Coin Crash with Dash the Robot

On Thursday afternoon students played 'Coin Crash' in small groups. They used plastic cups with icons of coins and bills attached to them to create a large cup tower. Then, they used the Blockly app to 'code' Dash the robot to run into the cups and knock their tower down. Whichever cups fell, they had to count up the sum of the money. This was great practice for counting bills and coins! We had fun!

D.A.S.H. - Disability Awareness Starts Here

On Monday we started to prepare to have visitors from D.A.S.H. (Disability Awareness Starts Here) join us this week! In second grade, the D.A.S.H. program focuses on blindness, and I kicked off our D.A.S.H. year by teaching the children all about the inner workings of our eye. We also discussed the life of Helen Keller and all the challenges and obstacles she overcame in her life.
 

We took a walk around the school and searched for braille in the world around us. Students had the opportunity to use split peas and spell out their name in braille.

On Tuesday we welcomed parent volunteers in for D.A.S.H. where students were blindfolded and got to experience a guided walk, cane walk, and visiting a restaurant. Ask your child how they felt to lose their sense of sight for a short time. Check out pictures from this experience:

Innovation Night

Thank you to all families who came to celebrate learning, S.T.E.M., and science at Innovation Night last night! I see many familiar faces in this video!

Snowshoeing Adventure

We had an amazing afternoon snowshoeing around Steward and in the Audubon! We even brought our class mascot, Mr. Yeti, to the top of a snow mountain next to the school. The kids are exhausted and all showed resilience while trying something new. We had so much fun! Enjoy the pictures!

Read Across American Day!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! 

We celebrated with a crazy hat day, whole-school sing along, and a special guest reader, Mrs. Runnion from The Art Room! Here is a video showcasing Steward's decorated doors and guest readers. Enjoy!

Reader's Workshop: Fables Genre Study

Over the past few months we have been studying the genre of folktales, and more specifically, fables. Students have learned a lot about this genre and added so much more information to our always/often t-chart after we finished the unit!

To celebrate our learning of fables, students practiced reader's theater in small groups and performed for their classmates. They even created their own costumes for the performance. Enjoy!

City Mouse and Town Mouse by Lukas, Landan, and Hannah


Dog and His Shadow by Dustin and Emma


Fox and the Crow by Juliet, Noemia, and Brynn


Fox and the Stork by Timmy, Hayes, and Drew


Crow and the Pitcher by Christopher and Jack


Wolf in Sheep's Clothing by Cyra and Owen


Peacock and Juno by Annie, Annika, and Maeva

Writer's Workshop: Fable Awards

It’s award season! Over the past few weeks we have been working on a project in Writer’s Workshop based on favorite Aesop fables we have read in Reader's Workshop. Using these stories as a model, the students choose their own favorite fable character and began filling in their OREO graphic organizer with reasons and examples why their character should be nominated for a special award.

The students were very inspired by connecting their reading and writing knowledge, and their creative voice was evident in this persuasive piece. We celebrated our learning with a classroom transformation on Tuesday! We walked the red carpet and presented our award to our fable character!

Check out this fun movie of our award show: