Science Fun!

Today we had our first round of science fun. We are working on thinking about the science behind what makes something sink and what makes something float.

We filled our bowls with water and took turns in our groups choosing an object, predicting whether it would sink or float, and then testing it and writing our observations down. It was a great deal of fun and the kids had some great discussions about it! Here we are in action!

Half a Day, Half a Post!

Fill in the missing parts with what you remember about our half day!

We started our day by trying to find a funny way to use our vocabulary words. 4 of the words from our Harcourt story are......

We wrote quick paragraphs about names we would choose for ......,

During Daily 5 time, we did.......

Mrs. Grezlik explained that next week during Daily 5 time, we will get to....

Our math lesson was on frames and ......

One mistake we can easily make during frames and arrows work is......

tomorrow, we have at test in.......

Our picture day is .........

Blind Sorts

Hi kids!
I hope you went right home and told your parent all about earning the Fish Party today! What a great way to start the day! Way to go with the great behavior in specials classes!! Keep earning those fish!

Today you have a Blind Sort to do with a parent. While there is nothing to write for a blind sort (therefore, nothing to turn in), here is a quick reminder of how to do a blind sort.

1. Grab your cards from your zippered pouch.

2. Grab a parent or an older sibling and ask them sweetly to help you for 10-15 minutes.

3. Dump your cards out and find your headers (or the header patterns and header words if you are the blue group). Put them out on the table or floor.

4. Have your parent or older sibling call the word out to you (NOT SHOWING THE WORD - THAT IS WHY IT IS CALLED A BLIND SORT).

5. You decide, after listening to the word - where the word should go. You point to the spot (under which header) it should go. If you decide, after your parent or older sibling places the card down where you directed, that the card is in the wrong sort column, you may move it. If you make more than ONE (YES, ONE!) mistake during this blind sort, start again (if your parent or older sibling has time).

The goal is to place all the words in the correct column WITHOUT looking at the spelling pattern AND making no mistakes! GOOD LUCK!

Columbus Day fun!

Hi everyone!
I hope you are enjoying the beautiful fall weather! The girls are outside with their friend dressing up the yard for fall fun! Madison is ready for the Bears game tonight and Kenna is on the left with the messy hair (who needs to brush hair on a day off??)! I hope you are having some fun this weekend!


Here is something fun we saw in our backyard yesterday:



One of our neighbors has this great hot air balloon and every once in a while, they tether it (which means attach it so the balloon doesn't float away) to their truck and give the kids rides up and down. It was too windy to do rides, though, so they had to bring it back down and they will try it next weekend. It was very exciting!

I apologize for not posting last week very much! Next week, my mom is coming home from her rehabilitation center and my life will be back to normal! YIPPEE!

Check out the new math website I posted in the right margin. Remember that Wednesday is a half day of school - early dismissal at lunch time.

See you tomorrow and BOY - do I have a SPECIAL SURPRISE for YOU!!

New Math Sites

Some parents have asked for some more math websites to visit, so check out the links in the right margin under Math Websites. Some of the sites offer math worksheets that you can modify to meet your own desires and print out for practice!!

Today, we started word sort groups. We are starting with 3 groups, pink, green, and blue. These groups were identified based on the Words Their Way spelling inventory that was given the second week of school. This inventory tells me what spelling patterns they have mastered and which list I need to start them on. You might find that your child tells you the list they have is too easy, but this is word study so your child will benefit from the study that we do with the words. The sorting is good for classification purposes. Today's assignment was to do a regular sort like we did in small group today.

I am so excited to report that yesterday, I collected the homework sheet from the kids' binders and we had almost 100% of the kids write down their reading selections EVERY DAY AND got parent signatures!! I cannot even express my gratitude that you are so supportive and encouraging on this communication piece. Thank you!!

Second grade PE night is TOMORROW!! Our class's session is from 6-7p.m. Bring the whole family!

What's an icon?

Today we had our first skill lesson in lab. We are learning about using icons in Microsoft Word. We have to learn all the parts of this program so we can use the program to its fullest potential. If you have a computer at home, play around with the icons on Microsoft Word and find out what they all mean! Today, we also saved a document in our own personal folder. We will use our jump drive soon!

We took our word wall AND word study test today. Tomorrow, we will get our new word study list. We will do this in small groups. We will study the list this week AND next, since it is a shorter week next week. We also are working together on our reading selection test. Remember, there is no school on Monday and early dismissal next Wednesday.

In writing, we are studying what makes a paragraph. Today, we started to create a paragraph about art. We are beginning to understand that a paragraph needs a main idea sentence and some detail sentences about ONE topic!

Wednesday night is our second grade PE Night. Our class's session is in the gym from 6-7 so bring the family and dress for some activity!! See you then!!