Fun Wednesday!

We had half a day of school today, but we really packed in some fun!

Our turkeys were waiting for us this morning as we arrived. 

We had to get ready to play All School Learning Bingo with our Fifth grade buddies.  We had a word list and had to make our own boards. 

At 10:15 a.m. we got to meet our buddies and play Bingo with them.  It was lots of fun to be all together.  We played four rounds and had to listen to see if we could figure out who the Mystery Callers were. 

It was time for lunch and time to wear our fabulous turkey hats!  As we discovered, they weren't perfect, but we made the best of it and had fun!

After recess we read Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet. 

Ask your child what this book was about.  We watched a video clip of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. 

Turkey Hat Time!

This week we have been working on our Annual Second Grade project - TURKEY HATS!  This is always a favorite project for the students.  It is quite complex with many steps to complete.  Of course, the last step is to have your hat fitted and wear it! 

Step 1:  Trace the turkey body on to two pieces of brown paper.

Step 2:  Cut out your turkey bodies.

Step 3:  Color your turkey.  Some students made their turkey realistic and others were quite creative.

Step 4:  Trace feathers for your turkey.  Cut them out.  Color/decorate both sides.

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble!

Late this afternoon we fitted each student with their hat!  Pictures will be up tomorrow!

Letters of Thanks

Today we worked on writing Thank You notes or letters.  First we read Circle of Thanks by Susi Gregg Fowler and Peter Catalanotto.  Ask your child about the plot of this story.

We talked about some words and phrases we could in writing our letters and made a huge list of people we could thank.  The list was very large!  Then we started writing!  Many students wrote to their First grade teacher or even their Kindergarten teacher.  It was fun to see what each student said in their letter.  Many students wrote more than one.  If the person was a school person, students hand delivered their notes. 

Library Research

Today we had a chance to work on research with Ms. Z in the library.  We are learning about Thanksgiving to add to our Symbol Book.  We decided to focus on three areas of Thanksgiving:  Thanksgiving Long Ago, Thanksgiving Today and Food.

Ms. Z taught us about using the Table of Contents and Index to help us locate information within a book.

We had time to look in our own books for specific information.  We wrote our findings in our research notebook.

We will practice doing a little research each month so prepare for our big project later this year. 

City Hall Field Trip

Wow!  What an awesome field trip today to Roseville City Hall!  

All bundled up and ready to go!  It was a bit chilly.

All smiles and ready to learn!

First we met with a police officer.  She explained what she does for the citizens of Roseville.  We also got to see and holding cell.  Last she let us peek in a police car.

Next we went to the Public Works Department.  We learned about some of the job they do above and below our roads around the city.  We learned about the special material they use for signs.

We also got to learn about the snowplows.  They are amazing machines.

Then we walked over to the Fire Station and met with a Firefighter.  He explained what they do to help the citizens of Roseville.  They have many jobs in addition to fighting fires.  We also got to climb in a real firetruck!

Firefighters have to work in all types of weather!

Last we visited the City Council Chambers and had the chance to meet the Mayor Dan Roe.  He told us about his job and how the city council works.  

Special Assembly

This morning we had an assembly with Auntie Beverly.  She is a storyteller that doesn't read from a real book.  She told us three Folktales. First she told us the story about how the bunny became so fast.  This story is also a book called Zomo the Rabbit.  Next she told us a story about how the little turtle got its hard shell.  The last story was about how it is better to work hard and not be lazy like the bear.  This story is a book called Tops and Bottoms.  She used a lot of voices and taught us some actions to go along with the stories.  We loved it!

Ask your child about his/her favorite part.

Guided Reading

Over the next few weeks we are changing up our Guided Reading time and structure.  We will still meet, but the groups are a little different and we are doing activities in a different way.

Today, I met with a group and we talked about comparing and contrasting.  We read an article about birds and then found and underlined text that supported our answers. 

Blue and Green group

Comparing and Contrasting with a Venn Diagram

Finding text to support our thinking and answers.

Today we

Today we practiced our inferencing skills by looking at a few items from a bag that was found outside our classroom.  We looked at a few items and talked about what this might tell us about the owner.  As we ended the activity, I told this students that the bag was actually my purse.  Ask your child what else we discussed and were able to learn about the owner.  

We read another book by Mo Willems.  We are reading some of his books that do not have familiar characters.  This book had a big twist that took all of us by surprise!  Ask your child about the ending!