A Spooktacular Spectacle!

Our Fall Festival was a ghoulishly delightful day with fun-filled activities enjoyed by all.  Second grade students experienced a whole day packed with wonderful learning activities.  

In the morning we read apple and pumpkin stories and had "pumpkin" and "licorice" math.  We also participated in pumpkin painting, and other craft activities.  

In the afternoon we had a costume party and a Halloween parade.  Our parade was followed by a pumpkin and apple tasting party.

Thank you to all of the parents who sent in food and helped with the festivities.

Here is our "guessing" pumpkin all decorated for Halloween!

Second Grade Visits Kindergarten

Second grade visited a kindergarten class where they heard an inspired reading of “Jungle Drums”. All of the students listened to identify story elements. Then the second grade students worked with the kindergarten students to brainstorm a sentence to tell what they would wish for. After the second grade students wrote the sentence, the kindergarten students illustrated the sentence by drawing a picture.

Second Grade Class Rules

During the first week of school the second grade classes got together to formulate the class rules. In the spirit of Constitution Day, which was September 17th, we reviewed how rules are made and discussed the similarities and differences between how the United States Government makes rules and how we made our own class rules.
These are our class rules:

1. Keep hands, feet, and objects to yourself.

2. Listen while others are talking.

3. Walk in the school building.

4. Always raise your hand and wait to be called on.

5. Be kind and get along with others.

6. Talk with a quiet voice.

7. Follow directions the first time.

8. Always try your best.

Room Renovations

Sun, Moon, and Earth

Here is a fun activity to get you started with this year's new science curriculum.

Sterling Hill Mining Museum

Today members of the Second Grade Team visited the Sterling Hill Mining Museum for a tour and a workshop.  On the tour of the mine we observed how much miners relied on simple machines to do their jobs.  We also learned about how important safety precautions and following procedures was.  Our workshop was about fluorescent rocks and minerals and how they are used in everyday things, such as postage stamps and money.  Here is a picture of one of the many displays of local fluorescent rocks under ultraviolet lighting.

This is a video presentation given by the speaker that we had about fluorescent rocks and minerals.  

The Paint is on the Walls

Here are two pictures of the updates that have been done so far in the second grade classrooms.

This is a bottle rocket that one of the second grade teams built as part of our co-teaching conference.  We had to cooperatively work as a team to design and interpret directions to create our rockets, and then we launched them.   We also worked together to design a lesson plan to cooperatively teach two different Math lessons.  One second grade team planned and delivered a lesson on telling time, and the other team planned and delivered a lesson on making change.  One day we cooperatively worked together to build a marshmallow catapult.  This is a lesson that I want to modify for a second grade class to use when we do the unit on simple machines.

Welcome to Second Grade!

September, 2008 will get off to a new start!  The second grade classrooms have been selected to have an "overhaul", and we will have brand new floors, furniture and paint.  Both classrooms will have SMART boards and other new technology built right in.  Check back over the summer to see the pictures.  We are getting ready for a fantastic new year to go along with our "new look".  We can't wait to share this with you at Back to School Night.  We will be posting special events and activities that the second grade team has experienced to get ready for you this fall.  Check back often to check out what your teachers are doing this summer!