Embracing Mistakes

Hello, 2nd grade families!

Do you remember Carol Dweck? She's the amazing psychologist and brain behind the groundbreaking growth mindset work that we've all been hearing about.

Last year, I shared some information about the power of praise and how it can positively OR negatively impact your child. A child that hears, "You're so smart!" may be less apt to embrace a new challenge than a child that is told, "You work so hard!" If you'd like a refresher, check out the video below:

Carol Dweck has been a pioneer in some amazing research and, as of April 2016, she and psychological scientist Kyla Haimovitz have published another very important study on how parents' views on failure can predict a fixed or growth mindset in children.

The study, "What Predicts Children's Fixed and Growth Intelligence Mind-Sets? Not Their Parents View of Intelligence but Their Parents Views of Failure," was published in the journal Psychological Science. The study concludes that a child's view of his/her own intelligence is shaped by how parents view a child's struggles and setbacks. As Haimovitz states, "Our findings show that parents can endorse a growth mindset but they might not pass it on to their children unless they have a positive and constructive reaction to their children's struggles." 

For example, parents who typically show concern when a child comes home with a poor test score may convey to the child that intelligence is mostly fixed. However, parents who focus on learning from the poor score convey the message that intelligence can be built through hard work and improvement.

What is interesting to me is that a child's mindset is not found to be affected by a parent's (or teacher's, for that matter) belief on intelligence, but rather their view on failures. For me, it reaffirms the importance of celebrating mistakes as opportunities for learning in our classroom! 

You can read more about this study here.

In closing, here is another great video by Carol Dweck on the power of the word YET. This is a TED talk from 2014 that is still very, very relevant today. Take a look!

How do you address mistakes and failures with your children? Does this reaffirm some of your current practices, or cause you to rethink how you view failure? Comment below...I'd love to hear what you think!

:-) Mrs. B

Sources:

K. Haimovitz, C. S. Dweck. What Predicts Childrens Fixed and Growth Intelligence Mind-Sets? Not Their Parents Views of Intelligence but Their Parents Views of Failure. Psychological Science, 2016; DOI:10.1177/0956797616639727

Association for Psychological Science. "Seeing the benefits of failure shapes kids' beliefs about intelligence." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 28 April 2016. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160428132136.htm>.

Book Character Parade *IDEAS!*

On Thursday of this week, we will be having a school-wide book character parade to celebrate the end of Read Across America month. Your child is invited to come to school in a costume that represents his/her favorite book character (or just any book character---depending on what you have around the house)! 

If you are anything like me, you may find yourself wondering how you are going to figure out a costume the night before the parade. Not to worry! I have put together some easy ideas that you can try (see below). If you have a costume, but no book....don't worry! We can try to locate the book at school or print out a picture of the book cover from here.

Here is a link to some easy costume ideas.

Here are some other photos for inspiration!

Where the Wild Things Are

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Fancy Nancy

Fly Guy

 

Students can also dress for non-fiction books! (Think: Soccer player, all yellow/red/orange for a book about the sun, etc).

Hope this helps! Please let me know if there is anything I can do. Thanks again for all that you have done to make this month so special!

Have a great night,

Mrs. B :-)

Why read 20 minutes at home?

Good afternoon!

Our little 2nd graders have made tremendous growth in their reading since the beginning of first grade. I am SO proud! As we continue to grow as readers, however, it is critical to continue to emphasize the importance of reading each and every night. When I was perusing Pinterest for fun teaching ideas (I'm guilty of this on a pretty regular basis), I came across this startling infographic:

It is CRAZY how much 20 minutes can add up over the course of a school year...not to mention all of the potential for vocabulary growth in that time. MY GOODNESS!

The amazing creator of this infographic also included a Spanish version: 

Now let's all grab a book and READ! :-) 

-Mrs. B

Author's Purpose and Geometry QUIZ!

Good afternoon!

I hope you have had a fantastic week to kick off the new year. I know we certainly started off on the right foot here at Somerset! I am having so much fun with our class and can tell it is going to be a great year. We hit the ground running this week and have been learning like crazy. Here is just a snapshot of some of the things we have covered this week:

Reading: 

Author's Purpose...It's as easy as P-I-E!

This week, students reviewed that authors write stories for THREE main reasons: to persuade, inform, and entertain the reader.

If I ever find a song out there that reinforces our learning topic, YOU BET we'll be singing it in class! Here is a cute little Author's Purpose song that we learned this week. :-)

Next time your child is reading at home, challenge them to let you know if they think the author's purpose of their book is to persuade, inform, or entertain! 

If your child needs more practice with this topic, check out this little video from McGraw Hill Education:

Math: 

POP QUIZ! 

(Just for fun!)

We have been SO busy learning all about lines, angles, and 2D/3D shapes in math. In the process, we've learned a TON of new vocabulary words! See how many your child can describe below... 

1. endpoint
2. line segment
3. parallel lines
4. intersecting lines
5. right angle
6. acute angle
7. obtuse angle
8. straight angle
9. tangram
10. face
11. edge
12. vertex/vertices 

Remember---Have fun! 

We just learned this stuff and will be reviewing it throughout the year. Mistakes are okay!

Answers:

endpoint: a point that marks the end of a ray or one of the ends of a line segment.

line segment: line segment is a part of a line that is bounded by two distinct end points

parallel lines: lines that will never intersect

intersecting lines: lines that cross; lines that pass through the same point

right angle: square corner; measures exactly 90 degrees

acute angle: smaller than a square corner; less than 90 degrees

obtuse angle: greater than a square corner; more that 90 degrees (but less than 180..we haven't talked about that yet!)

straight angle: the angle makes a straight line

tangram: a Chinese puzzle consisting of seven flat shapes, called tans, which are put together to form shapes.

face:  a flat surface that forms a side of a solid object

edge: line segment joining two vertices in a polygon or solid shape

vertex/vertices: is a point where two or more curves, lines, or edges meet.

Now....It's time to rock out to the SHAPE NAME DANCE!

**Stay tuned...pictures coming SOON! 

Have a great night!

:-) Mrs. B

"New School" Addition Strategies!

Hello, 2nd grade families!

We have been busy learning new ways to think about adding multi-digit numbers here at Somerset. While we are all familiar with the traditional algorithm, the following ways to solve problems are proving to be more efficient and easy to understand for students. Remember to encourage your child to use one of these strategies during homework. Take a look and have a great night!   

Thanks,
Mrs. B :-) 

 (Credits: Scrappin Doodles and Kimbery Geswein Fonts)

Math Games/Photo Update!

Good afternoon!

I hope you are having a great weekend. Take a look at some helpful online games to help your child build his/her fact knowledge and number sense!



MATH BINGO LINK




MONEY BINGO LINK




BASE TEN BINGO LINK

Now...It's PICTURE TIME!

Have a great evening!

:-) Mrs. B