Writing Reviews and Idioms

We have been working on writing reviews for the past couple of weeks.  Students brainstormed ideas about things they could reivew like movies, tv shows, restaurants, games and books.  They chose one of their reviews and published it on their chromebooks and made it into a book.

We also learned about idioms in reading this week.  We looked up some idioms on the internet and made our own idiom book.  Here are a few examples of our idioms...

This week in reading we also practiced finding point of view and summarizing.  We read stories about getting along with others.

In math, we took the Topic 10 test.  These will be coming home today for your review and signature.  We started Topic 11 which focuses on subtracting 3-digit numbers.

In science we learned about reversible and irreversible changes to matter.  Next week we will be doing a fun experiment to see how heat affects a certain solid.

As a fun writing assignment, we wrote a sequencing story about how to help the Easter bunny who was stuck in a hole.

Enjoy your weekend...hope for sunshine again.  🌞🌞

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

What a crazy week!  Snow storm and inservice.  We squeezed in a fun writing activity for St. Patrick's Day.  The students pretended to be a leprechaun and wrote a story about hiding their pot of gold.  Some of the interesting hiding places were space, underground and even on Jupiter.

We read poems in reading and discussed the author's feelings about the subject of their poem. Also, we discussed how the poets use similes and repetition in the poems.

In science, we look at different odd looking tools and tried to figure out what their job was. The students analyzed each tool and looked at its material and shape to see how the tool might be used.

How are kids around the world different?

This week in reading we read about kids around the world.  We compared and contrasted things they do to things we do here in our country.  In China, they celebrate new years for 15 days instead of one.  There is a popular game played in our countries called cricket which is similar to our baseball.  The students took a reading test and overall they did GREAT!!  These will come home next week for you to review and sign.

We continued to practice place value and naming numbers in different ways.  We also skip counted by 5s, 10s and 100s.  Next week we will be comparing numbers.  We will be taking a math test toward the end of the week.

We started opinion writing this week.  We brainstormed ideas of things like games, movies, books, etc. that we would like to review.  Then we started writing reviews using an introduction, giving reasons and adding examples.

In celebration of Dr. Seuss' birthday and keeping with our science unit, we read a book called Bartholomew and the Oobleck. We made some oobleck in class.  Then we debated whether the oobleck was a liquid or a solid.



Have a great weekend.

President's Day

This week in honor of President's Day, we did president reports.  The students picked a president's name and did research on that president.  Then the students wrote a hanger report about their president.

Gerald Ford

George Washington

Barack Obama

This week in reading we learned about different ways the earth changes.  This brought us back to science fromt earlier in the year when we learned about erosion and landforms.  We read about how the beach erodes and how earthquakes and volcanoes can change the earth quickly.  We practiced finding cause and effect and continued practicing how to write about our reading.

In math, we started a new unit on place value.  We used base-10 blocks to find and name numbers.  This skill is building us up to doing three and four-digit number adding and subtracting.  We played math games today to practice place value and clock skills.

 

We tested the viscosity in liquids in science.  We had 6 different liquids in glasses: water, olive oil, shampoo, corn syrup, maple syrup and glue.  We dropped a marble into each liquid and timed it with a stopwatch to see how long it took to get to the bottom.  Can you guess which liquid was the most viscous?  Ask your child to tell you.

Have a great weekend.  Enjoy this unseasonably warm weather.

Golden Lion Tamarin Fundraiser a Success!!

This week was our fundraiser for the golden lion tamarin.  We collected donations from students and staff.  With each donation, we gave away a water bottle to help defer people from bringing in the "throw away" type water bottles.  We do not have a final dollar amount yet that we collected but when we do, I will be sure to announce it.

We started a new unit this week in reading about the world and what makes it interesting.  We learned about different regions of the United States.  We also read about and compared the tropical rain forest and the temperate rain forest.

The students took a math test on time and money this week.  Overall, the students did really well especially with the money.  Many students still could use some practice learning time.  We played time BINGO today to practice.

This week we celebrated 100 day with a few fun activities.  First, the students got a look at themselves at 100 years old.  They wrote about things they will like, dislike, eat, drink and do when they are 100.  The other activity they did was write about what they would do with $100.  These should be coming home today for you to read.  They are really funny and inventive.

Happy President's Day...Enjoy your long weekend!!

Zoo Trip Fun

Last Friday the second graders went to the Philadelphia Zoo for FREE!!  As part of our participation in the UNLESS contest, we were invited to the zoo to visit with our chosen animal, the golden lion tamarin and to discuss our progress in the contest.  What a great time of the year to attend the zoo! Lucky for us, the weather cooperated and it was not too cold.  We received personal tours and lectures from several zookeepers.  A siberian tiger actually walked right on top of us!




                                 Here is a female gorilla with a baby born in August:









We met with Brad, who we skyped with earlier in the school year and visited the golden lion tamarins, Jameson and Archie.  Archie was being shy and hiding in his box.

Then we talked with Brad about our progress in the contest.  We told him about our efforts to learn about the golden lion tamarin.  We also discussed how we have been learning about water and how water is used and wasted.  We decided to take on the cause of replacing our water fountain in our school with a hydration station.  We submitted our project for a grant and were approved for the grant.  Next, we are going to do a fundraiser at school to raise money for the golden lion tamarin and give each student who donates a free water bottle that he/she can use when the new water hydration station is installed.

We will be having a whole school assembly to explain our cause by showing a video that we have been making over the past several weeks.  If you would like a link to the video please email me and I will send it to you when it is complete.

We also made the local newspaper.... again if you would like a link to the article, email me and I will send it to you.

The contest entry is due in March and the winners will be announced in April.  The top five schools will be invited back to the zoo together and the grand prize winner will be announced that day.

For reading this blog this week you get a prize. Click on the link : Homework Pass

Game Day Fun!

Today the students were given extra recess time as part of our new Terrific Kid program.  Thank you to Tiki TIki Board Games for providing games for the students to play.  It was so fun to see the students so "enthusiastic" over good old fashioned board games.

This week in math we are focusing on addition and subtraction word problems.  We used words like fewer and more and had to figure out when to add or subtract.  

Our essential question this week in reading was "How can people help out in their community?"  We read a story about a community in  Arizona who painted a mural to beautify their community.  We also worked on finding the author's purpose.  We looked for clues to help us figure out if the author was trying to describe, explain or entertain us.

We started a new unit in science this week"  Properties of Matter.  We read a story about what matter is and then discussed things we already know about matter and what we would like to learn.  They we went on a matter scavenger hunt in the classroom.

Remember, next week is our trip to the zoo for the UNLESS contest.  Please keep in mind that we will be outside during part of the trip and to dress your child for the weather.

Have a great weekend.