Check out our habitat slides!!

This week the second graders finished up a unit on habitats in science.  They learned all about a given habitat.  Then they made posters with the plants and animals in the habitat and then took that information and made a slide show presentation.  

Click here to see the presentation for 2-Wells and here to see 2-Taylor.

We also started a plant experiment.  The question we are trying to answer is:  Do plants need sunlight and water to grow?  The classes were divided into 4 groups and each group planted four plants using chia seeds.  As you can see from the pictures, we had 4 test areas: with sunlight and with water, with sunlight without water, without sunlight and with water and without sunlight and without water.  We also tried planting some seeds with a hydroponics system that was given to us by the zoo.

We will be journaling over the next week to see what happens...stay tuned.

With sunligh and with water

With sunlight and without water

Without sunlight and with water (yellow) without water (green)

Our hydrponics system

You have probably heard a lot of complaining this week about testing.  We did our spring MAP test for both reading and math.  The students (after much griping) all performed well on their tests.  Look for these score with their end of year report cards.  

Have a great holiday weekend.

Teamwork is Important!

This week our theme in reading was teamwork.  We read stories about astronauts and how the space station and how people need to work together in both places.  We practiced finding the main idea and writing a summary.  We also learned about how words have greek and latin origins.

We contiued with our poetry unit in writing.  This week we wrote poems using our senses, and wrote about small moments in our lives.

In science we went on a habitat hunt.  Students created habitats on paper and we hung them around our school and tried to identify each habitat.  Can you guess what some of them are?

This week we started our beloved second grade tradition of reading Charlotte's Web. The students and I have been doing "popcorn" reading and have enjoyed reading it so far.  

Second Place!!!!

The second graders took second place in our age category of the UNLESS contest.  We were awarded a trophy and money for our school.

We visited the zoo as one of the finalists of the contest on Thursday.  We had a table set up on the Impala Lawn where the students shared information with zoo workers, parents, visitors and other participants of the contest.

After the project was displayed, the ceremony took place where the finalists were asked to come on stage and the winners were announced.  

I am so proud of the students and their hard work and dedication to this project.  Job well done!!!!

The Best Part of Me

We did a fun writing project this week.  We read a book called The Best Part of Me.  This book is written by children.  They write about a body part that they love and tell reasons why.  So, that's what we did.  Here are just a few:

We read myths this week in reading.  We practiced finding the theme, or message, of the story.  We also practiced finding the meaning of word using context clues.

We continued measuring this week in math.  Meters and centimeters were used to measure this week.  We will be having our measurement test next week.

In science, we continued learning about habitats.  The students are working on creating posters of the habitats they have been assigned by including many animals and plants that are found in their assigned habitat.

Our new water hydration station has finally been installed upstairs.  The second graders were so excited when they saw it today knowing they are the reason it's here.

Our trip is next week when we find out the winners of the UNLESS contest!!! 

Rules are Important!

This week in reading our essential question was "Why are rules important?"  We read about the different rules that a town may have.  We also read about how and why our founding fathers created the Constitution.  We practiced the "cause and effect" skill.

In math we started a measuring unit.  We practiced measuring in inches, feet and yards.  We had a "Measure Thon" on Friday.  We used a puff ball and had four events, Blow, Toss, Flick and Kick.

We finished up our persuasive writing unit this week.  The students wrote letters to various people about a change they wanted to see made either in our town or our school.  Some of the topics included fixing potholes in the road, adding playground equipment to the athletic fields and bringing toys and games to school.  One brave student actually wrote to me asking for no homework!!

We also started a new unit in science this week as well, Relationships in Habitats.  The students were put into groups and given a habitat to research.  They will be creating a model of their habitat followed by a slide show in the upcoming weeks.

We had another great assembly this week thanks to our Home and School Association.  This one was from a wildlife rescue reserve.  We met Crogan the crow and an owl and a scary one-eyed hawk.  We learned the difference between a raptor and a non-raptor.  

Stay cool this weekend!!

BREAKING NEWS!!!!

I am so excited to let you know that our second graders have been chosen as one of the finalists in the UNLESS contest.  We were notified via email last night by the Philadelphia Zoo.  We are invited back to the zoo on May 11th where the winners of the contest will be announced.

We are so proud of our students and the hard work and effort they put into this contest.  This was a great experience not only for the students but for the teachers as well.  We feel like they are winners already.

Peep Challenges!

Since we wrapped up our unit of Properties of Matter in science, we decided to do some fun STEM challenges.  Keeping with the Easter holiday spirit, the challenges we did involved Peeps.  The first challenge was to create a raft that would keep the Peep dry for the longest amount of time. The students worked together in groups to perform the challenge.

The Challenge

This peep stayed dry pretty long

We had a casualty

This peep stayed the driest the longest.

The second peep challenge of the week was to create a car for the peep to travel on the furthest.  

This one's wings helped it to move the farthest.

Happy Easter and have a fun, safe spring break!!