March 24-28, 2014

This past week in 2nd grade, we started our new chapter in math on measurement.  We have been using standard and nonstandard units to measure object and have also learned about square units when measuring area.  We did a lot of review for grammar/phonics over concepts we had previously covered.  We also did our written test then our oral spell-off to determine our top two spellers that get to go to the county spelling bee in April.  In science, we've been talking a lot about matter and changes in matter.  A previous writing craftivity that we did was make leprechauns using orange hand prints for the beards then writing a story describing how we would catch a leprechaun.  We focused on sequencing using such words as first, next, then, and last in our writing.

March 3-7, 2014

Read Across Northwestern Week!  This past week we celebrated Dr. Seuss with a whole week filled with "Seuss Activities".   On Monday, we dressed up like Thing 1 and Thing 2; Tuesday was Cat in the Hat day; Wednesday we read Dr. Seuss books together with the 5th graders; Thursday was crazy socks and shoes day for the Foot Book; and Friday was Lorax Day!  We read several Dr. Seuss books all week, watched videos and learned a little about Dr. Seuss from his biography.  We also did writing activities, art projects and of course had some snacks to celebrate too!  After reading "Oh the Places You'll Go", we did a writing activity about what we wanted to be when we grew up.  We also read about the Apollo 11 lunar landing which went well with our last chapter in Science about the moon and the solar system.  We even did a little research on Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin and watched the actual clip of Neil Armstrong's first steps on the moon!  In Math we started our new chapter on Geometry and in Social Studies we started talking about local, state and national government.

Our Writing Project

Thing 1 and Thing 2

 Even the staff got into it!

Cat in the Hat Day

Reading with our 5th Grade buddies

February 17-21, 2014

This past week in 2nd Grade we celebrated Presidents Day by reading stories about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and watched some videos about their lives and presidencies.  We also talked about some other influential Presidents that our country has had.  We read a nonfiction story about explorers in our reading textbook and about Christopher Columbus.  We worked on compare and contrast with the information we learned about the Presidents and about the early explorers.  We worked on a Venn Diagram to visually see "compare and contrast".  In grammar, we worked on pronouns and possessive pronouns.  In math we explored expanded form and place value up to the hundreds.  In writing, we discussed making our writing more interesting not just "grocery list" writing.  We are currently discussing the solar system in science and our latest chapter covered the moon's phases.  We did a project with Oreo cookies where the students had to make the 8 phases of the moon using the cookies.  They then completed a "mini moon phase book" and of course got to eat their cookies at the end of the project!

February 10-14, 2014

This past week in 2nd Grade, we worked on the vowel teams of oi and oy.  Several of our spelling words also contained oi and oy words.  In math, we started working with hundreds.  We talked about place value and also started working on addition and subtraction of numbers in the hundreds.  We read about the Winter Olympics and did some compare/contrast of the Olympic games.  We also talked about plays and read a play in our reading books.  We then wrote our own short plays.  In science we continued to talk about the solar system and about the phases of the moon.  We made "love bugs" out of hearts to decorate our room for Valentine's Day and read about Abraham Lincoln and George Washington.  We then did a writing activity for President's Day about what we would do if we were president.

February 3-7, 2014

This past week in 2nd Grade, we celebrated the 100th Day of School.  For the 100th day, we dressed up like we were 100 years old!  It was fun and interesting to see all the creative ways the kids came up with to look like they were 100 years old.  We also continued to work on fractions, quotation marks, the vowel teams ow and ou, and wrapped up our chapters on weather in science and communities in social studies. We also briefly touched on the Winter Olympics since they just started.  We'll continue doing some other activities this month around the Winter Olympics.  This coming week will be busy with parent teacher conferences and our valentine party.  We'll have a 2:00 dismissal on both of those days (Feb. 13th and 14th).

Happy 100th Day of School!

January 27-31, 2014

This past week in 2nd Grade we started working with fractions, continued with contractions, and made Super Bowl and Groundhog predictions.  We also worked on the proper way to write a title and worked on what makes a sentence a complete sentence not just a fragment.  I expect that all answers be written in a complete sentence on papers from here on out for the rest of the year.  We are going to be working hard this second semester to become "grown up" second grade writers.  Math facts are still important to be practicing and money/time will continue to be reviewed through out the rest of the year along with all our other math concepts.  The class voted and graphed the results of what they think the groundhog will see...shadow or no shadow.  On Monday we'll discuss what Phil found out.  Speaking of weather, we'll also have our next science test on Monday about our chapter on weather.  The children made Super Bowl predictions and a craftivity to go with it.  The majority of the class picked the Bronco's to win, so we'll also find out on Monday if the majority was right!

January 20-24, 2014

This week we've been working on irregular verbs in Grammar.  Some verbs do not have -ed in the past, they have special forms like came, ran, saw, said, etc.  We are also continuing to work on time in Math.  We've been working hard on quarter to, quarter after, and half past.  We've also been working on time to five-minute intervals.  Please continue to practice time at home with your child!  In addition to time, we've also been working on temperature in math as well.  In reading/spelling we are using words that have the oo, ui, ew, ue, and oe vowel sounds like in the words new, suit, boots, canoe, and glue.  A lot of our spelling words for the week contain these vowel patterns.  We are also getting into some more challenging words.  Studying every night prior to the Friday test really helps!  We had several kids do very well last week and hope to keep continuing with that this week!  Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  We did several activities from reading books about Dr. King, to watching some videos on him and his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.  We also did a writing project where we wrote what our dreams would be to make this world a better place.