Frequently Asked Questions: This page contains answers to common questions of students and parents.
- What are Centers?
- What is the Lucky Duck?
- What are some good ways to motivate my to child to read and write?
- What are some ways we can help our 2nd grader with Math at home?
What are Centers?
Centers are aspects of our classroom that we practice everyday. We practice
word wall, poetry, math games, computers, literacy games, listening center,
buddy reading, writing, vocabulary and big books.
What is the Lucky Duck?
The Lucky Duck is the helper of the day. The Lucky Duck, helps with
Calendar, is the line leader, the messenger and any other things that I
may need help with.
What are some good ways to motivate my to child to read and write?
Just like anyone, we don't really want to know that we are learning. If you
can make reading and writing, a challenge or a game that is a good
motivator. For example, I challenge the students to be writing as if they
were in First Grade. When the students are writing
, I will hold up an examples of a student that is clearly showing me
their hardest work and explain that this is the sort of hard work that I am
looking for. Another really fun example that we use in class is a game
called "Try It" where I will write "_ _ _" on the board and then tell them
that the word is "CAT" and I will tell them that "I am not sure that
First Graders are ready to spell yet?" and we play a game and everytime
that they spell a word correctly, they will get a tally mark.
What are some ways we can help our 2nd grader with Math at home?
I believe that young children need to learn to understand that Math is all
around us and we need to show them everday examples of that. For example,
using money at the grocery store,using tally marks for playing games, adding
and subtracting to split up pieces of candy among friends, measuring in
cooking and many other logical math ideas. Using these teachable moments
only take a few minutes and are excellent examples to get them thinking like
adults.
In our classroom we use many website games to practice math skills! Use
those sights and other Math games available through Everyday Math to assist
your child at home!
