Here we go!

We've been so busy in second grade already!  We're getting down to business this week.  We started learning about math stations this week.  Each day, students will rotate through four math stations.  The stations include math meeting (with me), math games, number work, and math boxes.  This teaching approach enables me to work with students in a small group setting, which allows me to individualize instruction for each child's specific learning needs.

For the past couple of days we learned how to play math games in partnerships.  We are learning how to get along, cooperate, and encourage each other.

Are you ready?!

Pack your backpack, grab your sleeping bag, and lace up your hiking boots!  It's almost time for...

See you on August 20!

Happy Earth Day!

Every year Earth Day is celebrated on April 22.  We are going to use this day to kick off a week of learning about the environment and what we can do to protect the precious Earth we live on.  To start, students created an Earth Day project in which they took trash and turned it into something new and useful.  The creativity was flowing in our classroom this year!

Keira made a piggy bank out of a fried onions container and a bead holder out of a lemonade container.

Flynn made a tractor out of an old soda bottle, pencils, and other things.

Landon worked with the Boy Scouts to make gardens out of take out containers.

Caroline made a headband holder with an old coffee can.

Peyton made a phone out of a shoebox and soup cans.

Corren made a reusable bag out of an old t-shirt.

Paul made a robot out of toilet paper rolls, soda bottles, aluminum foil, and more.

Kaitlyn made a fish bowl out of an old container.

Dominic made a garden out of a take-out container.

Molly made a bracelet out of soda tabs.

March Award Recipients

Homework Hall of Fame:

These students turned in every single homework assignment!

Rockin' Readers:

These students completed their March reading calendars.

 Behavior Rockstars:

These students never moved their clips down!

Keep up the great work!  Finish the year off strong!

The Week Before Spring Break

...and all through the classroom not a single student was silent!  Despite kicking off our last week before spring break with a snow day, we were in a springy mood in our classroom!  We played Easter math games, had a luau celebration, and made bunny baskets.  Take a look!

Math centers:

Luau:

Bunny basket craft:

Budding Paleontologists

If you walk into our classroom at 2:30 any afternoon, you won't be greeted by second grade students.  No, you'll be greeted by paleontologists-in-training!  We recently started a fossil and dinosaur unit and have been very busy learning about this science field!

To learn about fossils, we first learned just how hard it is to conduct a field excavation.  We used chocolate chip cookies to explore this aspect of the job.  Students had to excavate chocolate chips (which symbolized fossils) from the cookies (which symbolized gravel and soil).  We learned that it is much harder than it looks!

After we learned how paleontologists do fossil excavations, we examined some real fossils.  The paleontologists-in-training had to find a fossil (or many) in the rocks and try to identify the organism that created them.

Next up, we're going to learn about the types of dinosaurs (carnivores and herbivores).  After that we'll do a research project on specific dinosaurs!

February Awards

February really is a milestone month.  If we can survive the final days of winter, we can survive anything! Here are the students who not only survived February, but thrived!

Congratulations to our Homework Club!

These students didn't miss one single homework assignment all month!

 

Congratulations to our Behavior Rockstars!

These students never moved their clip below green all month!

 

Congratulations to our Rockin' Readers!

These students completed their February reading calendars!

It's a Triple!

These students received all 3 February awards!