Thanksgiving

Today was such a great day! In the morning we rotated classrooms and the kids had so many great activities.  In Mrs. Smith's room butter was made.   Mrs. Morrett's room houses the experience of writing with a quill.  Mrs. Gillaspy was doing soap carvings and Mrs. Paige had the kids making spirit sticks.  In our classroom we made a Thanksgiving Story Bracelet.

Following rotations we went to library and then began our pumpkin pie adventure.   This was such a fun way to use our reading skills and take part in a tradition in many households across the nation.

Today was such a fun day and I look forward to what the rest of the year will bring.   I am so thankful for having the opportunity to be your child's teacher.   They make it a joy to come to work and each day a new adventure.  Thank you. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Pumpkin Practice

Today I tested out a no bake pumpkin pie recipe! Just to make sure our cooking on  Wednesday won't be a flop. :) Needless to say it turned out great!  I'm so excited to practice using our reading skills in a real life situation!  What better way to practice strategies than with a yummy end result? With Thanksgiving break right around the corner there will be a few fun activities on Wednesday.  The second grade will be taking a tour around the classrooms to participate in Colonial activities as an extension to our current Social Studies unit.  This week is going to fly by!

Catching Up

 I would like to apologize for taking so long to put up any new posts!  It seems as though the month of October got the best of me and time slipped away.  Can you believe that Thanksgiving break is only a week away?  To start this post I am going to update with some photos that have been taken this past month.

 We got to take a ride on the Fire Truck for Fire Safety Week!  Everyone had a great time riding around the square.

 We had the Volunteer Fire Fighters come to teach us about how to be safe in a fire.  It was a fantastic demonstration and we are so lucky to have these guys take time off work to come present for us.  It is a good idea to talk with your kids about what their address and phone number is in case of an emergency.

 For our fall party we cut open some pumpkins and really dug in.  We counted out how many seeds were in each pumpkin and ways we can tell how many seeds would be in the pumpkin. 

 After cleaning up our pumpkin mess we had some yummy treats and watched a quick video.

Midterms will be sent home this Wednesday the 19th.   Thanksgiving break will kick off on Wednesday the 26th and we won't return to school until the first of December.  This year is flying by but there is much more to do!  Keep warm and enjoy the snow!

Skype with Australia

Here is what it looks like to have two classes invade our room!  Mrs. Kampf's class came to join us on our Skype Adventure!  While everything did not go as smoothly as hoped, we had a fantastic finish! 

Homecoming and Australia

Hey all!  Homecoming was fantastic!  The kiddos had a blast at the carnival and I can't wait to show you all that we did!  As of this moment I have received four permission slips back that will allow me to post pictures of the kids.  I need more slips back so that I can show more of the pictures I took!

Second Grade Teachers Unite!

 The assembly was a great kickoff to the day that flew by so fast!  It was a great experience and I hope the kids had a blast!

This week we have some exciting news, we will be Skyping with a class from Australia!  This is going to be such an amazing experience!  Be talking with your child about what it is about Iowa that makes us special and questions that they may have for our new friends across the pond. :)

Habitat Pictures

Last week we finished up with out habitat unit.  Following are the pictures of the posters that were presented. The kids had a blast making and presenting these.  Our principal Mrs. Cranston even stopped by to check out the hard work!

The last picture is one of our new tables!  It is much easier to keep things organized and ensure that papers are getting home with tables.  The first few days may take some getting used to but with more space to work I'm sure the kids will learn to love them as I do!

Reminder : picture day is Wednesday.   Please have your students ready to smile big!  :)

Habitats to Homes

Greetings all!  This week we are finishing up our Habitats unit.  We have spent time learning what animals live in which type of environment, as well as what makes these environments come together so that the animals may thrive.  Starting next week we will begin to learn about communities.  This will include where we live, what we need to survive, and much, much, more!

Today we had our naturalist come in.  The kiddos enjoyed learning about some of the trees that are found in our area.  They also were given the chance to make a leaf print! :)

In math we are finishing up with Unit 1.  In this we have been focusing on different counting strategies, as well as problem solving strategies.  It is always a good idea to work on math facts with your kids at home!  We have a good concept of how to tell the hour and up to a half hour on the analog clock at the moment.  Now we are talking about five minute time intervals.  Soon we will start to look at elapsed time. 

Our reading is finally back to a normal schedule!  Expect books to come be coming home much more frequently now.  I try to fit as many as my groups in every day but there are times that I might not be able to get to everyone.  If you do not see a book home on Wednesday do not be alarmed!  This day we have Library and Computers right in the middle of our reading block, which cuts into our group time.

Writers workshop is going very well!  We have some friends in class who are preparing to have a published piece in the near future!

This year is going wonderfully so far and I cannot wait to see what is in store for us next!