Geometry Fun With Gumdrops

As a culminating activity to our Geometry Unit in math, we built three dimensional solid figures out of toothpicks and gumdrops.  What a fun (and tasty!) way of putting our new skills into fun practice!  We built the cube, rectangular prism, square pyramid, and triangular prism.  Want to know more about geometric faces, edges, and vertices?  Just ask...we'll tell you everything you want to know!

Oh, What Fun!

Homophone Chant...Say It With Me!

THEY DON'T LOOK ALIKE...

they don't look alike...

THEY'RE NOT SPELLED THE SAME...

they're not spelled the same...

THEY SOUND JUST ALIKE...

they sound just alike...

IT'S THE HOMOPHONE GAME!

it's the homophone game...

We had SUCH fun hunting pears...I mean PAIRS of words that do just want our chant states.  Homophones are words that don't look alike, are not spelled the same, and yet the sound exactly like the other.  Look below for some of the pears...I mean PAIRS we studied this week! 

Our English Language Is Full Of Them...
 
PEARS/PAIRS          ANT/AUNT          TALE/TAIL
BEAR/BARE          WEIGHT/WAIT          MALE/MAIL
STAIR/STARE          BEE/BE          REIGN/RAIN
EIGHT/ATE          I/EYE           SEE/SEA
NIGHT/KNIGHT           ROLL/ROLE          RIGHT/WRITE   

Book Fair Fun



I love books.  No, let me say that again...I LOVE BOOKS!  What teacher doesn't love the feel (and even the smell) of a brand new book in her hands?  Some very generous friends in our classroom bought books off of my 'Wish List' at our annual Scholastic book fair to donate to our classroom.  Below are my friends and the fun books they bought for the rest of us.  Thank You Second Grade Friends!  :)

Thank You Anson For Yes Day!

Wouldn't we all love a day where the answer was always YES?!

Thank You Kynlea For What Does The X-Ray Say?

This book is an interesting peek into what an x-ray sees.

Thank You Haden For Merry Christmas, Splat.

Oh, how we love the adventures of Splat the Cat.  Can't wait to share this one next month!

Thank You Amberly For Skeletons.

This non-fiction book is loaded with great photographs of our skeletal systems!

 Thank You To Jackson For Odd Animal Helpers.

This book is filled with the amazing ways that one animal in the wild can help out another.

Thank You To Our Librarian, Mrs. Myers, who donated  the book Amphibians to our classroom.

This non-fiction book will come in handy during our study of animal groups this spring!

Thank you for your purchases,  friends...your gift of one book helps all 20 of us!

11-11-11

It's the ELEVENTH day of the ELEVENTH month of the year 2000 ELEVEN!  We decided this unique day on the calendar was worth recognizing!  We collected names for the number ELEVEN by trading our ELEVEN card with our friends and gathering up new ways to recognize the number ELEVEN.  Some of our names were: ELEVEN tally marks, 11:00, a dime and a penny, XI, 8+3, 15-4, a domino with ELEVEN, two nickels and a penny, a long and a cube, 11x1, and a whole big bunch of addition and subtraction facts.  We also looked at the unique pattern of ELEVENS on our hundreds grids and sneaked a peek at just how easy our ELEVEN multiplication facts will be to memorize.  We were in HEAVEN with the number ELEVEN.

A Big Spooky Bunch Of Second Graders...

Here We Are!

Some of us spooky, some of us sporty, but all of us sweet!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween Second Graders

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Solider Township Fire Department Visit

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The second graders visited the Soldier Township Fire Department as a culminating activity to our study on fire safety and prevention. The students had the opportunity to visit with firefighters, see the gear that they use in firefighting, and view the equipment on their trucks. Be sure to have a conversation with your child about what to do at your house in case of fire. Review escape routes, family meeting places, and how to stay safe.

Happy Constitution Day!

Students in schools across the nation celebrated Constitution Day on Friday in honor of September 17, 1787 the signing of  the United States Constitution.  Our second graders worked through the difficult language of the Preamble to learn about our freedoms and rights as an American using language we understood very easily.  Many of the students were even able to memorize it as we worked through it this week.  We learned a fun song with some fun actions about this important document and wanted to share it with you!  Enjoy it...and the freedoms you have as a citizen in this great country, the United States of America!

Writing Process...Through Play Dough

Before launching our Writing Workshop in second grade, we enjoyed an activity with Play Dough that mirrors the writing process we will be using all year. In the first stage, called Prewriting, students poked, rolled, twisted, pressed, and played with their Play Dough as they began their thinking process about what they would make. In the Prewriting Stage of writing, students illustrate and complete graphic organizers to begin thinking about how their writing will look and sound. In the second stage of the process, the Drafting Stage, students were asked to create something out of their Play Dough. It is in this stage where the creative thought process goes down on paper. In the third stage, the Revision stage, students were asked to add something or take something away from their creation. This is sometimes the toughest part...It reminds us that our work can always be improved from our original plan. We have a saying in class, 'When you think your work is done...it's really that you've just begun!' The final stage of Publishing allowed us to put our creations on display and share them with our classmates. We 'oooohed' and 'ahhhhed' over each other's work and I had the pleasure of watching my student's confidence soar. You should see us on Author Share Days...not only do we enjoy hearing the work of our friends, but we sure enjoy the compliments they pass onto us after we share our work. Happy Writing Second Grade Friends! :)

Second Thoughts...On The Second Day

It's only day two in the second grade, but it is already easy to see that we are in for a wonderful year of learning.  Our class is made up of nineteen students, ten boys and nine girls.  What a wonderful split!  I especially love these first few days when the excitement of all the 'new' can hardly be contained.  It's a new year, a new teacher, a new classroom, new friends, new routines, and all kinds of new learning ahead of us! 

Day three of school rolled around and brought a surprise with it...no school for the students due to power outages from the storm the night before. We were faced with having to apply our Character Word of the Month immediately:  ADAPTABILITY.  It is the willingness to have to change the plans you've made. We did just that!  We'll see you again on Monday...and pick right up where we left off.   

Second Thoughts

It is always this time each year when my mind becomes consumed with 'Second Thoughts.'  I spend countless hours thinking about the new group of second graders that will come pouring through the door on the first day of school.  I think about the preparation, the planning, the implementing, and how to bundle all of that into something that transfers my love of learning to my students.  It is this time of year that I can't help but think of a few of my favorite things... school supply shopping, the shine of a new coat of floor wax, brand new books just waiting to be read aloud, the new shoes that will come zipping through the doorway, and the new friends that I'll spend the next nine months with.  Thanks for being a part my 'Second Thoughts.'  I know there will be plenty more to come!