School + kids = fun!

We were so happy to get back into some of the regular routines we have established at school that go along with a full week! 

Some highlights:

1) We wrapped up our Australia unit with our Australian animal presentations, our "flight" home, and a fun barbecue luncheon on Friday! The children's animal projects turned out wonderfully! They were so eager to share their learning with their classmates, and I can tell they learned a LOT! Thank you to Mrs. Robinson, Mrs. Kennedy, Mrs. Phillips, and Ms. Maleska for helping us organize and enjoy a special barbecue lunch together! We couldn't have done it without your help! :)

2)  We are now looking ahead to our science unit on Rocks! Permission slips went home for an upcoming in-school field trip with a science company called "High Touch-High Tech." They are going to come to Dryden to provide a fun, hands-on rock experience for the kids. It's coming up in a few weeks, and they are going to love it!

3) We reached the halfway mark of our math program! The children took both a Unit 6 math test, and a mid-year assessment this week. They also brought home "Math Journal #1!" We continue to practice concurrently the recall of our subtraction facts and our two digit subtraction with regrouping . 

4) Our persuasive writing lessons are coming along nicely! The children have begun completing a graphic organizer convincing us of the best lunchtime food. Coming up, they are going to design and "sell" their very own cereal. They are going to be so excited to decorate the boxes that you all have sent in! We have 22 boxes, plenty for everyone. Thank you so much for your help with this project! 

5. Mrs. Bartels came in to share a thought-provoking art appreciation lesson with the kids! She shared Berthe Morisot's "Skating in the Park" and "The Cradle" with us, sharing all kinds of interesting details about the artist's life, style, and impressionist technique. The kids enjoyed attempting their own art work, too!

6.  The book fair took place this week at school too! The children enjoyed perusing and purchasing some new reading material- and some new gadgets, too! 

Here is a photo re-cap of the week:

 In these pictures, you can see that we paused while reading Charlotte's Web for the children to visualize what is happening in the story. We realized that the books we read are just like movies, only we have to make the moving pictures in our minds. :)

 Poor Wilbur tried so hard to make his own web with the help of Charlotte and Templeton... No luck!

I love how the kids not only drew what they were visualizing, but they included captions, too!

 Alex was our first presenter of the week! He taught us all kinds of facts about Australia's bearded dragon. Special thanks to Alex's mom, who brought in Alex's pet bearded dragon from home so we could see one first hand!

Kelly made a beautiful poster and taught us about the sugar glider.

 Faiz shared pictures and a shoebox diorama about the frilled lizard.

 Evalin enlightened us about the prickly Echidna!

 Tyler taught us about the freshwater crocodile.

 With Nick's help, Tyler shows us exactly how long they are in size using a pre-cut string-

 9.8 feet! Yikes!

 In between presentations, the kids worked on some additional activities while their reading groups met.
Here, Maeve practiced writing and alphabetizing her spelling words. Ava is using her spelling list to double-check her work. What team work!

 Max, Jennifer, Demetra, and Evalin are working independently on a cute project to spruce up our classroom for Valentine's Day!

 The children's Valentine's Day owls turned out so cute! 

 Max shared interesting facts about the kangaroo while his classmates listen carefully.

 Demetra made a colorful and informative poster about the platypus. It turned out great!

 Ava taught us all about the lyrebird- such a clever animal!

 Maeve shared facts and a model she made of the saltwater crocodile! 

 Chloe shared facts she learned about the wombat- did you know that it is a nocturnal animal?!

 John learned so much about the yabby. He created a water habitat of the yabby for us to see!

 Nico made a remarkable model of the tasmanian devil. He enjoyed sharing how he made his animal as well as new facts about it!

 Anna taught us all about a very large bird that can't fly- the emu!

 Erick shared facts he learned about the beautiful rainbow lorikeet.

 With her stuffed koala, Amina taught us all about her animal that loves eucalyptus!

Jennifer brought in her iPad to show the children pictures of the wallaby 

while she taught us all about it!

 Danny also used the iPad to display his Keynote presentation of the thorny devil for the class. 

What an amazing creature!

 Andrew taught us all about the blue-tongued skink. He even made his own model of it to show us- blue tongue and all!

 Using her best Australian accent, Katie created a "blabberize" presentation to teach us about the wild dingo! With the help of many of the other children's presentations, we learned that Katie's dingo is the predator of MANY of the other Australian animals!

Nick used powerpoint to share some facts about another large bird, the cassowary! We learned a difference between the emu and the cassowary- the cassowary has a type of "fin" on its head!

 Barbecue time! Danny's mom and Alex's mom help the 2nd graders grab their barbecue lunches!

 To make it a bit more "festive," many of the kids brought their beach towels to sit on as they enjoyed their hot dogs, watermelon slices, and salad pitas!

 An Australian barbecue wouldn't be complete without an icy pole! :)

 It was Danny's week to be our super star student! And what a perfect day for it- it was Danny's birthday on Friday!

 Mrs. Phillips came in to help Danny share a science experiment about air pressure. He showed us how air pressure will keep a note card attached to a cup filled with water- even when its UPSIDE DOWN!

 He shared a cute story with his classmates called "Duck for President." He really engaged his classmates by asking lots of question and encouraging them to make predictions! He made sure EVERYONE participated! :)

 Such a cute picture of Danny and his mom! It was fun to hear Danny's classmates share what a fun and enjoyable friend he is to each of them. Danny is hard working, sharp, and thinks outside of the box! He has a big heart and cares a lot about school and his classmates. We are so lucky to have such a happy and clever boy in our class this year!

Our week ended with an art appreciation visit from Mrs. Bartels. Here, she is showing the class Berthe Morisot's "Skating in the Park" and "The Cradle" side by side. The children looked carefully and critically between the two pieces of art looking for similarities and differences.

Phew! That was a snapshot of our week! We accomplished so much!
I hope you have a nice relaxing weekend!