Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays from our second grade class! I hope you are all having a fabulous vacation!

Here are some pictures from our holiday party last Thursday!

Friendship book swap

Mrs. Pike being brave at the reindeer toss station!

The kids made reindeer ornaments that glow

Making reindeer hats

Mary and her beautiful candy cane dress!

Kids were very excited about their new books from the book swap! Thank you parents!

December Celebrations

December was such an exciting month in second grade. We have a poem in the classroom called 'December Celebrations' that we have been reading:

"Every year at just this time, in cold and dark December,

families around the world all gather to remember.

With presents and with parties, with feasting and with fun,

customs and traditions for people old and young.

So every year, around the world in all lands and nations,

people of all ages love December Celebrations!"

Last week, Mrs. Eisen, a teaching assistant in our classroom, came in to read an animal fantasy book, Hoppy Hanukkah. She shared with us some fun food and game traditions her family plays when they celebrate this holiday. She brought in dreidels for each child and starbursts that they earned for prizes. Thank you Mrs. Eisen for teaching us about your favorite December celebration!

Elf Store Visit

We had a great time on Monday visiting the Grade Two Elf Holiday Store to decorate our elves. Now, we will use this character to help formulate a creative writing story in Writer's Workshop.

Today in Writer's Workshop, we brainstormed ideas for our setting, characters, magic power, problem and solution. More updates coming soon as we craft some creative stories!

Science: Erosion and Weathering Investigations

In science, we began our study of the many ways in which Earth's surface is constantly changing. Last week, students took part in two science investigations on weathering and erosion. First, we simulated the effects of weathering by shaking bits of chalk in small jars filled with pebbles and then water. The kids had a lot of fun working together to carry out this experiment and draw pictures of their observations.

Later in the week we studied the effects of erosion by gently blowing through a straw against a mound of sand. We each got to blow one time, then each blew ten times. Ask your child how their sand mound changed and what they learned! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

We celebrated a big day today! Students worked hard to show mindfulness through the month of November earning feathers for teamwork, creativity, self control, resilience and respect. Today, every student was excited to showcase their full headdress, each earning all five feathers!

Over the past two months, students worked through the writing process: brainstorming, drafting, revising, editing, and today-PUBLISHING their own personal narrative stories. I am thankful that I have a group of such hardworking students that come into the classroom ready to learn and be their best selves each day. Have a fun Thanksgiving celebration with your families!

Students showcasing their feathers and published books! Such proud and happy kids!

S.T.E.M. Challenge: Build a Teddy Bear Chair

This morning, our students participated in our second S.T.E.M. challenge of the year! The challenge was to build a structure using only four pieces of paper and six inches of masking tape that will support a small stuffed animal. The chair must be freestanding and stable while holding the stuffed animal above a surface. Teams only had 3 minutes to collaborate and 10 minutes to construct. Ask your students about their creation!

Google Classroom Project: Build a Jack-o-Lantern

Students just completed their first Google Classroom project of the year: Build a Jack-o-Lantern! Each student was able to log into Google Classroom independently and move through Google slides to create their own jack-o-lantern character. After, each student personified their jack-o-lantern and gave them a voice! Enjoy!

 

Science: Building Continents

In science this week we used what we learned about landforms over the past few weeks to create a culminating project to help wrap-up our first science lesson of the year. We split up into seven small groups to model the seven continents with clay. Later in the week we used maps to research the landforms on our continent. We added rivers, lakes, mountain ranges and plains to our continents. Students love working in these cooperative small groups and did a fabulous job with their modeling. project-based learning can be so powerful!

S.T.E.M. Challenge: Bucket Towers

This morning we had our first S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) Challenge of the year! Today's mission was to build a tower with a suspended bucket that is free-swinging and holds weight (pennies). The structure can only be built using straws, string and tape. 

We had such creative ideas flowing through our classroom! After brainstorming and formulating a plan for only three minutes, teams worked together for ten minutes to build, test, and revise a bucket tower that could hold as many pennies as they could. We had so much fun!

Here are pictures of each team with their final product (revised) after our whole-school walk through!

Welcome to Second Grade!

We have had a great first twelve days of second grade! We have experimented with landforms, created Maps of our Hearts, wrote a Summer Day poem, and read some excellent 'just right' books in Reader's Workshop. There is so much we have already enjoyed so far in second grade!

One of the students favorite activities is weaving at the end of the day. Here is a snapshot of our classroom at 2:55pm. Busy workers!

Happy Summer!

Thank you for all of your help over the past year!

It has been a pleasure to teach and learn from your children everyday. I feel privileged to have had such a wonderful group of students this year. As a class, we talk all the time about how we have morphed throughout the year into a family, or community of learners. I believe it is so important that students feel comfortable participating, sharing, and opening up in the classroom. This group has not only been able to do that, but also helped to guide each other on their journey together through second grade. They are such creative and inspiring learners. Have a wonderful summer vacation!

But first... one more selfie!

Okay... maybe two :)

Audubon Field Trip

We went on a great field trip to the Ipswich River Audubon Nature Sanctuary! We got to check out some interesting artifacts, practiced rolling logs under the tree canopy looking for insects, and used different kinds of nets in field and forest ecosystems to collect samples. It was a great day and we had fun! Thank you to our wonderful parent chaperones who came with us!