What We've Been Up To...

We have been some busy bees down in the 2nd grade hallway!

We are on Week 2 of our Project-Based Learning unit (PBL) about U.S. landmarks and how they make places unique.  Next week, the learners will be issued their challenge for the rest of the project, and get ready--it's a doozy!

So far, they have learned the basics about the Washington Monument, the Casa Grande ruins, Mount Rushmore, and the Golden Gate Bridge.  They have also completed missions based on these landmarks, in which they used creativity, collaboration, communication, and critical thinking (our 21st century soft skills).

Below are some photos from today's mission, "Big, Big Bridge."

The learners worked in their PBL teams to construct a long bridge to span between 2 desks.

They were judged on the length of the bridge, its beauty, and teamwork.

Top left: The "Tae Kwon Do Dallas Stars British Team" is really improving in their teamwork!

Top right: The "4 Cute Best Friends" team won the Creativity award for using red pipe cleaners to create roses that decorated their bridge.

Bottom: The "Awesome Launchers" team had a great idea to add straws below their bridge for support.

Top: The "Crooked Arrows" team won today's mission by building the longest bridge and receiving high points in teamwork and beauty, as well.

Bottom: The "Lightning Bolts" team got the 2nd highest score for beauty and used colorful pipe cleaners to decorate their bridge.

Great job, teams!  I commended them all today for how well they worked in their teams.  I am so proud to already see their collaboration and communication improving after just 6 days of this PBL unit!  Way to go, 2A!

Stay tuned for all the fun and learning that is yet to come!

Landform Maps

Well, we definitely had lots of fun creating these bad boys, lol!

Our goal for this project was to understand the importance of a map key and symbols so that we can locate things on a map. I think they did a great job!

Solids, Liquids, and Gases...Oh My!

Please allow your child to play around on these websites for extra practice/to help further understand the 3 states of matter and how substances change their state.

BBC States of Matter

Harcourt School Particles of Matter

ThinkQuest States of Matter

Mrs. C.'s Presentation on States of Matter

Mrs. Cockrell's Fave Reads!

Believe it or not, Mrs. Cockrell was once a 2nd grader, too!  And I looooooooved reading.  Still do!  In fact, I have read 4 novels in the past 2 weeks.  I don't usually read THAT much, but being sick has a few perks--including more time to read!  :)

Source: lastlemon.com

One goal I have as a teacher is to develop a love of reading in ALL my students, especially those who don't already enjoy reading very much.

One of my favorite things about reading is being able to use my imagination to visit another place--someone else's story.  You may not know this, but most adults don't get to use their imaginations as much as you do as kids.  We are so busy working hard and taking care of things in our lives, that we don't get to play and have fun as often as we'd like.  So reading is a great past time that allows us to imagine.

Source: quotes.orb

So now YOU imagine--imagine Mrs. Cockrell as a 2nd grader or a 4th grader, going to school with you!  As a student, I did really well in reading (probably because I loved it so much and had lots of practice) and did ok in math.  I talked a LOT, so I did get in trouble sometimes for talking at the wrong time.  It's important to try to use self-control even when it's tough, right?  :)

Now to the fun part!  I want to share some of my favorite books with you.  These are some books that I loved when I was in elementary school:

(Click the pictures to read more about each book on Amazon.com.)

The Boxcar Children mysteries
by Gertrude Chandler Warner

I read many of the books in this series as a kid.  If you like mysteries, I bet you'll like these books!

You know what's really cool?  The series were first written during World War II, back in 1942!  I think it's way cool to read something written during an important time in our history.

The Berenstain Bears series
by Stan & Jan Berenstain

I read every single one of these as a kid!  I loved them.  I love how they are funny at times and how they also deal with a real-life issue or situation and help us learn a lesson.

In recent years, they even came out with Berenstain Bears chapter books!  Click the book below to check them out.

Berenstain Bear Scouts chapter books
by Stan & Jan Berenstain

Amelia Bedelia
by Peggy Parish

We actually had an author visit at Lakeside a few years ago by Herman Parish, who is Peggy Parish's nephew.  He took over writing stories about Amelia Bedelia after his aunt passed away.  It's really neat that he is publishing more and more stories about Amelia so that she lives on.  He even has a chapter book series out now about Amelia Bedelia as a little girl.  Check them out by clicking the picture below:

Amelia Bedelia Means Business chapter book #1
by Herman Parish

Sideways Stories from Wayside School
by Louis Sachar

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Louis Sachar's series about Wayside School.

This school is wacky, weird, and crazy!  The weirdest, silliest things happen to the students there.

Good news!  This will be our next read aloud when we finish our book about Humphrey!  You will love it.  I promise.  :)

We will try to read the whole Wayside School series this year, but here are more more great books by Louis Sachar if you want to check them out:

Dogs Don't Tell Jokes
by Louis Sachar

Holes
by Louis Sachar

Well, I guess that's probably about enough!  I hope you enjoyed reading a little bit more about me and about my favorite books from childhood.  You can find many of these books in our classroom library and in our school library.  

No matter what you're interested in, there is a book out there that's for YOU; a book that will make you love reading as much as I do!  I am here to help you throughout your reading journey this year, so let's work together to find awesome books.

