Judge U

To end the year, the 2nd graders were assigned to write a persuasion paper giving three reasons why our special guest Judge U should allow them to move on to the third grade. While I meant for this to be a fun activity, the 2nd graders took this assignment very seriously. A number of them thought that for sure they would not pass the 2nd grade! I assured them they would do just fine.

Judgement day took place yesterday, and our classroom turned into a courtroom. Judge U was dressed in a robe (in our school's color, royal blue, of course!) and even brought an over-sized gavel with her! The 2nd graders each took turns at the stand, pleading their cases as to why they should be promoted to third. There were countless sighs of relief after presentations were made. One student even exclaimed, "That was a lot easier than I thought it would be!" I am happy to report that every single 2nd grader passed and will be promoted to third grade. Though I am sad to see this class go, I am extremely proud of all their hard work and the accomplishments they have made throughout this school year.

Two More Inductees to the 100 Club!

Congrats to our newest Gold Member for reading and logging in 100 books at home!

And congratulations to our Silver Member who read and logged in 75 books outside of the classroom!

Shedd Aquarium Field Trip

What a wonderful trip we had to the Shedd! I have been taking my students here for six years now, and it is by far my favorite place to take my 2nd graders.This year there was not enough room for us to eat in their designated cafeteria areas so we decided to eat outside on a patch of grass right in front of the museum. I'm so glad we did because the weather we absolutely gorgeous! This trip was a perfect way to help end our school year.

*Note: The creature at the top of this picture is an Australian Lungfish named Grandad. He is the oldest animal at the Shedd. He was on the top of the 2nd graders' list of animals to find.

Can you guess what animal this is? I'm really going to miss this group of kids!

Marine Animal Dioramas

For our last research project of the year, the 2nd graders each picked a marine animal to study. Students had to select a marine animal that can be found at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago because our culminating activity for this unit was a field trip to the Shedd! During our field trip, the children were given one mission - find all 19 marine animals that we researched. More details about our trip in another post.

The kids made dioramas this time around, and I was beyond amazed at the quality and creativity of the kids' projects! For many of the kids, this project was a family effort and during the presentations there was quite a bit of pride in the fact that mom, dad, and even siblings helped out.

Scientist of the Week 18

Scientist of the Week 17

Scientst of the Week 19

Birthday Hats

One of our 2nd grade friends celebrated his birthday this week. His mother brought in a fun activity for the kids to do. The hats are the perfect accessory for summer vacation

Junior Achievement

Each school year Junior Achievement sends in volunteers to HAA and schools all over the U.S. Junior Achievement is the world’s largest organization dedicated to educating students about workforce readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy through experiential, hands-on programs. 

This year, the 2nd graders had a chance to work with Ms. Lisa - again! The kids had Ms. Lisa as their JA volunteer last year so they were beyond excited when they learned that they would have her again. Ms. Lisa works for McDonalds Corp. and has been a Junior Achievement volunteer for several years. Over the course of five weeks she taught the kids about unit production vs. assembly line production, voting, taxes, community workers, and how money travels.

Thank you for your time, Ms. Lisa! We appreciate you!

Scientist of the Week 15

Our Scientist of the Week brought his big sister to class to watch his experiment. She is a former student of mine! Miss K was part of the very first second grade class I taught here at HAA thirteen years ago. I'm always happy to see my former students, even if the ones in college make me feel really old. ;o)

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

On Friday we had a fiesta celebrating Cinco de Mayo. We ate tortilla chips and salsa, wore sombreros and colorful paper flowers, listened to mariachi music, and watched BrainPop videos about the history of Cinco de Mayo and Mexico.

Earth Day Pledge

Famous American Biography Projects, Part 2