Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Weather Study Guide

Weather Study Guide
Test: Tuesday, October 7th   

Four Types of Clouds
(draw and describe)
Cirrus: high, white, feather-like, fair weather
Stratus: low, gray, blanket-like, flurries or drizzles
Cumulus: low/medium, white, flat bottom, puffy top, fair weather
Cumulonimbus: low/medium, turning gray, signals a storm


4 Types of Precipitation
(list)
Rain: water droplets
Snow: ice crystals
Sleet: freezing rain
Hail: ice balls


Water Cycle
(draw and label)
Evaporation: sun heats up water and it changes from a liquid to a gas
Condensation: water forms clouds
Precipitation: water falls from the clouds


Severe Storms
(matching)
Tornado: funnel-shape winds, fast moving, moves along the ground
Hurricane: large swirling winds, slow moving, forms over water
Thunderstorm: thunder, lightning, rain, wind
Blizzard: cold temperatures, high wind, snow, sleet

Monday, September 29, 2014

Weather books we LOVE!

Clouds by Anne Rockwell



The Cloud Book by Tomie de Paola



The Snowflake: A Water Cycle Story by Neil Waldman



Come On, Rain! by Karen Hesse


Thundercake by Patricia Polacco



The Falling Raindrop by Neil Johnson and Joel Chin

Friday, September 26, 2014

What a great week!

We did so many great activities this week!

We started Topic 2 in math. We are learning about addition strategies. We played a new game and had to find combinations of 10. Students can play this game at home with pennies, buttons, or any other small item as counters! 











We had a chance to add one of our power writes to our student blogs with Mrs. Weldon's help. We wrote narrative stories from the perspective of a storm or type of precipitation.  More to come!




In science, we started learning about the different types of clouds. We focused on stratus, cumulus, and cirrus. Check out the flip book we made!





We had Reading Buddies with Ms. C's fifth grade class. We had SO much fun reading with them.  We will be going to their classroom in two weeks! 





Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Thank You!


Thank you for taking the time to come to Back to School Night! It was so nice to meet everyone. I look forward to meeting again in December at conferences!

Friday, September 19, 2014

Week of September 15th

We had another great week! 

We finally got our FUNdations lessons up and running with the iPads! We're excited to use the Magnabets and Drawing Pad apps in place of magnetic letters (that always got lost!) and dry erase boards. 




In math we are learning about how addition and subtraction are related. We used number cards on our part-part-whole mats. We learned about facts family and created some of our own!








Spotty dog coupons are starting to roll in! We had two special prizes today: star reader and show and tell! Good work Ethan and Audrey! Keep it up :)











Friday, September 12, 2014

Thunderstorms, blizzards, and tornados...oh my!

We started learning about weather this week! We are focusing on severe storms, types of precipitation and the water cycle. We began with a KWL and thought about what we think we know about weather and what we want to learn 


We are SO excited to write personal narratives. We learned what features make a narrative really great. We brainstormed ideas we can write about like broken bones, vacations, and play dates. We are creating a class book about our first day of second grade to show off at open house in a few weeks! 







Our first FUNdations unit is underway! We are reviewing what we learned in first grade: short vowels, closed syllables, digraphs, and blends. We used white boards, but are super excited to get started with the iPads next week! 






Second grade is finally 1:1!! We can't wait to use these :)


Next week we will learn more about addition and subtraction word problems. If you have any questions about weekly homework, reading logs or the reading corp/xtra math reading incentives, please let me know! 

Friday, September 5, 2014

First Week!


We had a fantastic first week of school! Take a look of some of the things we did :)


We worked together to create and finalize classroom rules that will keep us safe, learning, and having fun! 


We discussed our hopes and dreams for second grade. We have a lot to learn this year! 

We also began our positive behavior incentive program. Students can earn "spots" for their dogs when they are spotted following the classroom and school rules. After earning 7 spots, they earn a coupon and can put a marble in our classroom spot jar. Working together, we can earn whole class prizes, too!



We started our first math topic with a fun game and worked on some great writing! 

Next week we will begin FUNdations and our first narrative writing unit. I'm super excited!