A Very Merry Week

We have had a fun week together. Here's a peek into our Multicultural Day and Polar Express Day.

We hope that everyone has a safe and restful break. See you in 2011!

Discovering Matter

Essential Question: What will happen to a balloon in a bottle when you blow into it?

Students made a hypothesis to predict what would happen. When students tested their hypothesis, they were surprised by the results. Ask your child to find out what happened during our lab and ask them to explain the results.

Thankful

During this holiday season, we are reminded to be thankful. We wanted to let you know how thankful we are for the support you give your children as well as us. We are also very thankful for all your children and the opportunity we have to know them as individuals.

Students were asked to write what they were thankful for. Some responses were: family, friends, construction workers that built our city, veterans, animals, and our school.

What are you thankful for?

Sink or Float

In Science, we have been working toward the standard: Observe and measure objects in terms of their properties, including size, shape, color, temperature, weight, texture, sinking or floating in water, and attraction and repulsion of magnets.


This past week we have explored objects that sink or float by participating in a "Sink or Float?" lab. Students developed a hypothesis to answer the question: Can matter sink or float in water? For each object, students then determined what type of matter it was and predicted whether it would sink or float. Here were the results:

Sink or Float from Julia Lewis on Vimeo.

We extended our knowledge of the properties of matter with the "Tinkering Lab: Will it Sink or Float?" Students used what they learned in the previous lab to construct a boat that floats with their lab groups. The students were given materials and could choose what they wanted to use out of them. After the boats were complete, we tested them. Most students used materials that they had tested previously or applied knowledge of those objects to untested ones to determine which objects would help to make their boat float.


Check out our featured work from these labs on our Standards Based Bulletin Board (located outside our classroom)!

Once on a Housetop

Our farm is alive with the sound of music! Our farmers are hard at work practicing the songs and learning the motions for our Once on a Housetop holiday play. Students were given their lines this past week. We asked students to keep their lines in their homework folder so that they could practice them at home but still have them available at school. We can't wait to show off our hard work on December 7th! There will be a 10:00 a.m. show for students (if you want to video the play, it would be easier to do at this performance) and 6:00 p.m. show for family and friends. See you there!

Farm Field Trip

Pumpkin Mania

In Friday we used a pumpkin to combine our Math and Writers Workshops. Students first had to make a good estimate of how many seeds they thought would be in the pumpkin based on the color and number of lines (the darker the pumpkin and the more lines, the more seeds it will have). We then began to carve the pumpkin. Mrs. Roberts carved the pumpkin while the rest of us recorded the steps in our seed journals.

Step 1: Cut out a circle at the top with a knife.

Step 2: Remove all the seeds from the pumpkin with a scooper or spoon.

Step 3: Draw and Carve out a face or design with your knife.
Step 4: Place a candle in the pumpkin and put the top back on your pumpkin.

After we had completed the pumpkin carving process, students decided that the most efficient way to count the seeds would be to place them in groups of 10s. Students were very surprised when they discovered that our small pumpkin held 481 seeds!!

Warning: Great Writing!

We're cooking up some great procedural writing in Writer's Workshop this week! Students have chosen topics that they know alot about in order to teach someone else. They have not only written the steps in order to accomplish the task but have included tips readers may need to know! Stay tuned for some published work from our cooks!

Open House Video

If you were unable to attend Open House, you can still view the movie the students created of their day...

Published!

We concluded our Narrative writing unit by publishing our pieces we have been working on. Students will publish their work at the end of each writing unit to learn how real authors go through the publishing process (proofreading, editing, and publishing). Above and below are some examples of student work.

Sight Word Sundaes

Sight Word Lists

Click on the sight word lists above to access the 10 second grade sight word lists! Your child will be tested in order starting on the first list. Once they read all 1000 words, they will earn an ice cream party! We have been practicing these during our Skills Block in the morning and they are able to look at these lists during any down time in the classroom.

The Dish on Soil...

As part of our science unit on rocks and soil, we did a science lab to see if there are different types of soil. We started with the essential question: Are there different types of soil? Students then recorded their hypothesis. After materials were gathered, students observed soil types 1, 2, and 3. They recorded their data on the worksheet below.

