Small Group & Winter Blast 2015

Small Group

Our reading curriculum, Reading Street, has a small-group component that we use almost every day. Students are getting really good at this. They work in a variety of groupings: individually, with partners or trios, and/or in teacher-led groups of 5-6. We work on our reading and writing by completing tasks that support the weekly skills and strategies.

Winter Blast 2015

It was so nice seeing some smiling 2nd grade students on Saturday. I know I didn't get photos of all or you, but I wanted to share some.  Thank you to everyone who was able to make it out.

80s Day, Science & Spelling

80s Day
We really rocked it out on our 80th Day of school. We had fun listening to 80s music during our brain breaks and seeing all the fun outfits at assembly. Can you believe we are almost half way through the school year? Mid-trimester progress reports go home January 26. This marks the half way point.

Science
We spent time this week sorting liquids and solids as well as working with all three forms of matter. On Friday we made ice cream and piled it high with toppings. Thank you for all of the ingredients. It was fun and yummy. I wish I had pictures of this...I spent a lot of time assisting students instead of taking pictures.

Spelling
On Thursday we worked with partners to practice our spelling words. Although your students know the words for the week, there will not be a test in spelling for the next two weeks while we focus on preparing for the NWEA.

Fun with fractions and matter

Fractions
As you know, we have been pretty cooped up this week with indoor recess. Our math lessons gave us an opportunity to time 'one-way trips' and then double them for 'round-trip' data. To make the most of this, we took trips around the school and timed it. The bonus to this was converting minutes and seconds into seconds and then halving and doubling the time and then converting it back to minutes and seconds. Our students are super smart!

Matter
We are working with the states of matter this week. We began by building an anchor chart and then listening to books and videos about solids, liquids, and gases. Some of our students conducted research on a fourth state of matter: plasma. On Tuesday, we used shaving cream to determine how adding heat can change something from a solid or liquid into a gas.