Non-Fiction Writing

Our class has been working very  hard on learning about different types of non-fiction writing.  As part of this they have created several class books.

Our first class book was an All About 2nd Grade book.  After brainstorming all of the important parts of second grade, each child took a section and wrote about what was important to know about that subject or activity.

Our next class book was an ABC book - all about Hickory Hill.  It is currently residing in Mrs. Kunkle's office if you'd like to take a look at what we think is important about Hickory Hill.

Last we wrote a very special true or false book about our classmates.  You'll get to see that book when it comes home with your child at the end of the year!  You'll also get to see a special how to book that we wrote.  It is a surprise that is coming home next week!

This week students are working hard on researching their own subjects to write about.  We have everything from castles to fruit, Michael Jordan to Uranus, and many things in between!  You can help your child do research at home and print out pictures or graphics to include in their books.

Liquids and Solids

What happens to a solid when you put it in water?  That is a question we set out to discover the answer to.  We began by taking a variety of solids and placing them in a baggie.  Then we added water to the baggie.

  We waited overnight to see what would happen...

We found out that many different things can happen when you put a solid in water!  The water might change colors, the solid might grow, it might soften, it might fall apart, it might dissolve, or it might not change at all!

We then set the items out for the water to evaporate.  Some of the solids, like rice, beans, and raisins, returned back to the same as before we added water.  Others changed completely - our candy and our cookie both turned in to a sticky, goopy mess that we would NOT want to eat!!

You can continue this experiment at home by putting different solids into water and then seeing what happens!

 

 

Durham Museum

What a fantastic group of 2nd graders I had at the Durham Museum on Friday.  It makes me smile when I take my kiddos out in public and they absolutely SHINE!!

The students had the opportunity to rotate between 3 different sessions at the museum.  During the first session we learned all about Native Americans and how they prospered on the prairie.

 

From there we moved to the Buffet Grocery Store.  Our guide there had worked at the store as a teenager and told fantastic stories.  The students were very observant and asked great questions like why everything only cost a few cents then and now it costs us lots of dollars! 

 

Our final station was life on the prairie for pioneers.  The students were shocked at some of the chores that kids had to do ... (Empty chamber pots??  Pick up buffalo chips??)  At the end they all decided they'd rather life in the present vs the past.

 

 

As you can see - we had a great day!!

 

 

Solids and Liquids in Science

Oh, how we love science!  The touching, the manipulating, the questioning....Science ROCKS!!

Our current science unit is about solids and liquids.  As part of this unit we have done many things including identifying the characteristics and properties of each.  As a fun lesson, I gathered 24 different items (thanks to the families that helped!) and placed them out for the children to investigate.  Their job was to determine if each item was a solid or a liquid, using the properties that they had learned.  The students were able to identify many of the items correctly.  A few tricky ones - toothpaste, peanut butter, and jelly.  Hmmm....What do you think?  Solid or Liquid????

At the end of our experiments we had one more question to answer.  What would happen if we took a solid powder and added a liquid?  Students made their predictions (that it would be chocolate milk) and were pleasantly surprised to find out that this particular solid and liquid, combined together, created a thick liquid known as chocolate pudding!!

Yearbook ipad Competition

Our 2nd grade friends had the opportunity to participate in an art contest for our Hickory Hill yearbook.  The students who were interested created an ipad depicting life in 2nd grade.  The following are our classroom entries.  While the overall 2nd grade winner was selected from an entry from a different classroom, our winner was Mya.  May's ipad will be featured on our classroom page in this year's yearbook.  Great job everyone!! 

Music Program

I apologize in advance for poor video editing.  I am a windows girl, not Apple and since this was videoed on my iPad I lack the skill needed to properly split it into 2.  I'm hoping that the two sections are close, with little overlap,  but no promises!  All I can say is that it was an amazing program put on by our spectacular Ms. Palatas.  She rocks!  And as you can see in the video, so do my 2nd grade friends!!!

Dean Jacobs

Dean Jacobs is a fantastic writer, a word explorer, and a native of Freemont, Nebraska.  We were blessed to be able to listen to him share his adventures and life philosophy here at Hickory Hill Elementary.  He certainly sparked some world traveling enthusiasm in our 2nd grade classroom and encouraged us to write, write, write.  :)  Stop by his website and follow his adventures. 

http://www.deanjacobs.org/

 

 

Investigating Liquids

Our newest science unit is all about matter - solids and liquids to be specific!  Last week we began by looking at solids and this week it is our opportunity to have some hands on experience with liquids.  Students began by just observing some liquids in bottles.  What did they notice about how the liquids acted and moved?  What adjectives could they use to describe the liquids?  They even learned a few new vocabulary words to help in their descriptions - viscous, translucent, and transparent.  I can't wait to see what next week's experiences will be...

Readers Theater

This week in guided reading our class has focused on FLUENCY!!  Fluency is the art of reading with expression, phrasing, smoothness, and at the appropriate rate.  Fluency is a part of instruction every week during reading, but this week we chose to focus solely on it!  Student groups were given a reader's theater passage to master for fluency.  We discussed what words should be stressed and how each character would sound delivering their lines, based on the action in the selection.  Overall, they did a fantastic job with their fluency!  I hope you enjoy the majority of our selections.  A few were not able to be recorded and shared due to the participants. 

Thanks for stopping by to visit and get a little glimpse into our classroom each day.

Love, Mrs. Heath and Team

Antarctic Antics

The kids LOVE this song/video on Bookflix and they just make me giggle when they sing along.  Here is a bright little song to cheer up your wintry day!!

Hero Speeches

The kids did an absolutely AMAZING job on their hero speeches!!  I videoed a few or your enjoyment. 

:) 

Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

Ok, so it has taken me two weeks to get these photos up – sorry!!!  I have absolutely no excuses!!!  :)  Thanks to Mrs. Pedersen and all of the other volunteers, we had a an amazing Valentine’s Day celebration!  The kiddos LOVED the ring toss game and the heart tattoos were a BIG hit as well (even the teacher got one!).  Yummy cookies were enjoyed (thanks Ms. Van Cleve and Mrs. Rees) and of course the kiddos enjoyed receiving Valentine’s from all of their friends.  Thanks to all for the hard work and dedication to making our holiday celebrations a hit for the kids.  Be on the lookout for one more fantastic celebration at the end of the year and maybe even a special one just for the Mom’s around Mother’s Day…. :)

 

Love,

Mrs. Heath

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Our M.V.P. Kyla

Hi, my name is Kyla.  This is my family.  I have two dogs named Otis and Izzy.  I have a wonderful brother named Trey.  I have two parents named Kari and Jason.  I have a guinea pig named Peanut.  My brother has a turtle named Bob.  He had one that died.  His name was Frances.  I have one baby cousin named Addison.  She is two or three.  I moved here from Ralston.  My school was Mockingbird Elementary.  I have 16 friends at my new school.  I have three very important friends.  Their names are Luke and Dave and Jon.  I have a very nice family and a very nice house.  I have two wonderful teachers at Mockingbird and here.  My old teacher was Mrs. Lojeae and my teacher here is Mrs. Heath. 

Pronouns

We learned a fun song to help us remember pronouns and the kids LOVE it!  While it's not exactly a love song...enjoy your pre-Valentine's Day serenade!

Gymsic

Today the students go to go to gymsic.  They worked on how to politely pick partners.  It is important to ask please and never to tell someone that you DON'T want to be their partner.  That would just be RUDE!!  Also - partners do not mean friends or anything else - it just means partners.  At the end of Gymsic, the students go to dance Gangnam Style.  Take a look!!