Christmas Around the World

It has been wonderful to be back!

Yesterday, students learned a little about Christmas traditions in Poland and they made a Polish Ornament Chain.  Some students brought their chains home today.

Today we discussed some Christmas traditions in Mexico and created a poinsettia.  They look great!

News for 11/7 - 11/10

College Readiness Week
On Thursday, students may dress up as the person they want to be when they grow up , their career choice.  I look forward to seeing their great outfits.

Conferences
It was wonderful to see all of you last week and get to talk about your amazing students!

Field Trip to Linder Farms

We had a great time at Linder Farms on Monday!  Students were able to go on a hay ride through the pumpkin patches.  They saw a large variety of different sizes and types of pumpkins.  They spent time in the petting zoo, petting and feeding animals that welcomed the attention.  They successfully made it through the football shaped corn maze correctly.  They also got to pick out their very own pumpkin to take home. 

After lunch, they played in a large box of corn.  Many Second Graders took some of that corn home in their shoes and pockets.  They also climbed a hay stack and slid down a bumpy black pipe.  There were humongous tractor tires set in the ground to explore and a hay maze.  They had so much fun that a few fell asleep on the bus on the way home. 

It was a great way to celebrate fall! 

 

Marble Party #3

Last Friday, students were sad the field trip got cancelled, but by the end of the day they were celebrating their 3rd marble party!

This time they voted for a picnic during lunch.  On Tuesday, the 24th, we will all eat our lunch outside and then I will hang out with them for part of their recess.

The students wanted me to extend the invitation to you, the parents, to join them for their picnic lunch.  If you would like to stop by, we will begin getting our lunches at 12:38 and should be outside by about 12:45.

The field trip was a hit today.  I will send pictures when I have a chance.  Students had fun and were excellent.  I hope they told you all about it.

Look for information about our Book Celebration day that will happen next Tuesday.

Field Trip News

This Friday, October 20th is the field trip to Linder Farms.  Expect an email from me if I haven't received a permission slip for you child yet. 

Students will get to do many fall activities at the farm.  They will go on a hayride, choose a pumpkin to take home, visit a hay maze, adventure through a corn maze, visit a petting zoo and participate in group activities.

This is a real farm.  Students should wear shoes they can walk through dirt or mud in.  They should wear long pants to protect their legs from tall grasses and thorny vines.  Because the pumpkin stems can be prickly, gloves are also a good idea.  The weather will be a bit colder so students should come prepared with warm coats. 

Don't forget to bring a sack lunch on Friday.  We will leave the school at 10:00 at arrive back at the school at 2:20.

I'm looking forward to an exciting day.

I've included the notes regarding the field trip which detail the schedule, expectations and what to wear.

Information on what to expect:
https://docs.google.com/a/visioncsd.org/document/d/1GpmDDZgE0SW_UOn5jOZM2XZ00I7lKiOnW4E8UL_RxeE/edit?usp=sharing

Information on what to wear:
https://docs.google.com/a/visioncsd.org/document/d/1F7uZB6wwPBS8fZqxSo9LuU18jWF4l4BAqXj2tuxAA8M/edit?usp=sharing

2nd Marble Party and Some Weekly News

Yes, the second graders have already earned another Marble Party.  They are super thrilled that it only took 8 days this time.  It is a testament to how hard they have been working.

They voted to have an electronics party!

We will have the party after lunch on Friday, September 29th.  Students are welcome to bring electronic devices from home to use during that time.  They are responsible for them and will be able to choose school appropriate activities.  Students have access to chrome books in the classroom, they can use that for their electronic device also.  They may also bring games from home that they would like to play.

Progress reports came home yesterday.  Many students have already returned signed reports.  Please sign it and return by Friday or you can write a note that you have seen it.

Volunteers - I can use volunteers to work with students from 11:45-12:30 on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  If you would like to volunteer you are welcome to come in other times as well.  I will have other things you can help with.

Field Trip - we have a field trip coming up in October.  The note is coming home today.

We are learning about maps and making maps right now.  We will also be looking at different land forms. Students have had the opportunity to practice using a compass.

I am very proud of the second graders.  Each week they become a bit more remarkable.

How Does a Ladybug Fly?

Second graders studied this clip of a ladybug lifting off of a blade of grass.  After making observations and drawing a model of the ladybug they had a few questions.  The observed that the ladybug appeared to have 2 sets of wings, red and black.  They asked if the ladybug needed both sets of wings to fly?

We decided to investigate that question.  Students studied the video and their model and created 3D models of ladybugs.  Here are a few of them:

Before we conducted our test, students made claims about what they thought a ladybug used to fly. They gave evidence for their thinking to prove their claim was correct.  Here is how the class was divided in their claims:

Students decided to test the ability of their ladybugs to fly one windy day by throwing them like paper airplanes.  We measured the distance they traveled.  The farthest went 12 feet and the shortest distance was 7 feet 10 inches.

We returned to the classroom and discussed our findings.  I asked the students if our investigation helped us answer our question.  They all agreed that it hadn't.  I asked how we could change our investigation to answer our question.  The answer was to get live ladybugs, take the red wings off of one and the black wings off of the other and see if they could fly.  Since that wouldn't be very kind, we went back to our video and studied it carefully.  We also remembered that we had read that a beetle (a ladybug is a form of beetle) has a protective covering over its wings.  With that information and our video.  We decided that a ladybug flies with its black wings.  It lifts off the red ones to allow the black ones to fold out. Our evidence came from observations from the video and our research.