Source: http://busemd.edublogs.org

Leave a comment telling me about one of your very favorite books or why you love reading!

Happy weekend!

Love, Mrs. Cockrell

P.S.  Parents, here is a great link to Scholastic where you can search books to find out their reading level or enter a reading level and find books:

Scholastic Book Wizard

Fire Department: Safety Town

This morning, some special firefighters visited us to teach us about some very important ways to stay safe in different situations.  Here are some important things we learned:

Olivia- If you see a gun, stop--don't touch it--leave the area--and tell an adult.
Reagan W.-Always wear your seat belt.
Seth-Have a plan in case your house in on fire.
Reagan A.-Don't touch something that's hot.
Eugenia-Don't open the door to strangers.
Michael-Don't talk to strangers.
Antonio-Don't give out your name or address on the internet.
Kristen-Don't share any important information on the internet.
Bella-Always wear a seat belt, because if you don't, then you could fall.
Mikayla W.-If you get burned on your body, pour water on it.
McKayla O.-Do not touch anything that might be dangerous.
Mariana-When you're getting something out of the oven, make sure you wear gloves or an oven mitt.
Matthew-You always have to know 2 ways out of your house if there's a fire--like a door and a window.
Luca-After you leave your house, don't go back in and go to your family's meeting place.
Seth-Make sure your smoke detector is working at all times.
Seth-Always bring a flashlight on Halloween.
Claire-Only go to people's houses that you know.
Mariana-Always go trick or treating with an adult.
Mikayla W.-Stay in your neighborhood.
Eugenia-Don't run away from the adult you are with-stay with them.
Reagan W.-Wear light, bright clothing so you can be seen in the dark.
Luca-You could wear a glow stick so people can see you in the dark.
Olivia-If you have tennis shoes that light up, you should wear those.
Bella-Always wear safety gear like a helmet when riding a bike or skateboard.

Our 1st PBL Unit!

Well, you probably heard about this during the first 2 weeks of school when our kiddos were working together on this project, but I am finally getting around to updating our little ole blog here!

Our learners were challenged by our principal and assistant principal to create a "superhero" with a quality that would help make our school an even better place to learn.

They were put into groups and had to figure out their exact task by deciphering the Entry Document given to them by Mrs. H and Mrs. F.  That document was pretty wordy, so our learners had to discuss and figure out what many of the words and phrases meant so they could understand exactly what they needed to do!

They did a great job collaborating, and after fully discovering their task, they made plans and their final product to showcase their team Superheroes!

Here are the finished products displayed in our classroom--each one portrays a specific character quality that the team felt would help our school be a better place to learn...

"Respect Girl"

"Effort Man"

"Super Boy," Effort

"Leo the Super Dog," Caring

I am super excited for our class to begin their next PBL unit in October!  

I know they are going to accomplish great things this year.

Off and Running!

Well, we are off to a great start this year, and I can't wait to see what this group of learners is going to accomplish this year.

Here are some fun photos of 2A's "Tweetie Pies" excited to be in 2nd grade!

Aren't they precious?!

Welcome to 2A and Kid President's Pep Talk!

We have had a wonderful time in 2nd grade so far!

A more detailed blog post (with photos!) will be up soon, but in the meantime, check out the awesome, inspiring video below!

Please feel free to leave a comment sharing which part of the video inspires you!


"Create something that will make the world awesome."

Love,
Mrs. C.

Being Humanitarians: 2nd Grade Bazaar 2013

There are so many worthy organizations that are fighting to better our country and our world.  I have narrowed it down to some great choices for our students to vote on--we will donate the profits from our sales at this year's 2nd Grade Bazaar to the winner of our poll.

Here is some information about each of the charities we will be choosing from:

World Wildlife Fund - fighting to protect endangered animals

American Red Cross: North Texas Region  - provides relief to victims of disasters and helps people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies.

Coppell Humane Society  - a foster home organization that keeps the animals until they find their forever homes, no matter how long that takes

Ocean Conservancy - brings people together to find solutions for our water planet, protecting the ocean and its wildlife for future generations

Students: After looking at the websites above and learning about each one, click on the link below to visit our Today's Meet site, where you will share with your classmates which charity you think we should donate to, and why you think so.  We will then vote and send off our donation to the organization with the most votes in 2nd grade!

TODAYSMEET LINK

Engineering Station

Please visit the websites below to learn more about engineering and Rube-Goldberg and how you can create and build your own creative machines:

Rube Goldberg

PBS Kids Goldberger to Go

Tom's Trap-o-matic: Build a trap to catch Jerry!

Dynamic Systems Physics Game

FOSS Web's Rube Goldberg Burglar Catcher

Ed Heads Simple Machines Tool Shed

Simple Machines Learning Site

Have fun learning, creating, and engineering!

Weather Lapbooks!

The past couple of weeks we studied all things weather and compiled our learning into these awesome Lapbooks!

We had our students report the weather each day and charted the data on our Daily Weather Graphs. We learned about the water cycle and created an awesome umbrella telling about it. We compared and contrasted the weather from one week to the next. We made observations about our graph data. In conclusion, we did lots of thinking!

Here are some samples of 2A's hard work: