Books and Pyramids

The past few days have flown by with all of the learning going on in our room!  Here is a quick recap of a few activities:

1.  We are LOVING the Mercy Watson series!  We on currently reading book two and enjoy learning more about Mercy and her parents along with the neighbors and other community members.  Ask your child about their favorite parts.

2.  Personal Narratives

     We have read four books and practice writing personal narratives from the perspective of one of the characters.  Next, we will write our own personal narrative about one of these times: 1) at time I was brave  2) a time I solved a problem  3) a special time with a friend or  4) a special time with my family. 

3.  Geometry!

     We have been learning about 2 and 3 dimensional shapes.  Today we built pyramids with different polygons for the base.  We used simple materials, straws and twist ties, to make our pyramids.  It was a good experience in perseverance and trying our best even when it felt hard. 

4.  We previewed some apps that we will be using on Friday when we participate in the Hour of Code.  Ms. Zbacnik, our librarian, has done a blog post about The Hour of Code on her blog.  Please click here to be connected to her blog.

Chloe

Today we started talking about our Personal Narratives.  The Second grade is going to see The Wizard of Oz in January.  We decided to tie our writing in with the play by writing a narrative that represents one of the characters.  Students will write one narrative that focuses on 1) a special time with family (Dorothy) 2) a time your were kind or experienced kindness (Tin Man)  3) a time you were brave (Lion) or  4) at time you solved a problem (Scarecrow.) 

Today we read  Chole.  This story represents a special time with family.  We wrote a personal narrative from the perspective of Chloe.  Ask your child to tell you what the story was about. 

Geography and Mo Willems

Today we made maps during our Geography lesson.  One map is of the United States and we labeled specific features of the country such as the Mississippi River and Rocky Mountains.  The other map we will use to draw pictures that represent an imaginary trip we take across the country.

We also finished our Author Study about Mo Willems.  We discussed how he writes such varied books.  We have enjoyed the silliness of the Pigeon and Elephant and Piggie books.  The book, City Dog and Country Frog was more serious and had a lesson.  We discussed how it also had many different endings/meanings and could easily have a sequel.  Ask your child about the book! 

Buddies and Bingo

Today was the BIG day!

We got to meet our Fifth grade buddies!  It was very fun and the older students did a wonderful job of showing respect and compassion toward the younger students.  The students had a chance to chat a little bit before the other fun of the day started.  We played ALL SCHOOL LEARNING BINGO!
Ask your child about their Bingo board and how the game is played.  It was challenging to figure out who the Mystery Callers were throughout the game.

It was a good day!

Balloons

We are done with our balloon creation and persuasive lettering writing as related to the book Balloons Over Broadway.  The final products are wonderful!  The illustrations are very well done with lots of detail and the letters are very thoughtful.  Many students have very good reasons why his/her balloon should be included in the next parade.  Ask your child about his/her creation and letter.

Turkey Hats!

Today we worked on creating our Turkey Hats!  There were many steps involved and it too quite a bit of time.  The feathers were the most interesting part.  Everyone thought of a different design.  Ask your child what they did to make their hat.

All of the Second graders wore them to lunch today!  We felt like we looked a bit silly, but at least we all looked silly together.  Everyone was so cute!

Turkeys ready for lunch!

Turkeys all smiles!

Thanksgiving Research

Today we spent time researching Thanksgiving for our Symbol Books.  First, we decided on the topics we wanted to learn more about within the broad topic of Thanksgiving.  Next, we used the iPads to read about Thanksgiving at Pebble Go!  After that we shared our notes and used bullet points to record information in our Research Journals.    Then, we used books to look for a bit more information.  We worked together with a partner to find facts.  We also had to use the Table of Contents and Index.    Last, we used our notes to write a paragraph about Thanksgiving.  It was a very busy morning of research.