Holiday Party

Today we celebrated the upcoming holidays with some crafts, a gift exchange, and delicious treats. You can see how excited we are in the following pictures! We had a great time and look forward to the winter break. Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays!

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Everything Matters!

In Science we have been exploring matter. We learned about solids and identified many properties of solids, including rigid, flexible, transparent, and opaque. The children went on a "Property Hunt" to find things around the classroom that fit certain properties.

Earlier this week the children were challenged to think like engineers, and to build towers from their solid objects. Using the properties they know about each solid, they made decisions about where each solid would fit best in the tower. We had some impressive creations!

We also explored liquids this week. This proved to be quite an exciting adventure! The children were given 7 containers of various types of unknown liquid. They were to experiment with them by shaking, rolling, spinning, and turning them. We created ramps with textbooks and whiteboards to see which liquids rolled the fastest and farthest. Then we came up with properties for these liquids including foamy, bubbly, thick, translucent, and viscous! Want to know what these mystery liquids were? You'll have to ask your second grader!!

We are Money Savvy!

We have been working on counting coins and using money in math. This week we were fortunate to have a special guest from Johnson Bank come to visit our classroom to talk about practical uses for money outside of school. Mrs. Hinstorff taught us the importance of spending, saving, donating, and investing. We got play money and we had to practice using it in all four ways by shopping around our classroom. We LOVED the little piggy key chains she gave us. We feel like we are now a little bit more money savvy!!

 Makenna trying to decide where to use her money.

 Deanna is donating some of her money.

 Sam and Keegan are spending some of their money on a soccer ball.

Thank you Mrs. Hinstorff!

Holiday Concert!

We had our Holiday Concert on Thursday, December 2nd. The children did a great job at both the afternoon and evening performances. We had been working hard on the songs at school and the second graders had a great time on stage! We've had those songs stuck in our heads for weeks!

Farwell Second Graders!

I have had a wonderful time learning and teaching in your classroom these past several weeks. I will miss you all very much! Keep up the great work you have been doing in Mrs. Adams' classroom!

Sincerely,
Miss Drees

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have been learning about Native Americans and Pilgrims in Social Studies. We spent time talking about the first Thanksgiving, and all the things that the Pilgrims had to be thankful for. We made our own turkeys and the children wrote what they were thankful for. Have a relaxing and enjoyable Thanksgiving break!

4th Grade Buddies!

We meet with our 4th Grade Buddies in Ms. Bongers' class every Barrie Spirit Day (first Friday of the month). This is something we always look forward to and the kids really enjoy spending time together and learning. This month, the second graders and fourth graders worked together to do a scavenger hunt in our two classrooms. Among the list of things to find: a picture of your teacher, a book title with a "K" in it, and something that has polka dots!

 Above, Logan and Matthew work together on the scavenger hunt.

Below, Deanna and Crystal make great buddies!

What's Your Favorite Season?

We've been working on graphing in math. The children have learned how to collect data, create a graph, and interpret the results.  

 Cameron and Drew are using the graphing cards to learn things about their classmates.

 Noelle (above) and Julia (below) are graphing the number of Skittles they had in their bag.

Welcome Ms. Drees!

We welcomed Ashley Drees, a field study student from UW-Whitewater into our classroom in October. She will be observing, participating, and teaching in our classroom through December 2nd. We are lucky to have her, and we think she's doing a GREAT job! 

Fall Party!

We had our Fall Party on October 27th.  The children enjoyed delicious treats and had a blast dressing up in their costumes and parading around the school grounds! Thank you to families who provided treats, juice, or supplies for this celebration. Also thank you to parents who volunteered time to help out at the party!

Fire Safety Month

October is Fire Safety month! Last week we spent time learning about how to be prepared in case of a fire. Mr. Adams came in from the Watertown Fire Department to share some more tips with us, and to show us what a firefighter looks like with all his gear on. We learned some really interesting things! We all understand how important it is to have an escape plan at home, and to never play with fire. Don't forget to check those smoke detectors!

Read for the Record

Our class participated in Read for the Record on October 7, 2010. Read for the Record is a program sponsored by Jumpstart. The goal is to set a new world record by seeing how many children can read the same book on the same day. Jumpstart aims to raise awareness about the importance of literacy in a young child's life, and for every person who committed to read on October 7, Jumpstart donated a book to a classroom in need. Learn more at http://www.wegivebooks.org/. 

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