Holiday Traditions

The holidays are upon us.
I'm excited for my girls to be home-everyone under one roof! I always look forward to the traditions we have created as a family. What do you look forward to each year? You can add your favorite tradition below.

Created with Padlet

Our Fall Tree

Last week we visited our adopted tree and made observations. We paid special attention to how our tree has changed since we first visited in September, when it was still summer. 

Now that it is fall, we noticed that...

The ground beneath our tree is covered with very long roots. The roots stick out of the ground. We collected the seed pods which we call helicopters. We opened them and found the seeds inside.

The leaves are almost all gone. The leaves were yellow and fragile.

The branches are strong, thick, and overlapping.
The tree's trunk is covered with bumpy bark. The grooves in the bark are shaped like Vs.

We noticed that a lot of leaves fell off from the wind. We also saw that one of the branches was cut, which we didn't see in the summer observation. We think we didn't notice the broken branch because it was covered with leaves.

Then we drew pictures of our tree to record our observations.

                         

                         

                         

Go Noodle

Sometimes we just need to move, so we GoNoodle.

              Here we are moving as we count by 2s, 5s, and 10s!

Meet the Happy Campers!

Welcome to 2-B!                                          

             

                                             

                       What makes you happy?  

                                         

Veterans Day

We are thankful for our veterans.

We are thankful for the freedoms we enjoy in America!

Fall Leaves

Writing

      Personal Narratives are stories we write about our own experiences. It is personal writing that covers an event in the writer's life; it often contains personal comments and ideas, as well as, a description of the event.

CCSS W.2.3. Write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure.

 In September, the students were presented with this prompt... 

"Brainstorm about a time when you had fun playing or working in the fall leaves."

Then we ventured outside where each student collected leaves from the courtyard. When we got back to the classroom, Ms. Conroy passed out crayons to each table. The students had to break the crayons (Boy, were the students surprised about that!) and peel the paper off. Then we put all the leaves in the center of the table to share and make leaf rubbings.

The students were very excited and made beautiful color combinations.

                                          

                                   

                                                 The final results were beautiful! 

                                                     Then we added the writing. 

What is your favorite thing about fall leaves? 

Halloween FUN!

                

Halloween Parade!

           

Halloween Party Fun!

A sincere THANK YOU to Mrs. McHugh and Mrs. Pellizzaro for planning fun activities for our class party!
The children had a blast!  

What is your favorite part of Halloween? What is your favorite candy or treat? Click here to add your answer to our padlet.  (Or comment below.)

Global Read Aloud

Over the past few weeks, our class has enjoyed being part of Global Read Aloud. I have been reading The Year of Billy Miller to the class each day, following the schedule for GRA.  We have Skyped several times with Mrs. Frey's class to discuss the book. We have also joined other teachers from across the nation in a live discussion on Twitter.  Yesterday we completed the 3rd part of the book about Billy's little sister Sal.  I have created a Padlet that the students are invited to comment on.

Created with Padlet

Ask your child to tell you something about the book. Who are the main characters? What problems does Billy have? How does Billy solve his problems or get help from other characters?  We are just getting started on the fourth and final part, Mother. We can't wait to see how the story ends! We LOVE to read!!!!

Class Quilt

Weekly Wellness Block Conversations
     Each Friday afternoon, we come together for class meetings. We discuss many topics, including getting along with others, kindness, communication, and bullying. During this time, the students practice their listening and speaking skills. They must follow our class discussion rules. They need to look at the person speaking, pay attention to the other students' comments and questions, and respond by linking their comment to the response of the other student.

     At the end of September, we discussed working as a team in our classroom and the importance of each of us doing our part to help the classroom run smoothly. As a follow up, each student created a class quilt square on their own. Once completed, we gathered all of the pieces and created a whole quilt by combining the individual pieces. By each of us doing our part, we managed to created something as a team.

Mrs. Begin made a hangman puzzle to give students a clue
about the theme for the quilt.

We followed this pattern to complete the quilt.

 To complete the quilt square, the students each received one 6-inch green square, two 3-inch yellow, and two 3-inch red squares. Students had to fold and cut the smaller squares from corner to corner, creating 8 triangles. Next, they built the quilt on the pattern page. Finally, they transferred the pieces onto the large green square.

                                         

  

                                       

Once each square was created and glued together, the students brought them all together to create the (almost) completed quilt.

Finally, each student cut out a red apple to add to the plain green squares.

Viola! Our finished September quilt!

These are the Speaking and Listening Standards we work on during Wellness and other class discussions.

SL2.1. Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 2 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.

1. Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., gaining the floor in respectful ways, listening to others with care, speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under discussion).
2. Build on others’ talk in conversations by linking their comments to the remarks of others.
3. Ask for clarification and further explanation as needed about the topics and texts under discussion.

Read to Self

What is the best way to become a better reader?

READ, READ, READ!

We start by learning "Read to Self". 

Below is the chart we created together which describes our roles in the classroom.

The students have their own Book Baggies full of "Just Right" books.

The students each find their own comfortable spot to read in. We work each day to lengthen our independent reading time. We call this building stamina. 

So far, we have built up our stamina to 11 minutes!

Some like reading in the tent.

Others really love the new ball chairs!

The students are responsible for choosing books that will keep them engaged and interested the whole time.
Over the next few weeks, students will begin to record information about the books they read on this recording sheet.

Common Core Standard RL2.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories and poetry, in the grades 2–3 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

Ribbit...Ribbit...

Ribbit, Ribbit!

Last Friday, we were very excited to welcome Cooper to our classroom!

Cooper is a green frog that Lily and her dad found in their backyard. He will be visiting for a couple weeks until he is released back into his natural habitat. He is actually a very quiet, well-behaved visitor.

Cooper is fun to watch. He swims and floats around. 

And he loves to eat crickets!

The students and I are enjoying our time with our new friend!

Week one is done!

Wow! What a great first week we had in 2-B!

http://images.clipartpanda.com/camping-20clip-20art-ce468b288acc8a18c49573759aa8fdc1.jpg

The Happy Campers and I shared important information about our hobbies, interests, and families during show-n-tell. We learned a lot about each other and what we have in common.

We also spent time discussing classroom routines and procedures, as well as, class rules. We practiced where to go in a fire drill and how to sign out for the bathroom. We even squeezed in some extra recess outside because boy, was it hot!

These Happy Campers sure are hard workers. We made it through a few universal screenings and pre-tests, which take a lot of patience and stamina. The students sure tried their best!

I look forward to a GREAT year ahead!