Earth Day

We have been celebrating Earth Day for the last few weeks. We read The Lorax, watched the video, and did several lessons for our Reading class. We each made a Lorax. Paper hats were assembled and worn to show our interest in recycling and reusing Earth's resources. A fun activity was making Mother Earth. Our special event was going out to the O.W.L.S to view the outdoor environment. Later next week we will be picking up trash outdoors and creating ways to use the Three R's, Reduce, Recycle, and Reuse.

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Greenbush Field Trip

The second grades classes went to Greenbush to share lessons on The Three States of Matter and Paleontology. We had a wonderful time. Below, on the video, we are digging up fossils.

Butterflies and Moths

The second grade classes have started a study comparing the Painted Lady Butterfly and Luna Moth life cycles. We received Painted Lady Butterfly larvae and a Luna Moth pupa for each classroom. Both species have been put in their habitats and we are watching our larvae molt and grow, pupate, and emerge as adults. Our Luna Moth pupa is in the resting stage before emerging as an adult. The life cycle process is called Metamorphosis. The biggest difference is that Butterflies make a chrysalis and the moth makes a cocoon.

Painted Lady Life Cycle

Luna Moth Life Cycle

Marsuipal Sue

We read Marsupial Sue using the Tumble Program, made kangaroos, and wrote about how each of us believes in his/herself. After reading our first Marsupial Sue story, we read The Gingerbread Boy and Marsupial Sue and The Runaway Pancake. We then compared the stories and found the sequence pattern in the text. We had a lot of cute kangaroos!

Penguin Art

After our Penguin Unit, we hug up our reports and had fun making our own penguins!

PENGUINS

Our class has been doing research reports on penguins. There are 17 species. Each student received research information on his/her penguin. They used the information and the Kidspiration Program to make a template for their penguin. We then did tear art to make a penguin. This was our fun day before we launched our free week during Spring Break.

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Events for Dr. Seuus Week

Dr. Seuss Week

We launched our Dr. Seuss Week Friday, February 24th. We worked on  Cat in the Hats art and ate Green Eggs and Ham.





This week we will be celebrating Dr. Seuss Week. The schedule follows:
An elementary assembly discussing Seuss Week.

Monday - Oh, The Places You'll Go! - wear a shirt for a place you would like to visit.
Each student will pick a place, write his/her "I Dream" and add it to their hot air balloon. We will make Seuss spirals as an extension.


Tuesday - There's a Wocket in My Pocket! - wear lots of pockets.
Each student will make a pocket and write a description of what is in their pocket.


Wednesday - One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish - wear red and blue.
Each student will make red and blue fish, we will eat fish crackers and fish swimming in jello.

Thursday - Fox in Socks - wear cool socks.
Each student will decorate a pair of "cool socks" and make an oragmi fox.


Friday - 500 hats of Barthlomew Cubbins - wear a hat
We will be working on Diffendoofer Day. We will illustrate a drawing of a classroom using Seuss art.
We will have a Hat Parade to start the day off.

Later in the year we will share the Lorax.


Check back to view our slide show of the week's events.

Moon Phases

We have been discussing the phases of the moon this month in school. We each used the Kidspiration Program and made a template of the moon's cycle.

If you click on the following link, you can view the phase of the moon for any given day.

http://www.briancasey.org/artifacts/astro/moon.cgi

Kansas' Birthday

While sharing our lessons on Kansas we learned that the early settlers made their first home from Kansas soil. We spent the afternoon making Soddie's with dandelions on them.
The vision came from our story Dandelions, written by Eve Bunting and illustrated by Greg Shed.

Rain Forest Animal Report

After reading Afternoon on the Amazon we each received an assignment to research an animal from the Amazonian Rain Forest.  After using the information from the web, we are putting our reports on the Kidspiration software. Our winter vacation slowed us down, but we will be posting each animal and some facts soon. Check back to read about all the interesting things we have learned.

Second Grade Scientist

This week we have been talking about mixtures. We shared a demonstration lab and made a crystal garden Christmas Tree. Next, we all made Flubber and investigated the properties of Flubber. Below is our video of the fun filled afternoon.

Christmas 2011

Each of us wants to wish you a MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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MAGIC TREE HOUSE

 

Mystery of the Magic Spell

One day, in Pennsylvania, a tree house appeared in the woods. Jack, an eight year old boy, and Annie, his younger sister climb into the tree house. They find it filled with books. Jack and Annie soon discover that the tree house is magic. It can take them to the places in the books. All they have to do is point to a picture and wish to go there. They discover that Morgan le Fay owns the tree house. She was a librarian from the time of King Arthur. There are 28 books belonging to this series. Books 29 - 40 are Merlin's Missions. The stories using factual information, send Jack and Annie on imaginative adventures.

For the next few weeks our class will be reading Books 5-8.
Each book will give us a clue in the Mystery of the Magic Spell story arc where Morgan le Fay has gone missing and Jack and Annie must break the spell for her freedom.

Night of the Ninjas - Morgan le Fay is missing. The search for her begins as Jack and Annie are transported back to ancient Japan, where they find themselves in the cave of the ninja master.

OUR FIRST THING IS A MOONSTONE.

Afternoon on the Amazon - Jack and Annie search the South American rainforest for Morgan le Fay. Here they encounter giant ants, flesh-eating piranhas, hungry crocodiles, and wild jaguars.

 OUR SECOND THING IS A MANGO.


Sunset of the Sabertooth - Jack and Annie are whisked back to the Ice Age where they are greeted by cave people, wooly mammoths, and fierce Sabertooth tigers!

OUR THIRD THING IS A WOOLY MAMMOTH BONE FLUTE.

Midnight on the Moon - Forty years into the future, Jack and Annie land on an international space station on the moon. Wearing space suits, they explore the lunar surface in search of the fourth object to free the enchantress Morgan le Fay.

Our Fourth Thing was Peanut the Mouse. Peanut was Morgan le Fay who was under the spell cast upon her by Merlin.


The students made a Kidspiration Template on the four stories showing pictures of each book. We all enjoyed reading the adventures!

Our Christmas Program Performance