Wednesday, March 20, 2013

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!

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

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! 

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Valentine's Day

I hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day filled with love, family time, and chocolate!  We had a small celebration in our class.  We created mailboxes and exchanged cards, and Mrs. Tirey came in with a science experiment and an art project.

Exchanging and opening cards...






Our art project... silly faces!


Our science experiment... volcanoes!
 


We "mustache" you a question... will you be our valentines??!!

Monday, February 4, 2013

100th Day

On January 31, we celebrated our 100th day of second grade!  I am so proud of the students and how much they have learned in our first 100 days!  Take a look at the highlights of the day!




I'm looking forward to 76 more great days!

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Squiggle Writing

This week, the students are doing a fun creative writing project called Squiggle Writing.  They take a squiggle and turn it into a picture and then write a story about their picture.  Check out some of the all stars!

There was a sea monster who lived under water.  He has no friends.  He has no family.  Anyone is not with him.  He is by himself.  -Tim

Once there was a village that was pour.  One night a little house owned by the mayer got sold.  So then the mayer couldn't find a house to live in.  Then one day he did.  The mayer could finaly make money and make the village rich agin.  The end.  -Peyton

Once there was a herakane that came threw a villedge and washed up tow homes.  The people were asleep when the herakane got there houses and dident even notice till the next day.  -Emily

One day there was a fish in the ocean.  The fish was swiming around and then he looked for some food.  When he was looking for food he saw a shark!  So the fish swimmed away and when the fish looked back the shark was swimming after the fish.  So the fish looked around and found a tiny hole.  So he swam into the hole and when the shark tried to get into the hole but the shark was to big.  So the shark got stuck and the fish escaped and went back to his home.  -Landon

One night a cat was walking in the woods.  And she heard something.  Then it got louder and louder.  The cat did not know what to do.  The sound was like this Boom Boom Boom.  It go so loud the cat ran away each time she moves the sound got louder and louder bang Boom.  It came to the cat.  It was a fuzzy wuzzy.  -Skyler

Metacognition

In reading, we are working on metacognition, which we say is thinking about what you're reading.  We have discussed what a good 2nd grade reader does.  We decided that just knowing how to read the words on the page is not good enough.  Good 2nd grade readers think about the words they are reading.  Check us out using the strategy!

Peyton and Brady model the strategy
Text + Thinking = Real Reading!




The students worked with their reading partners to read Rosa and Blanca and practice using our metacognition strategy.  They read a page and discussed their thoughts about it before moving to the next page.
 

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

December Awards

Despite the excitement of Christmas and 2 weeks off, we had a very successful December!  Many students earned awards for the month.


Homework Hall of Fame
These students turned in every homework assignment on time (even Rocket Math)!
Not pictured:  Landon


Rockin' Readers
These students completed their December reading calendar! 
Not pictured:  Landon


Behavior Rockstars
These students never moved their clips below green!
Not pictured:  Landon


Triple Crown
These students earned all 3 December awards!  What an accomplishment!
Not pictured:  Landon