Science - Food Chains

The students learned about food chains and we made food chains yesterday.  The food chain begins with the sun and then the students wrote how the grasshopper gets energy from the grass and so on. Check out the pictures of some of our food chains.

Science News

The students are learning about plants and animals. We started the unit learning about the different animal groups.  We talked about animals with backbones and animals without backbones.  When we were looking at the animals with backbones, the students learned about the mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and fish. When we were looking at animals without backbones, we learned about insects and spiders.  

The students enjoyed learning about some parts of animals.  The elk ear activity was lots of fun as the students learned that an elk's big ear helps them collect more sound so it is louder.  We talked about animals need air, water, food and shelter to live and grow.  We looked at bird beaks too and they learned that different birds have different kinds of beaks that help them get the food they eat. Of course, the students loved talking about animal camouflage and how they use camouflage to hid from other animals.  

We've been learning a lot about animals!  Our zoo trip is on Oct. 23rd in which we will be taking a class  called "Habitat is Home".  If you'd like to chaperone on the trip, please let me know.  We'll leave at 9:00 and return about 1:15.

Math -Tables and Graphs

The students have been learning about tally tables and graphs.  The students enjoy surveying everyone to get the data for a graph.  They've graphed favorite seasons, snacks, subjects in school and pets.  Making a pictograph is a little trickier since each picture stands for 2 or 5.  The students will be learning about bar graphs tomorrow and then using the data in the graph to solve problems.  We'll review on Wednesday and our test on tables and graphs will be on Thursday, Sept. 26th.

Buddy Time

On Wednesday, we had some time with our 5th grade buddies.  We talked about one of the 7 Habits of Happy Kids-Be Proactive.  The students talked about different situations and ways that they could "be proactive".  They had some great ideas!  Check out our buddy pictures!

We Are Authors!

On Friday, we had our first writing celebration!  The students have been working hard over the last week revising and editing their first published piece.  All of the published pieces were finished on Thursday so we celebrated with a "museum walk" on Friday.   The students shared their favorite page or part during our class meeting and then they were able to share their whole stories to several other friends in class.  Here are a few pictures of our first writing celebration.

Reading and Writing Connections

The students have been working hard writing meaningful connections to their reading.  They're really improving now as they can write something about themselves and write how it relates to the characters or what happened in the stories.  Check out a few:

Math - Comparing Numbers

The students have been comparing numbers this week. They've enjoyed all the different ways we've practiced. They love the greater/less game shown in the photos. We've been practicing with with flipcharts and our Activotes too. We will review the chapter on Monday and the Chapter 3 math test will be on Tuesday.

Leader in Me

We read Alexander and the Terrible,  Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day and talked about being proactive like habit 1 and not reactive.  We talked about kids decide their "weather" - sunny, cloudy or stormy. Ask your child about the story and the activities.

Spelling Groups

We have started spelling groups this week and only the Tuesday and Wednesday spelling test groups have received their new words. After introducing the words this week, the test will be the following week.  You child should be bringing home their word sort one day this week. If they haven't brought it home already, it should coke home Thursday or Friday.

Patricia Polacco

Wow! It was an exciting evening! I met one of my favorite children's author, Patricia Polacco. She told us about her family's quilt and many other special family memories that she's turned into books. I have a signed poster for the class and I'll share my signed books too.  She loves writing and drawing and I can't wait to tell everyone what I've learned from her.

Tie Dying Fun!

We sure had fun tie dying our t-shirts!  The long awaited video of the process is finally finished! Check out our iMovie!  Tie Dying Fun Video

Patricia Polacco Visits - St. Louis County Library!

I'm so excited because one of my favorite children's authors will be reading her new book "The Blessing Cup" at the St. Louis County Library Headquarters (1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd) on Monday, Sept. 9th @ 6:30.  The program is free and open to the public.  I'm planning to attend and thought other families might want to join me.  Follow this link for more information:  Patrica Polacco Visit.
Hope to see you there!

We Are Writers!

We've been writing stories and learning about the routines of Writers Workshop. The students have been building their writing stamina too. Each day we start with a writing meeting and share ideas with our writing partners. Then off to write they go! After writing for at least 20 minutes, the students share what they wrote with their writing partners. They've been writing many stories. This week, we focused on writing complete sentences with a capital letter and an end mark. We also talked about all the different kinds of writing and some students wrote lists, letters or stories.

Building Stamina

The students have been working hard to build their reading stamina. We've been graphing our progress. I'm so proud of their hard work.

Long Lawn Day - Friday, Sept. 6th

Just a reminder - Students should wear their tennis shoes tomorrow.  2nd grade Long Lawn Day time is 1:30 - 2:20.

Comparing Urban and Rural Areas

The students have been working hard on this project. They wrote two ways  urban and rural areas are like and different. Then they added pictures to show urban and rural areas. Check out some of the finished projects.

Social Studies Review

The students enjoyed using the Activotes to review today. They texted in the answer to this: Tell one way that a suburb is the same as a rural area. Check out their answers. We were even able to sort the answers and group like answers together.

Math - Number Patterns

The students have been learning to skip-count to 100.  They're really good at skip-counting by 2, 5 and 10.  Skip-counting by 3 is a little trickier for most students.  Today we learned more about odd and even numbers.  Tomorrow we'll be looking at number patterns and figuring out what comes next.  We'll review chapter 2 on Thursday and we'll have a math test on Friday.

Social Studies

We've been learning about different communities.  The students have been comparing urban and rural areas by making a Venn diagram.  I'll post a few tomorrow.  Today, we reviewed for the Social Studies test  and we'll review again tomorrow.  I sent home the Social Studies books and vocabulary cards today so your child can review at home tonight and tomorrow night.  The Unit 1 test will be on Thursday, Sept. 5th.