Thinking Bubbles

Money Scoot!

In Math, we have been focusing a lot on money- recognizing coins & making amounts. Students are learning how to count coins and make the transition from quarters (25) to dimes (10) to nickels (5) to pennies (1) when counting a group of coins. 

One game that the students enjoyed was called Money Scoot. They were given a secret amount that they had to first create at their desks. Once they did this, we began the game. I set a time for 1 minute. Students had to 'scoot' from desk to desk and count the value that another student made on their desk. They filled in that amount in a box provided. They had a lot of fun!

Super 2nd Graders!

Making Money!!

Using Sponge Bob money cards, we made money on the board with magnetic coins. Students made the amount two ways. It is encouraged to make the values using the least amount of coins possible. Students made the amounts and then explained why they used the coins they chose. 

Air Resistance

2nd Grade learned a lot about Air & Weather from Mrs. J in the first science unit of they year. They made thermometers, did experiments, and learned a lot about air resistance. To conclude the unit, students made pinwheels and were able to go outside and 'test' them in the wind to 'observe' the air resistance. Mrs. J. also brought out a kite to demonstrate the effect the air resistance had on the kite.

Monitor for Meaning

The students have been studying a variety of Comprehension Strategies over the course of the year. One strategy, Monitor for Meaning, focuses on thinking about their own thinking while they are reading. It is important not to use their 'Distracting Voice!"
Students made speech bubbles that included sentence starters to use to help them think about the books they were reading.
Here are the sentence starters (thinking stems) we used to monitor our thinking:

For our unit on the comprehension strategy 'Monitoring for Meaning,' students have learned a few strategies to help them when they come to an unknown word in their book. These fix-it strategies are modeled after the Beanie Baby figures that were popular years ago. When your child is reading at home, it would be good to refer to these strategies as that keeps the language consistent between home and school!

Here is a brief explanation of each:

Eagle Eye tells you to Look at the Pictures: Have your child look at the pictures for clues to help figure out the word.

Lips the Fish tells you to Get your Lips Ready: Have your child say the first few sounds of the word out loud.

Stretchy Snake tells you to Stretch it Out: Have your child stretch the word out slowly and put the sounds together to figure out the word. As a further point, we prefer to use the phrase “say it slowly,” rather than “sound it out.”

Chunky Monkey tells you to Chunk the Word: Have your child look for a part or a “chunk” that they know (ex: -ing, -old, -and, etc.).

Skippy Frog tells you to Skip it, Skip it: Have your child skip the word, read to the end of the sentence, and then go back and try it again.

Tryin’ Lion tells you to Try it Again: Have your child reread the sentence and try a word that makes sense.

Helpful Kangaroo tells you to Ask for Help: After your child has tried applying some of the strategies as learned, he/she can ask someone else for help.

Dot the Giraffe tells you to Watch the Punctuation: Have your child watch the punctuation (, . ? ! “”). Example: Read with expression when you see the talking/quotation marks.

Flippy Dolphin tells you to Flip the Vowel Sound: In other words, try a long vowel sound if the short vowel sound does not work (example: a vowel will say its own name when an ‘e’ is added to the end as is bit to bite, hat to hate, not to note).

GREAT BEGINNINGS

Our first writing unit of the year focused on Narrative Writing. We studied Narrative Elements: Characters, Setting, Plot, Problem & Solution. Students also worked on sequencing & using transition words. They worked a lot on writing GREAT Beginnings and GREAT endings.

One activity we did was a Great Beginnings Scavenger Hunt. The students searched and searched through magazines to find and record the great beginnings that started the articles. Here is the final product. We had a lot of fun reading these...

Make it Two Ways

Students played a game using their coins called 'Make it Two Ways.' They work with a partner, pull a 'Piggy Bank' card, and make the value on the bank 2 ways. They are working towards making the amounts using the least amount of coins possible.

2013-2014 School Year!

I am very happy to be back and blogging again about my 2nd Grade Class! They are an outstanding bunch and we have been busy at work since August. Please check back weekly for updates on what we are learning in class. Here are a few pictures of our class on Halloween:

 

Ready to start the parade:

 

The students played a SUPER FUN game spinning a SPIDER WEB during the class party!