What a great scientific experience students had today! We had the privilege of inviting High Tech High Touch to Lincoln for an hour long, hands-on presentation about the ocean. We were able to observe many different ocean specimens such as sea urchins, shrimp, star fish, sea cucumbers and many more! Then the excitement really began…our scientist supplied us with plastic gloves and brought out six squids for us to observe, touch and paint with! The squid was opened and exposed to allow it’s ink to ooze out. Either using fingers or a paint brush, students were able to paint their name with the squid’s ink. For the grand finale, Sarah the scientist presented a large octopus to also touch and try to lift up. We all had so much fun viewing these amazing sea creatures up close!

After 100+ days of second grade, we sure have accomplished a lot! The mild winter must have helped (that’s me assuming its over!) things fly by even quicker, and here were are approaching the second full week of March. Since the start of the new year things have really amped up in room 201. We’re looking ahead to third grade as we go more in depth with reading, writing and math. We are all now well into reading chapter books in our reading groups, drilling the concept of main idea per chapter to help students’ overall comprehension of the book. Students continue to also do written responses after reading to tell about their favorite part, to summarize, to write from a specific character’s perspective, etc.

In preparation for conferences next week, our writers workshop is in full gear. Students are working hard to choose a piece of writing that they would like published and displayed on our writing wall. In order to publish their writing, students must revise their work themselves by adding details or deleting words/sentences they no longer like, have a teacher edit the writing, then rewrite it so it is audience approved. We also continue to create expository writing using a graphic organizer. After several sessions of completing an organizer on a topic as a whole class, all students are working towards completing one independently, given a topic. Soon they will be asked to independently select their own topic and complete independently. Sample work will be ready to view during conferences.

Before moving into our habitat unit in science, students began learning about the parts of a plant and their “duties” as well as how certain plants from different environments adapt to live in their surroundings. This parallels our chapter on how animals of different environments adapt to where they live. Now that they are familiar with some different environments (woodland, prairie, desert, etc) we will more closely be studying three habitats, the living things that live there, and how those living things interact with each other.

Over the past few weeks, students have also been observing the effect sunlight has on plant growth. We planted grass seeds into four cups, putting two in direct sunlight and two in the dark. On a daily basis we were able to see growth and record our observations on a chart. Ask your child about the surprising outcome!

Learning about coins couldn’t have come at a better time this year! Soon after our completion and success with the two chapters about money, Lincoln began the Pennies for Patients fundraiser. As you probably already know, students are bringing in any “loose change” to donate to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. It is amazing how quickly and easily students can add up their change before contributing to our classroom bank. 2K has already collected over $50 for this very special cause!

Last week we had our final readers’ theater group perform their version of “The Birthday Surprise.” Students were placed into three different small groups where they worked together while practicing their individual parts. Everyone did a great job using expression to portray their character.

This week we started learning about the value of all coins: half dollar, quarter, dime, nickel and penny. We used Lincoln’s class set of iPads to practice and reinforce the skills. The two different games that were played also had adjustable settings such as level of difficulty, timer on or off and number of questions. Here are the kids in action:

Welcome to 2012! Here is an update of what 2K has been learning about:

Math: After a couple weeks of learning both addition and subtraction with regrouping, yesterday we took the chapter 7 (subtraction) test. Chapter 8 goes more in depth with two-digit subtraction with regrouping, so we’ll be skipping around the different lessons as need be before moving on to identifying and counting coins!

Writing: Similes have been our focus for the last two weeks. Students have been learning this figure of speech to enhance their descriptions in all genres of writing. I’ve enjoyed hearing their creativity. We have also recently completed a writing activity that describes our best friend. The structure of the written paragraph was outlined as clues and the friend was not revealed until the end. We all listened to each person’s clues to determine the friend.

Science: We’re continuing to learn about the many ways different animals adapt to their environment. Recently we discovered ways reptiles and amphibians differ from each other and how they survive in their habitat. During the week before winter break, the class had a reptile scavenger hunt, where 17 facts were hidden around the room for students to find, read and record on their sheet of questions. Students learned about the smallest snake in the world (Thread Snake), the defense mechanism of the horned lizard, the number of bones in a turtles shell, how alligators lay eggs and so much more!

Social Studies: This week students saw first hand how many items are made in a factory. We started our simulation of an assembly line to create a maze game. Each student had a small job to do in the creation of the game. They learned the importance of everyone doing their job correctly in order to create a successful game. We’ll be finishing next week and then each student can take the maze game home.

