A Very Happy Valentine's Day

We definitely had a very special Valentine's Day in 2A this year, and it was so great that so many of our parents were able to join us!

I am including videos of the Poetry Celebration that Audrey's Dad was so nice to share with us!  These links are UNLISTED, so only those who have the link can access and view them.  The students' names are not connected to the video title, either.

Thanks to Luca's mom who made the beautiful backdrop for us this year!  I had it laminated so we can keep using it in the future, too!  :)

I hope everyone had a great time at our Poetry Celebration and our party.  Thanks to everyone who sent in goodies to make the day extra special.  I know the kiddos were thrilled about all the yummy treats!




Your child's video is labeled by his/her class number.

#3
http://youtu.be/BU9itJadJ30

 #7
http://youtu.be/JDQPXiBztnQ

#22
http://youtu.be/yr7cCoQMAJU

#19
http://youtu.be/3Xmn_HMN_o4

#13
http://youtu.be/CbD-f2ij-H0

#17
http://youtu.be/gpSTQWHX1Fk

#16
http://youtu.be/7UHPO0eaQjE

#21
http://youtu.be/vvIvi3cqg-Y

#4
http://youtu.be/rueyAlz2HhQ

#10
http://youtu.be/G3kMeQY6Szs

#12
http://youtu.be/fqcANXHV7xs

#11
http://youtu.be/bEf8n4yNsbA

#14
http://youtu.be/3Sbew8Zo-0c

#9
http://youtu.be/RyCDt0UAPsk

#2
http://youtu.be/x2hTmx6CmZk

#15
http://youtu.be/jqPpA5OkoAU

#5
http://youtu.be/_jJ0ExGWNSo

#1
http://youtu.be/ll11Io4Vk5Y

#20
http://youtu.be/zQ9q2cizADY

#8
http://youtu.be/4okEIYDYFkg

#6
http://youtu.be/2NZpI5MPl-A

#18
http://youtu.be/yBuIjJ_10OU

Our Poetry PBL is complete!

"How can we, as 2nd graders, collaborate to compile a book of poetry to share with an audience?"

This was the Driving Question for our students for the past few weeks.

They generated questions that they needed to find answers to in order to create a book of poetry.

Each team member had a job:  Tech Head, Recorder/Editor, Time/Supply Manager, and Graphic Designer.

Teams researched 3 different types of poetry:  haiku, diamante, and cinquain.  Then, each group chose their favorite, brainstormed topics to write about, and began writing.

After editing, Tech Heads typed the poems in Microsoft Word while the rest of the team worked with the Graphic Designers to create an illustration for their poem.

I am very proud of their end result:



Thanks to all who were able to join us for our awesome Poetry Celebration and Valentine's Day party on Friday!  I know you are all very proud of your children.  They are pretty amazing kids.

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.

BRAIN BREAKS!

As you probably know, we recently began taking some "brain breaks" once or twice a day, where we get up and move around, dance, and act silly for 5 minutes or so.  Well, below you can find the links to these fun Brain Break videos that was put together by another teacher blogger!  The kids begged me to put these on the blog so they can do some of them at home, too!  :)

Click the links below to enjoy!

20 Brain Breaks from Teach. Train. Love

20 MORE Brain Breaks from Teach. Train. Love


Happy ALMOST Friday!  :)

Flipped Lesson: Planting Seeds

Students, please view the video below for information and materials needed to plant seeds.

You will be responsible for following the steps and planting your own seeds in a plastic cup or container (such as an empty yogurt or jello container).  You may plant the seeds from the baggie you were given at school, or you may use seeds from home (maybe seeds from fruit your family eats?).

If you need help, ask a parent, but you should be doing the work.

After planting your seeds, you will need to provide your seed with the things it will need to grow and survive.

You will bring your cup/sprout with you to school on:

Monday, December 10th

We can't wait to see your sprouted seeds!!  Have fun!

Writing Assignment!

Dear 2A Students,

Please view the short film below and use the Comments to practice your writing skills.  After watching, please COMMENT on this post with 2-3 complete sentences reflecting on the video.  This can include a short summary of the video, telling about why you liked it/didn't like it, telling about your favorite part, or making a connection to your own life.

Please remember to use capital letters and punctuation where needed.  Try your best at spelling; sound out the words that are hard, and try your best. 

To comment, click below where it says Comments.  Then click on Name/Url and type in your FIRST NAME only.  (You don't need to type anything in the URL box.)

Type your sentences about the video in the box.  Click PREVIEW to see what your comment will look like, and click PUBLISH when you are ready to post your comment.  DON'T FORGET TO WRITE YOUR FIRST NAME ONLY, AND HAVE FUN!

Sock Puppets!

I accidentally came across this App on our iPads, and it is my new favorite!!  (Thanks to Rozena, who had me searching out Apps we could use to work on our writing!)

