Math Explorations and Narrative Writing

We started unit 5 (in math) today by doing some explorations. Unit 5 will cover 2-D and 3-D shapes. A parent letter, explaining this unit, was sent home today. Please keep this as a reference. It has ideas for practice at home, along with the answers to the homework for the unit.


Exploration A: Sharing Equally (introduction to division)



Exploration B: Attribute Blocks: What's My Rule?



Exploration C: Clock Concentration (matching game)


Before Thanksgiving break we were working really hard on our expository (information) writing. Today, I introduced narrative (story) writing. We will be working on narrative writing until winter break.

Please don't forget to return the report card envelope, signed. This lets me know that you did look at your child's report card. The report card stays at home.

I hope you all had a relaxing Thanksgiving break. Now...if only we could get some snow!

2nd Grade Memory Books

At the end of the school year, your child will be bringing home a memory book from their 2nd grade experience. We will be completing and compiling the memory book pages throughout the school year. This past week in the computer lab, we did our Halloween memory page using a program called Canvastic.

We're Going Batty!

We have just completed our first big writing project of the year--our bat reports. Each student chose a type of bat to study. We researched information in books and on the internet. Notes were recorded, which were later turned into rough drafts. After editing, we typed our reports in the computer lab and put them into a bat book.


notes...



rough draft...



the completed project...


Ta-da!

Pumpkin Math

Today we took a break from our Everyday Math program and did some fun pumpkin math. With 5 pumpkins and a group of 2nd graders who love to get their hands dirty (well, maybe not everybody), we found the height, weight, circumference and seed count of the pumpkins. The seed counting was a bit tricky due to the stickiness of the seeds.

*A big "thank you" to the Park City Market for donating the pumpkins to our class and Mr. Call's class.

The Day We Met Our Reading Buddies...

What an exciting day it was on Friday! We met our reading buddies--Mr. Tullis' 4th/5th grade combination class. For a getting-to-know-you activity, the students interviewed each other. We'll take the interview and do a writing project out of it. This page will also be included in their 2nd grade memory books (which they will take home at the end of the school year).

A Visit from Students at Treasure Mountain

This past Wednesday, students from a Treasure Mountain speech class came to read children's books to us. It was fun to see how engaged the 2nd graders were with their reading.

Spelling City

Spelling City is an amazing site you can go to for spelling practice. (See link to the right.) All you have to do is type in 5, 10, 15, or all of your spelling words, press "play a game" and it will give you access to many games to practice those spelling words. You can also access the site from McPolin's homepage (internet links). We practiced using Spelling City in the computer lab this past week.

Beat the Calculator

We completed Unit 1 in math last week. Unit 2 focuses on addition and subtraction. Today we reviewed the +0 and +1 facts and then played Beat the Calculator. For this game, there are 3 people in a group: Brain, Calculator and Caller. The Caller calls out a simple addition fact (from a fact table in our workbook). The Calculator must use the calculator to solve the problem and the Brain can only use his/her brain to solve the problem. This game really puts an emphasis on "fact power." By the end of 2nd grade, students should be automatic in their recall of facts up to 10+10. This would be a great family game for home.

Buddy Sorts

We use a word study program called Words Their Way. To help us practice our word study words, we do a variety of activities.
Monday-sort and write into our word study notebook
Tuesday-draw and label
Wednesday-write words into sentences
Thursday-buddy sorts

During a buddy sort, one student reads the words and the other student sorts them into the correct pattern. Then the students switch roles. Included in the homework packet each week is your child's word study list. A buddy sort would be a great activity to do with your child.

Below are photos of students doing buddy sorts:

Pirate Reading...

Today we went to the "Pirate Reading" assembly. All classes met in the gymnasium and, afterwards, our class listened to Pirate Read read How I Became a Pirate. We then had the opportunity to go out into the book mobile. It was like a library on wheels! Every child got to check out a book (that is due next week). They will also get the chance to go to the book mobile during our library time on Thursday. What a great experience for the kids!

For every 20 minutes read each night, each student will get to put their name into a drawing for a "reading buddy" (a gigantic stuffed bear).




In the book mobile...




I also wanted to post some photos of our math lesson today. We worked on exchanging $1s for $10s and $10s for $100. To reinforce these skills we played The Money Exchange game.

Welcome!

I hope you all had a wonderful, relaxing summer and are ready to start the 2009-2010 school year. I will be updating our class blog throughout the year so you can see what wonderful things are happening in our second grade classroom. I am so excited for the year to begin and cannot wait to meet you and your child. See you soon!

Activities To Do At Home

With this unexpected break upon us, I'd like to offer some suggestions for things to do while at home.

*Read 20 minutes daily.

*Keep a journal and have students write in it daily. They could write what they did that day, a poem, a story, etc....

*Count money and write amounts in dollars-and-cents notation.

*Visit the "internet links" on the McPolin website. I recommend Spelling City, Everyday Math online, and BrainPop. We will be starting life cycles and plants when we return to school so those would be good options. The quizzes and activities are great, too.

*With not having library for a couple of weeks, you could always check books out from the public library.

Just a few announcements:
-The Cinco de Mayo celebration will be rescheduled for a later date, TBA.
-Please review the math homework from the past week, as we will be having our unit 10 test soon after we return to school.
-The school spelling bee will have to be rescheduled, date TBD.

Please check the district website for the most up-to-date information.

Lastly, please stay healthy and take care of yourselves.

Mrs. Tullis

Geologists at Work

This week we started our study of rocks and minerals. On Tuesday, we sorted rocks by particle size, hardness, color, texture, and layering. On Wednesday, we watched a BrainPop video on rocks and minerals and then went outside on a rock hunt. Each student found a rock they would use for our rock centers. We did our rock centers today and we had a blast. There were 5 stations: finding objects that were equivalent (good math vocabulary review :)) to the weight of the rock, studying the rock under a magnifying glass and drawing what we saw, determining if there was limestone in the rock by doing the vinegar test, determining if there was metal in the rock by using magnets, and finding out if the rock would sink or float in water. Here our some photos of our geologists at work: