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!!

Pets are Friends

This week our essential question in reading was How Can a Pet Be an Important Friend?  We read a story about a boy that got a new dog named Cal.  We also read a story about a boy who got a pet fish and at first he did not like him as a pet.  But, by the end of the story, Norman, the fish, turned out to be a good friend to him.

In science, we continued learning about landforms.  Check out my Instagram page to see our Yakits we made.  We will be having a quiz next week about landforms.  Remember to study.

We wrote about being a scarecrow last week and made scarecrows that we hung in the hallway.

This week we started planning for our first narrative story.  We will start drafting and revising next week and hopefully have our first narrative writing piece done soon.

We took our first math assessment today.  Next week we will be starting a new topic about even and odd numbers and using arrays.

Have a great weekend.

Team Building

Today was our second annual team building day.  The students participated in a variety of activities that required teamwork.  Some of the activities included tug of war, stuffed animal relay, bean bag toss and our favorite, the parachute.

  The students even got to enjoy some time playing on our playground.






This week we started on our first week of Wonders.  Our essential question was "How do friends depend on each other?"  We read a story about a baby bird that was afraid to fly out of the nest and his friends offered to help him out.   We practiced visualizing while reading and drew some pictures.

We are off to a good start on our math program as well.  This week we focused on different strategies when doing math facts.  Remember that the student's homework will be assigned by me.  They should just do the problems that are assigned. 

Overall, it was a WONDERFUL first full week.  It was so great to see so many of you at back to school night last night.  I know what a busy time of the year it is for everyone and I appreciate that you took the time to come.  I look forward to working with you as well as your children.

Welcome Back!

Welcome students and parents to 2-Wells.  We had a great first week and I have enjoyed beginning to know the students.  I am looking forward to seeing you at Back to School night on Thursday, September 14.  Please keep in mind that there will be a new format this year.  You should have received a letter from Mrs. Gansert outlining the schedule for the night. 

Check the blog weekly for valuable information and to find out what great things are happening in 2-Wells.

Thank You!!

I just wanted to take this time to thank you, the parents, for a great school year.  A HUGE thank you as well for the great wooden sign for my classtoom.  I will always remember your children as I see it in my classroom.

This has been a great year and I have thoroughly enjoyed having your students in my class.  Have fun and enjoy your children this summer.  They grow up fast!!

What Do Plants Need to Grow?

Last week in science, we started a plant experiement.  We planted four plants: one with sun and with water, one with sun and no water, one with no sun and with water and one with no sun or water.  We have seen some interesting results.  Of course, the plant that is growing the best has both sun and water.  But we saw some other interesting developments.
  

We had some growth in the plants with no sun but with water, but the plant had no green color to it.  And we are noticing that the water is not evaporating enough into the soil since there is no sun to dry it out.  We did see some growth in the plant with no sun and no water.  We decided that the soil was still a little wet when we originally planted the seeds so that is why there was some growth...but guess what else was growing in that one,,,mold!  

We finished up our last unit in Wonders this week.  We read several poems and discussed the author's point of view of the subject of each poem.  Speaking of poems, we are also finishing up our unit on poetry in writing.  The students are busily trying to create a poetry book with a compilation of all the poems they have written during this unit.  

We started a new unit in math this week.  This unit focuses on plotting data and analyzing data from charts and graphs.  

Don't forget....Best of Heights Night is June 7.  I will be displaying our work on the UNLESS project in our classroom.  Come check it out!

Tonight is our annual talent show.  Good luck students!!

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.