Imagination!

Where can your imagination take you?  That was our essential question this week.  We read several poems about using your imagination.  We practiced finding the author's point of view.  One of the poems we read was about how a girl can take a simple brown box and make it so many things by using her imagination.

In math this week, we started using arrays.  This is a beginning introduction to multiplication.  To help us learn arrays, we played a few math games.  One of the math games we played was called "I Spy Arrays".  Different arrays were hidden around the room and the students needed to find them and identify the array and the multiplication fact.  

The students were given another fun challenge in science this week.  How long can you make a paper chain with one piece of paper?  The students worked in pairs and were each given a 12 x 18 piece of paper.  They were given about 30 minutes to create the longest paper chain they could.  It was exciting to watch their thought process and how they worked together to achieve the task. We had some pretty long chains, but in the end there was one clear winner.  Congrats second graders on a job well done.  

This week we had our last Health class and our last Library class.  If your child has not returned his or her library book, please see that it is returned to avoid a penalty fee. 

Only one more full week to go...hang in there!!

Philadelphia Zoo Fun!!

This week was our field trip to the Philadelphia Zoo.  Luckily, the weather cooperated and we had a great day.  We started our trip with a class called "Save Our Species."  We learned about how animals become extinct and that the beloved gorilla is one of them.

We had a lot of fun exploring and identifying the animals that we learned about in science.

This week our essential question was "How do we use money?"  One of our stories was "The Life of a Dollar Bill."  It showed how a dollar bill goes from the beginning of its life being printed to the end getting shredded. We also read about the history of money.  Did you know that people actually thought it was a good idea to use rocks as currency?  

In keeping with second grade tradition, we started reading Charlotte's Web.  To go along with this theme, the students were given a STEM challenge in science.  Each group was given the task to design a pigpen that Wilbur must be able to stand in.  They were very impressive especially the group that not only made a pen but gave Wilbur a gate to get in and out.

Have a great weekend!! Happy Memorial Day!!

Thank You

Thank you to all of the parents who took time out of their busy lives to come to Best of Heights Night.  The excitement on the students' faces while proudly showing their work off to you is priceless.  The students really do work very hard daily on the many things they do each week and they really do deserve praise for the things that they do.  While it is impossible to showcase everything, I hope you enjoyed what you did get to see.

This week in reading we talked about how we use energy.  We read stories about different ways to produce energy like from wind or from the sun.  We even read a story about a group of students that powered their laptops by riding bicycles.

We wrapped up our plant experiement in science.  We concluded that our plants grew the best if they had sunlight and water.  Check them out...what do you think?

We also had some fun learning about pollination in science.  Each student was given a "bee" and needed to go from flower to flower and collect pollen (cheese balls).  They were not permitted to lick or wipe off their fingers.  By the end of the pollination, each student's fingers were covered in "pollen".  This showed them how pollen is spread among flowers and how they stay pollinated.  

Our field trip to the zoo is coming up. Keep on the lookout for information coming home about the trip and the permission slip.  Have a great weekend!!

Why are rules important?

This week our essential question in reading was "Why are rules important?"  We read about rules in towns.  We read about laws the governement makes regarding fishing, food and even patents.

We finished up our money unit in math.  The math test will be coming home this weekend for your review and signature.  Overall, the students did very well.  We will be moving on to Geometry beginning with 2D shapes next week.  The fourth graders graciously allowed us to borrow their Chromebooks this week to play our favorite online math game, Prodigy.

In science we continued our Earth Day unit.  We made Earth Day books and Earth Day mobiles.

The students made service job puppets in social studies. The students were assigned an occupation. Then  they had to draw that person wearing the clothing and using the tools that the job required and write about what they did.

I can't tell you what else we did this week...It's a surprise!!

38 Days to Go...

Our classroom countdown is on. This year has flown by so fast. As of today there are 38 days left of school to go.

This week we celebrated Earth Day in both reading and science.  Our essential question was "How can we protect the Earth?"  We read about children in a classroom who entered a contest by making paper cranes out of recycled paper.  This story inspired us to try to make some origami animals too.  We made butterflies and fish.  

In science we finished up our habitat projects.  Then we started on an Earth Day book.  Look for some pictures of those next week.  Here are some of the habitat posters. 

We are still practicing with money in math.  Next week we will add bills to our lessons.  We will be having a unit assessment on money next week.  

The students wrote another opinion writing piece this week.  This one made me hungry.... The topic was to write about the most delicious dessert and try to convince a friend to eat it.  Yum!!

Looks like spring is finally here!!  Enjoy the weekend.

Counting Coins

A main focus for us this week was counting coins.  We started off the week with nickels and pennies and then moved on to dimes and quarters.  We practiced recognizing the coins and counting them. We even played some math games to help us.

Our question in reading this week was "What do heroes do?"

We read about some very interesting people like Rudy Garcia-Tolson.  He was born with birth defects and has his legs amputated. He became the youngest competitor in an Ironman race.  He is currently training to compete in his third paralympics.

The students practice their opinion writing skills this week with the topic of the best book they have read.  They had to give four reasons and cite text evidence for why they felt that book was their favorite.  They did a great job and the illustrations were fantastic!!

The students are continuing to work on their habitat projects in science.  They have finished writing and typing their reports.  Next week, they will make a poster of their habitat and present to the rest of the class.  

Have a great weekend.

And the Winner Is...

This is the winning drawing for the class book that we will be publishing.  Congratulations to the lucky illustrator.  Our book is scheduled to be published on Aprill 22.  Hopefully our copy will be sent to us before Best of Heights Night on May 11 so that it can be displayed.  

This week our essential question was "How do people get along?"  We discussed one of our vovabulary words this week... "cooperation."  We read a story about a girl that plays soccer and needs to learn how to cooperate to help the team win the game.  We also read about how children at a school in Seattle came together to stop bullying.

This week we learned about idioms.  The students chose to create a book of idioms.  This will be on display at Best of Heights Night.  Here is a sneak peek...

We finished up our unit on time this week.  The second graders should be familiar with time to the nearest five minutes at this level.  Some students had a hard time grasping the idea of the wording of quarter to/past and half past. We took a unit test and I felt like overall the class needed more review.  So we did some more practice and then took a re-test.  Some of the students still struggled with some of the concepts.  Look for the test to come home this weekend for you to sign and review.  We will continue to practice these skills through the end of the year.  Keep it in mind and try to review time with your children.  

This week in science we started a new unit on Plants and Habitats.  The students will be working together in groups to create a habitat report.  In social studies, they learned about how products are made and transported and how consumers then purchase these products. 

I have my fingers crossed that Opening Day of baseball is still on this weekend.....