Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Reviewing the Past Week
Happy Mother's Day! I hope you enjoyed the beautiful butterflies the class made. We did a brief study of Eric Carle and how he illustrated his books by painting tissue paper and collaging it together to create wonderful illustrations for his creative stories. The class painted their own paper on Monday and traced both of their hands to document their second grade growth. On Friday we constructed our butterflies making them into a great magnet for the refrigerator.
Math: The class has been working hard on defining area and perimeter. With practice, the kids are able to find the perimeter and the area of different figures.
Area: we define as the surface inside a figure. We find area by counting the square units inside the shape.
Perimeter: we define as the distance around a shape (the shape doesn't have to be a rectangle). We find perimeter by counting the line segments all the way around the shape.
We ended our math week with learning a new problem solving strategy. We completed an example problem in class showing how to best draw a diagram to help solve a math problem.
Reading: Last week and this week we are looking at Cinderella stories from around the world. We began the week by reading The Egyptian Cinderella and the more traditional United States version. With each story students are practicing summarizing and identifying key themes as well as comparing and contrasting the different versions.
Social Studies: It was a very big week for us. We finally were able to paint our continent maps. The class also got a special guest- My Dad was able to come visit and help paint Thursday afternoon. He was very impressed with everyone and had a wonderful time. We will finish painting our landforms this coming Monday.
Science: Another exciting week observing our butterflies. As I left on Friday afternoon we had one butterfly emerge. I wonder how many butterflies we will have by Monday? Watching this metamorphosis happen has been very exciting and very interesting.
*** Don't forget there is still time to donate to the JDRL walk-a-thon.*** We will be walking Friday the 17th of May.
Math: The class has been working hard on defining area and perimeter. With practice, the kids are able to find the perimeter and the area of different figures.
Area: we define as the surface inside a figure. We find area by counting the square units inside the shape.
Perimeter: we define as the distance around a shape (the shape doesn't have to be a rectangle). We find perimeter by counting the line segments all the way around the shape.
We ended our math week with learning a new problem solving strategy. We completed an example problem in class showing how to best draw a diagram to help solve a math problem.
Reading: Last week and this week we are looking at Cinderella stories from around the world. We began the week by reading The Egyptian Cinderella and the more traditional United States version. With each story students are practicing summarizing and identifying key themes as well as comparing and contrasting the different versions.
Social Studies: It was a very big week for us. We finally were able to paint our continent maps. The class also got a special guest- My Dad was able to come visit and help paint Thursday afternoon. He was very impressed with everyone and had a wonderful time. We will finish painting our landforms this coming Monday.
Science: Another exciting week observing our butterflies. As I left on Friday afternoon we had one butterfly emerge. I wonder how many butterflies we will have by Monday? Watching this metamorphosis happen has been very exciting and very interesting.
*** Don't forget there is still time to donate to the JDRL walk-a-thon.*** We will be walking Friday the 17th of May.
Friday, May 3, 2013
Monday, April 29, 2013
Second Grade Community Service Project
Helping dogs and cats get through “Ruff” times.
The second graders have decided to put their new persuasive writing skills to great use by helping out our local community.
April 30th through May 10th the second graders will be collecting pet supplies: pet shampoo, toys, treats, chews, dog and cat food (dry or canned) near the front office. The second graders have been working very hard the past couple days creating persuasive posters for the rest of Ivy Hill to convince this audience to bring in items for the pantry.
If you can, we would appreciate your support by bringing in an item for the food drive or by spreading the word to others.
Check out the website----------> Nina's Pet Food Pantry
Monday, April 22, 2013
Space Experiment
This morning we read an incredibly interesting article. I have attached the article and the video. The class made great hypotheses about how this experiment was going to turn out. They were really using their schema about gravity and how water acts on Earth. We were all surprised to see the true results.
Up on the International Space Station, wet wash cloths don't drip.
What they do is like nothing I'd imagined.
What they do is like nothing I'd imagined.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
A Look Back At Our Week April 15th-19th
I think it is safe to say that we are all happy to see the rain gone. I hope everyone enjoyed the sunshine we had this weekend. I was able to get outside and go for a couple long walks around my neighborhood. I am starting to see many flowers starting to bloom.