During this activity, students did a lot of writing, drawing, thinking, questioning, observing, planning, computation and problem solving.  They were acting as scientists using all they tools they had available to them.

Students did a great job on this activity.  Even though our investigation didn't help us to answer our question, we leaned a lot.  Sometimes scientists have to reevaluate their plan and that's okay.

2nd Letter from your Second Graders

Your second graders worked together to write you a letter about the past week.

1st Marble Party

Each day students are working to be on task and excellent role models.  When the whole class is on task, they get marbles.  As soon as their marble jar is full and mine is empty, they get a marble party.

Yesterday the second graders earned their first marble party!  Here is what they voted on:

On Friday, September 15 they may bring either a stuffed animal, a pillow or a blanket to school. Whatever they decide to bring MUST fit inside their backpack.  From 1:30 to 3:00, students get to find a cozy place in the room and read with their item of choice.

They earned their first marble party in 15 days! I am very proud of their hard work.

Week of 9/11/17

Student have reading homework coming home today.  Inside of their home folder, you will find some instructions and an example for how to fill out the fluency homework.  Your child should have a reading passage with a graph on the back that they can practice each day.

I'm hoping by including this in your home folder that it will be easier to keep track of than if it was in its own folder.

Students have their second spelling test tomorrow and a comprehension test.  They have been learning about the artist, Miro and have created their own art that will be on display tomorrow.

Students are learning about the diversity of life in science and we are working on alphabetizing and writing complete sentences. Some students are working on adding descriptions to their writing.

Week of 9/5/17

Students are doing a great job learning the routines.  We are beginning to get more learning done each day.

The second spelling list and phonogram list went home yesterday.  Today I will send home math papers that have concepts they will be tested on tomorrow.  Normally these will come home on Tuesdays, but it didn't work out this week.  We have been practicing these concepts in class so just a few minutes of review should help them for tomorrow.

I will also be sending home pictures today so look for those in backpacks.

Many of you informed me of how your volunteer availability.  Soon I will be sending home exactly what is needed in the classroom and you can let me know what works for you.

Right now we are practicing making ten for our facts.  We are practicing modeling numbers using tens and ones.  Students learned a new way to model those today.  If you ask them how to show you a number like 37, they should be able to draw the model for you.  We talked about how 2nd and 3rd graders use models like this to help them see the numbers.

Next Monday the 11th reading homework will come home.

I'm excited about this year.

Homework and Tests

In 2nd grade students will have weekly tests on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Tuesdays, they will be tested on Spelling, Phonograms and Reading Comprehension. They had their first practice spelling test yesterday and did well.

Each Tuesday, students will bring home their spelling and Phonograms for the test the following week so they may study.

Thursdays, students will be tested on daily math skills that we practice in class.  A study guide will come home on Tuesdays so they have time to review.

Homework
Second graders are expected to read 20 minutes per school night.  Their reading should total 100 minutes a week.  Students' reading logs will come home on Mondays and will be due the following Monday.  The first reading log will come home on September 11th.

Therefore, you should expect homework on Mondays and Tuesdays in students' home folders.

Most students are doing a great job bringing their home folder to school each day and taking it home.

~~
This year is going wonderfully!  I am enjoying each second grader and the unique qualities they bring to the class.

First Week of 2nd Grade

Here's a message about 2nd grade from your second graders:

"We learned about extremophiles and how they live in the hot water that is caused by the magma that is close to the surface.  We learned about habitats and animals.  We practiced our fact families and worked with ten frames in math.  We made a paper person and wrote about an adventure he or she experienced.  We learned that a scientist can look like anybody.  We learned about filling our buckets. We play a "going to space" game when we are in line.  We also learned Spanish with Mrs. Legg and we go to PE and Music.

Some of us say that 2nd great is great, fun, nice awesome, indescribable, spectacular and incredible. Others of us say it's boring and tiring and not so fun."

Spelling words

The second day of school was just as great as the first!

A practice list of spelling words went home today in students' Home Folders.  These folders are blue and are how we will send messages, notes and papers back and forth.  Students need to bring them back and forth to school everyday.

At the end of the day I ask students to give me a fist bump before they leave the line.  It is my way of assuring they are accounted for and don't end up in the wrong place.  Don't worry if your child comes back to get the fist bump before leaving with you.  It's also a fun way to say "See you tomorrow."

Many of you were interested in volunteering.  I am working out a schedule and hope to have more information for you next week.  Thank you for being patient with me.

First Day of School

We had a great first day!

Students learned a lot about what learning in class will look like this year.
Notes and homework information for the first week will be coming home tomorrow.

I'm looking forward to a great year.

Welcome to 2nd grade!

Welcome to a new school year!

I am thrilled to be teaching 2nd grade this year.  I completed my Master's degree this past summer and get to focus all my energy on teaching this year.

I will post an update here weekly to let you know about important events and what we are learning. You can follow the blog by entering your email into the white bar at the top.  When something gets posted, you will be notified by email so you don't have to search the blog wondering if I posted anything.

I look forward to seeing all of you at Meet the Teacher Night on August 18th.

Mrs. George