Check back often to find out what is happening in room 107.
RSS

March 2, 2013

March 2

Posted in | 8:34 PM | by Unknown

Please visit my new blog, The Classroom Key, for more great anchor charts, ideas, and freebies!



We have enjoyed learning about measurement in math.  This week we had a jumping contest and measured our jump distances using meters and centimeters. 



We recently started a new unit in social studies about maps.  We have learned that maps show things from a "birds-eye" view.  We will also be learning to use coordinates, cardinal directions, legends/keys, and map scales.




We are learning to write persuasive pieces.  We know that two places persuasive writing can be found is in opinion articles in the newspaper or in brochures that try to convince people to visit a place.  We have gotten the chance to publish our own work in the style of an article and a brochure.



In math we've been using a new tool called a rekenrek (a Dutch invention).  These are simple ones made out of cereal boxes, beads, and pipe stem cleaners.   Rekenrek's can be used in a variety of ways but we've been using them to understand problems involving comparison.  The top rekenrek is in "start position."  The one on the bottom is showing the problem:

Dan had 4 books.  Jessie had 4 more books than Dan.  How many books does Jessie have?
or
Dan had 4 books.  Jessie had 8 books.  How many more books did Jessie have?

These Rekenreks can only model problems with small numbers, but they have helped us build a foundation for solving similar problems with bigger numbers.



We are learning that prefixes are word chunks that change the meaning of a word.  Recognizing these chunks helps us sound out long words and helps us know what they mean.

February 19, 2013

February 19th

Posted in | 4:00 PM | by Unknown

Please visit my new blog, The Classroom Key, for more great anchor charts, ideas, and freebies!






In 2nd grade we learn about 5 of the 8 parts of speech.  We've already worked on nouns, verbs, adjectives and pronouns.  This week we learned about our last one, adverbs.  They add information about a verb.

We already knew that sentences needed a capital letter and an end mark.  We recently learned that all complete sentences also need a naming part (the subject) and a telling part (the predicate).



We recently started a unit about persuasive writing.  Each week we go through these steps in the writing process. 






We learned that biographies are books about people's lives.  After reading a biography about the singer, Marian Anderson, we used what we learend to desgin a new outfit for her.  I was amazed with the students' creativity!



We had a great time decorating bags and exchanging cards and treats on Valentine's Day.




January 28, 2013

Posted in | 9:22 PM | by Unknown

Please visit my new blog, The Classroom Key, for more great anchor charts, ideas, and freebies!

We read a story called Dear Mr. Blueberry where a girl writes letters to her teacher about an imaginary whale that lives in her pond.  Everyone made a post card about an imaginary animal living at their house.


 
 
We learned about the first 6 (out of 12) common addition and subtraction situations.  We've been practicing how to solve problems with the "unknown" in all positions of the equation. 

We are excited to have some new technology in our classroom.  All teachers have been provided with an iPad, a stand (the red thing in the picture) and Apple TV so that we can use our iPads as document cameras or project aps that are on our iPads.  This makes it really easy for students to come up and show their work to the class.  They just put their paper under the iPad and a picture is projected for everyone to see!





 
We recently finished a social studies unit about citizenship.  Students made webs to organize the big topics we studied including types of communities, how to be a good citizen, and symbols/landmarks of our country.  Next we will be switching to science and studying weather.


 
We've learned a lot about a reading strategy called QAR (question-answer-relationship) lately.  QAR helps us understand that there are four kinds of questions about books: "Right There" questions, "Think and Search" questions, "Author and Me" questions, and "On My Own" questions.  To answer some of these questions we need to look for clues in the book.  For others we use more of our own ideas.  The literacy coach at our school has been helping us with this.
 
 
 
We are wrapping up a unit about writing poetry.  We have learned a lot about poetic devices, or as we have been saying, "tools that poets use."  Our next writing unit will be writing about our opinions.

 
We have collected all of our poetry into a book.  To decorate our covers we tried some chromatography (separating ink colors on filter paper).  We can't wait to bring our books home and share them with you.
 

December 20, 2012

December

Posted in | 10:44 PM | by Unknown

Please visit my new blog, The Classroom Key, for more great anchor charts, ideas, and freebies!

