19, whose real name happens to be Noah.  Of course, she finds a way to incorporate the two... Whomp on Noah Wompanoag.  He bursts into tears.

We are doing "ing" in word study.  A girl named Ming becomes Bing-Ding-Ming.

Don't even ask what she said about my poor little PeeWee... (of course, his parents were asking for it giving him that nick-name.)

Now back to the rest of the second grade girls.  If ever was a day that goes by where someone isn't crying, left out, or tattling, I'd be doing a back-handspring on a bed of nails!

And we model, practice, role-play, use I Statements, have consequences and discussions. They are just sneaky little snots.  How they learn to manipulate is beyond me.  Somehow, walking away from another person becomes a game of avoiding the cursed girl of the day.  One little girl decides to draw a picture of a cat instead of a dog like all the other girls... well, that is an offense worth being shunned over for an entire afternoon.  Creating rival Pony and Horse clubs is like Bloods vs. Crips turf wars.

Anyway, I think it all starts in second grade. Sweet little girls become true little devils.

Speaking of little devils, I  want to develop my own set of phonics readers....

The Best Teachers are Responsive Teachers

I believe the best teachers are those who respond diligently and with honesty to children's questions, concerns, and interests.  While we do have a curriculum to follow, I know that if I am able to develop units that can meet the standards, and follow the interests of the students, not only will my second graders learn more- but they will be actively engaged in the learning process and be more willing to take on challenges enthusiastically.

With Steven Soderbergh's new movie Contagion starring Matt Damon, Kate Winslet and a plethora of Hollywood A-Listers, hitting theaters this week, a child asked me the question, "what does it mean, contagion?"  Of course, this was Number 4, who always asks questions at the oddest times, twisting the topic in a completely different direction (we were talking about Johnny Appleseed at the time.) Suddenly, several hands went up.  They had seen the previews for the movie as well, and wondered what was so contagious that they would make a movie about it.

Well, good question Number 4.  Let's find out what a plague is, and take it from there.  I began a new read aloud,

This book clearly explains plagues through history and introduces to children the concept of mass-death due to illness that spreads rapidly. While it is meant for children in 5th grade and up, I know that my students can understand the concepts in the book with careful explanations. They were fascinated, and listened in complete silence as I read to them about the bubonic plague.

After reading the first chapter of the book, we started a math problem on exponential numbers.  Of course, my second graders are barely adding single digits on their fingers, but nonetheless, this lesson was interesting to them, and had them adding up every unifix cube in the classroom.

I said, if one red unifix cube was sick, and spread the illness to another unifix cube, how many would be sick?

Two, of course, the children realized.

Well, what if each of those unifix cubes got another unifix cube sick? Then how many would be sick?

Hmm, four! They caught on pretty quickly.

We kept counting! Now, if those four spread it to one person each, that would be eight.  Then sixteen. We kept going, and pretty soon we had a chain that went all the way down the hall!

Just one sick person, and soon we got to 256 people sick from just one person! It took only 8 steps, and soon there was as many people sick as the whole population of our school! The kids could have probably gone longer, but we already had used all of our unifix cubes, and the ones from the Second Grade Sleuth class.

On Fridays, I try to do a fun art project in the afternoon.  This week, we made rat bookmarks to represent the rats which were part of the cause of the Black Death.

Next week, we will begin exploring the probability of an eventual zombie plague. Now that the students have some preliminary information on the cause of real plagues, we can start to examine the theoretical plagues that we may one day face.

By the way, I realized today that I now have 100 followers! Thank you to all my readers who share, comment and read my blog.  I am just so glad that people are interested in my little classroom in middle America enough to read.

Thanks again, everyone!

Sincerely,

Rosie Kaplan

God before Teaching? I think not!

Everyone who reads my blog knows that teaching is the love of my life. Well, he who must not be named is up there too, but teaching is my truest love.  Above all else.  I guess not everyone can say they are that committed to the profession!

Our school provides each class with a leveled library.  It's such a great resource.  I haven't had to invest in hundreds of books, like so many of my peers in other schools.  I am very grateful for the books I have.

In second grade we are given 500 books, all at levels G through K.  I have very few books on the lower end.  All of the second grade teachers have the same books.

Unfortunately, my class is so low this year, that the reading interventionist brought me a giant stack of books leveled A-H.  About 300 of them!!  I got an email Cc'd to the principal that she'd like to see them categorized and in place with my leveled library by Monday.  This was Thursday after school.  I asked the reading interventionist how that was going to happen.  I don't have enough baskets, and I don't have enough shelving.

So on Friday morning, I come in and there are two bookshelves in the middle of my room, as well as about 25 baskets.  Yes, I am fortunate that my school provides me with resources.  I am not fortunate that I didn't show up to school until 10 minutes before the bell.  I had planned everything on Thursday, so I was ready to go, but I had to shove the desks to the side of the room and stack the baskets into them.

It was okay because the reading interventionist PROMISED me she would come in on Sunday and help me.  She knew it was a lot to ask after the short notice, the books are wrapped in plastic and boxed, and nothing is organized or labeled with our leveling system stickers.  I get an email from her stating that she wants to go to an extra church service today, as there is something special going on.

Jesus, seriously.  So I'm going in alone.  Teaching above all.  My kids will have a leveled library that they can actually use tomorrow.  God be with me.  I may be in the classroom for 12 hours today!

Grabbing the Attention of the Generally Unattentive

Second graders can be a bit like stones launched from the slingshots of the blind. They go here and there, at an amazingly fast past, with no heed to what's in front of them.  This means wrangling them into any sort of order that is sufficient for instructing them takes great patience, and often a bit of clever trickery.

I do several things that help my students refocus when we are in the midst of an activity.

During Quiet Work Times:

If the room is silent, like during reading or writing, I have a 2-foot gong that I bang.  The noise is startling and definitely calls everyone to attention.  If that doesn't stir them out of their literacy trance, I have a bike horn that I will honk.  I alternate between the two to keep it interesting.  Many teachers use horns, gongs, chimes, or bells to get the attention of their students.  This is a helpful way of ensuring that everyone knows it's time to stop and listen to the teacher.

During Noisy Times:


Sometimes the room just gets loud.  Kids are busy using various materials and manipulatives, socializing as they work, or there is a hum of busyness that is just a bit loud.  When this is the case, I use an attention getter that refocuses them by using their bodies.

Teacher:  If you can hear me put a hand on your hip...
Students: They put a hand on their hip
Teacher:  If you can hear me put a finger to your lip... (shhh)
Students: They put their finger to their lip

Another one:

Teacher: Bow down before the one you serve (to the tune of Nine Inch Nails Head Like a Hole)
Students: You're gonna get what you deserve (they move their arms in a bow-like motion)

When the Kids are at their Desks:


If the room is at a typical noise level and you just need to grab their attention, I do a few different things to get them to turn and look at me for further instruction.  These call and response tactics are a great way to get the whole class to stop at the same time.


Teacher: Here Ye, Here Ye
Students: Hail to the Queen!

Teacher: I don't wanna grow up
Students: I'm a Toys R' Us Kid

Teacher: I wish I was
Students: An Oscar Meyer Wiener

Teacher: Double your pleasure
Students: Double your fun!

Teacher: Mmm, Mmm
Students: Good!