Tuesday, April 29

WRITING
We are finishing up the first bend of our poetry unit by writing poems about a big topic that gives us a big feeling.  Then, we thought of something smaller- like an object, person, place, or memory, that holds that big feeling and big topic.   I have to say- these kiddos are born poets!  They are blowing their poems out of the water!  Here are a few that are shared on our Inspiration Wall at the moment:

READING
Now that we have learned about most of the reading strategies, it is time to start using them all-together!  We will be working on the reciprocal reading method, which is where we predict, question, clarify and summarize, all at the same time.  We are really digging deep into our reading these days- we have to get ready for 3rd grade!  Here is a cue card of the reciprocal teaching method for you to use at home:

MATH
We finished up learning about telling time (where we made these handy-dandy clocks that I forgot to share with you):

Now we are diving into measurement.  Yesterday we learned about nonstandard units of measurement, such as goldfish, beads, paperclips, and crayons, and used them to measure our hands and feet.  The kiddos learned that the smaller the unit of measurement, the more of them you need to measure something.  If the unit is larger, we don't need as many to measure the same object.  I saw the light bulbs lighting up in their heads during this activity, and I'm so excited to watch them explore centimeters, inches, and feet! 

SCIENCE
Have you heard that we have caterpillars in our room?  (that was a joke, I'm sure you know by now- it's all they talk about!)  Well, this is what they looked like on Friday- little caterpillars munching away:

And when we came back to school on Monday there were two inside their chrysalides! (cue oohs and aahs)

By Tuesday morning, they were all inside their chrysalides and are now hardening.  We will move them into their large butterfly habitat in a day or two, where they will hang for 7-10 days until their metamorphosis is complete and they emerge as butterflies.

Meanwhile, we now know about the life cycles of butterflies, frogs, mice, and plants!

REMINDERS
If you have not already, please turn in the permission slip for the butterfly house field trip.  Also, picture order forms are due tomorrow, so please get those in as well if you'd like to order pictures of those cute, smiling faces :o)

April 14, 2014

Hi Friends!  Long time no see :o)  I will try not to make this too long, but we have some catching up to do!

Writing
We have been working hard to finish our writing about our favorite books.  We met with groups of friends to vote on which piece of writing was the most convincing about why a book should win an award.  After voting, we gave the book a custom award and even designed a medal to go with it.  We then working on writing our introductions, conclusions, and using a checklist to edit our final copies.  We will be sharing and celebrating our writing on Wednesday!

Math
Time's a tickin! We have been telling time to the hour, half hour, and quarter hour over the past several days.  Our clock even got a fancy makeover to help us with that :o)

Soon, we will learn to tell time to the 5 minutes.  2nd graders are learning this for the very first time so please be intentional about asking your child what time it is every now and then!  The more interactions they have with clocks the better :o)  Use terms like half past, quarter til, and quarter after to extend "time" language into their everyday lives.

Reading
In reading we are learning how to summarize by telling the most important parts of a story.  We use the terms Somebody, Wanted, But, and So  to help remember what those important parts are.  See the chart below if you would like to clarify what those terms mean to us (also ask your kiddo what clarify means ;o)

Science
Our science test will be tomorrow.  We just finished up a short unit on weather, where we talked about the water cycle, the seasons, weather tools, and severe weather (and how to stay safe during it).
Here, we observed a puddle to see if it would evaporate by the time we came back to school.  It did! Why?  Because it was super sunny and the warmer air helped the water evaporate:

We created a tool we can use to tell which direction the wind is coming from, and then used a modern compass to read our results:

We made a few posters about wet/dry weather and also some about weather safety:

Finally, we made a tornado in a jar (big hit).  Ask your kids how to make one at home if you'd like to see for yourself!  Its just a jar, dishsoap, and water!

Reminders
Because we do not give written homework, it is important that the assignment page inside binders are getting signed daily :o)  Thanks and have a great week!

Pizza, Weather, and Grocery Shopping!

