communities

I have a bit of work left before my communities booklet is ready!  Do you know which type of community I am missing?  It is the one that is the most fun to say when we use our body language to discribe the 3 communities.  

Urban communities are done by putting both arms straight up next to your head and making yourself into a skyscraper.

Suburban communities are displayed by making your arms into the roof of a house above your head.

Which one is missing?

Polite Pig

We have a pig in the second grade classroom.  He keeps us calm when we are faced with the idea of adding using the number 9.  This pig reminds us that adding the number 9 on to any number is truly not scary or frightening.   Mr. Nine Pig is polite and kind.  Let me introduce you!

When the students are faced with adding 9 to another number they think of him and calmly think it through.  It seems as though we have a very polite pig.  He only takes one bite away from the other number and he does put the bite right into the sum (the answer).

If you have 9 + 4 our polite pig would take a bite away from the 4 to make it a 3.  Then our nice pig would put that One Bite next to the number making the sum 13.  9 + 4 = 13.  Isn't our pig helpful!

  

This pig also doesn't seem to mind if he is the first number or not.  Your student are bringing home a sheet that will show you how well our Nine Pig minds his manners and he even lets other numbers be the first numbers you see.  4 + 9 = 13.

Oceans

The students are growing in knowledge and skills every day!  One of the areas that shows this great accomplishment is their manipulation of artistic medium to render a masterpiece.  Don't panic that is just a fancy way of saying the students use many kinds of items to create their own picture.   They have each constructed fish, an ocean, and air bubbles.  Students worked with crayon, watercolor paints, paper, and yarn.  There was also the ever popular usage of glue! They worked on the skills of painting, cutting, weaving, and sticking it together!

We have an ocean outside of our classroom in the hallway above our coat hooks and it is beautiful!

Socks!

The students received the first of their September rewards.  They will be bringing their dog bone charts home this week with a summary of how rewards are given.  October gives everyone a new chart and new incentives.  This month we will fill our charts with apple stickers.

Second graders also decided to celebrate having all of the large dog bones in the dish by having a sock day.  You might remember the empty Clifford size dog dish on the back bulletin board.  It is overflowing now!  Each bone represents a moment when our class was recognized for good volume or for being prepared!  We enjoyed wearing our socks today.  I wonder what they will choose for their next reward.

September AR Rewards will also be sent home this week.  The students get money for the school store as they accumulate points.  We have Pay Days just like our parents.  Second graders also earn incentives based on the amount of reading and testing they have successfully completed each month.

Bunny Ears and Silent e Searching

There are so many ways to watch our children as they become the wonderful people God wants them to be! They learn all of the time.  They grow in His knowledge and His faith all of the time.

This year many of the students have already conquered the idea of tightening shoestrings from the toe of the shoe to the top.  They are working at keeping shoestrings tied for a longer time by double tieing the "bunny ears".  It is great to see a skill they struggled with during the first week of school slowly becoming automatic.  Now they barely stop to think about how to double tie bunny ears.

All knowledge is like Bunny Ears.  It becomes easier to apply without thinking when we use it, practice it, and fine tune it daily.

As your students apply the knowledge of our new Silent e Spelling Pattern I hope you take some time to post their words to our blog.  Make sure words end with a silent e and contain a long vowel sound.  The last two sentences used some words that fit the pattern....hope, take, time, and make.
"Sure" ends with a silent e, but the bossy r doesn't let the u sound out as a long vowel (it doesn't say u).  Check your words before you add them to the blog.
You can add the words by clicking in the box that appears under "Post a Comment" and you'll be able to type in the box. Remember to also click on Publish before leaving the comment section.  Then your silent e search will be posted on our blog!  Happy Searching!

Name that Veggie

The students enjoyed taste testing vegetables from the Farmer's Market.  The students were surprised that the strange vegetables (Please look at the pictures from the last blog) tasted so fresh.  We showed the students how to snap off the end of beans.  Then they could actually eat the bean!

It is interesting that God is represented in everything he created.  The purple beans & the cucumbers reminded us that God is three people but one God.  Beans and Cucumbers have a outside skin, inside flesh, and seeds. Three parts but only one vegetable.   Our God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Three parts but one God.

The Beans had a surprise with them.  Purple beans turn green when you cook them!  Our God had a surprise for the disciples and all of the people of the world.  Jesus did not stay in the grave!  He rose from the dead to free us from our sin!!!  God truely teaches us all wonderful lessons through His creation.

Going to Market

Wednesday the students in second grade met their PreK Buddies!  What a blessing it is to have a buddy!  Please encourage your student to pray for their buddy and their buddy's family.

After the buddies met eachother they went to the Merrill Farmers Market.  They discovered many kinds of food that God created and explored a new place available to buy food besides the grocery store.  The students met the people who grow food and harvest honey.  Mrs. Catlin brought back vegetables and honey for us to try.

Can you guess what vegetables are in these pictures?