Happy 100th Day

The 100th Day of School was Friday, February 8th. The students celebrated by wearing sunglasses that read 100. They also worked in groups to make chain links of 100. We decorated the room with the colorful links.

Holiday Fun

Here are a few fun pictures from our holiday party:

 

The students also made ornaments as gifts to send home to their families. Using an ornament and white paint, they put their hand print around the ornament. Each of their fingers were turned into snowmen that they decorated themselves. We can thank another Second Grade teacher, Mrs. R, for the great craft idea.

 

Here are some of the finished products:

 

 

Opinion Writing

The students filled up their 'Warm Fuzzy Jar' by earning compliments from other teachers and by working well with their classmates. Once filled, they used a program on their iPads called Edmodo to vote for their reward. Not only did they vote, they also had write why they thought that reward would be the best, so they had to persuade me with their opinions. Here are some of the students working on their opinion writing:

Winter Problem Solving

Before Winter Break, students worked vigorously on Problem Solving. One strategy they use to solve 2 digit by 2 digit addition/subtraction is the Empty Number Line. The number line allows students to visualize their thinking. For example, when adding 32+24, students will mark 32 as the starting point on their number line. They will then look at the number 24 and decide how many tens and ones they will need to jump to get the sum of the two numbers. The number 24 has 2 tens, so from 32 we would jump 2 'big ten jumps' to get to 52. From the 52, we would jump 4 'tiny 1 jumps' to get to the answer of 56.

Here is an example of a subtraction story problem that was solved using the empty number line:

 

In a subtraction problem, students must jump back instead of forward on the empty number line. I made a laminated sentence strip and drew an empty number line on it for the students. They use their dry erase markers to solve their problems.

I Have, Who Has?

Students recently learned a new game called "I have, Who has?" This game consists of a deck of pre-made cards for different topics in Math. One game focuses on counting coins. Each student receives a card. They must count the value of the pictures of coins presented on their card and ask the class who has that amount. The amount will be found on the top of another students' card- written this time instead of pictures. This game involves a lot of thinking and the kids seem to really enjoy it. We also have a time game that shows clocks with specific times written on them. Here are a few pictures of the students playing in smaller groups:

Warm Fuzzy Jar

The students finally filled up the warm fuzzy jar! To decide what their reward would be, we used a function on a new application they are using, Edmodo, to vote for the best reward.

 We also use Edmodo for a variety of other things for learning. It is a program that we use to share thinking, share creations, post about what we are learning, give feedback, take quizzes & polls, and much more. Each subject area has its own page so students can keep their work organized.

To Inform/Entertain

 To Inform & To Entertain:

 

Students used a past issue of Scholastic Books to cut and past into a 'T Chart' under the correct category. Does someone read this book to be entertained or informed? This activity was in addition to the work we have been doing on Fiction and Non-Fiction, and also goes hand-in-hand with the reading logs students do daily.

The hardest part was determining whether some of the animal books were fiction or non-fiction. Some students had difficulty with with this because many of the non-fictions texts they check out of the library are about animals, so they always associate animal books being non-fiction. They did very well with this activity and really enjoyed it!