Dear Families,
In the spirit of sharing some of what I learned during my summer course this year, A Moving Child is a Learning Child I will share some of the research and activities I plan to incorporate in our classroom this year. One of the pieces of research I came across during the class was about "Play Personalities". Play personalities are based on the idea that there are a lot of different ways to play, and that all of us-children and adults- tend towards playing, learning or working using one of or a combination of a couple of eight play personalities that have been identified by Dr. Stuart Brown. Reading about these personalities and Dr. Brown's studies made me think about the way I plan lessons and how I teach lessons in the classroom. One of my goals for this year is to try to incorporate this knowledge and plan lessons that help each of these personality types to shine. As you read the research, see of you can identify your play personality, as well as that of your children. We are all players, thinkers and learners!
Here is the link:
https://mitalk.umich.edu/article/what-your-play-personality
Enjoy!
-Wendy Cusimano
Sunday, August 9, 2015
Dear Families,
I hope everyone is enjoying summer. We continue to have a very busy house- my son is 5 and my daughter is 22 months, so we never really stop. The highlights of our summer included our annual camping trip to Acadia National Park, a camping family reunion on an island in Maine as well as trying to learn to swim. I hope you all enjoyed the outdoors and found some time to read. I Spy Books, Scooby Doo and Elephant and Piggie are popular with our babes this year, while I still love a mystery and my husband spends his time with The New Yorker when he gets time. Finding time to read is a priority!
I have spent a lot of time this summer working on a summer course studying the importance of movement and play in the classroom. I am excited to incorporate a lot of the new strategies and knowledge into our class this year.
It's a new year and a new classroom for all of us! I am excited to be returning to the classroom in second grade again and can't wait to begin our year together. The first couple of weeks of school will be spent getting to know one another, learning classroom routines, assessment and reviewing some concepts from first grade to get us started in math, reading and word study. I hope to begin Writer's Workshop in a couple of weeks, as well as our first science unit where we will study States of Matter with the other second grade teachers.
Our Specials schedule is as follows:
Monday:Music & PE
Tuesday: All School Sing & PE
Thursday: Spanish
Friday:Art & Library
I hope everyone is enjoying summer. We continue to have a very busy house- my son is 5 and my daughter is 22 months, so we never really stop. The highlights of our summer included our annual camping trip to Acadia National Park, a camping family reunion on an island in Maine as well as trying to learn to swim. I hope you all enjoyed the outdoors and found some time to read. I Spy Books, Scooby Doo and Elephant and Piggie are popular with our babes this year, while I still love a mystery and my husband spends his time with The New Yorker when he gets time. Finding time to read is a priority!
I have spent a lot of time this summer working on a summer course studying the importance of movement and play in the classroom. I am excited to incorporate a lot of the new strategies and knowledge into our class this year.
It's a new year and a new classroom for all of us! I am excited to be returning to the classroom in second grade again and can't wait to begin our year together. The first couple of weeks of school will be spent getting to know one another, learning classroom routines, assessment and reviewing some concepts from first grade to get us started in math, reading and word study. I hope to begin Writer's Workshop in a couple of weeks, as well as our first science unit where we will study States of Matter with the other second grade teachers.
Our Specials schedule is as follows:
Monday:Music & PE
Tuesday: All School Sing & PE
Thursday: Spanish
Friday:Art & Library
I hope all of you received the letter from the second grade team sometime in the last couple of weeks. If not please do not worry, I will send another copy home.
The first day of school is Monday August 31st, though I hope to see you at meet and greet Friday the 28th at 2:00.
I have not used a classroom blog before, I tried to set it up last year and was unable to keep up.It is my goal to keep everyone up to date here with a copy of the paper newsletter I send home monthly, as well as some extras like pictures or videos of what we are doing in class. Occasionally I hope to post interesting research or activities that you may be interested in as well.
See you all soon and looking forward to getting to know your children!
-Wendy Cusimano
I have not used a classroom blog before, I tried to set it up last year and was unable to keep up.It is my goal to keep everyone up to date here with a copy of the paper newsletter I send home monthly, as well as some extras like pictures or videos of what we are doing in class. Occasionally I hope to post interesting research or activities that you may be interested in as well.
See you all soon and looking forward to getting to know your children!
-Wendy Cusimano
Monday, August 25, 2014
Welcome to Second Grade!
I hope everyone had a fabulous summer. We have a very busy house- my son is 4 and my daughter is 10 months, so we never really stop. The highlight of our summer was our annual camping trip to Acadia National Park. I hope you all enjoyed the outdoors and found some time to read. I Spy Books, Duck & Goose and Pigeon Needs a Bath are popular with our babes this year, while I love a Louise Penny mystery and my husband is working on a WWII history book. Can't wait to hear what you've all been reading!
It's a new year and a new classroom for all of us! I am excited to be returning to the classroom and can't wait to begin our year together. The first couple of weeks of school will be spent getting to know one another, learning classroom routines, assessment and reviewing some concepts from first grade to get us started in math, reading and word study. I hope to begin Writer's Workshop soon after Labor Day, as well as our first science unit where we will study States of Matter with the other second grade teachers.
Our Specials schedule is as follows:
Monday:Music & PE
Tuesday: All School Sing & PE
Thursday: Spanish
Friday:Art & Library
The first day of school is Thursday August 28th, though I hope to see you at meet and greet Wednesday the 27th at 2:00.
I have not used a classroom blog before, but it is my goal to keep everyone up to date here with what is happening in our second grade. It may not be fancy to begin, but I am a committed learner!
See you all soon.
-Wendy Cusimano
It's a new year and a new classroom for all of us! I am excited to be returning to the classroom and can't wait to begin our year together. The first couple of weeks of school will be spent getting to know one another, learning classroom routines, assessment and reviewing some concepts from first grade to get us started in math, reading and word study. I hope to begin Writer's Workshop soon after Labor Day, as well as our first science unit where we will study States of Matter with the other second grade teachers.
Our Specials schedule is as follows:
Monday:Music & PE
Tuesday: All School Sing & PE
Thursday: Spanish
Friday:Art & Library
The first day of school is Thursday August 28th, though I hope to see you at meet and greet Wednesday the 27th at 2:00.
I have not used a classroom blog before, but it is my goal to keep everyone up to date here with what is happening in our second grade. It may not be fancy to begin, but I am a committed learner!
See you all soon.
-Wendy Cusimano
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