In 2nd grade we learn five of the eight parts of speech.  It's difficult to keep them all straight so we learned this song to help us remember what pronouns are.  It is sung to the tune of the Sponge Bob theme song.  If you really need some entertainment, ask your child to sing it for you!



Santa visited our class!


We recently wrapped up our study of the moon and stars.  This is a model we made to show how the appearance of the moon changes depending on where it is located around the earth.
We started a new writing unit about poetry.  We have learned that poets see things in new and different ways and how poets use the writing technique "show, don't tell."  We illustrated this week's poem using collage.

The day before winter break we made a Christmas tree project.  First, we came up with all the ways to make the number 10 (0 and 10, 1 and 9, 2 and 8, 3 and 7, 4 and 6, and 5 and 5).  We measured and cut 10 inch strips of paper to represent the combinations that make 10.


Then we arranged them into a tree shape (discarding the one of the 5s) 

After adding a star, a pot, and a piece of string to hold it all together, this was the finished product!



Here is a new idea we keep in mind when we are writing:





At the end of our how-to writing unit we celebrated with a publishing party!  Everyone got to share their best piece of writing with the whole group and then we toasted to our hard work with apple juice.












November 28, 2012

November 28th

Posted in | 9:47 PM | by Unknown

Please visit my new blog, The Classroom Key, for more great anchor charts, ideas, and freebies!

In math we spent some time building up our skill with measuring length.  We practiced measuring in inches, centimeters, and feet.  We also worked on making good estimates of length.


Since school started we have learned several reading strategies including finding the main idea, noticing story elements, and giving a summary.  This chart helps us organize all of these strategies.


We learned that when you give a summary of a fiction story, it should include a little bit about the characters, setting, beginning, middle, and end.  We know that somewhere in there will be a problem and solution (that's what the lock and key represent).


In science we recently started a new unit about the moon and stars.  Here, students are using a flash light to represent the sun, a basketball to represent the earth, and a styrofoam ball to represent the moon.  We modeled how the earth gets day and night,  how the moon revolves around the earth, and how the appearance of the moon changes as it rotates around the earth.


We are learning to recognize the moon phases.  We have noticed there are many cycles in nature and the changing moon phases are one of them.



The final culture we studied in our most recent social studies unit was that of the Ute people.  We studied the petroglyph artwork of the Utes which can still be seen on rocks today.  We created our own petroglyph designs by painting and carving into plaster slabs.

November 4, 2012

Here comes November!

Posted in | 7:19 PM | by Unknown

Please visit my new blog, The Classroom Key, for more great anchor charts, ideas, and freebies!


In writing we have started a new unit on how-to pieces.  This week we wrote about how to make ice cream sundaes.



We are learning how to tell time to 5-minutes.  We made these clocks with flaps so we can check how many minutes each hour number stands for.



In our social studies cultures unit we learned about Egypt.  We wrote our names in ancient Egyptian heiroglyphics.  


Each of us also decorated a sarcophagus.  




When we studied Italy, we found that mosaics are a common art form in that country.  We made our own mosaics out of foam tiles.



We are learning about different genres.  Recently we have read realistic fiction and a folktale.




Our latest grammar skill is identifying synonyms and antonyms.  To help us remember the difference I made this poster about the Cinnamon/Synonym Bears and the Antonym Ants.




On Halloween, Ms. Frizzle from the Magic School Bus visited our class.




October 14, 2012

October 14th

Posted in | 11:06 PM | by Unknown


In social studies we are learning about cultures around the world.  Last week Mrs. Hatch taught us about the culture in Mexico.  We made traditional tissue-paper flower decorations and filled in the shape of Mexico.
We learned that many holidays, foods, and activities we enjoy in the United States actually came from another country originally.  These traditions were brought to this country by immigrants.
We spent two weeks studying poetry.  We learned that poets use tools like line breaks, alliteration, personification, and rhythm.

We illustrated a poem we read about trees.  This is a watercolor background.

The second step was to add the silhouette of a tree.  These are some of the finished products.

In math we have found many ways to show that 10 groups of 10 equal 100.  We use this fact to help us solve problems.  We have been practicing mentally adding and subtracting 10 and 100 from a number.



Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)