Sept. 29-Oct. 3, 2014

This past week in 2nd Grade, we read the story The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle.  This story is a great intro to our next chapter in science on plants.  We also did an author study on Eric Carle and read several of his other books and watched a video in which Carle demonstrates how he does his artwork for his stories.  In Phonics, we worked with R Controlled words and talked about how the r in ar, or, er, ir, and ur is like a "bully".  The r makes those vowels say the r sound.  In grammar we worked on nouns and using commas in series.  For math, we worked on how addition and subtraction are related and how to subtract all or subtract zero.  We also did an Educreation project on the iPad using subtraction story problems.  We took our science test on animals which all the students did very well on.  In social studies we discussed land forms like islands, peninsulas, mountains, plains, etc.

Sept. 15-19, 2014

This past week in 2nd Grade we learned how to email.  The students are able to email me on their iPads and I can respond back to them.  We also worked on a new app called Chatter Kids.  In reading we read the nonfiction story Meet Rosina which is a story about a girl who is deaf.  The students then used the app Chatter Kids to take a picture of Rosina from the text and could make her mouth move while they recorded their own voices retelling the main idea/key details from the story.  This was a very fun way to work with retell and main idea!  In phonics, we worked on the vowel teams of ee,ea, oa, and oe.  In grammar we worked on predicates and using commas to separate day/year and city/state.  In math we worked on addition doubles and doubles plus one.  In science we started talking about mammals and birds and in social studies we took our first test over communities.  This past week was also homecoming week, so we had a lot of fun participating in the various dress up days and of course got to be in the homecoming parade.

Ready for the Parade!

Pajama Day

 Wacky Day

Dr. Seuss Character Day

Twin Day

Spirit Day

Sept. 8-12, 2014

This past week in 2nd grade, we read a nonfiction article about wildfires.  We discussed the difference between fiction and nonfiction and we discovered the main idea and supporting details of the article.  We also did another Popplet on the story using main idea/details and this time learned how to take a picture with our iPads and incorporated that into our Popplets.  In Phonics we continued to work with V-E words and the vowel teams of ai/ay and oe/oa.  We talked about in a vowel team "When two vowels go walking, the first vowel does the talking."  Meaning that in a vowel team, you say the name of the first vowel only.  In Grammar we worked on subjects and identifying complete and incomplete sentences.  In Math we continued to work on addition incorporating the mathematical terms sum, doubles, and addends.  We used another app on our iPads called Educreations.  There students had to come up with an addition story problem and the app records their voice while they draw the problem out then it plays back their writing and voice so we could share with other students in our class what our story problem was.  (Very cool!  The students really enjoyed it!)  In Science, we took our first test over Living/Nonliving Things and all the students did very well!  In Social Studies, we are preparing to take our first test on Communities/Citizenship this coming week.  Also this coming week is Homecoming so to gear up for that we did an acrostic poem on a football player for WILDCATS.  Our theme for Homecoming is Dr. Seuss and in 2nd Grade we are doing "Green Eggs and Ham".  So look for lots of pictures of our fun dress up days and activities next week!

 Main Idea/Supporting Details Popplet

 Working hard on our acrostic poetry.

Our upcoming Homecoming theme!

Sept. 2-5, 2014

This past week in 2nd grade, we read the story Mr. Putter and Tabby Pour the Tea. We did several activities around the story including writing a letter to a friend, writing a paragraph in our journals about someone special to us describing that person and what makes them special and making a Popplet.  Popplet is an app we have on our iPads.  In that app students can make boxes that connect to each other (like a story web) and they can use either text, drawing, or a picture.  We worked on describing the beginning, middle, and end of the story and then students could draw a picture of Mr. Putter and/or Tabby. Students then learned how to take a screenshot of their work so they could print their Popplets.

In Phonics, we continued to work with V-E words; in Spelling we worked on short e, o, and u words; in Grammar we continued to work on different types of sentences (commands and exclamations); in Science we wrapped up our first chapter on living and nonliving things...our first test will be coming up next week; in Social Studies we talked about different types of communities (rural, suburban, and urban); and in Math, we worked on comparing numbers using the vocabulary greater than, less than, and equal to and we worked on patterns.  We are also working hard on practicing our math facts with Rocket Math and Math Facts in a Flash.  Continue to work with your child at home on their math facts and encourage them to keep reading their AR books!

