GO AWAY WINTER!

I’m not sure about you, but this winter season seems to never end!!! We began our Simple Machines Lego unit on Monday. The students explored gears and how to make them turn faster and different directions. Today, students were challenged to create a Merry-Go-Round. One of our rules is that our Legos need to stay on our kit cover so that we don’t lose pieces. I have been a stickler at making kids follow that rule since the pieces in these kits are SO tiny and blend in really well with the carpet.

Yesterday the magnet evaluators came and observed us learn about creating snow pictures using the Picturing Writing Process. After they visited, Teresa, our Magnet Facilitator told them that our class was a looping class and they said that they could tell and were really impressed with the students. Yay!!! In math, we learned about perimeter and calculated the perimeter around our classroom. In reading, we learned about taking responsibility and also when to use “I” and “me” in our writing. Ann Luke came and taught us all about fruits and vegetables that are red. At the end, we got to taste test “healthy pop” which is made of one container of 100% frozen juice and 2 liters of bubbly water (NO SUGAR!!). It was delicious!

Today, we continued to practice “I” and “me” and discussed our MAP goals for the end of the year. The students had a good idea of putting their end of the year goal on their desk to remind them to slow down and do their best. We visited the library and practiced picking out “good fit books” using the 5-finger rule (if you read a page and don’t know how to read 5 of the words, it is too hard). In math, we learned about measuring longer distances using the mile. We also practiced 2 digit addition and subtraction. At the end of the day, we met with or kindergarten book buddies. Our healthy snack this week is cherry tomatoes and basil.

Hopefully the snow won’t cause too many problems for tomorrows commute. Be sure to dress your child appropriately.

THATS A LOT OF SUGAR IN SNAPPLE!

It feels good to be back!

I hope everyone had a wonderful spring break! The students had a guest teacher Monday through Wednesday and I returned on Thursday. It was so nice to be back!!! The students are super excited about our Simple Machines Lego Unit!!! They practiced taking responsibility for the Lego pieces and organized the kits. In first grade, the Legos are much bigger. This year, they are TINY!! We discussed ways to keep track of our Legos so that we don’t lose the pieces. On Monday, we will have our first Simple Machine Challenge.

In addition to our Everyday Math Unit that currently focuses on measurement, we continue to practice 2-digit subtraction. Subtraction will continue to be our “focus skill” until most of the students show an understanding. We have been using a common formative assessment to monitor student progress. With  this skill, it is important that students practice, practice, practice.

Next week, the magnet evaluators will come to watch the 2nd graders do our "Snow" pictures for our weather unit.

Happy first day of Spring!!!

These past couple of weeks have been a mad rush to the end of the quarter! We have been busy finishing our math unit, doing reading assessments, and finishing our realistic fiction stories that went along with our non-fiction animal reports. Before we began our fiction stories, we had to make our image that inspired our writing. Below are pictures of the Image Making Process that we used to create our illustration and inspire our writing. If I may say so myself-they are AMAZING!

I was a little nervous to do Image Making because it takes a lot of concentration, patience, and deep thinking & planning to create their artwork. During our teacher training this summer, it took me a while to plan my artwork and envision what papers to use where. After the students got started and I put everything in their hands, I was truly impressed! I couldn’t stop showing everyone their work!

Last week we had a dental hygienist come to our classroom and talk with the students about keeping their teeth clean and going to the orthodontist. Last year, the students brushed their teeth at school after lunch. Our hopes with that activity was to get students used to brushing their teeth after meals. We hope that students have taken those skills home and use them daily at home.

Our healthy snack this week is Mangos! Last week was Star Fruit. None of us had ever eaten Star Fruit before. I thought it was delicious, some students disagreed.

Tomorrow, students will be bringing home a Spring Break Writing Journal as well as a reading log. These are to be returned Monday after break. We will have a guest teacher April 1st, 2nd, and 3^rd. We are lucky enough to have Ms. Brandon as our guest teacher. She has been our guest teacher almost every time that I have been out this year and does a wonderful job with the students.

I hope you all have a wonderful spring break! I can’t believe we only have one quarter left together before I have to say goodbye and good luck to the students as they go into third grade! WOW!

Snow Day

I hope you enjoyed the snow day yesterday! Monday night, 5 students from our class presented their animal reports to the school board. They did a marvelous job!!!!! The board was impressed and Mrs. Smock-Potter, Mr. Bradley, Mr. Holvig, and I am very proud of all of the students.

Today, students learned about adverbs. We continue to revisit our Daily 5 expectations as well as our class rules. In math, students explored with fractions!!!

Pink Hair!

Greetings 2^nd Grade families!

The past few school days have been jam packed with learning. Students have begun realistic fiction writing that links to the animal they chose for their animal report. We will be using Image Making to enhance our writing.

In math, we have been learning about fractions. We learned a fun song to help us remember what a denominator and numerator is. “How many pieces in a whole, write that number down below. How many pieces do you need? Count them, stop and write it on top.” Students also learned a new game called "Basketball Addition".

Moreland students met their I Love to Read Month goal of 2,500 books! On Friday, Mr. Bradley held to his promise of dying his hair :)

Students have been doing an activity that we do in the 3^rd and 4^th grade program, Neighborhood Bridges, called the Fantastic Binominal.  We tell a story together where the students add in the details and what happens next. Then, students have the opportunity to write their own. We use 2 nouns and a preposition to come up with the title of our story. Here is an example that the students did:

Whale Through Scissors

(2/28/2013)

Once upon a time there was a Whale named Lazy. He lived in the ocean. One day while he was swimming he came across a scissors. Lazy didn’t know what a scissors was so when he saw it he said, “What’s that?”. He swam up to it and touched it with his nose. When he touched it, it cut his nose! He started to bleed. When he got to the Whale Hospital the doctor put seaweed on the cut. Lazy couldn’t smell anymore. The lesson of the story was: If you don’t know what something is, don’t touch it.

The End.

Tonight, six of our students will be presenting their animal reports at the school board meeting. We will showcase the use of the Book Creator and iBooks Apps on the iPads. We are very excited to showcase the impressive and hard work the students did on these projects.