Welcome to Second Grade with Miss Scheldt
I am so excited to share my classroom with you. I currently teach second grade at Jefferson Elementary in Coldwater, Michigan. Coldwater is a rural community in southern Michigan that is home to many unique and wonderful students. The elementary schools in our district are split up into grade level buildings. Jefferson is a our 2-3 building and includes seven sections of third grade and and eight sections of second grade. My instruction is focused on reading, writing, math, science and social studies.
I currently have 26 students in my classroom, 13 boys and 13 girls. The student in my class vary in age from 6-8 and come from a wide backgrounds. About 70% of my students qualify for free or reduced lunch and 25% of my students are learning English as a second language. I have a wide range of skill and ability levels in my classroom with students ranging in proficiency from kindergarten to third grade. I do my best to differentiate instruction every day to best meet the needs of my students. Below you will find a few lesson plans I currently use in my classroom or have used in the past as well as a few examples of student work, photographs of current and past students, anchor charts, and a description of what a few elements of what instruction looks like in my classroom.
I currently have 26 students in my classroom, 13 boys and 13 girls. The student in my class vary in age from 6-8 and come from a wide backgrounds. About 70% of my students qualify for free or reduced lunch and 25% of my students are learning English as a second language. I have a wide range of skill and ability levels in my classroom with students ranging in proficiency from kindergarten to third grade. I do my best to differentiate instruction every day to best meet the needs of my students. Below you will find a few lesson plans I currently use in my classroom or have used in the past as well as a few examples of student work, photographs of current and past students, anchor charts, and a description of what a few elements of what instruction looks like in my classroom.
Units and Lessons
Click on the description of each lesson or unit to view my plans.
Math |
English Language Arts |
Science |
Social Studies |
Instruction
Reader's Workshop
Thinking Maps
Thinking maps is a program that uses 8 different maps to guide instruction and improve learning. These maps are used for strategies like part-whole relationships, sequencing information, classifying, defining in context, describing, and more. Each map has its own skill and can be used in many ways across the curriculum.
Thinking Maps in English Language Arts
Thinking maps are a great resource to organize the writing process for students. We use thinking maps for our narrative, informational, and opinion writing.
Students use a circle map to brainstorm ideas, a tree map to classify information, or a double bubble map to compare and contrast information. These maps are used as tools for students to get their ideas on paper before beginning the writing process. Once students have a solid foundation for their writing they create a flow map. This map shown above helps students to organize their writing, make sure they have an appropriate number of events and details and select transition words and phrases. Once students have completed their map they orally rehearse each paragraph. This helps us to make sure our writing makes sense and sounds correctly. These maps really help students to organize their thoughts and make sure they have all the necessary information before beginning writing. |
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Science
E-P-E Model It is my goal that science instruction is as hands on as possible. Allowing children to experience scientific properties and phenomena gives the content life and promotes inquiry and interest. I taught science using the e-p-e model, which stands for experiences, patterns, and explanations. In this model students have experiences; they use those experiences to notice and develop patterns, and from these patterns derive explanations to driving questions. This is beneficial because it requires students to inquire about why things happen. Students then use their higher order thinking skills to determine an explanation instead of a teacher telling them. This gives science meaning and relevance. It also develops the necessary skills students will need to think scientifically.
Below you will see an example of how the e-p-e model can be used learn about the moons phases. Teachers will use some guidance in helping students determine patterns and may refine the explanation as they see fit. However most of the discovery is done by the students. Experiences: - Students conduct daily moon observations noting the time and visible shape of the moon. Patterns: -Students notice the light part of the moon gets larger until a full moon. -Students notice the light part of the moon gets larger until a full moon. - Students notice that after a full moon the moon gets smaller until we cannot see it at all. - Sometimes we can see the moon during the day and other times we cannot. Explanation - The moon cycles through phases where the visible shape of the moon gradually gets larger and smaller. |