Express Yourself!

This week our essential question was "How do you express yourself?" We read stories about kids expressing themselves through music.  There is a group of students from a New York public school that travels around the country singing on stage.  Some choirs use dance movements when they sing on stage to express themselves.  We practiced finding the main idea and key details that support the main idea.

In math we continued practicing two digit subtraction with regrouping.  We will do a little more review next week with addition and subtraction followed by an end of unit test.

For fun this week we made some super bowl predictions.  Sorry to the New England Patriots because only one student in our class predicted they would win.  I hope they are not "deflated."

With having had a snow day this week, our writing project fit in nicely.  We wrote about what would make a "Super Snow Day."  

In science we continued testing properties of our solids.  This week we tested whether the solid would float or sink.  It was very messy but some of the students were surprised to see which solids floated.

Finally, at the end of our week we met with our book buddies from 4th grade.  We have been reading a book called The One and Only Ivan.  It's about a gorilla who lives at a shopping mall and who is very lonely.  We haven't gotten too far into the story but I have a sneaky feeling that he will triumph in the end.

Helping the World Be a Better Place

In celebration of Martin Luther King Day, we did some fun activities.  We read a book called Martin's Big Words.  We brainstormed some big words that could change the world.  We worked in conjunction with Mrs. Taylor's class and put our big words on a puzzle piece.  Then we put our puzzle together on display in our hallway.  Then we wrote on a cloud one way that we can change the world.

This week our essential question was "How does weather affect us?"  We read about tornadoes and other wild weather.  We practiced finding the main idea in a story.  We learned about antonyms and practiced adding s or es to make words plural.  We also worked together to take a weekly assessment. This was done to make the students more comfortable and to teach strategies of test taking. You will see a copy of the test in the homework folder.  

In math, we started subtracting two-digit numbers.  We started with no regrouping and moved on to regrouping (or borrowing as you may call it.)  To help the students know when to regroup, we learned a poem. This is helpful to practice at home as well.  

This is a new skill and one that we will be practicing a lot more to insure the success of the students.

We had a health lesson this week as well as a guidance lesson.  Mrs. Visalli taught the students about their bones and how they protect their body.  Mrs. Fletcher came in to discuss how we are different and how we should accept everyone and their differences.  

Have a nice weekend.

Helping Out the Community

This week our essential question in reading was "How can people help out their community?"  We read a story about a community in Arizona that came together to beautify their town.  Their town was being overrun by crime and had become dirty and ugly.  They decided to paint a giant mural with scenes that reflect the history of the town.

  

In math, we continued to practice adding numbers with regrouping.  This week we started adding three and four 2-digit numbers.  The students have been doing a great job remembering the steps!  All of our fact practice has been paying off!

We did a research report this week on polar bears.  We read a couple books about polar bears and recorded the information and then turned it into a polar bear report.

The factory in 2-Wells opened this week.  Our mission was to make a Clown Maze game.  Each student was assigned a job in an assembly line to complete on the game.  This gave them the understanding of how things are produced in a factory.  Just for fun we watched part of the "I Love Lucy" episode when Lucy and Ethel worked on the candy assembly line.

A finished Clown Maze

You should have received in your child's folder the information on the Reach New Heights of Kindness packet.  Our school community will be participating in a random acts of kindess project. Look for the tickets to pass along when your child does a random act of kindness. We want to see how far reaching the kindness can go.

Have a great long weekend.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all of the wonderful families of Woodbury Heights.  I wish you all health and happiness.

This week we started the new year off with a writing activity about what we did for the new year holiday.  We worked on sequencing our writing and included words such as first, next, then and last.

In reading our essential question was "What can we see in the sky?"  We discussed what things we see in the daytime sky and the nighttime sky.  We read a story called "Starry Night" about two girls, Josie and Ling and how they learned about the Big Dipper.  We practiced doing some more sequencing in reading as well.  We read the story "Mr. Putter and Tabby See the Stars" and wrote the order of events.  

In math, we are continuing to practice adding two-digit numbers.  This is a new concept for the students and several still need more practice.  The key to remember is to line up the numbers properly and start adding from the ones place.  Then the student must decide if they need to regroup (or carry).  Then they continue to the tens place and so on.  Next week we will be adding three and four two-digit numbers together.

