We are really enjoying our historical fiction novel about the Great Chicago Fire. The class doing a great job applying what they already learned about this important event in Chicago's history!
Miss Cole's Bio
Miss Cole is a highly-qualified teacher with over 20 years of experience in primary and intermediate education. She grew up on a farm in the very small town called Markleville, Indiana and graduated from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana with a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education and has a gifted education endorsement. Miss Cole is dedicated to public school education and has been a teacher at Decatur Classical for over 15 years and was a 2021 Golden Apple Teacher.
Miss Cole loves to laugh and wants to make learning fun for all students! She is so excited to be the school interventionist to work along side teachers and help with MTSS and targeted student supports. Miss Cole also works as a Restorative Practitioner at Decatur and helps with restorative practices and talking circles in all classrooms.
When she is not teaching, she enjoys spending time with her family and friends, cheering on her favorite NFL team the Indianapolis Colts, watching documentaries, and reading!
Posts
Students were able to enjoy lessons socially distant in-school and spend time in the new Decatur gymnasium.
This week the students read about exciting and extreme parts of the world in this nonfiction text. Ask your child the place the they would like to visit in the book and why?
The students wrote postcards like they visited the country they read about this week. Students did a great job writing in the 1st person point of view and sharing information they learned!
Second grade has been doing an AMAZING job both remotely and at school! Here are a few pictures of students working hard and learning together.
This week the class learned about the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. This was a big fair that helped Chicago become a major city and brought many visitors to the midwest!
Allowing students to pick how they respond to texts increases student engagement and let's students be creative in showing what they know!
Our new Wednesday schedule gives the 2nd grade time to focus on SEL or Social Emotional Learning. This week, we read about Mary Walker who dared to be different and wore pants long before other women. Students had a wonderful discussion about accepting others and how each of us are unique and special!
This week, 2nd grade took time to revisit internet safety! Above is some helpful suggestions and reminders for parents to help your child stay safe while working online.
Students worked on sketching important parts of the stories and explaining their sketches. This is a great way for students to show their understanding and use their visualizing skills too!
Second grade students start the day with a choice board, this gets their mind started thinking about school and allows for student choice and creativity. This week, the students watched a video and made heart owl origami bookmarks. These are just a few of the super cute ones that students made this week!
Playing games is a great way to practice skills and have fun. The second graders enjoy playing games like this with family members, friends, or even a stuffed animal at home!
Students listened to Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner this week and then made their own snowman! Here are just a few, they turned out so GREAT!
Frida Kahlo And Her Animalitos was the perfect paired text for our biography!
It was fun to learn about pets she had and how she used them in her paintings.
The students started learning about Chicago History! Jean Baptist Pointe du Sable is known as the "Father of Chicago" and the is regarded as the first permanent non-Indigenous settler of what would later become Chicago! Students in both classes took time to draw what what it could have looked like back then when he set up his trading post at the mouth of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. AMAZING work!
Erin Cole
Interventionist
Restorative Practitioner