The mealworms that were supposed to come home today should have come home. We had a sad lesson in our room today. Some of the adult beetles could not walk straight and kept flipping over with their legs flailing up in the air. They had a grey, dusty look to them. For whatever reason, they had some leg injuries that prevented them from walking forward or staying on their bellies. This of course prevented them from being able to find their food. We had to have a discussion about how sometimes living things are not born or do not develop as expected and it can affect their quality of life (defined as how easy it is for them to live). As humans, we have the ability to go to doctors and have parts of our bodies fixed, whether it is a bone that is out of place, our brain that needs some help, or our lungs when they get congested. We talked about how most living things just have to live with what they are given, and survive the best they can. I think the message went over some heads, but the tone of the room was a sad one as most of the kids understood that these beetles could not survive with the deficiencies they had. However, those who wanted to go home with a mealworm brought that home taped shut and in a baggy (I did NOT want to hear about those things getting loose in the backpacks!!
Today, the kids had a link for practice on using different rules. It is kind of like the frames and arrows, but a bit more challenging. I told them to take their time and check their work carefully! They also were to do a practice test - randomly choose ten words from the bag and have your child write the words down. Take a second to talk about the word if it is spelled wrong. We are going to attempt to test tomorrow...we are working on a special project as well!
Please see the post from a few days ago about what to do for our "Read In" party on Thursday. Wearing pajamas is NOT REQUIRED, but I am wearing them so I hope I'm not alone!!
Did you hear it might snow on Friday????? 2 more days, everyone! 2 more days!!
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
A busy week ahead!
We aren't on break just yet! As we get ready for our last four days of 2011, please keep in mind that the kids will still be learning and will still have homework Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday! We will have a set of word wall words that are on the fun side, but we will still test over them on Thursday. We will continue our geometry work, studying faces, vertices, and sides, 3-D shapes, line segments and parallel lines. We will also work on our first draft of our slice of life pictures.
As you well know, the kids have been reading like crazy at home. They brought home the gift sheets to complete at home this weekend. Just a simple sentence on each one they earned for 60 minutes of reading. I am happy to announce that everyone participated this week and earned at least one gift sheet. Many kids read so much, they earned three or four gift sheets. That is a lot of reading! Since the best way to become a better reader is to just spend more time reading, this is a wonderful investment, sure to produce great returns!
We have far exceeded our 100 gift sheets we set as our goal, and we still have almost another week in the program. Needless to say, we have earned our "Read-In" Party. This will take place on Thursday morning. Everyone is invited to wear their pajamas, BRING their slippers, bring a stuffed animal and a special snack. Yes, for this day only, they may bring chips or cookies for snack! No candy, please. Sorry - I can only go so far! :-) Also, kids may bring in special books that they would like to read and share with others during our "Book Share" time. They will bring these books home on Thursday afternoon. Please limit the number of books to three. ANY books are ok, as long as it doesn't hurt to carry them in the backpacks.
Speaking of reading, I am looking for parents to come in to read some of the new Monarch Books. These are books that are in contention for the Monarch Award for Picture Books. There are many to choose from and I can be flexible to meet your schedule. It would take about 10 -20 minutes, depending on how much you stop to discuss the story with the class. We are going to try to get through all of the selections, so I thought it would be nice to bring in some guest readers. Let me know if you are interested (this week or after break!). If you are in the school for any reason, the books are in the LMC, right as you walk in. Feel free to stop in and see which one you would like to read and let me know, so I don't read it to the kids myself!
As a reminder, we will have our PTA sponsored Winter Party on Thursday afternoon. FOr second grade, the PTA provides a pizza slice and a cookie from 2:15 - 2:45 in the room and from 2:45 - 3:15, the kids get a dance party in the gym with Kaptain Karaoke! What a fun day to finish up December!
Mealworm permission letters came home today. IF I don't get one back signed by Tuesday, or a call, or an email, I will set your child's mealworm, pupa, or beetle free into the field behind my house! Thanks!
Have a wonderful weekend!!
As you well know, the kids have been reading like crazy at home. They brought home the gift sheets to complete at home this weekend. Just a simple sentence on each one they earned for 60 minutes of reading. I am happy to announce that everyone participated this week and earned at least one gift sheet. Many kids read so much, they earned three or four gift sheets. That is a lot of reading! Since the best way to become a better reader is to just spend more time reading, this is a wonderful investment, sure to produce great returns!
We have far exceeded our 100 gift sheets we set as our goal, and we still have almost another week in the program. Needless to say, we have earned our "Read-In" Party. This will take place on Thursday morning. Everyone is invited to wear their pajamas, BRING their slippers, bring a stuffed animal and a special snack. Yes, for this day only, they may bring chips or cookies for snack! No candy, please. Sorry - I can only go so far! :-) Also, kids may bring in special books that they would like to read and share with others during our "Book Share" time. They will bring these books home on Thursday afternoon. Please limit the number of books to three. ANY books are ok, as long as it doesn't hurt to carry them in the backpacks.
Speaking of reading, I am looking for parents to come in to read some of the new Monarch Books. These are books that are in contention for the Monarch Award for Picture Books. There are many to choose from and I can be flexible to meet your schedule. It would take about 10 -20 minutes, depending on how much you stop to discuss the story with the class. We are going to try to get through all of the selections, so I thought it would be nice to bring in some guest readers. Let me know if you are interested (this week or after break!). If you are in the school for any reason, the books are in the LMC, right as you walk in. Feel free to stop in and see which one you would like to read and let me know, so I don't read it to the kids myself!
