Our Week in Review 10.19 - 10.23

Name that Number

Today in math we learned a new game called Name That Number.  Below is more information about Name that Number.  You can play Name That Number at home with your child using a regular deck of cards. 

Our Week in Review 10.13 - 10.17

Save lids to Save Lives

Save Lids to Save Lives

Our classroom is still participating in Save Lids to Save Lives.  We would really appreciate your help at home.  We are asking that all families clip pink Save Lives lids off participating products from General Mills.  Once lids are clipped just send them to school with your child! We will be collecting the lids and counting how many lids we have collected and then multiplying that number by 10 cents to figure out how much money we have raised for breast cancer research.  

General Mills Products with lids are:

- Roll-Ups

- Chex Mix

- Bugles

- Gardetto

- Phillsbury

- Betty Crocker

- Cheerios

- Cinnamon Toast Crunch

- Yoplait

- Total

- Fiber One

- Green Giant

- Helper

- Old El Paso

- Nature Valley

- Mott’s

- Ocean Spray

- Gushers

Small actions can make a big difference, and I know our classroom is going to make a big difference!

For more information about Save Lids to Save Lives click here.

ECHO

Our class had a wonderful day at ECHO today! Our class also participated in the Wetland Wonders Program. To view a full description of the program click here. During the program students discussed the important skills a naturalist needs; used a wetland model to determine where animals and plants live in a wetland; and explored the regions of a wetland and simulated a wetland at night. The video of our wetland stimulation is below along with a slideshow of our day.

Our Week in Review 10.5 - 10.9

Have You Filled a Bucket Today?

Last week we read the book, Have You Filled a Bucket Today?  The book is about how we all have invisible buckets.  Our bucket holds our good thoughts and feelings about our self.  We feel happy and good when our buckets are full and sad and lonely when our buckets are empty.  As a class we discussed how we can fill each other’s buckets.  We talked about how we can fill someone’s bucket by saying something kind, giving someone a smile, being nice to someone, etc.  After the read aloud we completed sheets of paper congratulating our classmates when we caught them being a bucket filler.  Each student has a hook in our classroom where they hang their bucket filler notes.  We can't wait to show you all of our notes at Open House.  

Lake Champlain Basin

Yesterday we had a guest teacher in 2nd grade.  We had Ms. Coleen Hickey from the ECHO come in and teach our class about the Lake Champlain Basin. Ms. Hickey brought in a replica of the Lake Champlain Basin.  Together we discussed what pollutants are around the lake such as fertilizer, dog waste, oil leaking from cars, manure, sand/dirt, etc.  We polluted the replica with different food items (sprinkles for the dog waste, cinnamon for dirt, etc.).  After our replica was all polluted it rained!  Students were amazed as to how the fertilizer from a farm runs down the mountain, into a stream and then into the lake, along with many other pollutants.  By the end of the demonstration the lake was rather dirty.  Students learned that what we do at home and in the community has an impact on Lake Champlain.  Now that we have learned how the lake is polluted we are going to learn how we can help protect and clean the lake. 

Number Mystery Skype

Today we had a wonderful Number Mystery Skype with Ms.Kinney's 2nd grade class from Indiana. Our mystery number was 35, and we quickly guessed Ms.Kinney's mystery number (87). Students are becoming experts at asking yes/no questions to figure out what the mystery number is. Be sure to ask your student what question they asked/answered during our Skype today.

Our Week in Review 9.28 - 10.2

Estimation Machine

JAs many of you know we have a new addition to our classroom – the Estimation Machine! Estimation is an important skill for our second graders to develop and it's one they will continue to revisit through the years. The Estimation Machine is a really fun way to bring that skill to life in the classroom.

Many of you guessed at Open House how many erasers were in the Estimation Machine!  On Friday we went through and counted how many counting bears were actually in the Estimation Machine.  We brainstormed possible ways to count all the erasers: group them in 2s, 5s, 10s, etc or group them by color and each group counts a color.  We took a class vote on what strategy to use and the grouping by color strategy won.  Together we formed 6 groups of colored bears!  We added our colored bears together to find out how many counting bears were in the Estimation Machine.  Many jaws dropped when we realized 144 counting bears were in the Estimation Machine.  Many students thought there were between 70 and 100 counting bears in the Machine. Students jaws dropped even more when we went through the estimation guesses and realized Chloe's mom guessed exactly 144 bears!  Way to go Chloe's mom! 

Since Chloe’s mom was exact, Chloe has taken home the Estimation Machine to fill for next week.  Next week the student whose estimation is closest to the actual number will take the estimation jar home to refill with a new item. This cycle will continue throughout the school year.  Some suggestions for items to put in the Estimation Machine are:

-       Animal cookies

-       Beads

-       Beans

-       Bolts

-       Bottle caps

-       Crayons

-       Cotton balls

-       Corks

-       Drinking straw halves

-       Erasers

-       Gumballs

-       Goldfish

-       Macaroni

-       Marbles

-       Marshmallows

-       Nuts

-       Paper clips

-       Pasta

-       Puzzle pieces

-       Rubber bands

-       Seashells

-       Stickers

-       Sunflower seeds

-       Toothpicks

-       Washers

Thanks to all of you who made an estimate at Open House!  Your responses made for a room full of excitement on Friday morning.

Have You Filled a Bucket Today?

Last week we read the book, Have You Filled a Bucket Today?  The book is about how we all have invisible buckets.  Our bucket holds our good thoughts and feelings about our self.  We feel happy and good when our buckets are full and sad and lonely when our buckets are empty.  As a class we discussed how we can fill each other’s buckets.  We talked about how we can fill someone’s bucket by saying something kind, giving someone a smile, being nice to someone, etc.  After the read aloud we completed sheets of paper congratulating our classmates when we caught them being a bucket filler.  Each student has a hook in our classroom where they hang their bucket filler notes.  We can't wait to show you all of our notes at Open House.