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!!

Our Heroes

This week in reading our question was " What do heroes do?"  We discussed what the word hero meant to us and who we call our heroes.  We read about Diana Golden, a skier with one leg, and Rudy Garcia-Tolson, an paralympic athlete.  We practiced summarizing stories and sequencing stories.  This was a skill that many of the students struggled with.  You can help at home by asking your child to summarize a book/story that they have read at home.  Make sure they tell about the story in sequential order and in their own words.

We are continuing to subtract in math.  We learned different strategies but the regrouping strategy seems to be the favorite.  Then we also practiced explaining in words how we solved the problem.

In science this week, we learned about reversible changes.  We melted down crayons in a crock pot and "reversed" them back into a heart crayon.  Then we took an assessment on the Properties of Matter.  Next week, we will be doing a fun STEM challenge with Peeps!  Stay tuned.