Mystery Dads!

Alex's dad surprised him by coming to read The Giving Tree.

Jonathan's dad surprised him by coming to read Take Me to the Zoo.

Mystery Siblings!

The kids were very surprised on Friday when the two Mystery Readers who visited our classroom were older siblings!

Alex and his big sister, Madison, who was in my class when she was a 2nd grader!

Kennedi, her mom, and her big brother, K.J., who was in my class as a 2nd grader, and is now a freshman in high school! Boy, do I feel old!

Thanksgiving Fun!

We had such a fun time before Thanksgiving break traveling back to the year 1620 to find out what life was like for the Pilgrims on board the Mayflower and once they arrived in America. The students spent the morning traveling to each of the second grade classrooms. Each room had a particular theme. For instance, one classroom focused on the games Pilgrim children played, while another was all about the foods that Pilgrims ate. Of course, I had to get a picture of the kiddos in their adorable hats!

Our Class Store

The students had a great time on Friday practicing their money skills with our class store! Half of the students were cashiers and the other half were shoppers. The shoppers got to "buy" items from our class store and then go to one of the cashiers to purchase the item. The cashier had to make sure they counted out the correct change. The kids then got to switch roles.

Monster Exchange

The kids were very excited about Halloween last week, so we decided to incorporate some Halloween fun into our Writer's Workshop lessons with our "Monster Exchange." The students all drew a monster of their choice. Then we discussed how good writers add lots of description to their writing to help the reader create a "mental image" of what is happening. The students wrote a descriptive paragraph of their monsters, trying to describe in great detail how their monster looked. On Halloween, I played some of my favorite 80s music (think Ghostbusters and Thriller) and the kids exchanged paragraphs with a partner and tried to draw their partner's monster, without looking, based on the descriptive paragraph. The kids had a great time and a better understanding that it's so important to include lots of description in their writing.

Halloween Party

We had a wonderful time at our Halloween party last Friday! Thanks to all of the parents who worked so hard to put together a fantastic party for our class! Here are some pictures of our costumes!

When I realized Frankie and my daughter Kate were both Dorothy, I had to get a picture!

 Eliabeth's Aunt Dawn gave her a special Halloween surprise when she showed up to be our Mystery Reader!
 

Our First Bingo Party!

The children were very excited that we earned our first Bingo Party last Friday! If you remember from our Parent Information Night back in August, the children work together to earn Bingo numbers for a variety of positive behaviors, such as everyone having their homework or getting a compliment from another teacher. We pull numbers at the end of each day and then fill in the squares. We filled in the last number in the 20s row last week to earn our celebration.

 

The kids had several ideas for what we could do for our first Bingo Party. We voted on three choices (ice cream party, pajama party, and bring your favorite stuffed animal to school) and ice cream received the most votes. I've erased the board and now we're starting all over again!

Kaley enjoying her ice cream sundae!

We also were excited to have another Mystery Reader visit our classroom Friday afternoon!

Frankie and her mom!

Our First Mystery Reader

Haven and her mom!

We had our very first Mystery Reader last Friday! We have been reading mysteries in our book clubs for the past few weeks, so the kids were very excited to listen to the five clues and figure out who our Mystery Reader was. It didn't take long for Haven to realize that it was her mom who was coming to read! If you would like to be a Mystery Reader sometime this year, we would love to have you! I already have all of the available dates in October taken, but there are still many more for the rest of the year. Send me an e-mail if you're interested and we'll figure out a date/time.

Congratulations to Kellen! During our Jog For Jefferson,
he ran the most laps in the entire second grade!

Congratulations to Frankie! Her name was pulled out during our
Jog For Jefferson prize assembly for ice skaing passes to the Chiller!

Our Sound Parade

Last Friday morning, the second grade classes headed outside and gave a "Sound Parade" for our first grade friends. The students had such a good time making all the noise they wanted to outside! As teachers, we're always talking about using inside voices, but this was an opportunity for us to tell the kids to be as loud as they wanted! :) The instruments were so creative, and the students really seemed to understand the concepts of pitch, volume, and sound vibrations. Thanks for all of the help you provided the kiddos at home!

Later in the day, we had our "Authors' Celebration" during Writer's Workshop to culminate our study of personal narratives. One of the writing mini-lessons that stuck with the kids the most was when we talked about how everyone has big "watermelon" events in their lives (i.e. going to Kings Island, having a birthday party), but as writers we want to focus on the small moments or "seed story." When I was at Kroger, I came across watermelon cookies, so I thought these would be perfect for our Authors' Celebration. The kids chose their favorite personal narrative and then enjoyed a watermelon cookie while they shared their pieces with their writing buddy.

Kennedi enjoying her watermelon cookie after sharing her personal narrative.

Watermelon Cookies

Fun Friday!

The kids had a great time during our Jog For Jefferson fundraiser on Friday! The weather was absolutely perfect! I'm glad so many of you were able to join us! Here are a few pics that I was able to snap while the kids ran.

Hofmann's Lincoln Lions!

Getting ready to run!

Cooling off with a drink!

Look how many laps our class ran!

Time to enjoy popsicles!

During the afternoon, it was time for our Quints Baby Shower! Each child shared what "qu" item they brought the Quints. After showering our little Quints with our make-believe gifts, we enjoyed a small treat of animal crackers and lemonade. Hopefully, the "qu" spelling is permanently stuck in their memories!

Our tiny guests

Rylee enjoying her baby shower treat.

Addition Combinations

Frankie and Ashlynn playing "Plus 1 or 2 Bingo."

Last week we began learning strategies to help us memorize our basic addition combinations. The children each have a ring with their addition combinations printed on tiny cards so that they can practice throughout the day. But, since flashcards can get a little boring, we incorporate a lot of fun and easy math games into our mornings to make learning our addition facts more exciting. Last week we learned the games "Plus 1 or 2 Bingo," "Make Ten," and "Tens Go Fish." This week we will begin learning our doubles combinations and some fun games to help us commit those combinations to memory. I always send home the directions to these games so that you can practice at home. (These games are especially great to save for rainy days or when your child is saying that he/she is bored!) 

Even and Odd

The children have had a lot of fun exploring even and odd numbers in math during the first few weeks of school. We learned that even numbers are all the numbers you say when you count by twos, and that even numbers can make partners and equal teams. We learned that odd numbers are all the numbers you don't say when counting by twos, and that someone is always left out when trying to make partners or teams. The kids especially enjoyed creating our "Even and Odd Street" last week. Each child was given a house and a number. The children who received even numbers created houses that were exactly alike, while the children who received an odd number created houses that were colorful and crazy!

 

Curtis and Caden showing off their even and odd houses.

Even and Odd Street is complete!