We have started a new unit in science.  Solids, Liquids and Gas.  We began our unit by creating science journals and then comparing and contrasting two different solids.  We wrote our observations down just like real scientists.  

Our final writing activity this week was an opinion piece about whether or not we should get a penguin for a class pet. We read a few books about penguins to help us get some information about them and then the students needed to come up with four "good" reasons why they should get a penguin for a class pet.   

Just for fun and to decorate our classroom we made some penguin windsocks.

Have a nice weekend.  Stay warm!!

It's That Time of the Year

It's that very busy time of the year.  We have been really busy in second grade preparing for the upcoming holiday while still learning.

Our essential question this week was "How do the Earth's forces affect us?" We read about gravity and how it works.  We also learned about friction.  Did you know that longer grass will provide more friction and on a soccer ball and slow it down more than shorter grass?

In math we finally started adding two digit numbers.  We started by first using a number grid and then by using base-10 blocks.  Then we moved on to the "old way". The students must get in the habit of adding from the ones place first.  We started with problems that have no regrouping (or carrying as many of you are familiar with).  Again I will say how important it is for the students to know their facts.  They are practicing daily and have improved by leaps and bounds.  So far, two digit addition is a snap!!  Great job, class!!

This week our elf was a very busy traveler.  He traveled to several countries.  He went to Holland, Sweden and the United States.  In honor of Holland, we created our version of wooden shoes.

We wrote about our family Christmas traditions for the United States and strung them as lights.

After all that travel, our elf, Peppermint, needed a good rest.  Here he is hanging with the Phillie Phanatic.  

Only two more days left until break.... I hope you all have a Healthy and Happy Holiday and spend quality time together over our long Christmas break.

Where in the world is...Peppermint?

Our elf, Peppermint has been busy at night traveling around the world.  This week he traveled to England and Italy.  We learned about Christmas traditions in each of these countries.  In Italy, they believe that a good witch named, La Befana, brings gifts for children.

In England, one of the traditions is that a yule log is burnt in the fireplace and decorated.

We have found Peppermint is some funny places this week too.  

In math this week we are preparing to add and subtract 2 digit numbers.  We started by adding and subtracting 10.  We practiced changing the tens place value when adding and subtracting.  Then we moved on to adding and subtracting 100.  Next week we will begin adding 2 digit numbers using a number grid and base 10 blocks before learning the traditional addition algorithm.

Our essential question is reading this week was "What do we love about animals?"  We read several poems about animals and discussed what the author of the poem loves about that animal.  In one of the poems, the boy had a pet crocodile and he loved him so much that he wanted to keep him in his bathtub when he grows too big.

This week the students all entered a school wide writing contest.  This year our school reading theme is "One School One Author."  Our featured author this year is Patricia Polacco.  We have read several of her books throughtout this year.  In the writing contest, the students were asked to write about their favorite Patricia Polacco book.  Winners of the contest will be announced at an assembly on December 23.

Today was our annual Christmas concert.  The second graders have been practicing their songs every day and sounded great singing at the concert.  I hope you all got a chance to come out to our concert on Thursday night.

Did you see the snow????

The Elf has Arrived...

Every year my classroom gets a visit from a special elf.  This year is no acception.  Our classroom elf arrived on Monday with a top secret mission.  Apparently, Santa is clumsy and has spilled his hot cocoa on some of his important files.  He needs our elf to fly around to different countries and then report back to him the Christmas tradition from that country.  So far, our elf has traveled to Germany. When he arrived back to our classroom he gave us some informatio about Germany.  Did you know that in Germany, they put a pickle on their tree and the first child to find the pickle receives a special present.  In honor of Germany, we made special Christmas trees.

Of course, as elves can be, he was up to a little mischief as well...

My two granddaughters

This week in reading our essential question was "How are offspring like their parents?"  We read all about different animal families.  Parent wolves have to chew food for their yound and then spit it in their mouths...ewww!  We learned about penquins and gorillas and eagles and how they take care of their young.

To go along with our elf theme this week, each student wrote an opinion piece about why he or she should be Santa's head elf.  Some of the reasons were:  I am good at using tools, I am a good leader, I will help take care of the reindeer and many other creative ideas. 

And lastly along with the elf theme, we have a new classroom door.  Thanks Pinterest for all the fun ideas out there and also Mrs. Pitzo who helped get it together.

Have a great weekend...stay dry!!