New Book Week!

Today in Library we got to check out all the new books available to check out in the library.  Ms. Z had them at different stations/tables and we rotated through all the stations to look at the books!  We all saw so many that we thought we would love to check out.  These kids really love to read!  Awesome!

Oh  - we love Kate DiCamillo books too!  So many great books to read!

Kate DiCamillo books rock!

Geography - Create Your Own Adventure!

Today as a wrap up to our Geography units we worked on creating pictures of our own trip across The United States.  Students designed postcard like pictures of themselves in a specific place such as the mountains or plains.  They worked very hard and the maps turned out great!

Indoor Recess

There are days that we have to stay inside from recess due to rain or extreme cold weather.  Today was a very cold day and we had indoor recess.  There are usually many options and students pick one they would like to do.  Sometimes students are all in the hallway and sometimes students are in various spaces including in our room.  Sometimes students can watch a movie.  Here are some examples of what we do during indoor recess!

Wooden blocks!

Unifix cubes!

Multi-connecting cubes!

Place value structures!

Pattern block designs!

Drawing!

Coloring!

Coding

Yesterday and today students had the chance to learn about coding.  They worked with a partner on an iPad for about 45 minutes each day.  It was challenging and lots of fun!

We talked about having perseverance on a task, which means knowing that things may not go right the first time we try, but that is okay.  We can learn from our mistakes, talk with our partner about what went right and try again.  We also talked about taking turns with our partner and being a good encourager.  

Programs/Apps we used!

Two on Tuesday

Today we did two really fun thing, among other fun things in 2nd Grade.

We read Greetings from Route 66 with a partner as we listened to the CD recording.  This book is full of awesome pictures and description of Route 66 and some of the places along the way.  Ask your child what he/she remembers about this book.

This afternoon we played a geography game!  In this game we had to name and identify the features of land and water.  Ask your child what the features are and how to identify them.  

My Math

Today was the last lesson in Unit 4.  Today we solved two step word problems.

Here is an example:
There are 83 children sledding on a hill.  13 get cold and decide to go home.  Then 12 go inside to have hot cocoa.  How many children are left on the sledding hill?

We talked about how we would know if we needed to add or subtract.  We also talked about how sometimes we would add, add or add, subtract or subtract, subtract or add, subtract.  Everyone worked very hard!  We are getting to be good at math!

Rocky Mountain Research

This week we spent time researching the Rocky Mountains as a part learning about research and library skills.

First we came up with questions we had about the Rocky Mountains.  We then narrowed our questions down to  How were they made?  How did they get their name and who discovered them? What animals live there?

In library this week Ms. Z helped us answer our questions using an ebook on Mackin Via.  We read and took notes.

Last, we used our notes to write a paragraph together and record it in our Symbols and Landmark books.  It was a lot of fun!  We are enjoying learning about various parts of the United States.  Next, we will learn about Mount Rushmore.