Zoo Trip Fun

Last Friday the second graders went to the Philadelphia Zoo for FREE!!  As part of our participation in the UNLESS contest, we were invited to the zoo to visit with our chosen animal, the golden lion tamarin and to discuss our progress in the contest.  What a great time of the year to attend the zoo! Lucky for us, the weather cooperated and it was not too cold.  We received personal tours and lectures from several zookeepers.  A siberian tiger actually walked right on top of us!




                                 Here is a female gorilla with a baby born in August:









We met with Brad, who we skyped with earlier in the school year and visited the golden lion tamarins, Jameson and Archie.  Archie was being shy and hiding in his box.

Then we talked with Brad about our progress in the contest.  We told him about our efforts to learn about the golden lion tamarin.  We also discussed how we have been learning about water and how water is used and wasted.  We decided to take on the cause of replacing our water fountain in our school with a hydration station.  We submitted our project for a grant and were approved for the grant.  Next, we are going to do a fundraiser at school to raise money for the golden lion tamarin and give each student who donates a free water bottle that he/she can use when the new water hydration station is installed.

We will be having a whole school assembly to explain our cause by showing a video that we have been making over the past several weeks.  If you would like a link to the video please email me and I will send it to you when it is complete.

We also made the local newspaper.... again if you would like a link to the article, email me and I will send it to you.

The contest entry is due in March and the winners will be announced in April.  The top five schools will be invited back to the zoo together and the grand prize winner will be announced that day.

For reading this blog this week you get a prize. Click on the link : Homework Pass

Game Day Fun!

Today the students were given extra recess time as part of our new Terrific Kid program.  Thank you to Tiki TIki Board Games for providing games for the students to play.  It was so fun to see the students so "enthusiastic" over good old fashioned board games.

This week in math we are focusing on addition and subtraction word problems.  We used words like fewer and more and had to figure out when to add or subtract.  

Our essential question this week in reading was "How can people help out in their community?"  We read a story about a community in  Arizona who painted a mural to beautify their community.  We also worked on finding the author's purpose.  We looked for clues to help us figure out if the author was trying to describe, explain or entertain us.

We started a new unit in science this week"  Properties of Matter.  We read a story about what matter is and then discussed things we already know about matter and what we would like to learn.  They we went on a matter scavenger hunt in the classroom.

Remember, next week is our trip to the zoo for the UNLESS contest.  Please keep in mind that we will be outside during part of the trip and to dress your child for the weather.

Have a great weekend. 

Contraction Surgery

This week Dr. Taylor and Dr. Wells performed their annual contraction surgery.  The students have been learning about contraction in reading.  The students were introduced to the patients: Mr. He Is, Ms. Do Not and Mrs. We Are.  The doctors modeled how to perform surgery on the patients and create contractions from the patients.  

Dr. Wells and Dr. Taylor perform surgery.  Almost lost this patient!!

Mr. He Is came to the doctors to get his "I" removed

Then the students then became the doctors and they performed surgery on patients of their own.

Dr. Dan monitoring the patients in the recovery room.

Our practicum student, Ms. Ferry, did a fun writing lesson with the class.  The students viewed a video of Olaf singing about what happens in the summer.  Then the students wrote about what it would be like if they were a snowman.

We finished up Topic 6 in math.  You should have reviewed and signed your child's math test.  Overall the students performed very well on the test.  Our next unit will be working on word problems using both addition and subtraction.

In science this week, we made another video for our UNLESS contest.  We hung posters about water and conserving water for everyone in the school to see and learn about our cause.

The students took the winter MAP testing this week in both reading and math.  This time we used our classroom Chromebooks!!  All of the scores went up from the fall which was absolutely wonderful!!  Great job class!

Remember school is closed on Monday.  Have a great long weekend!!

Happy New Year

Welcome back to the students and parents!  We started right back where we left off.

We started a new unit in reading about Earth and the amazing things that Earth has.  This week we read about how magnets work and how gravity was discovered.  We learned about Isaac Newton who discovered gravity when an apple fell on his head.

We are still practicing subtracting using place-value.  We did some adding to check our subtracting and some words problems as well.  We will be taking a test next week in math on Topic 6.

We are diligently working on our contest for the Philadelphia Zoo.  This week we went on a water hunt through the school to find any ways we are wasting water.  Many of the students commented on our school water fountain.  We are hoping that maybe we could make a change to that.  Stay tuned.  

In writing, we started a new unit:non fiction writing.  The students brainstormed many different topic ideas and then narrowed their topic down to something or someone they were really interested in learning about and writing a report about.  We will be continuing with these reports for the next several weeks.

With a new month comes our new groups.  Think the students have something else in mind...snow day maybe????

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

I just wanted to take this time to wish all of my families a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I am so grateful to work and live in a community of people that care about each other and the children's education.

Enjoy your holiday break. Make fun memories together.

Love,
Mrs. Wells

Polar Bear Week

This week the second graders have been researching polar bears.  They listened to books and used the internet to find many facts and interesting information about them.  Did you know that polar bears have 42 teeth?  They put the information they gathered into a polar bear report.

Our memoirs in writing are finally complete.  Thank you for sharing your stories and making this a fun experience for the students.  They took a lot of pride in telling the stories about their loved ones.  

In math we are continuing to subtract.  We are moving toward learning how to regroup when subtracting. (I'm sure you are all thrilled about that!)  

This week in science, with the help of our FABULOUS technology teacher, we created a video about the golden lion tamarin.  This video will be shared with the rest of our school to teach them about the animal we have chosen for our campaign for the UNLESS contest.  When the final copy is ready, I will provide a link to parents who may be interested in seeing it.  Thanks Mrs. Selby.

In social studies, the students have been learning about different Christmas customs around the world.  This week they learned about the Netherlands and England.

Our elf had a bit of a war this week with the Grinch.  But, by the end of the week they appeared to be friends again.  

Christmas Around the World

This week Mrs. Taylor's elf traveled to both Germany and Italy and taught us about the Christmas customs in both countries. In Germany, people put a pickle on the Christmas tree and the person who finds it gets to open the first present.  In Italy, LaBefana is an old woman who delivers gifts to children.

We read poems this week in reading about animals and why we love them.  We read about camels, bats, and turtles.  We practiced finding key details to support the main topic.  We also used clues to define multiple meaning words.  

In math, we learned some more subtraction strategies. We will be having a test next week on the strategies we have learned so far.  

Our classroom elf, Candy Cane, has been up to no good.  He put a mustache on the Grinch this week.  I don't think the Grinch liked it very much because he got him back today.