PicCollage & Guided Reading

Before vacation students finished reading chapter books in their guided reading groups.  As a culminating project students created a PicCollage where they summarized the book.  Students’ PicCollages needed the following elements: characters, problem, solution and setting.  Be sure to visit your student's Seesaw account (click here) to view their PicCollage book summary.  Below are some examples of our great work! 

  

Names of People and Places -- Biographies

Today we learned about a special text feature in biographies: Names of People and Places. Students learned that we can expect to find the names of people and places in biographies -- capital letters are a big clue. Students went on a names scavenger hunt in biography books. Below are photographs from our scavenger hunt. We took a photograph (using the iPad) of a page in a biography, and we then uploaded the photograph to the app, “Explain Everything”. From there we were able to highlight the names of people and places. We circled and labeled the names of people and names of places. We also discussed how students know whether a word beginning with a capital letter is a person’s name or a place. Some of our clue words to help us know if it is a place are: born in, lived in, moved to, grew up in.

Flat Stanley Project

Our Flat Stanleys were all shipped out last week, we are very excited about this project and can't wait for them to be returned.  Below are photographs from when we created our Flat Stanleys. 

PBL Plants Over Vacation

I'm sure many of you are wondering what happens to our plants during April vacation. Mr. MacAuley came by PPS on Friday and took the 2nd grade plants on a field trip to Claussen's. The plants are doing great in the greenhouse and is just what our eggplant needed because it was having a hard time getting started. We want to extend a warm thank you to Mr. MacAuley and Claussen's for all that they do for us -- thank you. Photographs from the plants’ field trip are below.

Compound Words

Our Week in Review 4.10 - 4.14

Portioning Rectangles

Categories for Biographies

Today in Reading Workshop we learned about what makes someone famous enough to have a biography written about them.  There are four categories: First at something, new discovery, special talent and leader.  We sorted every biography in our classroom bin into at least one of these categories.  We talked about how Harry Houdini was a great magician therefore he had a special talent.  Martin Luther King changed people's thinking about giving everyone the same freedoms, he was a leader.  Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon, he had a biography written about him because he was the first at something.  Lastly, Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, he had a biography written about him because he invented something very important (can you imagine the world without light?) 

What is a Biography?

Today in Reading Workshop we started our first biography lesson.  The focus of today's lesson was "What is a biography?"  We began by exploring different biography books.  Students turned and talked with a partner about what they thought made up a biography.  We learned that a biography is a true story of a person's life.  Afterwards, students talked about "What makes a person have a biography?"  Responses from our conversation are below. Tomorrow, we will be learning about the categories around “Why a person has a biography written about them.” 

Hot Shot All-Star Lunch

Mr. MacAuely Comes for PBL :)

Last week Mr. MacAuley came in to help us kick off our Project Based Learning Project! All second grade students voted on what they  wanted to plant in their classroom raised bed and we won Eggplant, which I was very excited about! The other 2nd raised beds will include tomatoes, bell peppers, basil and a surpirse in the last raised bed!  Mr. MacAuley came in and taught us about how to get our Egglant started; we used seed pods, seed and soil to start the process.  To help the Eggplant grow we put the seedpods under our classroom grow light.  We really appreciate Mr. MacAuley coming in to help us with this project.  Mr. MacAuley will be in many more times to help us through two more transplants and to check on the plants. In addition, we would like to send a huge THANK YOU to Claussen’s who continues to support our Project Based Learning project with the donation of seeds, soil, seed pods, their greenhouse and compost -- WOW -- that is a lot of donations!

Our Week in Review 4.3 - 4.7

Literary Non-Fiction

Yesterday in Reading Workshop we read our first Literary Non-Fiction book, Tiny Creatures, Microbes. During the mini-lesson we discussed how the book read like a story but it was telling us true information, which was something new for 2nd graders (or so I thought).  By the end of the mini-lesson students were excited to share that Mrs. B had already taught students about Literary Non-Fiction! We can't wait to explore more Literary Non-Fiction books.

Comparing Genres

Today in Reading Workshop our mini lesson focused on comparing two genres. We compared Narratives to Informational Texts. We talked about how these genres are the same and how they are different. Our anchor chart is below.

 

Alaska & Vermont -- Geography

Today we started our culminating project for Alaska.  We focused on the geography in Alaska and Vermont.  We discussed how both states have mountain ranges.  In Vermont we have Mount Mansfield, in Alaska they have the tallest mountain in North America, Mount McKinley.  We also discussed how both states have lots of rivers and lakes.  In Vermont we have Lake Champlain in Alaska they have Lake Iliamna.  Students were put in partnership and created PicCollages to demonstrate their learning.