May 2012 keep everyone healthy and as happy as a pig in mud!

Surprisingly, it’s December already and another week has gone by in 2K! We are currently learning about two-digit addition with regrouping in math. Everyone is doing a great job! Some students have moved on to three digit addition problems as well as completing one or two step story problems that incorporate regrouping. Our next course of action is to transition to two-digit subtraction with regrouping.

This week in Science students have read and learned about ways birds, fish and mammals have adapted to their environment. For example, many animals use camouflage to protect themselves or can store food while hibernating in the winter. A penguin’s top feathers, which are waterproof, help it to adapt to its environment by keeping it dry. We took a closer look at both warm and cold climate penguins and their features that help them survive in the wild.

Writing was our focus during literacy centers this week, where students constructed paragraphs that include a topic sentence, details and a closing sentence and wrote their own descriptive paragraph on a given picture. Students used their creativity and knowledge of adjectives to tell a story of, for example, a performing ballerina, a run-down car or a curly, pink poodle. We also completed our Spelling Tic Tac Toe activities, met in our reading group, categorized current topics and concepts and played “Spell Down.”

Thank you, once again, to all parents for your time during parent-teacher conferences. I hope you found them to be as valuable as I did!

Our field trip to the Highland Park Hospital was a great learning experience! We had the opportunity to visit several different areas of the hospital including the kitchen, the nursery, radiology, the blood lab, respiratory and the cardiology rehabilitation center. Students met with expert nurses and technicians along the way who provided them with information and answered their questions.

To prepare for our field trip on Thursday to the Highland Park Hospital, we have been learning about a variety of service jobs where people work to take care of others, fix things for others, give others ideas or entertain others. Yesterday we played Social Studies Charades and students worked with a partner to act out one of the service jobs. The audience had to guess what the group was trying to portray. Everyone had great ideas!

With Halloween approaching, last week we met with our fourth grade buddies for some buddy reading of Halloween Books.

Wow! Time has really been flying by! Here’s what we’ve been up to:

Math: We have completed chapter 9 – Graphs and Data. Students have mastered skills such as reading and creating their own bar graphs, tally charts, line plots, pictographs and grids. We are currently learning about place value, identifying digits in the ones, tens, hundreds and thousands place. We are working to understand the value of each digit in a number, for example the 7 in 172 represents 70, or 7 tens. This week in our math stations several students utilized iPads that are now available to all of Lincoln School. They loved them! What a fun way to practice math skills!

Social Studies: Everyone is now working with a partner or two to create their own community map. Each team had to choose items from a given list that includes places to live, work, play and solve problems. It has been  great watching students plan out how their town will be set up and what will be included in their community. There are also some very creative street names! Once the maps are completed, students will present to the class. Next we’ll learn more about how communities can change over time, who provides services in the community, how goods are transported and how to be a smart shopper, which includes learning about wants vs. needs. In November, we’ll be taking a field trip to the HP Hospital to coincide with how people can provide services in a community.

Science: Next on the agenda is the study of living things. This will transition into the study of different habitats and the animals that live there. You can look forward to some self-selected research projects!

Language Arts/Writing: Students have been reading various leveled chapter books in their reading groups while we work on reading strategies such as predicting, summarizing, decoding and self monitoring. Students also are keeping a reading response journal which they write in weekly or bi-weekly. We’re also learning and identifying story plot, using a dictionary, and had our second week of Spelling Tic Tac Toe. STTT is a grid of 9 different spelling activities that students can choose from each week. Activities must be chosen in order to create three in a row (just like a tic-tac-toe). Activities range in level of difficulty and incorporate all interests. Some examples include spelling sentences, make your own crossword, spelling definitions, spelling depictions, ABC order and Add My Words. It is a great opportunity for students to have some choice in what they are doing as well as some independence with choosing an activity that is appropriate for them or matches their interests and talents. In writing, we’ve been focusing on beefing up our narrative tales with good descriptions. We have discussed how to describe how someone is feeling rather than just using one word, such as “happy”, “eager,” “disappointed,” or “scared.” I have heard great student examples of this and have been noticing great improvements!

Coming Soon…..

Halloween! Students will come to school on Monday the 31st in their normal attire. As is the Lincoln tradition, students will be allowed to go home at lunch to change into their costumes and return to school at 12:35. If any child is not able to go home because of parent work schedules, they will be allowed to stay and eat lunch in the cafeteria and change into their costume in the restroom. The Halloween parade will begin at about 12:50 in the field across from the school. Let me know if there are any questions or concerns about this. See you then!