Working on mastering our math facts with Rocket Math

 Journal work

Reading Groups

August 25-29, 2014

Well our first full week is behind us. We got right back into the swing of things working with statements and questions in grammar, living and nonliving things in science, estimation and place value in math, communities in social studies, and open/closed syllables and V-E words in phonics and spelling.  We took our first spelling test which everyone did very well on and we jumped right into taking AR tests. Our AR goal for the month of September is 4 points and several students are already half way there!  Our first writing activity was "Owl" About Me where the students had to write some facts about themselves.

First Week Done...

 Super Readers!

 Owl About Us!

It's that time again...

Wow, where did summer go!? It's that time of year again...time for school to start! I've been busy the last couple of weeks getting the room ready for another exciting year of learning. This year I've decided to go with an owl theme in my classroom. One of our first writing projects we are going to do is "Owl" About Me!  There's a few preparations left to do before our first day on August 21st but for the most part the room is ready to go. Here's a sneak peek:

 Welcome to Our Room!

 The front of the classroom...

 Our Reading Corner:

 reorganized with books in categorized bins this year to make it easier to find/replace books in the bookshelf.

This idea comes from Scholastic:  http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top-teaching/2013/01/simple-solutions-organized-classroom-library

 The back of the classroom...

 The standards we will be covering every day will go in this pocket chart so students will know what we are learning and why we are learning it. These standards are written in kid friendly language and I found on TeachersPayTeachers.com:  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Common-Core-Standards-for-Second-Grade-144965

 Our door...

 Spelling Incentive Chart:  Everytime a student passes a spelling test they get a star up on the chart.  Once they have 4 stars in a row, they get to pick a treat or a prize out of the prize box.

 Pickles and Ketchups:  Students who have completed all their assignments stay on the "Pickles" side and get to pick an activity to do when we have free time...students who need to catch up on work go to the "Ketchups" side and have to complete their work during that time. This was also found on TeachersPayTeachers.com:  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Pickles-and-Ketchup-Printable-128469.

 Math Facts Incentive Chart:  We do "Rocket Math" in our classroom which is a program that helps students learn/memorize their math facts by taking timed test and progress monitoring their achievement.  It moves students through levels of addition and subtraction even to multiplication for any student who can get there in 2nd grade.  Again, every time a student passes a math level, they get a star on the chart and after 4 stars in a row they can pick a treat.

 Our lockers...with Owl Themed Classroom Rules on them.  These were found at:

 http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Classroom-Rules-Owl-Version-with-Chevron-Accents-312462

Accelerated Reader Tracker:  Our owl themed AR tracker keeps track of students AR points they receive throughout the year.  Students keep moving their magnetic backpacks with their names on it to the owls (which have numbers on them) to keep track of how many AR points they have. I also found this on TeachersPayTeachers.com:  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Owl-Theme-AR-Point-Tracker-274926

Only a couple weeks to go!  Enjoy the last of summer vacation and here's wishing everyone a great school year!

May 2014

 May was a busy month for us in 2nd grade.  We worked hard to get everything wrapped up before the end of the year.  In math, we touched on the introduction to multiplication and division.  In social studies, we wrapped up our unit on map skills.  In science we finished out the year with our last chapter on motion and magnets.  In writing we did our "big" project for the year which was a two paragraph animal report.  The students picked an animal they were interested in and did research on that animal and wrote/typed up their reports and got to add clip art as a final touch.  We also made Mother's Day gifts which included a flower craft and a writing sample "All About My Mom".  The last craftivity we did was make a "suitcase" about our year in 2nd grade.  They students added several pages to the book about activities they did during the year.  The last couple days of school included a field trip to Wylie Park/Storybook Land and rollerskating at Skate Away.  We also had a track and field day "The Wildcat deCAThlon"! It was a great year and I enjoyed it and the students very much!  Here's wishing you all a wonderful summer break and looking forward to seeing you again when school starts back up!  HAPPY SUMMER!