Science Extraveganza!

We have started our first Science unit:  Air and Weather.  This week we spent time exploring air!

Here are a few things we learned:

Air is a form of matter.  It is invisible and takes up space.  Air interacts with objects and is all around objects.  Air can be compressed and compressed air can move things.  

Today we looked at air and water!  We used vials, a tub of water and paper towel for the experiment.  We tried to keep the paper towel dry while submerging the vial in water!  Ask your child how he/she was able to do it.

We experimented with compressed air and learned about air pressure.  It was a super fun experiment!

Author/Illustrator Event!

Thursday was a big day!  We were lucky enough to have Julie Fogliano and Christian Robinson visit our school.  Julie wrote When's my Birthday? and Christian made the pictures for it.  

All ready to listen to the presentation!

Julie shared with us how she researches her topics by "spying" or watching them over time.  She creates lists of what she sees so that she can include that information in her books. 

Christian shared with us how he gets ideas for his illustrations by looking at other books and the world around him.  He also told us that he makes a lot of mistakes before he gets the illustrations just the way he wants them.  He talked about his process and the various tools and materials he uses.  

He called on kids to suggest an animal and then he drew it for us!  He was amazing!  

At the very end, as we were leaving, he drew a picture of a Bengal Tiger for us!  It was so cool!

5th Grade Buddies!

Today, despite the sweltering temperatures, we got together with our 5th Grade Buddies!

We are buddy classes with Ms. Hudella's class.  Each of us has a special buddy, a few kids even have two buddies.  We worked together on a "get to know you" sheet and then went outside for just a few minutes.  

Meeting our buddies was the highlight for many students this week!  We will get together with them about once a month throughout the school year.  

So Far This Week . . .

This week has been so busy with all the learning we are doing in Second Grade!

Monday we had our first indoor recess!  We got to use blocks and play games.  Other students wanted to draw and color.  It was a good chance to practice what we do during indoor recess.

Wednesday we talked about what to do when we feel like we want to blurt out and interrupt.  We read the book My Mouth is a Volcano.  We first talked about volcanoes and found out we know lots about them!  Next, we talked about what happens if you  shake a bottle of pop - it explodes!  Then we read the book - see if your child can tell you about what happened.  We came up with things we can do when we are feeling like we want to interrupt but know we shouldn't.

Today we did our first partner reading.  It was lots of fun to share our book Asha in the Attic with our desk partner.  Some kids got to use the big book or the book on the Smart board.

We had Library today!  Ms. Zbacnik talked to us about the author and illustrator who are coming to Brimhall in October.  We are so lucky.  We read the book When's my Birthday? by Julie Fogliano Illustrations by Christian Robinson.  Ask your child about the book.