It's pretty amazing to think about the huge range of skills and activities the 2nd graders cover in a week at school. Below are some photo highlights of the wonderful learning that made our class shine stronger and brighter by the end of the week!
A reading lesson this week encouraged the children to "take note" while reading nonfiction texts this week. The children thought carefully about their background knowledge before beginning, and they jotted down a question they are wondering to set a stage for reading their carefully selected book.
The children were encouraged to write down interesting facts that they would like to discuss with a partner once their reading was complete. The children wrote these facts on post-it notes and stuck them in the corresponding place inside their books.
It was very clear that the children were reading carefully and taking notes that they found important!
Watching the children share their facts with their buddy was enlightening. The children followed a procedure list to guide them in their discussion, and it was awesome to see the children listening carefully to each other's facts, look at any pictures that supported or enhanced the understanding of this fact, and then ask their buddy if they have anything to add to the fact to build their understanding even further! Their conversations were focused and took their learning and understanding much further than just reading on their own!
During math this week, one lesson had us working with number patterns. The children enjoyed pulling out their calculators to turn them into "counting machines" so we could create and identify our own patterns, too!
We had fun in the library this week with Mrs. O'Kelly!
One of the highlights of our week was the Cardboard Challenge. The children were so excited to learn about a little boy named Caine who created his very own arcade out of cardboard in California. Learning about what this child was able to create inspired our own students to think outside of the box about what they could create, too!
The children broke into groups and brainstormed some ideas of what they would like to create.
Then, they narrowed these ideas down to the one that seemed like the most functional idea.
They started drawing and planning how they would go about putting their plan into action.
And then it was time to begin! The children worked together to pull materials that would help their creation come to life. They cut, tape, pasted, stacked, and arranged the boxes into a variety of ways!
There was an energetic buzz in the classroom during this time! The children were eager to talk about their plan, demonstrate how they were hoping it would work, and arrange their materials carefully.
Mrs. Wasik went to get even more cardboard for us as the children's ideas grew and changed as they worked and worked!
I was astounded to see how far the children's thinking, planning, and created traveled in just an hour. We will work a bit more on our cardboard challenge projects next week! The whole school will be sharing their creations on a "play day" on October 13th!
We stopped for a moment to snap a shot of all of our classroom sports fans! It was such fun to see the different sports and teams the children in our class were fans of!
It was Dawid's week to be Star student! We welcomed Mrs. Porebski to our classroom on Friday afternoon. Dawid and his mother showed the class a fascinating experiment called "Raisins Rising!" They used baking soda and vinegar to create carbon dioxide that lifted the raisins up! Wow!
Then they shared a book with the class called "Brave as Can Be" which got us thinking about facing our fears in order to overcome them! This book is now a part of our classroom library. Thank you for the wonderful gift that the children will enjoy sharing all throughout the year, Dawid!
We are so lucky to have this strong, bright, and caring student in our class this year! Dawid is a powerful classroom leader by setting such a terrific example for his classmates each day. You had a terrific star week, Dawid!
Thank you for stopping by our blog this week to see what has been keeping our 2nd graders busy, moving, and thinking! Enjoy the weekend!
:) Kelly O'Sullivan
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