Missing Teacher!

This past Friday I was not in the classroom and, to discover where my students thought I was, I left a little writing assignment for them to complete while I was out of the classroom. In this writing assignment, students wrote about where they thought I was, what I was doing, who I was with, etc. I loved reading these writing assignments when I arrived back in the classroom and I thought you parents would enjoy reading a few of them as well!

Science Properties

So far this year in science, we've talked about multiple properties of matter such as size, absorbency, texture, and hardness. Today, we learned about a new property: weight. Students were given six different objects and were then told to make a prediction. Students wrote down their prediction of which object was the heaviest, second, third, and so on. After making their predictions, students became the scientists and tested out their theories. In partners, students compared the weights of their objects using classroom scales to test their predictions.

After testing each object, students wrote down their results and compared their predictions with their results. As a class, we shared our results and were surprised when some of our results were not the same. We discussed why our results might have varied; different sized scissors, whiteboard markers, etc. Throughout this activity, students enjoyed testing out their theories and working with their partners. Good job, students!

Sorting Science

This past week our second and third graders have been learning how to sort objects according to multiple different properties they may have. On the first day, the students were responsible for deciding how they would organize objects to properly pack them into three different sized boxes by simply looking at the object and making their best guess on which box it would fit in best. The following day, students behaved as scientists would and discovered, for sure this time, whether or not these objects would fit in which box by measuring each object.

Through this activity, students learned how to sort objects according to their size. They also learned how to correctly measure objects and decide whether or not they would fit in a specific space. Good job students!

Welcome Students!

I was excited to say a huge "welcome" to all of my new second and third grade students on the first day of school last week! My classroom has gone through quite a few changes since last school year and I wanted to show all of my "old" and "new" parents the classroom their students will be learning in this school year as well as the schedule students will go through every school day.

At the beginning of the school day, second and third graders will begin their mornings with a morning work packet on their desks. This packet will include things which students haven't learned yet and things that review what students have already learned. While working on these packets, there is one student every morning that is in charge of our calendar bulletin board. This student will choose the correct days of the week and weather on the board as well as write down some math facts on the bulletin board using a whiteboard marker. 

After morning work, we get started on our faith lessons which begins with prayer and a devotion. This is followed by Reading Street. Every week in Reading Street our second and third graders will have new vocabulary words, spelling words, comprehension concepts, story of the week, and many other concepts. Some of these concepts are changed out every week and are shown on our Reading Street bulletin boards. 

Students go to Brain Break after Reading Street, then we all come back to the classroom to learn math. We usually learn new math concepts at the carpet, where we use whiteboards to practice the math that we are learning. There are new colorful stars at the carpet so that students know where they may sit as they learn at the carpet. We love our new Sit Spots and the new whiteboard (no more chalkboard!) in our classroom!

The rest of our day varies according to the days of the week. But every afternoon we always squeeze in either a science or social studies lesson and some centers. At centers, students practice skills they have been learning throughout the week and they have the opportunity to read books at the carpet (or in the fun flowery chair). 

Feel free to come on in and visit our second and third grade classroom to check out these changes!

End of the Year Party

For the last quarter, our second and third graders have been working on earning an end of the year party for their class. Students earned this party through good behavior in filling up their "marble jar". Students would fill the jar by being good listeners, paying attention during lessons, and making sure they are on task at all times. It was especially tough to make sure we were doing these things through the distractions that come at the end of the year, but students pulled through and filled the marble jar to earn their classroom party.

The classroom party consisted of a movie, popcorn, juice, ice cream, and a little end-of-the-year present from me. This present included light up glasses and a large, fuzzy mustache. Students loved wearing this present and they especially loved posing together for an end-of-the-year classroom photo.

I will definitely be missing these goofballs over summer break! Have a great summer second and third graders, I will see you next school year!

SVSU Field Trip

During the last week of school, our second and third graders had the opportunity to go to SVSU and have some fun with SVSU students. We started out in the gym where students paired up with an SVSU student as they went through multiple activities. Students did everything from throwing balls to jumping and skipping from one side of the gym to another. Our second and third graders loved the opportunity to show off their skills in these different activities.

After finishing up with these activities, students had the opportunity to use the colorful parachute. Students loved using this parachute and being able to run underneath the parachute as well as sit in the parachute while it was inflated with air.

After eating lunch outside, students then moved from the gym to the swimming pool. Students played for hours in the SVSU pool. They loved jumping from the diving boards, playing with many different types of pool toys, and playing with their friends in the pool. Overall, this was a very successful field trip and students were exhausted afterward (which is always a good sign of an excellent field trip).