Change is Simple: Pollinators!

On Friday, we were visited by Change is Simple, a program designed to help teach students about the connection between our environment and our health. We learned about five different kinds of bees that live in our area: bumble bee, honey bee, squash bee, carpenter bee and sweat bee. These five bees all pollinate different plants because they are attracted to different color petals on flowers.

Students check out the visuals of the five types of bees.

Students had the opportunity to take a closer look at the bumble bee and honey bee and compare their observations using a microscope attached to an ipad. They looked at the structure of the body and looked for places where pollen could get stuck.

The girls use a microscope to take a closer look at the bumble bee.

We also played a game where each student represented a different bee and raced around the classroom and visit food they were attracted to. Next, students were asked to wear special bee goggles to mimic the dizzy, disoriented feeling the bees get when their plants are sprayed with pesticides. Ask your child about this game!

Students hold up food cards for the bees to collect in the game.

Olivia, Mark and Nico try out the bee goggles!

Gabriele, Addison and Will holding their bee cards.

We learned a lot from the Change is Simple program, especially the importance of not using chemicals and pesticides on our food. We know that bees help pollinate many of our yummy foods and we wouldn't have all these foods if not for bees! Many students look forward to planting flowers when the spring comes to attract bees and help grow the bee population. We can't wait for the next visit from Change is Simple later this year! What a fun, hands-on science experience!

Students work together to help sort the different plants that bees help pollinate. We were surprised by the number of fruits and vegetables in the 'do pollinate' category!

Fable Role-Play

Over the past two weeks we have been working hard on our genre study of fables and folktales. In Reader's Workshop last week, we dove deeper into the genre of fables. Earlier this week we used these stories to track story elements of fables including the setting, personification, the problem or flaw of a character, and the moral. Students worked in mini fable booklets to track their own thinking on a graphic organizer. 

Rider, Ava and Olivia chart story elements.

Sage and Maggie work together to track their thinking.

Will and Michael write in their graphic organizer.

Annalisa, Addison and Emily work as a team to read their fable.

Later in the week students worked in small groups to perform a fable for their classmates. The rest of the group was asked to guess the moral of the story. Check out the videos below!

Save the Date - Second Grade Winter Concert

Your spectacular second grade student will be participating in our Steward School production of "Please Don't Melt! A Musical Story of Polar Animals." The performance is Monday, February 1st in the Steward School Cafeteria at 2:15 p.m. Please save this date and bring the whole family for an afternoon of song and laughter!

Here is one of the songs the children will be singing! Ms. Swanson encourages the children to practice at home! 

Penguin Polka Sing Along

Science Research: Polar Bear Study

This week we began our study on Polar Bears. Students worked in small groups to use non-fiction picture books and collect facts about the polar bear habitat, life cycle and adaptations.

Gabriele tracks his information on his graphic organizer.

Will and Rider work together to collect polar bear facts.

We even had the opportunity to watch a live webcam from a Tundra Buggy in the Arctic Circle! We were able to watch live video of polar bears in their natural habitat! Check out the link below to see the live webcam:

Arctic Animals: Tundra Webcast

This week we started our study of Polar Animals! We will be studying the polar habitat, life cycles, and adaptations of many animals that live in the Arctic and Antarctic Circles. Today, we started watching a fun webcast all about arctic animals. These researchers study the polar bears in northern Canada! Take a look!

All About Arctic Animals: Tundra Connections Webcast

Writer's Workshop: Kicking off our Opinion Unit

In Writer’s Workshop this week we began our next unit on persuasive writing. In this unit students will write opinion pieces in which they introduce a topic or book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply reasons to support their opinion, use linking words (because, and, also) to connect their opinion and reasons, and provide a concluding statement or section. This all seems like a lot to ask now, but the children will be working hard on these goals over the next couple of weeks! 

This week we discussed the difference between a fact and opinion and practiced sorting statements during a fun, hands-on activity. We reviewed the acronym O.R.E.O. (opinion, reason, example, opinion) that helps us remember how to organize a convincing argument. We learned a catchy new song to help us with this as well! Check it out!

O.R.E.O. Song