It's All About the Punctuation!

How does the author share their thoughts and feelings with the reader?  Through a well told story and the effective use of a variety of punctuation and font styles.Our newest writing unit is on recognizing our audience and writing for our readers.  The idea that someone else is going to read their writing is not new to the students but understanding and learning what helps make their writing interesting to readers is.

We began the unit by going to our classroom library and looking at the books.  What are our favorite authors doing in their writing that we can emulate?  Students looked for different punctuation that was used, from dashes, to parenthesis, to commas, and quotation marks.  We then created a list for us to use as a reference tool on what each punctuation mark is, how it is used, and examples from our favorite author's work.

I will post our punctuation table later (it is on my school computer) but here are a few pictures of the team doing some hunting through books.

Literature Pumpkin Patch

What an amazing assortment of pumpkins we had on hand for our Literature Pumpkin Patch.  I was AMAZED at the creativity and diversity shown by our 2nd grade TEAM and their families.  From simple to elaborate, they were all brilliant!  It is a good thing that this wasn’t a contest because I would have had to award 20 1st place ribbons. 

A special thank you to all of our family and friends that were able to take a few moments out of their busy days to join us.  The kids loved sharing their characters with others and I loved seeing them practice their speaking skills.  Describing the personality and character traits of their pumpkin person was a difficult task but they were able to tackle it successfully and used some great words like sassy,clever, and tricky.

Click through our photo show to see all of our pumpkins.

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Our MVP Luke

I love football!

 I like chicken and hamburgers.  I play football.  My football team was called the Seminoles.  We won 5 games this season. 

Look at this freaky photo on the left side!

Dressing up in football gear at the store.

Look at me playing the drums in my 1st grade music program.

I am in boy scouts.

Symmetry

This week we had our favorite math lesson of the year by FAR...symmetry!  Students loved having the opportunity to build symmetrical patterns and designs with cubes, pattern blocks, and geoblocks.  Understanding and visualizing where each design would be on the corresponding side of the line of symmetry was a bit tricky for some (like me, as I am NOT a visual/spacial person!) but a snap for others.  All and all, the lessons have been well received and well learned!

Fire Safety Month

October is Fire Safety Month and we celebrated with a visit from our local fire department.  What made it more special was that one of our visiting firefighters was the husband of one of the 2nd grade teachers!  It was fun to learn from Mr. Borden!

Students reviewed basic fire safety rules and procedures including how to stop, drop, and roll; what to do in the event of a fire when they are in bed asleep; and how to practice a fire drill at home.  They had the opportunity to look at the fire trucks and also to see a fireman in full turnout gear. 

I hope that the students never have to experience a fire in person, but I'm so glad to know that they will be prepared in case it ever does happen!  Please take a few minutes this week to check your smoke detector batteries and have a family fire drill.  It might just be the few minutes that makes a huge impact of your life.  Have a fantastic week!

The girls loved the American flag on the grille!

The Dunk Tank!!!

What to do on a chilly October day?  "Why, I think we should get into a dunk tank" said all of cool teachers (and principal) at Hickory Hill Elementary School.  So, that's exactly what we did! 

 I should mention that it was a special reward for our top fundraising sellers, and the teachers volunteered to be there.  However, we may have been more hesitant had we known in advance that dunking day would have a high of 54 degrees!  But, being the team players we are, we climbed on in and let the kiddos go to town.  We had a 100 % dunk rate - because if they missed with the balls, they got to hit the button.  :)  As an added bonus, Mr. Snyder even let all staff members dunk him for free.  I, brown-noser that I am, politely declined.  Many others took him up on it though!

For your viewing pleasure...photos of the dunk tank. (with special thanks for the photos to Mrs. Simmons and Mrs. Koehler!)

Chatting it up with the crowd.  How could they cheer for Matt and not me?

Waiting, waiting, waiting.

Still waiting...



Good thing Mrs. Heath knows how to swim!

It was a bit chilly coming out of that water!

I do believe I resemble a drowned rat!

Ms. Palatas takes her turn!

Mr. Snyder was the bomb - he must have gotten dunked 30 times!!

Our M.V.P. Mackenzie

I am 7 years old.  I live in Nebraska.  My life is fun to be in.  I like to play with other people.  I care for people and I like everybody that I know.  I have zero siblings and me, my mom, my grandpa, my grandma, and my dog live together in a 3 story house.  I play with my dog and he runs in the house to get his bone.  It is fun to be with my grandma, my granpa, my mom, and my dog because they all care about how we do our traditions.  Every night my dog comes into my room and sleeps in my room.  It's fun to have a dog but he is kind of a little crazy. 

Vocabulary, Vocabulary, Vocabulary!

Wow!  We are learning a LOT of new vocabulary this year - especially in our content areas such as science, social studies, and math!  We know that the more words student know and understand, the easier it is for them to comprehend when reading. 

Second grade is a pivotal year in that we begin to learn more and more academic vocabulary - those words that are often heard in the school setting and understanding them is crucial to what comprehending what we are learning about.  Some new academic vocabulary words they have recently learned include:  quadrilateral, polygon, angle, interrogative, declarative, exclamatory, inferring, glacier, landforms, peninsula, and bay.

Whenever possible I try to make vocabulary learning hands on so that the students have a concrete connection with it.  In the photos below you will see them doing some polygon sorting as we worked on our math vocabulary.  First they sorted quadrilaterals from other polygons, then they sorted rectangles (polygons with 4 right angles and 4 sides) from other quadrilaterals. 

How can you help build your child's vocabulary? Take time to review our weekly newsletter to know what vocabulary words we are working on and then use them in your conversations with your child.  Introduce him/her to other situations where they might hear or use that word.  Also, use a robust vocabulary when you are speaking.  They more interesting and exciting words that they hear, they more they will use!

BACK at School!

I figured I had better get pictures and get this on the blog before I changed our hallway display!

Our September hallway display featured our 2nd grade team heading "back" to school.  The students shared why they were glad to be back and also offered the opportunity for a little detective work - could you find your child by just looking at their back?  I will tell you, we had a bit of a dilema with two young men when we were passing out pictures, we couldn't figure out which was which!

Thankfully we figured it out and got everyone "back" on track to finish their project.  :)

Our M.V.P. Emily!

When I grow up I want to be a rockstar.  My rockstar name will be Puppy Love.  I like listening to rockstar music.  Rockstar music like Katy Perry gave me an idea.  I like her music too.  My favorite song is Firework.  Me and my cousin make up new dances with Firework.  That's why I want to be a rockstar when I grow up. 

Our M.V.P. Ethan

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