Halloween Fun Fair

 Halloween celebrations began early this year at St. Sylvester School and the students in second grade couldn't have been happier about it! Everyone's costumes were great and we really enjoyed all of the treats that students shared. The Fun Fair was a huge success and I can't believe how many students won fish! Enjoy the pictures below which are just a snapshot of all the fun that was had. Have a safe and spooky Halloween!

Plants

 The second grade class just wrapped up their first science unit which focused on plants. A few weeks ago, we went outside and everyone planted soaked lima bean seeds. Three seeds were planted in each cup and then watered and left in the windowsill. As we discussed plant parts, how seeds are scattered, and how people use plants, we observed the changes our own plants undertook. At one point, we noticed all of the plants were leaning towards the window. Ask your son or daughter about why that was happening. Every second grader will be bringing home their plant this week. Be sure to give them plenty of sunlight, air and water so that they can continue to grow!

One Week After Planting Seeds

Two Weeks After Planting Seeds

The science test this week focused on new vocabulary, facts about how plants grow, labeling plant parts, and drawing pictures of how seeds are scattered. These tests will come home graded this week, so be sure to go over them with your son or daughter.

Ziploc Baggie Number Lines

I hope most families have been able to see and use the Ziploc baggie number lines the second graders made in math class this week. We will be keeping them in school while the students work through this chapter on subtraction. The good news is that they are so easy to make, hopefully some families will make them at home and use them as an extra tool to complete homework at night! Watch the video below to see the second graders in action with their new number lines.

Grapefruit Observations

Poppleton the Pig is one of my favorite characters in children's literature. This week the students read the story Poppleton and the Grapefruit by Cynthia Rylant. Ask your son or daughter to summarize the story for you! Each child completed a few different activities to go along with our reading.

First, the students made "open-mind portraits" of Poppleton. To do this, they needed to color and cut out an image of Poppleton and then attach paper silhoutettes to the back. On each paper they wrote about what happened in the beginning, middle, and end of the story. These will be hanging in the hallway outside our classroom.

The other activity the students did was to observe grapefruit with all of their senses. First, they looked at the grapefruit, touched it, and finally smelled it. Next, they listened to the sound of it being cut and the juice being squeezed from a segment. Last, everyone partook in a taste test. The students took notes in their writing journals on this experience. Some children enjoyed the grapefruit, while many others did not; just like Poppleton. You can watch the slideshow of all of the children's reactions to their grapefruit tasting in the sidebar.

Ask your son or daughter whether or not they liked the taste of grapefruit!

Exciting News!

The second grade played hangman at the end of the day Friday and uncovered this secret message:

I am so excited to share this special news with you and look forward to the exciting journey ahead of us!

Counting On

Our math unit in second grade begins with a review of several addition strategies. One of these strategies is called counting on. When counting on, you must start with the bigger number and count up from there to add the second number. In second grade, the students put up a fist for the greater number and then raise fingers to count on the second number. You can see Olivia and Antonio demonstrate this in the video below:

The students are practicing counting on along with other strategies to review their first grade addition facts. One of the activities we did to practice was a math memory game. This would be easy to recreate at home! I made cards that have math facts on one side and are blank on the other. The students line them up upside down and try to find to addition sentences that have the same sum. For example, 8+3 and 5+6 would be a match. You can see the students playing math memory in the pictures below!

Welcome to Second Grade!

Welcome to the second grade blog! I have included some pictures of important things in our classroom. Ask your son or daughter to let you know more about these specific areas - they should know them well by now! Thank you to all of the parents who attended Back to School Night this evening! Remember that your attendance earned your child a free dress down day for this Friday, August 30th! I look forward to communicating with you often throughout the 2013-2014 school year!

Froggy Day in Lindentown

Yesterday, the second grade students did a stupendous job performing their play , A Froggy Day in Lindentown. The whole school came to watch and everyone remembered their speaking parts and sang beautifully. I was so proud of the second grade students!

We can't wait to share our performance with you, so you can witness how all of their hard work has paid off. Please be in Schwinn Hall this evening (Thursday, May 30th) at 6:00 PM. The play will begin at 6:30, but we need all of the students there earlier to get into costume and character.

See you this evening!

Guest Readers

During the school year the second graders have really enjoyed the time after lunch when I read out loud some of my favorite chapter books to them. We have gone through so many adventures together; from Roald Dahl to Wayside School to Kate DiCamillo's touching tales. Everyday I would read a chapter or two as the students listened. This is truly one of my favorite parts of the day. Well, now it's time for payback! The students in second grade will be the guest readers each day after lunch for the rest of the school year. I have assigned each child one week that they will be featured. Everyone should pick out a book that they love and feel comfortable reading from home or our classroom library. Please practice reading this selection with them at home so they are able to read with expression and hold their audience's attention. I am so looking forward to hearing how much they have each grown as readers and storytellers as the year has progressed. As always, thank you for any assistance or guidance you can give from home. Hopefully, every second grader has developed their love for reading through this daily practice in second grade. 

Here is the schedule of student readers:

May 28th - Juan, Erick, Emilio, and Julian
May 29th - Ezekiel, Aaliyah, McKayla, and Jonathan
May 30th - Eric, Sydney, Marisol, and Christian
May 31st - RoseAriel, Victor, Angelis, and Kelsey

June 4th - Priya, Veronica, Gianna, and Anabel
June 5th - Leilani, Sophia, Giselle, and Jacob
June 6th - Nicole, Elias, Jahmi, and Adamaris

Walk-a-thon 2013

Today's first annual St. Sylvester Walk-a-thon was a huge success! The second graders joined the first, third, and fourth grade classes to walk around half of Palmer Park for an hour this morning. The weather could not have been more perfect for the event. The students started with a warm-up lap around the park. After that, they were free to continue around the park at their own pace. As they came back through the starting point, I put a tally mark on their name tag. Every student in the class was able to walk/run at least two miles in the hour we were out there (five tally marks equals one mile)! Our fastest runner was McKayla, who completed eighteen laps equaling more than three and a half miles per hour! Everyone did a great job keeping their bodies moving and getting great exercise. Afterwards, we were able to enjoy a picnic style lunch in the shade of the trees! Congratulations to everyone on competing the 2013 Walk-a-thon!