Grade 2, Room 203 Jacob Hiatt Magnet School

Second grade at Jacob Hiatt is a wonderfully collaborative grade with a great cohort of three long-time teachers at Hiatt. Sandwiched between the other two second grade classes, Room 203 has been a space of great creativity and steep learning curves.

The 19 six, seven, and eight year olds I was blessed with this year have shown me so much about what it means to be a learner, and continue to expand the meaning of everything everyday. Many of my students come from households that speak other languages than English, and most students are second generation citizens to this country. I feel incredibly honored to have learned so much from my students, and tried my best to completely center our learning around the asset which is our class, school, and community’s cultural and linguistic diversity. 

We focus on building community

Each morning we start our mornings with a morning meeting where we read the message I’ve written on the board, and a student gets to pick an activity to do to for our morning. About two-thirds of the way through the year I implemented a morning meeting leader who brings students to the rug when they’re quiet, reads the message, tells me who’s absent based on a popsicle stick method I implemented, and then picks our game for the day. Although I facilitate this process, this type of routine which practices taking initiative, listening to your classmates, and holding each other accountable to keeping a safe classroom (with our voices and bodies) really ended up being student-led. I find that these community-building practices starts our day off on the right foot and allows for more joyful learning throughout the day.