Monster Points
Today we voted on what kind of party we wanted to have once we all have AT LEAST 20 points.  Pizza Party won!  The kids are super excited to eat lunch with our special guests, Carson and Ava (my kids)! The party will be held the Friday after we all earn the 20 points.  We are hoping for next Friday :o) 

Grocery Shopping and Making Change
Thank you to everyone who helped out by bringing in your grocery ads.  We had a blast shopping for groceries and figuring out what change we would get if we paid the cashier with one dollar.  We learned that we can count up from the price of our item until we get to one dollar.  This is useful when we are out in the real world and don't have a pencil and paper... subtraction with regrouping is a little tricky to do in our heads :o) 

Weather
Today we began our new science unit on weather.  We created a KWL chart so that we can see what we already know about it, and also asked ourselves what we want to learn.  Its always best to learn with a goal in mind.  The kids are eager to fill out the L column and tell what they learned as we move through this exciting unit. 

Stay dry out there! What a perfect day to start learning about weather...

Monday, March 31

Congratulations to Table 1!
     On Friday, Table 1 earned their tenth and final mark on our Terrific Table Graph, putting them at the top first!  Their self-control and integrity really stood out the past few weeks, earning them the prize!  Enjoy your Jelly Bellies!
     This morning, the students wandered around the room searching for their new seats in class.  They were all SO excited to sit next to some new friends.  We are eager to see how these new groups work together and which table wins the race this time.

We researched on the iPads in Social Studies last week...TWICE!
     We have really been digging into learning about our culture, and what better way than to do some real-life research!  We worked in partners to find out about American symbols such as the bald eagle, flag, and Statue of Liberty.  Then, we researched our national holidays and told the class about them.  The kiddos LOVE working on the iPads every chance they can get.  If you have tablets at home, please encourage them to bring them to school- they are such a great learning tool.

4th Quarter means new math centers!
     A brand new quarter brings brand new math centers.  Some of our new centers include measuring with traditional and nontraditional units, geometry, problem solving, graphing and plotting points, and working with money.  We have been practicing self-control during centers and increasing our stamina so that we can work the whole time and not get distracted.  Our 2nd unit of money is coming to a close, and we are focusing our attention this week on making change up to a dollar.  We found that it is usually easiest to count up from the price of something to find the change we need, instead of trying to do subtraction in our heads.  We are learning both ways though, so that we can use the method that works best for each situation.

Class Dojo
    Our Class Dojo monster points are adding up quickly!  When the whole class gets to 20 points, we get to have a party!  Don't forget to check the points at home and give your kiddo praise when they have a great day :o)

Happy spring break!!

Good morning everyone! Hope you are enjoying your spring break!

     Last week, we finished our unit on counting money and began a unit on using money. We created a web to show all the ways we can use our money. I took a picture to show you all because the things they picked as examples were so in keeping with their personalities- I felt the need to share :) 

   Last chapter, we learned that we should always use the least amount of change to make an amount if we have it available. Sometimes we have to use what we've got in our wallets or piggy banks though, so we practiced using different coin combinations to make the same amount. 

In Social Studies, we are learning about cultures and our ancestors, and everything that goes along with it.  Legends and cultural artwork were the focus on Thursday, and we listened to an old legend about how the rainbow was made.  The kids listened to the story, and then created a picture depicting all the details of the story that they remembered. We compared our pictures and discussed how easy it is for legends to change as they are passed down through generations.  The pictures turned out awesome and the kids LOVED the legend of the rainbow! Here is a link to the story if you'd like to read it for yourself :o)

Rainbow Legend

Please have your kids work on the timeline project due on Monday.  If you have any questions, feel free to email me. It got a little chaotic at the end of the day on Friday when we were going over directions :)  

Logan was our star of the week last week and will continue as our star the week we come back to school.  He only got a few days as the star since he was absent.  Bring in a favorite book and a toy to share with class, Logan :) 

Enjoy your break!!

Invention Convention!

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you are enjoying this beautiful day and got to spend some time outside.  We finished our inventions last Friday and finished writing up our reports Tuesday.  Sorry I didn't post this sooner- it's been a busy week!  The kids are excited to show off their inventions, so here they are!! 

Problem: My coat/hat/backpack keeps falling off my hook...

Problem: My eraser is too small and doesn't last long enough...

Problem: My desk keeps scooting all over the place...

Problem: I keep losing my supplies and need to get organized...

Problem: I can't see inside my dark desk...

Problem: My desk is just a little bit too short...

Problem: My pencils keep rolling off of my desk...

Congratulations to all the budding engineers in room 49!