As a reminder, we will have our PTA sponsored Winter Party on Thursday afternoon. FOr second grade, the PTA provides a pizza slice and a cookie from 2:15 - 2:45 in the room and from 2:45 - 3:15, the kids get a dance party in the gym with Kaptain Karaoke! What a fun day to finish up December!
Mealworm permission letters came home today. IF I don't get one back signed by Tuesday, or a call, or an email, I will set your child's mealworm, pupa, or beetle free into the field behind my house! Thanks!
Have a wonderful weekend!!
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Slice of Life
Today, we had a great discussion about what details to include in our slice of life writing. We talked about how including information using our five senses can help us find areas to write about and focus on. Here is the picture we used today:
Ask your child to talk to you about some of the things we added to our graphic organizer using our five senses. Most of the students have been to a bonfire so they were able to talk about it. This is something your child will need to do tomorrow for their own picture.
Ask your child to talk to you about some of the things we added to our graphic organizer using our five senses. Most of the students have been to a bonfire so they were able to talk about it. This is something your child will need to do tomorrow for their own picture.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Changes....
Wow, were we excited today to get to our mealworm time. It has been three days since we have observed them and we saw some definite changes! Some had their pupas turn into beetles (adult stage). A few died, but we talked about how that is just one part of the life process - that it cannot last forever and it is shorter for some than others.
We have been making some changes in computer lab, too. I have been spending more time teaching the kids about how to use all of their fingers on the keyboard, not just their index fingers. We will continue talking about it, and I have included some new practice sites on the links - look at the Other Links You'd Like area for these, if you would like some practice at home.
We are moving on to our next math unit on geometry concepts. Today, we talked about the concepts of symmetry and polygons. We learned that regular polygons are polygons which have all sides the same length. Polygons are defined as plane shapes that have 3 or more sides with straight lines (no curves). There will be MUCH MORE to learn and explore over the next two weeks (this unit will continue after we get back in January).
Continue to encourage nightly reading at home, filling in the calendar with the minutes and signing the homework sheet. I sent home a sheet today that you can refer to when you are looking for some basic questions or prompts to use with your child after ANY reading assignment.
Thank you for all the support you give your child at home. It makes SUCH a difference and I appreciate the effort, especially this time of year with so many other "responsibilities!"
We have been making some changes in computer lab, too. I have been spending more time teaching the kids about how to use all of their fingers on the keyboard, not just their index fingers. We will continue talking about it, and I have included some new practice sites on the links - look at the Other Links You'd Like area for these, if you would like some practice at home.
We are moving on to our next math unit on geometry concepts. Today, we talked about the concepts of symmetry and polygons. We learned that regular polygons are polygons which have all sides the same length. Polygons are defined as plane shapes that have 3 or more sides with straight lines (no curves). There will be MUCH MORE to learn and explore over the next two weeks (this unit will continue after we get back in January).
Continue to encourage nightly reading at home, filling in the calendar with the minutes and signing the homework sheet. I sent home a sheet today that you can refer to when you are looking for some basic questions or prompts to use with your child after ANY reading assignment.
Thank you for all the support you give your child at home. It makes SUCH a difference and I appreciate the effort, especially this time of year with so many other "responsibilities!"
Monday, December 5, 2011
New Critters!
As many of you may have heard, we have some new "classmates" in 2G.
MEALWORMS!!
Mealworms are insects that are usually found wherever there is flour or grain, like in bakeries or mills. It is a perfect specimen to showcase the stages of growth. The stages are:
1. Egg - small, white, oval shaped - about 1 millimeter long. Hatches in about one week (we did not see the egg stage with our specimens).
2. Larva - brown, elongated body. stage lasts 2-3 weeks. MOLTING occurs at this stage.
3. Pupa - off white color, the pupa is very still during this time as it changes to become a beetle. This stage lasts 1-3 weeks.
4. Adult - when it comes out of the pupa, it is white, but gradually changes to black. We had one student that had the mealworm change to a beetle within the fist day (it was in the pupa stage when he took it for his "pet!" It has wings but cannot fly. It can hop! The adult only lives about a few months.. The female can lay up to 500 eggs before it dies, and then the life cycle starts all over again!
And, yes! Students will get the opportunity to bring home their Darkling Beetles when they change to adults!! Very Cool!
MEALWORMS!!
Mealworms are insects that are usually found wherever there is flour or grain, like in bakeries or mills. It is a perfect specimen to showcase the stages of growth. The stages are:
1. Egg - small, white, oval shaped - about 1 millimeter long. Hatches in about one week (we did not see the egg stage with our specimens).
2. Larva - brown, elongated body. stage lasts 2-3 weeks. MOLTING occurs at this stage.
3. Pupa - off white color, the pupa is very still during this time as it changes to become a beetle. This stage lasts 1-3 weeks.
4. Adult - when it comes out of the pupa, it is white, but gradually changes to black. We had one student that had the mealworm change to a beetle within the fist day (it was in the pupa stage when he took it for his "pet!" It has wings but cannot fly. It can hop! The adult only lives about a few months.. The female can lay up to 500 eggs before it dies, and then the life cycle starts all over again!
And, yes! Students will get the opportunity to bring home their Darkling Beetles when they change to adults!! Very Cool!
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