The children and I covered so much this week! It's amazing to watch them learn in so many different ways throughout the day. They are great listeners, and they are ready to tackle anything and everything coming their way. What an awesome group of kids!
The children are researching an Australian territory in the LMC. Their goal is to create a persuasive commercial convincing us that their territory/state is THE one to visit! Here, Matthew and Jack are reading, learning, and taking notes about South Australia. Terrific teamwork you two!
Another group hard at work! Here are James, Noah and Angelica investigating the Northern Territory!
Jaimie, Kelly and Rahul collaborate and take notes. They are working on their 2nd web of information! There is so much to learn about New South Wales- the capital, Canberra, can be found there!
Carson is LOVING his research about Tasmania! I am learning so much from him! He is very eager to share all of the fascinating facts he finds as soon as he encounters them. I love that excitement!
Lucy is so focused on her work! She is taking great notes and is building up a great case for her territory of Queensland!
Jaimie, Kelly and Rahul again- look at how engaged each one of them is. Everyone has a hand in the learning here, that is EXACTLY what a teacher hopes to see! Such a terrific team!
During math this week, the kids practiced making arrays. They are really enjoying coming up to the board to solve problems and explain their thinking. There are more volunteers sometimes than questions!! It is so great to see the growing confidence these kids are developing in their learning and understanding of the material we are covering. (Way to go Noah! :)
We are currently focusing on persuasive writing. The children and I read "I Wanna Iguana" together and we noted the countless ways this little boy tried to convince his mother to allow him to have a pet iguana. We made a list of persuasive terms that help coax others to see our point of view including: clearly, obviously, please consider, jut think about, etc. The children then chose a pet they would like to persuade someone else to get for them. They are working to create 3 paragraphs: 1) reasons to have this particular pet 2) ways they will take care of the pet and 3) things that they will do with their pet. They have come up with some spectacular ideas already!
Our Text Talk story of the week was Montezuma's Revenge. It was a cute story about a poor dog who is always left behind when his family goes on vacation. New words we practiced incorporating into our vocabulary this week include: misery, revenge, regret, coaxed, mesmerized, and frustrated. The word winner of the week was coaxed!
Lucy's mom, Mrs. Neumann was back for another visit this week! This time, she had her "Art Appreciation Mom" hat on! She shared artwork from impressionist artist
Berthe Morisot. The children extended their thinking by considering not only how the artwork by this artist was created, but they also thought about the mood and meaning behind the images.
Then the children had the opportunity to attempt their own impressionist artwork using water colors. The talents of these children is endless!
Ben decided to make the letter M! :)
We had yet another unique learning experience this week with a visit from local dentist, Dr. Ernie Costello. He visited all of the 2nd graders to talk about the importance of taking care of their teeth. He gave each student a "goody bag" including a tooth brush, grape flavored floss, and an activity book. The kids enjoyed their visit with Dr. Ernie and hopefully raced home to brush their teeth! We made sure to write thank you notes to send thanking Dr. Ernie for such a nice visit that got us thinking not only about taking care of our teeth, but about a local business in our community as our unit on Arlington Heights approaches next month.
More hands on learning! Here the children are practicing identifying equivalent fractions. They are placing fraction pieces on top of circles to see which fractions are the same. They noticed that 1/2 = 2/4 = 3/6. They also notice that 2/6 = 1/3, and 2/8= 1/4.
It was Mark's week to shine as our star student! We were happy to welcome Mrs. Michalek to our classroom on Friday afternoon for Mark's science experiment and a story!
Mark and his mom showed us how to MAKE MONEY! They placed a penny in the bottom of a bowl. As they added water, the penny appeared before our eyes! What a cool lesson on refraction!
Of course Mark selected a hockey book to share with the class. He is easily the biggest hockey fan of room 153!
Mr. Deptula swung by our classroom at the end of the day to sing us out to the weekend! The children learned "Kookaburra" with Mr. D. What a perfect song about an Australian bird to tie in to our social studies unit!
Mark is so much fun to have in class! He is a quiet, hardworking, and independent learner who sets a great example for his classmates. He is also a terrific artist- I'll bet he can draw that Blackhawks symbol with his eyes closed! You had a wonderful week, Mark!
That is just a "fraction" of what we covered this week! Thank you for popping by our blog to see what we have been up to!
Enjoy the weekend!
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