Veterans Day

Since we had school today, we spent a good amount of our time learning about Veterans Day. Today's mini unit was perfect timing, considering that we just finished up our Symbols of America unit last week. Today we learned what a Veteran is and even shared about people that we know who have served in the past. We brainstormed character traits of those who serve in our military. We watched short video segments explaining why we have Veterans Day and then listened to a song honoring our Veterans. At 11:11 A.M. we took a moment of silence to thank God for those who have served and to protect those who currently serve. We learned important vocabulary related to Veterans, and we put them in ABC order and looked for them in a word search. At the end of the day we wrote letters of thanks so someone we know that is in the military or who has served in the past.

Here is a video of the song we listened to in class. (Posting because several kids asked so they could watch and learn it at home.)

Pumpkin Studies, Part 2

Here a some pictures from our pumpkin investigation. The kids had the best time making various predictions about our pumpkin and then seeing how close they were to the actual measurements. Predictions included the pumpkin's height, weight, number of ribs, number of seeds, and whether the pumpkin would sink or float in water. The kids' favorite part of our investigation was seeing the pumpkin float in water! I was as shocked as they were when the pumpkin floated. Pulling seeds out of the pumpkin's wet, sticky flesh was a popular activity as well. Can you believe we counted more than 300 seeds from our small pumpkin?

Trying to estimate how much the pumpkin weighs.



The class worked in pairs to separate the pumpkin seeds from the stringy, mushy flesh.

After separating seeds from the flesh, the kids counted their seeds.
One pair had only 22 seeds. Another pair counted 54.

After we cleaned up our pumpkin the mess from our investigation, the kids estimated how many pumpkin candies were in our estimation jar. Three kids came pretty close. They estimated that there were 50 pumpkin candies, and there were 58 in the container.

Daily Five in Full Swing

I have to admit, I have a really great group this year. They will seriously sit and read and read and read . . . and when time is up, some of them will groan and beg (yes, beg!) for MORE independent reading time. I love it!!!

Introducing each part of the Daily Five was a breeze, mostly because I looped nine students from 1st into 2nd grade this year. I am definitely seeing (and reaping!) the benefits of teaching in a multi-grade classroom.

Here are some photos showing each of the rotations of the Daily Five. The only rotation that I didn't get a picture of is Teacher Time when I do guided reading with groups or when I'm working with kids on an individual basis. Teacher Time isn't formally a rotation of the Daily Five anyways.

Read to Self
There are a lot of fun places to sit in the room for Read to Self, but the loft is definitely THE most popular one of all.

Work on Writing
The Writing Center is very popular this year, particularly with the first grade girls!

Read to Someone
The kids have been practicing their fluency skills when reading with a partner.
They also ask questions to check for understanding (comprehension). 

Word Work
We have 14 word work stations for practicing spelling and sight words. These stations don't change.
However, we do have about a dozen language/grammar stations that change each month according to seasons/themes.

Listen to Reading on computers using www.raz-kids.com
Word Work on computers using www.spellingcity.com

Listen to Reading with books on cassettes or CDs at the Listening Station

Listen to Reading on iPads

 For anyone interested in learning more about the Daily Five, please visit The Daily Café by the 2Sisters, Gaily Boushey and Joan Moser. If you're an educator, I highly recommend their books and their workshop. 

School Spirit Week

Last week was School Spirit Week. What a great time we had dressing up! Here's what our week looked like:

•  Monday - Pajama Day
• Tuesday - Sports Day
• Wednesday - Book Character Day
• Thursday - Crazy Hair/Tacky Day
• Friday - Decades Day

Our class won first place for best participation all week! The kids earned themselves a pizza party. As you can imagine, they are over the moon excited. Principal Herr said that this year's Spirit Week was the most participation he has seen from the entire student body in all the years he has been here.

My favorite day was Book Character Day. Here are pictures of me and all the kids.

The Lorax and The Cat in the Hat | Dr. Seuss

Fly Guy | Tedd Arnold
This cutie won best costume for Book Character Day. Some of you might remember
him dressed up as the Pigeon during our end of year book character parade
 last school year. Check out his costume from last year HERE.

Judy Moody and Stink | Megan McDonald

Biscuit and his owner | Alyssa Satin Capucilli 

Detective Zack | Jerry D. Thomas

 

Mary from the Bible

Lego Storm Trooper | Simon Beecroft

Fancy Nancy on the ends | Jane O'Connor ::  Pinkalicious in the middle |  Victoria Kann

Monster truck driver Dennis Anderson | Hot Wheel car

My Little Pony Starsong, the wolf from Peter and the Wolf, Lalaloopsy

Since I didn't get any photos of the class during any other days, I thought I'd share a few pictures of my own kids from Decades Day.

Kids from the 50s - my son, the Greaser and his cute classmate in her poodle skirt outfit

My daughter dressed up as a Flapper from the 20s with her classmates dressed up as Michael Jackson from the 80s.
(He won best costume for Decades Day!)

Had to share this one of my daughter. On Book Character Day she dressed up as Pippi Longstocking, one of my
favorite characters from childhood. She even has patches on her dress and "gold" coins in her apron pocket!

Pumpkin Studies, Part 1

We are in the middle of our pumpkin studies. I promised the kids I would post the videos that we watched to learn about pumpkins.



     

Here are a few photos of a pumpkin art project the kids worked on not too long ago.

 I found this fabulous "Pumpkin Investigation" unit on TpT full of activities that the kids have really been enjoying. Click HERE to purchase it. The teacher who created it has a wonderful blog full of resources and fantastic teaching ideas. Check out her blog Sunny Days in Second Grade HERE.

***I know it's been awhile since I last posted. My youngest had surgery ten days ago, and with fall now in full swing with Thanksgiving on the horizon things have been crazy busy! I will try my best to put up photos over the next few days of all the things we've been up to in the classroom.