The New Year is Off to a Great Start

We are now a few weeks into the new year and we are off to a great start.  Keep in mind that there's a lot of different kinds of illnesses gong around.  Please remind your children the importance of washing their hands to keep them free from germs. 

We are very busy with our UNLESS contest project.  We have been learning about  Panamanian Golden Frog.  In fact, we made some videos about them, Here is a sample of one:

In reading we have been working of sequencing skills, and finding author's purpose.  This week we are reading abut ways to help your community.  

We will be taking a unit test at the end of this week in math.  A review study guide will be coming home on Wednesday.  

Remember, any time you have a question or concern, please contact me!! 

Elf Antics

Our class has been invaded by an elf.  We named him Elfie.  He has been pretty naughty.  He made a nice and naughty list and all of the students were on the nice list and I was on the naughty list. Lately he's been in a war with the Grinch.  Look what happened today....

That's the Grinch under the basket

This week in reading we have been talking about animals and why people love them.  We have read several poems about animals and discussed how the authors expressed their feelings about the animals in their poetry.  

In math, we are learning different strategies to help with subtracting.  Like addition, we will learn many different strategies that we would like the students to know and eventually they will be able to choose the strategy they like the best and use that one when subtracting.

An elf also visited Mrs. Taylor's class and is traveling around the world and reporting back to the class about different Christmas traditions from different countries.  This week the elf traveled to Germany and told the students about the tannebaum.  The students created one of their own.

Have a great weekend.  I hear we may be getting snow.

Animal Habitats

This week our essential question was "What are the features of different animal habitats?"  We read all about the coral reef and the many animals that live there.  We also read about the life of a sea turtle.  Did you know that a female sea turtle will go back to the beach where she was hatched to lay her eggs when she is an adult?

We finally learned how to do the "old fashion" way to do addition.  Keep in mind that we use different terminology when adding. Instead of saying "carry the one", we now say "regroup one into the tens." 

We are finishing up our Earth systems unit in science.  We will be moving on to working on the UNLESS contest for the zoo.  If you are interested to learn more about the contest you can go to this link...Philadelphia Zoo UNLESS contest
You may recognize someone in the video.  Last year, our second grade class came in 2nd place in our category.

We read a book this week called The Ugly Pumpkin.  The book is about a pumpkin that looked different from the other pumpkins and was left out.  It turns out in the end that he is actually a squash and is welcomed by the other squash.  We wrote about a time when we felt squashed and then designed our own ugly pumpkins.

Giant Pumpkin

This week the Giant Pumpkin came out for gym class.  This is one of my personal favorite gym games so I decided to participate, even in the punishments when one of my teammates threw the ball overhand instead of underhand...

Our essential question this week was "How do animals survive?"  We read about meerkats and how they have adapted to their environment.  We also read about sled dogs and how they perform in the snow.  We practiced making predictions and finding the plot by identifying the beginning, middle and end of the story.  

We started writing a new personal narrative.  We began by choosing topics by thinking of things that cause strong emotions for us.  Then we started to plan the narrative by using an organizer.  I shared a scary personal narrative of my own.

In math, we continued to learn different strategies to add two-digit numbers.  We will be having a test next week on Topic 3.

We are continuing to learn about erosion is science.  This week we used sand castles again as our model of a landform.  We demonstrated wind erosion by blowing on our landform with a straw.  The students were able to relate the model to what happens in the real world.

Next week is our annual Halloween parade.  Keep in mind that this year the party and the parade have flip-flopped.  The parties will take place first and then the parade will commence at 2:30.  

See you there.....

Bat Week

It's bat week in second grade.  We learned all about bats this week.  We gathered information from several books from the library and then we wrote reports.  Did you know that there are 900 different kinds of bats?

Here are our bat reports...just in time for Halloween. 

In math we started learning new strategies for adding two-digit numbers.  We learned using a hundred chart, open number line and the break apart strategy.  Please keep in mind that it is expected that the students learn each strategy.  But, eventually we want them to choose the one that works best for them. 

During science this week we learned about weathering and erosion.  We even learned a fun song to help us remember what they mean.  We did a fun experiment to show how water erodes the beach.  Ask you child about what models we used this week to help us with our experiments.

Have a great weekend.

Fire Prevention Week

Today was our visit to the firehouse for Fire Prevention Week.  First, Mrs. Sherm showed us the ambulance and taught us what to do if we were hurt.  We got to go into the ambulance, too!! Then Ms. Farrell taught us what to do if we were in a fire.  Did you know that if you were in a house on fire you should touch the door with the back of your hand to check if it is hot?  That way you won't burn your hand in case you have to crawl to safety. 

We took our second math test this week.  This test focused on making arrays (equal groups) to help us solve math problems.  Next week, we will start adding within 100.  We will be learning several ways to add including an open number line.

In reading our essential question was "What happens when families work together?"  We read about families that work together by sharing chores, working jobs, and selling goods.  We practiced asking and answering questions and finding key details. 

We had a visitor named Shadow to our classroom this week.  He taught us the correct way to write friendly letter. 

Our friend Shadow

Have a great weekend.

Fossil Digging

Today was our fossil dig at Edelman Fossil Park.  First, we learned about different animal fossils that were discovered in the area.  Then, we learned about how fossils are formed.  Then, it was time to go into the quarry and dig for fossils ourselves.
 

This week in reading we read about how we care for animals.  We read a Pepper the horse and how Jack takes care of him every day by feeding him and grooming him and letting him get exercise.  We also read a story about a girl named Tiva that had a pet rhino.

We started a new unit in math with even and odd numbers and using arrays to add.  This is a short unit, therefore, we will be taking another math assessment next week.  

We finished up our first writing narrative story after learning about the writing process.  Next week, we will practice letter writing when a special visitor comes to our class. 

In science we took our landform quiz.  The students did very well on the quiz.  Good job second graders!!  Then we started our landform models.

Have a great weekend!! Don't forget, Monday is a holiday...NO SCHOOL!!