Poets, Artists, Analysts, Measurers, Researchers, and Presenters

The learning never stops in 2-2! Thinking of a title for this post, I stopped to think about just how many different roles the children take on in the classroom each week. It is truly amazing to see all that they are capable of!

Read on to see some of our latest highlights!

In math our unit on measurement is in full swing. During one of our lessons, the students were introduced to the terms "standard unit of measure." We tried to measure our classroom using 2nd graders, but we realized two important things: not all 2nd graders are the same size, and not everyone knows the unit "2nd grader!" We learned that there are two systems of measurement, the US Customary System and the Metric System. The children and I created a Table of Equivalent Measures and looked closely at what these units are and how they correlate with each other.

 I posted a few of the children's personalized learning projects earlier this week. Here are a few "behind the scenes" photos that showed how the children created such unique, wonderful work. Mrs. Horcher popped in one afternoon during her spring break from her school to help these boys begin their Adobe Voice presentation!

 Joana and Natalie are using the computer to take detailed notes about their "wonder" related to our life cycle unit!

 To connect life cycles with poetry, the children had fun creating these adorable ladybugs! They attached the life cycle of the ladybug and created a clever diamante poem to go along with their project, too!

 Here are a few cute photos of our class in the gym, preparing to see visitor Bill Buczinsky's poetry presentation. He had the children moving and bouncing to the rhythm all throughout the morning!

 Back in the classroom, the children plunged back into poetry. After a few minutes of reading poems with Paige, Maggie raced over to me and said, "Ms. O'Sullivan, I think I found the rhythm of this one! Do you want to hear it?!" I can't tell you how much I LOVE this enthusiasm for learning!

 Emma, Natalie, and Kurt are reading poems carefully and are thinking about what inspired the poet to write the poem. We realized that if we can infer the inspiration, we can even better understand what the poem is about!

 The children are really enjoying this poetry unit! Each poem is so different and sometimes unexpected... Meg and Samantha are reading a poem below about the poet's love of ketchup!

 The children felt so proud to come up and share a poem they had been reading and thinking about with their classmates. They shared what they thought inspired the poet, and then we shared what we thought, too! This led to some great discussions, and even to some changing their mind after hearing the great ideas of their classmates.

 In math the children did some more work with measurement. In this lesson, we focused on the foot, noticing that it is 12 inches long and that there are 3 feet in a yard. We also learned about the decimeter which is the equivalent of 10 centimeters, or 1/10 of a meter. The children eagerly estimated the length of various items in the classroom and then we compared their estimates with actual measurements.

 It was Leo's week to shine last week! We welcomed his mom and dad into our classroom to share an experiment with our class, show and talk about some adorable family photos and moments,  and listen to a cute story, If You Give a Mouse a Cupcake! 

 We are so happy to have such a bright and interesting Leo in our class this year!

2nd Graders take charge of their learning!

The past few weeks, the children have been enthusiastically taking a hold of their learning during our science lessons. They have lead the way beginning with inquiring about a topic, researching it carefully using student-friendly websites and apps, taking notes, and finally synchronizing their learning with others in a small group to create a presentation to share what they've discovered with their classmates. I have never before seen such excitement, eagerness, and drive to learn something new! You can see and hear the pride and confidence they developed in their projects below.

(Small disclaimer: This is a relatively new learning process for us, and there is still plenty of room for us to grow and improve :)

Some bittersweet goodbyes!

Our days at school have been full of unique learning opportunities!

The children have been focused the last few weeks on a personalized learning project with their classmates. They began by writing down something they were wondering about relative to our life cycle unit. We then sorted the children's interests into small personalized learning groups for them to investigate these wonders further!

Using apps, websites, and kid-friendly search engines including: Pebble Go,  Brainpop Jr., Worldbook Online for Kids, a-z-animals.com, kidrex.org, and enchantedlearning.com, the children began researching the answers to their questions! They kept track of their learning on a note-taking fact organizer.

In reading, our Poetry unit has grabbed our full attention! Ryan went home and used the links on our web page to create a number of creative and clever poems all on his own! He was so happy to come in to share them with his classmates. It is so much fun to see the children's learning take off in this way!

 Our lessons in poetry had us closing our eyes to listen to the words and visualize the poem in our minds. The children listened to poems a few times to absorb all of the details, and drew a picture to represent what they imagined. It was such fun to see the similarities and differences in the children's drawings and perceptions.

 This was the picture on the page of the poetry book that matched the poem that the children listened to and illustrated. It was about a person playing "tug of war" on a windy day with a kite!

 This was Alexandra's last day of school with us! The children worked hard to create and sign this beautiful poster full of pictures of our time together this year. It was fun to surprise Alexandra with it on her last day. We are going to miss our dear friend, but we surely won't forget her!

 It was also time to say good bye to our dear butterfly friends! We loved watching them move through their fascinating life cycle and grow from egg to adult. It was sad to see them go, but maybe we'll see them fly by again one day! :)

 It seemed that a few butterflies weren't yet ready to say goodbye to US!

 Mrs. Phillips stopped in to celebrate National Nutrition Month with us! She gave us countless healthy facts and tips, and she provided suggestions of good foods to eat. Mrs. Phillips also talked to us about food groups, portion size, and calorie intake, and she mentioned that physical activity is an important part of our day, too! Mrs. Phillips also brought our attention to labels on food items, and had us look for the words "whole grains" and 100% to be sure we are getting food at its most natural state if possible. Our heads were swimming with great ideas!

 Mrs. Phillips brought all of the children a tasty clementine treat. What a perfect finish to a great presentation! Thank you for coming in, Mrs. Phillips!

 The children enjoyed a lively "dance party" to bring Alexandra's final day at Dryden to a close. Good luck to you and your family in Sweden! Keep in touch!