Polar Animals

We are learning about Polar Animals. Our classroom is looking like a winter wonderland! 

We also learned how blubber acts as insulation for polar animals. I didn't capture this because my hands were covered in fat!! Ask your child what a difference a little insulation makes! 

New Year New Goals

We started our New Year by writing some new goals for ourselves. The students did a fantastic job on these! 

Field Trip Fun!

After learning about different arty styles and artists, 2nd graders went on a fabulous field trip to MOCA and we even got to visit the Main Library. 

October Adventures in 2nd Grade

We have been busy this month! We have been learning about more of the 7 Habits and trying to really make them habits that we use daily.

We put Habit 4 into practice by doing this STEM spider web challenge.

We are continuing our research about spiders and our reports are almost done!

We will do some Spooky STEM science next week! 

Habits, Spiders and Handprints

This week we talked about Habit 2 from The 7 Habits of Happy Kids.

We talked about goal setting and and the importance of thinking about our choices.

We were also busy learning about spiders! 

Next week we will dig deeper into our research.

We read The Important Book and talked about what they think is important for others to know about them. Each of the students made a "handprint" that was unique and said something about them.

It was another Oz-some week!! 

2nd Grade Gifted 2014

We had a fantastic 1st day of 2nd grade gifted on Monday! We are ready for an "Oz-Some" year!! Please remember to sign the "Yellow Brick Road Map" each week.

Ask your child how they are going to put Habit #1 of The 7 Habits of Happy Kids into action this year! How will they "Be Proactive?" 

We have a very creative group of kids in our class! I'm sure you admired their amazing binder covers! 

We are going to have a great year! 

Second Grade Adventures in Oz

We had a super day in 2nd grade gifted! We are putting The 7 Habits of Happy Kids into practice this year. Today we discussed what it meant to Be Proactive. Being Proactive means being responsible, taking initiative, choosing your actions, attitudes and moods, and doing the right thing even when no one is watching. Here is how one student will Be Proactive this year:

We had fun with science today with The Balloon Blow-up. Ask your child what they learned.

 

We are starting a unit on spiders. Here is what we know:

Here are something that we want to find out: 

Spiders!

Check out these great sites to learn more about spiders!

www.spiderroom.info/

Animoto

We are using Animoto to create some awesome animal slide shows!! You can sign up for a free Animoto account and your child can create more!

Amazing Animal Books

We are creating some Amazing Animal Books of our own but if anyone has any of these Amazing Animal books from Chick fil a kids meals we would love to have them for our classroom library!!

Book Fair Online till October 22nd

Don't forget to check out the Book Fair!! There are so many awesome selections this year. Here are a few that I picked up for our class: Book Fair Wish List

Think Fun!

We love Think Fun games! Thanks to Jaxson's family for sending in Pathwords. If you are looking for great gifts for kids Think Fun is a perfect choice. Also check out Mindware for great high level games and critical thinking activities for kids. 

Our 2nd grade day...

Each morning we begin our day writing out our Travel Guides...

Don't forget to review your child's Travel Guide and sign it each week.

 Today we made a plan for writing an informational book about African Animals. 

I can't wait to read all of the amazing books and learn more about animals!

We also made a game called Mancala. We had fun learning about this ancient African game and playing it too. 

 

Habit 2: Begin With the End in Mind

Today we talked about the 2nd Habit in our book The 7 Habits of Happy Kids.

Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind (Have a Plan)

I plan ahead and set goals. I do things that have meaning and make a difference. I am an important part of my classroom and contribute to my school’s mission and vision. I look for ways to be a good citizen.

I love the short term and long term goals the kids set for themselves. We will be talking about goal setting and tracking our progress all year. Check out these great goal sheets:

We love Research!

2nd graders are busy gathering facts about African animals! We love using National Geographic Kids as a resource for our research. 

The 7 Habits of Happy Kids

This year we put The 7 Habits of Happy Kids in action in our classroom. This book was written for kids to introduce them to the principles in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey. Through the 7 Habits, students will begin to realize that they have control over much of what happens in their lives and they can be true leaders. Their choices affect their day, their relationships, and their future. The 7 Habits empowers even the youngest students to stop and think about their choices and the different outcomes that may come with those choices. Habit 1: Be Proactive~ To Be Proactive means to take responsibilty for your choices and behaviors. Habit 1 is the key to all of the other habits. Be Proactive says," I am a responsible person. I take initiative. I choose my actions, attitudes, and moods. I do not blame others for my wrong actions. I do the right thing without being asked, even when no one is watching." Here is an example of how one of our 2nd graders will choose to Be Proactive:

spiders

Did you know? Spiders are not insects,they are aracknids.spiders have up to 4  body parts.Spiders have oil on their feet.The mother layes it's eggs and wraps them up in a silk sack. Spiders live up to be 10 years.Tarantulas have been around for millions of years.Spiders have been around longer than dinosaurs and insects.        by    Teagen and Laura,Brody,Jake
                                                                                                               

Spider Fun

Learning about spiders can be so much fun and yummy too!

spiders,spiders,everywere!

I'm a black widow spider and I live all over the world but not at antartica or  in deserts.  I sometimes eat my mate by mistake.  Black widows lay 400 eggs at a time.  Black widows will eat almost anything they even
take bites of us! Thanks for reading our information!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Spiderflakes

We continue our study of spiders. Today we made these "spider flakes." As usual students used their creativity and elaborated on the original idea of a simple "spider flake."