Based on the data collected, students concluded that there were different types of soil. Some reasons students gave were that "each soil grows different plants," "the soils look different," and "the different soils are found in different places."

We will be concluding our unit on soil and rocks and beginning a new unit on the life cycle of beans this week.

Number Sense

Thank you to everyone who was able to come out to Math Night this week. The second grade teachers talked about the various math strategies for addition and subtraction that will be covered over the course of the year. The purpose was to help parents see that we have stepped away from the old school mathematical thinking and stepped forward in a way that makes math more meaningful to students.

One of the first steps prior to the addition and subtraction strategies is to help students develop a good basis for number sense. Calendar Math is one of the key elements to help establish this. Every day in Calendar Math we focus on several different skills. This month we are working on number place value, counting coins and writing the value correctly, time, using a hundreds chart for combinations of 5 and 10, and using a calendar. During this short period of Math Workshop, Calendar Math allows us to hit on several different skills as well as help to develop number sense.

Another way we are working on number sense is in Math Workshop. We are working with combinations of ten. Students have learned several new games this week including the one photographed below: Tens Go Fish

Combinations of ten are one of our new Combination Clubs as well as +1 and +2. You can help your child with number sense by working on their yellow Combinations Club flashcards found in their homework folders.

LIONS AND TIGERS AND BEARS....OH MY!

We had our first field trip this week! We were invited by J. Allen Axson Montessori School to come experience a field trip like no other. The Safari Club presented information about various animals from around the world. Students were able to see, touch, and listen to information about each animal. Although it involved quite a bit of walking, the students still enjoyed it!

sensory safari - slideshow dvd

Weekly Spelling Words

Each week students receive a new set of spelling words that they will be tested on in their Friday skills assessment. A few ways that we work on these words in our classroom is by spelling the words while clapping, hopping, or doing jumping jacks.

Students are expected to work on these words at home as well. A few ways to help your child with these words at home are to have them write each word five times, quiz with flash cards, or simply have them spell the words to you while driving in the car. There is also a website that a parent found that you can enter the spelling words and the site will generate games for those specific words. This is a great resource and will help to make studying the words fun for students!


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TEAM SPIRIT

We were decked out in our favorite team attire today! Whether it was college football, NFL football, or Chet's Creek...we showed our support in honor of the Fuel Up For Play Kick-Off. Our entire student body and faculty committed to give up their recess time in order to walk or run two laps. Below is a picture before we began our two laps!

Vote for KK!

Our own Media Specialist, KK Cherney, has been nominated for the Alferd Williams Literacy Award for her hard work inspiring us to love reading! This award is a huge honor and no one deserves it more than our KK!
To vote for Mrs. KK and learn more about Alferd Williams please visit http://www.scholastic.com/literacyaward/ . You can visit and vote until September 30th when the voting closes. Let's help make our Mrs. KK feel as special as she makes us feel everyday! VOTE FOR KK!

Science Rocks

To kick-off our new unit on rocks and soil, students enjoyed an edible model of the earth's surface: "dirt cups." Upon completion of the unit, students will be able to:

SC.2.E.6.1 Recognize that Earth is made up of rocks. Rocks come in many sizes and shapes.
SC.2.E.6.2 Describe how small pieces of rock and dead plant and animal parts can be the basis of soil and explain the process by which soil is formed.
SC.2.E.6.3 Classify soil types based on color, texture (size of particles), the ability to retain water, and the ability to support the growth of plants.

To make this fun treat at home, visit:
http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/dirt-cups-57763.aspx

First Week

We looked like college students purchasing books for the semester as we checked out textbooks from our Book Room on Friday. It was a moment that had to be captured.

We had a great first week together! I am sure the students are as glad as we are to be finished with a majority of our testing and other mandatory beginning of the year obligations. We are ready to get into gear this week and look forward to a wonderful year together!

First Day

We had a day packed full of fun! The University of Florida put together several stations for our first day back. Some of the stations included an enclosed beehive, real farming equipment, and a small petting zoo with live animals! Check out the pictures from today...

Welcome!

Welcome to second grade! Come back often to see what is happening in room 214!