Rollercoasters

We made a big roller coaster from one side of our room to the other.  We learned that we need to have enough force to make the marble go up a big hill.  We get force by starting with a tall slanted slope.  That makes the marble have enough force to go over the hills and around the loops.  (Guest blogger Emily)

Meet Lucky the Elf

Lucky is our Elf on the Shelf.  We got him in a box from Santa.  Every day Lucky moves to a different place in our classroom after he gets back from reporting to Santa! 

"One day during Read to Someone me and Connor were reading.  I looked at Lucky and I think I might have say his head move.  I was looking through my hands so I can see up closer."  Trey reports.  "I was really trying to see him move and I think I did.  I told Connor and he looked.  Connor said, "Wow"! 

Lucky is sure a hit in the classroom.  I'm hoping that Santa is getting good reports.  The day with the naughty list made me wonder though...

 Bryce says, "We thought that he had a cold.  He was in laying on the tissue box in the nurses basket and used a tissue for a blanket. "

 "Lucky was zip lining from the globe to the cubbies.  He didn't have time to finish before the kids got here so he paused in the middle."  commented Mason

" He is wearing Fred the Potatohead's glasses and and he's writing a naughty list of whoever is naughty.  Noone got on the naughty list by the end of the day." says Joshua. 

Snowbucks Store!

A very special thank you to all the families that have donated items to our Snowbucks Store.  Our December behavior incentive is a hit and the kids love shopping at the store.  Take a look at some of their adventures on their first shopping day last Friday. 

Adejctives About Us

Adjectives are words that describe a noun - a person, place or thing.  As we have been studying adjectives in grammar and character traits in reading, we have talked a lot about words that can describe people.  In need of a bit of pick me up for our psyches and our classroom, we decided to make adjectives posters for our friends!  Each person's poster was laid on their desk.  We then played the game "Scoot" to fill the posters with adjectives.  Each person began at the desk to their right.  They wrote a positive adjective that described that person on the poster.  When the teacher said "scoot" they moved to the next desk and repeated the activity.  The one (really hard) rule was that you couldn't write the same adjectives on a poster that someone else had written.  By the end of the scoot game the kids were scrambling for words!  Good thing I had an adjective list ready!!  :)  Mrs. Heath

Music

In enrichment our classes are learning about winter holidays around the world.  One of the holidays being studied is Hanukkah. Mrs. Kuster is helping us out by teaching our friends songs and dances about Hanukkah.  Look at the great dancing and musical talent going on in our classroom!   

Our M.V.P. Kameron

I am 7 years old.  My birthday is January 8th.  My name is Kameron.  I have seven people in my family.  My favorite thing at school is to do science. 

Our M.V.P. Molly

Do you have a dog?  My dog is named Dexter.  He is a golden retriever / poodle mix and he is CRAZY! When I'm on the couch watching TV he wants to watch TV too - on me!  My dog is huge and I can't see when he's on me!  He barks way to loud.  He barks at everything - cars, me, trees, and squirrels.  Surprisingly, he doesn't bark at cats.  My little dog Lucy is good.  She barks, but she barks at nothing. My big dog is fluffy and his head is so soft.  He has a mustache.  It is gold like him. 

 

I have an amazing family.  My dad is nice, my sister is nice, my mom, my dog, my grandmas, my grandpas, everyone's nice. 

Money, Money, Money...

Money...the bane of 2nd grade teachers everywhere!!  :)  One of the hardest things to is teach students to identify coins by name and value.  And THEN they have to learn about trading coins - if you have 56 pennies, how many nickels could you trade for?  What about dimes or quarters? 

One way that we teacher these concepts is through a game.  We start with Roll to 25 cents and then progress through Roll to $1.00, and even backwards with Race to 0.  The game is very simple.  The student rolls the die and takes that amount of money.  So if I rolled a 3, I would take 3 pennies.  The next student rolls, takes that amount, and adds it to the total.  Each time coins are added the students examine what they have and determine if any trades can be made.  So, if we have a total of 8 pennies, we can trade 5 of the pennies for a nickel. 

Learning about money is fun - especially when you can play games!

November is an awfully scary time of year to be a turkey.  But what if you could convince the world to eat something else...say hot dogs...for Thanksgiving this year instead of turkey?  That is exactly what our friends Tommy and Perky Turkey are trying to do.  They have disguised themselves as the pigeon from Mo Willems books and are trying to convince the world, with our help, to eat hot dogs in lieu of turkey.  The kids came up with some fantastic reasons why hot dogs are superior to turkey.Take a listen and see if we can persuade you to change up your holiday meal! 

Teachers:  interested in the lesson?  You can find it on Teacher's Pay Teachers - the same place I found it!  :)  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/The-Turkey-Wants-a-Hot-Dog-A-Persuasive-Writing-Craftivity-359829

Our MVP Brayden

 

Hello, my name is Brayden.  I like to read.  I like school.  I like to play legos.  I like to play football.  One of my favorite things to do is play basketball.  Patriots are my favorite football team.  Their quarterback is Tom Brady.  The receiver is Gronk.  I like them because Brady is part of my name. 

Art

One of our favorite specials is ART with the fabulous Mr. Swanson.  He teaches us all about art - from painting to sketching, from shapes and colors, to drawing in 3D. 

Currently in art the students are working on a leaf project.  According to Haleigh and Mason, "first we traced leaves, then we put lines in to cut the leaf in half.  The leaves are painted with warm colors:  red, orange, and light pink.  The background are cool colors:  green, blue, and purple. "  Looks like learning fun to me!!

Balance and Motion

In science we are getting to experiment with balance and motion.  The students are learning about important concepts while building and testing toys ... pretty much a win, win for everyone!

Some of the things that we learned are: 

 How to balance an object using counterweights.

 

 

How to create an object that will rotate quickly and for a long time:

How to keep an object in  motion using push and pull:

And how to use air pressure as a force to make an object spin.

As you can see - we have learned a lot about balance and motion.  Be sure to talk with me about it at home to see what I can teach YOU!

Our MVP Grace

My name is Grace.  I am 7 years old.  My birthday is November 16th.  My birthday is on Saturday.  For my birthday we are going to do a spa birthday.  We are going to put on some of my mom's lotions.  We are going to paint our nails.  There are 10 people coming to my party.  I am very excited for my party. 

OUR MVP Kamira!

I am at a pumpkin patch.  I am jumping.

 This is me and my brother laying in the leaves.  My brother is on top of me.  I am good sister to my brother. 

 This is me eating my Halloween candy at school.  We had a party at school.  There was lots of games.  This is me eating my candy.

This is me going on the trailer about to go trick or treating.  We went trick or treating with my cousins and grandma.  My brother is dressed as a Red Power Ranger.  I am a cheerleader zombie. 

Fall Party

 

We had such an amazing time at our Fall Party.  A very special thank you to Mrs. Carlson for planning, organizing, and directing our festivities.  I know that she couldn’t have done it without all of the donations and parent volunteers, so thank you all that helped in any way!  Our teammates had the opportunity to create a spider craft, do a pumpkin ring toss, get ants into buckets, and wrap one another as mummies.  What more could a 2nd grader want?  Enjoy the pictures of our fun. 

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Our MVP Haleigh

This is when I am holding my little brother.

I helped my dad pull the big bushes out.

My brothers Jacob and Blake.

That was when I was carving my pumpkin with my brother.

This is my mom and aunt and my little brother.  He was in the hospital because he was sick.

I am sitting with my brother and taking a picture with him.  He has a mohawk!

This is my doll.  Her name is Christine and I love her.