Before Thanksgiving Break, students were challenged to create a miniature parade float that displayed something they were thankful for during this holiday season. They were challenged to reduce, reuse, and recycle items from their home to create the floats. Parents and other campus students were invited and lower school students presented their floats and described how they created them, what materials they used, and explained what they were thankful for.

Lower School students participated in a parade around campus. Their floats were required to roll and we put them to the test with a parade route around the playground. Students and teachers from around campus came to the parade and watched our students strut their stuff. Everyone did an amazing job and really showed their thankfulness.

We are rocking and rolling here in second grade. Students are working hard daily to learn three digit addition and subtraction. We use many different math strategies to problem solve and when students finish this math module they will have a mental math toolbox full of math strategies.

Workshop has consisted of a new game called Knockout. Students roll dice with multiple representations of numbers and try to be the first to “knockout” all their totals to 20. The competition is fun and engaging! Students are also learning to use their Chromebooks for literature responses. Voice dictation is available for students that need it and others are learning to type. The class has also enjoyed spelling by practice called “Spelling 5 Ways”. They get to use crayon, marker, pen, pencil, and colored pencil to spell words. Learning is so fun in second grade!

October is coming to an end and what better way to end this month than with a day to celebrate our favorite book character? Students chose their favorite book and dressed as a character in the story. They practiced public speaking and introduced themselves and explained their characters and books to an audience of parents. Everyone did an amazing job!

Students have also been hard at work learning different spelling patterns. Lately, they have practiced words that have long vowel spelling patterns. One fun way students remember these words and patterns is to practice writing them using shaving cream.

YAY! We finally made it to the St. James school library! We read “Ruby the Copycat” together and then everyone got to choose a book they wanted to take back to class. We keep the books for one week and share them with each other in the classroom, then we return them to the library to exchange for new books. Each week students get their hands on 17 different pieces of literature!

Pets rats! OH MY! Khloe brought a few of her pets to school for the class to observe for the day. We had lots of fun watching them run on their wheel and even climb on Khloe’s shirt! Each student got to pet the rats if they chose to do so and most of the class loved it!

Students have begun to research an animal of their choosing. They are responsible for finding information on their animal’s diet, habitat, and predators. They will write an informational piece to share what they have learned.

Exciting things have happened in the last couple of weeks in class. We had some special animal visitors: Frank and Honey Bunny came to visit second grade at recess! The class loved getting to pet the bunnies and ask questions to Mrs. Jennifer.

Second grade is working hard to learn new spelling rules. We practice using dry erase boards during our dictation lessons. During workshop we have used place value file folder games to strengthen our knowledge of base ten numbers.

Last week we counted to 1,000! This is always an excellent hands-on experience that provides concrete, visual evidence of our base ten mathematical system. Students must problem solve the most effective and efficient way to count an enormous pile of straws. They decided to count by groups of ten which lead them to the understanding of units of 10. Then, they learned to group 10 tens together to make 100 and so on. We also learned a new game called “Roll for 50”. Students take turns rolling dice to be the first to reach 50. Each time they roll they must put place value blocks on a 100-flat and exchange ones for tens.

In PE each day this week students worked with a partner to learn the dynamics of Birdie. In this game students work on gross motor coordination and hand eye coordination to hit a small birdie back and forth.