In reading last week we worked on continued to learn how questioning helps us become stronger readers. We read 'The Stranger' by Chris Van Allsburg and the kids did a fantastic job recording their questions before and during their reading. This book prompted some interesting discussion. Along with questioning we continued to work on inferencing; combining what we know with the information we gathered from the story. The class continues to grow stronger with this skill. I am now asking them to show me their growth individually by completing graphic organizers from their guided reading books.
In math, we are almost done with our fractions unit. I think this may have been everyone's favorite unit so far this year. I will be sure to continue to add fractions into our daily practices. On Friday we had a lot of fun creating fraction kites. The kids had to color a kite any way they choose using 5 colors. They then had to write down what fraction represented the different colored sections of their kites. The kites look great and will make a fun spring addition to the hallway! As a reminder, our math test will be on Tuesday and we will be continuing our problem solving skills on Friday.
In writing, we are wrapping up our autobiographies. The class has been working hard to zoom in on one moment and describe it using detailed language. We will now begin our persuasive unit. I think everyone will also enjoy this unit because they get to come up with discussion points to try and convince someone else to believe in their opinion. In this unit we will be talking a lot about the difference between what a fact and what an opinion is.
In social studies, we are coming very close to our salt and flour map days. It will be a messy afternoon on Thursday so if you'd like please send your second grader with a large t-shirt or in close you don't mind getting a little messy in (just in case). I have reached out to some parents, but if you are interested in volunteering to help that afternoon please email me.
In science, we had the first of two very special deliveries. Our Painted Lady caterpillars arrived. We have 5 new additions to our classroom as this moment and more to come. The excitement can be felt when you walk through the door. The kids rush over after leaving the classroom for lunch and specials to check on our new little critters. We will begin learning about our visitors next week. We have already written down our schema about butterflies, now we will start adding to that knowledge.
Keep focused everyone! :) We have a great week of learning ahead!
In reading last week we worked on continued to learn how questioning helps us become stronger readers. We read 'The Stranger' by Chris Van Allsburg and the kids did a fantastic job recording their questions before and during their reading. This book prompted some interesting discussion. Along with questioning we continued to work on inferencing; combining what we know with the information we gathered from the story. The class continues to grow stronger with this skill. I am now asking them to show me their growth individually by completing graphic organizers from their guided reading books.
In math, we are almost done with our fractions unit. I think this may have been everyone's favorite unit so far this year. I will be sure to continue to add fractions into our daily practices. On Friday we had a lot of fun creating fraction kites. The kids had to color a kite any way they choose using 5 colors. They then had to write down what fraction represented the different colored sections of their kites. The kites look great and will make a fun spring addition to the hallway! As a reminder, our math test will be on Tuesday and we will be continuing our problem solving skills on Friday.
In writing, we are wrapping up our autobiographies. The class has been working hard to zoom in on one moment and describe it using detailed language. We will now begin our persuasive unit. I think everyone will also enjoy this unit because they get to come up with discussion points to try and convince someone else to believe in their opinion. In this unit we will be talking a lot about the difference between what a fact and what an opinion is.
In social studies, we are coming very close to our salt and flour map days. It will be a messy afternoon on Thursday so if you'd like please send your second grader with a large t-shirt or in close you don't mind getting a little messy in (just in case). I have reached out to some parents, but if you are interested in volunteering to help that afternoon please email me.
In science, we had the first of two very special deliveries. Our Painted Lady caterpillars arrived. We have 5 new additions to our classroom as this moment and more to come. The excitement can be felt when you walk through the door. The kids rush over after leaving the classroom for lunch and specials to check on our new little critters. We will begin learning about our visitors next week. We have already written down our schema about butterflies, now we will start adding to that knowledge.
Keep focused everyone! :) We have a great week of learning ahead!
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Wonderful Country Research Presentations
We are finally unveiling our fabulous country research projects. The whole class did a spectacular job choosing a country they were interested in then completing many session of note-taking on specific topics about their country. We definitely have a few technology expects because the Google Presentations they put together were very impressive. The volume is a little on the softer side but
Mrs. Polito says wearing headphones helps to hear everyone's interesting information.
Enjoy!
Mrs. Polito says wearing headphones helps to hear everyone's interesting information.
Enjoy!
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