Welcome Back to a New Year!

We have completed our first week of school. Things are going great!

Students are learning what it looks like to be 2nd graders.

BEHAVIOR IN CLASS

In my classroom students earn classroom money.  If you hear them talking about the money they earned, it is not real money.  They get to spend that money special privileges and items.  A few purchases they can make are: sitting in a bean bag chair, sitting with a stuffed animal, using a clipboard, taking the class for a walk, choosing their job, choosing from the treasure box or using a special pen for the day.  Students earn money by showing responsibility like returning their blue home folder each day and by meeting classroom expectations like being respectful, following the rules and working hard.  Students lose money when they make poor choices.

I have a chart in my room with magnets on it. Each day all 2nd graders start on the blue owl.  When I catch them being a role model and going above and beyond the expectations, I ask them to move their magnet up, that is a good thing.  They earn more money if they end the day on the purple owl which is the role model.

If students make poor choices, I ask them to move their magnet down.  The first time is a warning, it is a reminder to stop and think about what you are doing.  The second time they need to fill out a refocus form and write down what they did and what they will do differently next time.  When students end the day on the orange (warning) or red (refocus) owl they owe me money.  If a student isn't able to refocus and make good decisions, the next stop is a referral to the office. 

The good news is students can move their magnets up and down all day.  Even if they make a poor choice, if I catch them making good choices their magnet can go back up.

Today students are going to bring home a practice refocus form for you to see.  It isn't real so you don't need to worry.

I am so thrilled to have each of these 2nd graders in my class this year!

Field Trip

This past week students have learned about different ways seeds travel in order to find a good place to grow.  They also learned about pollination and pollinators. 

When we went to the Botanical Gardens on Tuesday they were able to see their knowledge at work.  They planted flowers.  They learned how flowers attract pollinators.  They saw pollination in action and dissected a flower to see all its parts.

The students were also able to view different animals and their habitats at the zoo.  The could see animals from all over the world in one place.

Here are some pictures from our field trip.  It was a great success!

   

Week of 4/23

I have a lot of news for you.  It seems surreal that there is less than 5 weeks left of school.  Many of these dates you should know from the school newsletter, but I will include them here also.

We are beginning a new unit in science covering plants.  It will go nicely with our field trip in May.

I try to align the reading homework with what we are learning in class so it is beneficial for students to complete their homework.

Music Concert
This Friday, April 26th is the 2nd and 3rd grade music concert at 10 am in the gym.

Field Trip
May 7 is the 2nd grade field trip to the Botanical Gardens and the Boise Zoo.  If you didn't receive a permission slip, let me know and I will send another one home.  We will leave the school for the Botanical Gardens at 8:30. 

IRI
Students will take their IRI test on May 8th.  This is a good day to make sure students have plenty of rest and eat a healthy breakfast so they can focus and do their best.

Science Night
May 16 at 5:30 students will display their hard work in the gym.  Each student is working on their project with their partner.  I saw some great information come to class yesterday.  Students did a great job on their investigations.

Field Day
The second graders will have their activities from 1:30 - 2:30 on May 22nd.

Awards Ceremony
May 23rd is the awards ceremony at 8:20 in the gym.  You will receive an email prior to that day if your child is receiving an award.

Last Day of School
May 24 is the last day of school.  School ends at 1:45.

Canyons in 2nd Grade

This week students investigated the question, "What makes a canyon?"

Students hypothesized that it could be earthquakes, asteroids, tornadoes, or erosion.

Here are some images from our investigation.  We created a hill out of some "land" and simulated rain pouring down on it to see the result.

        

Here is an example of  the final product after 4 rainstorms.

Students discovered that erosion wears away at the rock and sand and creates new land forms like canyons, cliffs and landslides.

Here is a video after the final rainstorm for all projects:

Week of 3/18

This is the last week before spring break.

The students are discovering how rivers work, what erosion is and how the different bodies of water compare to one another.  They have conducted 2 investigations.  One helped them determine why rivers flow.  The other helped them understand where sand comes from.

Their curiosity has led them to ask questions about volcanoes and earthquakes so each day we learn a bit about those as well.  I love their inquisitive minds.

Roaring Readers
Roaring Readers papers are due no later than Friday, March 22nd.  They will be mailed out that evening so no late papers will be accepted.

Book Orders
I will also be sending in the book order on March 22nd after school.

Homework
Homework did go home today.  Everyone has a reading log and a reading passage about rivers.  Some students also have a fluency paper.  If you have a fluency paper it is okay if you practice it 3 times a night instead of 5 to make room for the article.

All homework is due April 2nd, but it is okay to turn it in Friday so you can forget about it over break.

Why do Rivers Flow?

This week we conducted an investigation to discover why rivers flow.  The class hypothesized that they flowed because the wind pushed them, the animals swimming underneath made them flow or other rivers pushed them. 

After our investigation, they learned that rivers flow because they begin at the tops of mountains and hills and flow down to the oceans.

Tomorrow we are going to look at the rivers in Idaho.  Feel free to do some research about Idaho rivers and which ocean they flow into at home so your second grader has even more to share tomorrow.

Here are some pictures of our models.  Ask you second grader to tell you about it.

 

Week of 3/4

I hope the surprise 3-day weekend helped everyone get some needed rest.  Our room got sanitized and is ready for another week.

Red Fish, Blue Fish day and our fish graphs

Monday, the 4th, is wear red for Caring day.

Friday, the 8th will be our PJ "Read In "day.  This is rescheduled from last Friday.  Students can wear their pajamas and bring one cozy item: a blanket, a pillow or a stuffed animal.

Math
Our goal is to be able to add and subtract up to 3-digit numbers by the end of the year.  Students are getting a lot of experience with equivalent numbers (23 tens = 1 hundred, 3 tens).  They are working on graphing, money, measurement and geometry.  Adding and subtracting numbers and understanding how we do that with regrouping is an essential skill, but they can't do that if they don't understand place value.  Some students are moving quickly through this process and are already experiencing more challenging math concepts.  Those that are struggling are getting more time to master the basic ideas so the more challenging ideas won't stump them.

Spelling
Currently, there are 12 different spelling lists in the classroom.  There is anywhere from 1 to 4 students on a list.  Students are learning to look for patterns in words and discover how spelling rules apply to new words.  I am pleased with the learning that is happening.  Students are spelling better in their writing because they are thinking about the patterns they are learning.  You can always ask your second grader what their pattern for the week is.  It might be fun to see if you can find more words together.

Reading
In addition to the reading we do together.  Each student has a book they are assigned to read.  When they are finished, they take an Accelerated Reader test on the book and they must pass to be able to stay at that difficulty level.  Students need to pass an AR test at least once a month.

Writing
Most students have succeeded in writing a complete paragraph.  The goal by the end of the year is to write 2 complete 4-5 sentence paragraphs.  Last week students wrote a report on the president they learned about.  It was good practice in writing 2 paragraphs.  This week they will finish writing their stories.  They are working on adding details in the form of adjectives to make their stories more interesting.  They should bring them home on Friday after they read them for the "Read in."

Science and Social Studies
In both science and social studies we will be studying water, erosion and the earth's surfaces.  Students will also be creating maps identifying where they are in the world.  This week we will be needing spray bottles to spray water.  If you have any we could borrow, you can send them to school with your second grader.