We had so much fun creating our own Sock Puppet shows about Needs vs. Wants on our iPads, and we even taught our Kinder Buddies how to do it!

In this project, each student independently chose his/her sock puppet characters, designed their "set" and performed the dialogue between both characters.  They only have 30 seconds to record, and if they mess up, they have to start all over, so you can imagine it can be a time-consuming process!  :)

I am including all the puppet shows that were finished; if your child's doesn't appear, please tell him/her to finish it during Daily 5 so I can upload it!

Enjoy it!

Madhura:


Mary Grace:


Sriya:


Siddarth:


Nathan:


Ryan:


Rozena:


Sydney:


Riley:


Joseph:


Kaleb:


Alex:

Showing What We Know With the iPad: Regrouping

A few weeks ago, we practiced our addition with regrouping by explaining the steps involved.   The students were asked to demonstrate their knowledge on the iPad App: Show Me, which records your voice and your drawing simultaneously.  I think you will be impressed to see the students' hard work and their awesome explanations!

NOTE: Not all students finished this activity or may have been absent...if they would like to create a video, tell them to remind me when they have free time.  I would love for every student to show off their "Show Me!" :)

Click the student's name to view their Show Me video...(In no particular order:)

Aryon

Sydney

Madhura

Mika

Ryan

Conner

Nathan

Kaleb

Jordan

Kaalyn

Sriya

Mary Grace

Mira

Alex

Riley

Presidents' Day Song

On Friday, we visited with our Kinder Buddies, and Mrs. Neuman shared this song with us that she found on Pinterest!  We really enjoyed it and listened to it several times.  :)

It has a lot of good information about two of our most significant presidents, all set to a catchy tune!

Take a look/listen!

Presidents' Day Song

Plump and Perky Turkey activities!

Boy, I wish I had found this last week, but better late than never, I suppose!

The publisher of A Plump and Perky Turkey has some games and activities over at their website.  Check it out HERE.

And below, click to listen to the story on YouTube!

Sliding Down the Alphabet

As many of you may know, we recently started our new handwriting program, called Handwriting Without Tears.  It is a wonderful program, and I am very happy with it.  I only wish these kiddos could have started it in Kindergarten!  One day we sang this song along with our lesson about the letters at the end of the alphabet, which all have diagonal lines when writing them!  Funny the things you never notice.

Here is the music video for Sliding Down the Alphabet:

Our Doubles Rap Performance

Oh my goodness, did we LOVE practicing our Doubles Raps today!  The students had a blast singing and dancing, and if the song gets stuck in their heads as much as it does mine, they will have those facts memorized in no time!

I think you will definitely enjoy watching their awesome performance.  Click on the link below to view the video (the video is only accessible to those who have this link).

2A Doubles Rap
SO much fun!

Doubles Rap!

This week in Investigations Math, we are studying all about doubles.  We read "One Potato, Two Potato," a book about a MAGIC POT that doubles any object that goes into it!

Please take a few minutes to watch the Doubles Rap videos below.  Tomorrow we will be learning motions (dance moves-haha) to go along with the rap!

Book Trailers

Yesterday during Daily 5, we learned about what it means to pick "Good Fit" books to read during our "Read to Self" time.  (More on that later.)  :)

One of the questions we ask ourselves when selecting Good Fit books is: "Do I find it interesting; do I want to read it?"

Well, when trying to decide if I am interested in seeing a movie, I watch the movie trailer and ask myself if I want to see it.  Now there are BOOK TRAILERS! 

Below are some Book Trailers that students may view to decide if the book is interesting to them.













I hope you enjoyed these Book Trailers and found one that you might enjoy reading.  I will make this a regular blog update and will continue to add new Book Trailers to check out!

Keep reading!

Weather Reports: Friday, March 25th

Sorry, I had so much trouble with the Flip Camera not uploading Thursday, that I decided to use my digital camera to film on Friday.  Therefore, instead of putting together all the reports as a movie, I had to post each one separately.

Enjoy!  :)

Weather Reports for Thursday, March 24th

Please enjoy our forecasts from our friendly 2A reporters!

Weather Reports for Wednesday, March 23rd!

Our Wednesday reporters did a great job!  Hope you enjoy!

Weather Reports for Tuesday, March 22nd

Please enjoy our awesome weather forecasts, brought to you by 2A!

Poetry Fun!

Today we worked on our fluency with a poem called "Five Little Pumpkins."
We had a lot of fun reciting our poem, and a lot of us even memorized our parts!

Hope you enjoy our little performance!!

Doubles!

This week, we are learning all about doubles.  To introduce the concept, we read One Potato, Two Potato, a book about a poor farming couple who discover a magic pot that doubles whatever you put into it!

Check out these fun videos that practice making doubles: