Class 2D

A Classroom Update

2011-11-16T11:03:00.001-08:00

Second Grade Read In

Connor, Star of the Week and a Birthday Boy too!

Collecting supplies for our sponsored family as part of the Kids 4 Kids program

Making abstract Hopi villages

A sampling of our Kachina dolls

We came back from lunch and there was a treat on our door!

Halloween Queens and Kings!

The Mummy Wrap

Do you recognize these paraders?

Building the U.S. together!

100 Marble Party, Campfire, History in a Van

2011-10-20T06:36:00.000-07:00

This week began with a performance by Columbus Children's Theater. The four person troupe performed Magic, Mystery, and Mayhem, a series of stories written by local elementary students. It was an enjoyable way to start a Monday! Our Monday ended with a bang as well: our 100 Marble Party! The 2D Kings and Queens voted on a "Toy Party" where they each brought in one toy from home to share with classmates and play with at the end of the day. We enjoyed salty pretzels and sweet kettle corn as a we played.

Our Tuesday began with an equally exciting event: Campfire Stories! At 8:05 in the morning, we marched to the woods with our Pre-K buddies to enjoy stories around the campfire. The second graders also roasted marshmallows for S'mores and shared hot chocolate with their buddies. Yum!

On Wednesday, the Ohio Historical Society visited with their History in a Van program. Ms. Robin set up eight stations of Native American artifacts. Second graders rotated through all of the stations which included: Games, food, houses, artifacts, clothing, bones, fur, and a trading post. It was a lot of fun to play games, try on clothes, and touch many artifacts from approximately 200 years ago.

Native American Studies Begins

2011-10-13T19:06:00.000-07:00

This week has been filled with an introduction to the Sioux tribes of the Great Plains. Currently numbering 92,000, the Sioux, also known as the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota tribes, once roamed what are now the states of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Nebraska and Southern Canada. We are studying current information about the tribes as well as information from the 1800-1850 time period.

As part of our study, students will begin conducting research on a particular aspect of the Sioux way of life: clothing, transportation, food, or housing. Students will compare this aspect of living to the Haudenosaunee and Hopi tribes past and present.

The 2D Kings and Queens painted a medicine wheel today. The wheel represents the deep connection between health, the earth, and spirituality for the Sioux. The students, ever the environmentalists, were excited to learn about the colors used in the wheel, but also that the lines that make a cross in the wheel represent the four cardinal directions on a map: North, South, East, and West. This ties perfectly into our study of maps. The students recently learned about the Compass Rose and the globe as a map.

Our study of nouns has been quite exciting this week. We learned about PROPER and COMMON nouns: ask your 2D Queen or King how to tell the difference in their very proper voice! We played Nouns Around the World and took on a team challenge to come up with the most nouns in all categories (person, place, thing, and idea) in 10 minutes...it was a close one!

Tomorrow we construct tipis and look forward to more noun madness with a categorizing game!

From Enemy Pie to Community Day

2011-09-30T13:32:00.000-07:00

Last week the 2D Kings and Queens read a story called, Enemy Pie. The main character of the story has made an enemy of the new boy in town. (The new boy doesn't know it-he just lives next to the main character's best friend.) He tells his dad about his enemy, Jeremy, and his dad suggests making Jeremy an enemy pie. This sounds like a great idea, except there is one catch. The main character must play with Jeremy for the whole day before he invites him over to have enemy pie. Ask your second grader how the story ends....

To accompany Enemy Pie, 2D wrote their own recipes for enemy pie. Our recipes included things that would help our enemy become a friend. We included: kindness, empathy, honesty, room to grow, fun, sense of humor, and more. A pinch of this and a dash of that...and voila! Enemy pie! Although we didn't cook, we used our imagination to create special pies out of Model Magic to accompany our recipes!

Our week was also filled with a fun game of "Guess the Object" for drawing conclusions, working as a group to match analogies, playdough maps, drawing what CA would look like in 100 years and reading to our pre-k buddies.

This week we listened to an Open Court story called, Mushroom in the Rain. We took our first Word Study tests and passed with flying colors! We used the laptops in the classroom to check out our new account at RAZ-KIDS.COM. We met Mr. Mele from the tech department. He took us to visit his office, to an upper school language lab, and to the CA server as well.

We ended our week with Community Day. As a second grade, we cut and organized boxtops to raise money to help another local school. We played a hula hoop game and then split in to groups to play HUMAN KNOT, LAND SHARKS & MINNOWS, BALL GAMES AND BALLOON RELAYS. After all of that physical activity, Timbits and water were a welcome snack! Mr. Vorenberg came to sing songs with us at the end of our Community Day.

Next week we begin our study of Native Americans. The 2D Queens and Kings have a lot of information about Native Americans as seen in movies and in books. We will soon be looking at Native Americans as they live today throughout the United States. And we may learn that some of the things we thought were true are only partially true or not true at all. There will be a great deal to share with all of you soon!

Buddies, Birthdays, Concerts and More

2011-09-21T17:55:00.000-07:00

Pre-K Buddies!

The 2D Queens & Kings interviewed members of our Columbus Academy community last week. We met Officer Lenny, and Miss Stephanie and Mr. Ray who run the Dining Hall. We found out a lot of interesting facts about our community. We asked great questions and took notes to add to our Building Community books.

A Popsicle Birthday...Happy Birthday, 2D King!

A BonBon Birthday...Happy Birthday, to another 2D King!

Our First Star Student-

This 2D Queen loves the color aqua and has travelled to Egypt and Turkey!

BonBon Birthday #2! (Different flavor!) Happy birthday, 2D Queen!

The string quartet, Carpe Diem, played some wonderful songs for us including several songs composed by members of the group. Our toes were tappin', our fingers were snappin'! It was a great addition to our week!

This Tuesday the 2D Queens and Kings sketched Academy Hall. We added these drawings to the "Architecture" section of our Building Community books.

A Day of Honor, Service and Fun

2011-09-09T14:01:00.000-07:00

Our tribute blocks

As a tribute to honor the tenth anniversary of 9/11, the 2D Kings and Queens chose a single word to write on a block. The words they chose reflected the feelings of the people who experienced the events of September 11, 2001. The words also reflected the student's personal feelings as empathetic listeners to the many stories they have heard second hand. In addition, words that represented ideas, actions and people were also included: remember, hope, saved, relieve, respect, honor, courage, healing, help, heroes.

We are happy for those who survived. We will remember those who did not. We will show we care through our actions and words. We are thankful that others before us have done the same.


An unending amount of love.


After thinking about the events of 9/11, the 2D Kings and Queens served the CA community by helping organize clothing in the CA clothing exchange.

There were many heavy bags.

A lot of teamwork.

And some very happy kids.

A little weary too, but happy nonetheless.


Weariness only lasts a few minutes when you're seven or eight.

Photos from the First Day of School

2011-09-04T13:03:00.000-07:00

The 2D Queens & Kings!

The 2D Queens and Kings enjoyed a great first couple of days together. We went to Convocation to listen to Mr. MacKenzie and our student body president. Everyone was very well behaved! Each 2D student made a comic strip about the "Six Things I Didn't Do This Summer." What an imaginative group! Check out the comics in the classroom. The 2D Qs & Ks also enjoyed taking a tour of the classroom and reading some great books including, Salt In His Shoes, a book about Michael Jordan and self-motivation. We are currently finishing up the chapter book, Gooney Bird Greene, and singing along with the books Take Me Out of the Bathtub and I'm Still Here in the Bathtub. These selections by Alan Katz are lots of fun to share with new friends.

Welcome to Second Grade!

2011-08-22T06:59:00.000-07:00

2D Families,

We are very excited to welcome you to second grade! It's going to be a marvelous year in 2D. Remember the Lower School Ice Cream Social is tomorrow, Tuesday, August 23 beginning at 5:00. Check back on Thursday for a post of our first day of school!

Ms. Penney

The Final Days of a Great School Year...

2011-06-09T05:09:00.000-07:00

Marcus's Birthday

100 Marble Party, Camille's Summer Birthday, & a Mystery Reader

2011-05-13T14:29:00.000-07:00

Playing inside for our 100 Marbles Party

Playing outside too!

Our Mystery Reader: Mrs. Leis
Mrs. Leis read Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree

Cami's Birthday!

Special Friends Day, May 6, 2011

2011-05-08T17:41:00.000-07:00

Special Friends Day: Making art, creating recycled friends, and dancing!

Lettin' Loose on the Dance Floor

Behind the Scenes

More Dancing Through the Decades

Pre-K Buddies & Symmetrical Art

2011-04-22T09:38:00.000-07:00

Symmetrical Art

Playing with our Pre-K Buddies

Working on the Centennial Mural

Layton: Star Student, Space Buddies, & A Day of Writing

2011-03-08T11:40:00.000-08:00

Ben Mikaelson: Visiting Author and Promoter of Writing That Knocks Your Socks Off!

Writing with 9th Graders!

Working on Space Actvities with our PreK Buddies

Layton, Our Star Student

Mystery Reader and Star Student

2011-02-25T11:58:00.000-08:00

Mrs. Silver, Our Mystery Reader!

Nathaniel, Our Star Student!

Laptops, Games, & Birthdays: Second Grade Fun!

2011-01-31T06:05:00.000-08:00

Working on the laptops

Ashley and her Senior Buddy visiting from Harvard

The birthday girl, Alyssa

Playing Scrabble and Spelldown

Star Student Alyssa!

M&M treats from Cole for his 8th birthday!

January Events

2011-01-20T08:18:00.000-08:00

Birthdays, Star Students, Special Events! The first 3 weeks of the new year have been filled with excitement!

Sharing our family keepsakes after reading The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco

Welcome Back to School!

2011-01-10T11:12:00.000-08:00

Svetlana and Vera Anderson present Ukranian traditions which closely link to our author study on Patricia Polacco who writes of her Russian-Jewish and Irish heritage.

Last week we enjoyed starting our Patricia Polacco author study. Ms. Polacco has written and illustrated many books about family relationships, traditions, and heritage. We red aloud Thank You, Mr. Falker, a moving story about Patricia's own struggle with reading and the teacher who finally helped her overcome this challenge. Mrs. Katz and Tush is a story about a boy and his lonely neighbor who become lifelong friends. As a grade, students will be making connections to stories they read independently through a BINGO game format. Students have also begun Book Clubs on Mrs. Mack and My Rotten Red-headed Brother. Half the class will read, discuss and respond to questions on one of the above books and then switch groups to do the same with the other. We will continue to rotate through a total of seven books during the next few weeks.

Holiday Rotations

2011-01-08T07:27:00.000-08:00

2010-12-08T12:21:00.000-08:00

Late November and Early December in 2D:

Mr. Batchelor was Composer of the Month!

Hopi Crayon Drawings

Hopi Sun Symbols made with Jell-o

Star Students Addy and Ashley

Native American Day

2010-11-23T12:59:00.001-08:00

For Native American Day in second grade, students rotated through three morning sessions. The second graders played Native American games in P.E., created messages using Native American-influenced symbols in Art, and practiced the art of storytelling in the library.

After the rotations, we went on a hike to collect supplies for dioramas on the tribes we've studied. We enjoyed a Native American feast with foods from many different areas of the United States, traditional and modern Native American dishes.
Finally, we rotated through Spanish, Computer and making dioramas in the afternoon. What a fun and busy day!

Halloween

2010-11-08T20:32:00.000-08:00

The 2D Vampires in their Halloween attire

The class

Our Pre-K Buddies on parade

Caesar Creek Field Trip and Art Masks

2010-10-28T11:42:00.000-07:00

Who are these masked 2D Stars? Can you guess?

Hunting 350 million year old fossils at the spillway

Digging through pond debris

Ranger Matt showed us what creatures we might find in the pond.

Hiking along the trail

Learning about fossils that are found at Caesar Creek Spillway

Playing and posing in the Visitor's Center

Campfire, Cookie Excavation, Landform Maps, Star of the Week

2010-10-19T17:39:00.000-07:00

Rowan, our Star of the Week

Digging for fossils in various sweet excavation sites...

Making Landform Maps

Star Student and Birthday Girl, Suelin!

Using a Thesaurus and Taking A Survey

2010-10-12T18:39:00.001-07:00

Taking Surveys of Favorite Foods and Favorite Sports

Using a Thesaurus to Help Find Synonyms

Star Student and a Birthday, Cooperative Animals, Enemy Pies, And a Human Timeline

2010-09-30T12:31:00.000-07:00

Star Student Natalie!

Star Student and Birthday Boy, Patrick!

Human Timeline

Here is a synopsis of the past few weeks:

Patrick was our Star Student last week. He likes to make stop-animation movies and would like to be an engineer when he grows up. Patrick turned 8 on Monday too! Congratulations Patrick! This week our Star Student is Natalie. Natalie loves to ride horses and would like to be a dentist when she grows up.

The 2D Stars worked on making recipes for Enemy Pie. The pie turns an enemy into a friend. We read a story by the same name, Enemy Pie, in which the main character works with his dad to share an enemy pie with a new boy on the block. After reading the book, we brainstormed ingredients, cooking/measurement words to include in our recipes. We wrote our recipes and created enemy pies out of Model Magic. They looked delicious!

Working together, the 2D Stars created Cooperative Animals. Each student chose an animal to draw. Then he/she discussed with his/her small group which part of that animal he/she would draw. The result was an imaginary creature with many different parts. In our class we had the Bunhorsoris, the Firepigelifint, the Daasoesrases, the Horwalbatpenguin, and Yocotama. Quite an eclectic group!

Our study of Fossils and Dinosaurs has progressed. We have now made a paper time line of when the dinosaurs lived and when humans evolved in relation to dinosaurs. We have worked on fossil imprints and dinosaur stories. We have also worked on similes and synonyms using dinosaurs as our inspirations.

The Stars have rocketed through addition and subtraction over the first few weeks of school. We are now moving into graphing. Be armed with data on your favorites (ice cream, TV show, sports team) in the upcoming weeks!

The

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

2010-09-28T12:57:00.001-07:00

Today the 2D Stars began a creative writing project. The Stars worked on a pre-writing activity to help them organize their thoughts about what else? Having a dinosaur for a pet! Ask your 2D Star what he/she would do with his/her dino pal! The Stars also practiced subtraction, worked on a map of Ohio, took a look at a variety of fossils and listened to an Open Court story called, Fossils Tell of Long Ago. It was a great day!

Dinosaurs and Fossils Begins...

2010-09-21T13:24:00.000-07:00

We began our study of dinosaurs and fossils yesterday. We listened to a fantasy story called, The Dinosaur Who Lived in My Backyard and also partner read it. We independently answered questions on the story using our Open Court books. We started the first section of our KWL chart. We learned that the K in KWL stands for "What you know." Tomorrow we will complete the second section of our chart-the W-with "What we want to know" questions. At the end of our theme, we will fill out the final section, "What we learned" about dinosaurs and fossils.

In the morning, the 2D Stars learned that all the land on earth used to be connected. This supercontinent was called Pangaea. We also made a human time line that took us back to when the dinosaurs lived. We started with a group of students representing present day, "NOW." Then we took two steps forward to show the time when humans first appeared. Each step represents 1 million years. The rest of the class continued walking 150 more steps to show when the last dinosaurs lived on earth. And finally, a smaller group walked 150 more steps to represent the time when the first dinosaurs appeared on earth. Our time line was so huge that we went past the edge of the track in both directions. Wow! 302 million years is a really long time. Dinosaurs are also really old say the 2D Stars!

Community Day

2010-09-19T19:11:00.001-07:00

Building with Blocks and Pre-K B Buddies!

2010-09-15T12:20:00.001-07:00

Building with unifix cubes and base-ten blocks:

The 2D Stars are paired with 2C and Pre-K B to be buddies this year! Check out our first photos where we played outside and colored buddy pictures:

Apple Picking in Science & A Fall Pep Rally

2010-09-12T06:13:00.000-07:00

Apple picking (apple catching) in Mrs. Griffin's Science class

Our First Pep Rally! We listened to the band, cheered with the Viking and did the Cupid Shuffle! Two 2D Stars joined the teachers to show the whole school how to shuffle and then everyone joined in! It was a lot of fun!

Me in a Bag and a Birthday

2010-09-08T09:29:00.000-07:00

Our first birthday of the year! Happy birthday, 8 year old!

Taking a look at our Me in a Bag objects:

Sharing our objects during Morning Meeting:

Week Number 2

2010-08-31T06:11:00.001-07:00

Two days in to week number 2! Before you know it, we'll be talking pumpkins and campfires, but for now, let's bask in the excitement of a new school year! The 2D Stars, as we are officially called now, accomplished many things today including writing and illustrating a comic strip, extending their learning about greater than and less than symbols, and attending three Specials: P.E., Computer, and Science.

The Stars are listening to a book called, Gooney Bird Greene, about an unusual classmate who loves to tell interesting stories. We are also working on learning things about one another such as our birthdays, favorite ice cream flavors and favorite foods. Today, our Morning Meeting Monitor chose a daily joke to tell the class and read the definition for our Word of the Week, strive. We learned that we are all working hard, or striving, to be good at many things including reading, math, and being a good friend.

We have started reading our Open Court stories this week. We've begun the year with The Library, a tale of a young girl who absolutely adores books. In addition to Open Court, we have introduced our Daily Language Review or DLR. This brief look at grammar occurs each day as students enter the classroom in the morning. Independently, students answer 5 questions about various facets of grammar. As a class, we discuss and grade our answers and follow up by graphing our progress. Finally, The Daily Five is a highlight of our day. Already experts, the Stars are reading independently during this time and will learn the other 4 parts of Daily Five, a framework for literacy, as the school year progresses.

Three Days In...

2010-08-27T05:57:00.001-07:00

The First Day of School!

2010-08-25T10:23:00.000-07:00

Congratulations! We made it! Second grade is off to an outstanding start! The 2D classroom is filled with polite and respectful listeners, thoughtful and independent thinkers and all-around marvelous kids! It's going to be a wonderful year! Give yourself a pat on the back! Speaking of marvelous kids, check out the first day faces of 2D:

Welcome Second Graders!

2010-08-18T10:40:00.000-07:00

Welcome to class 2D! It's going to be a fantastic year together! We are looking forward to seeing you at the Ice Cream Social from 5:30 to 7 on Monday, August 23. Remember you are welcome to come between 5 and 5:30 if you are new to Academy. The Ice Cream Social is where you will receive your name tag for the carpool line, can buy Academy spirit wear AND get to meet Mrs. Reckner and me! The first day of school will be here before we know it so enjoy the end of your summer and I'll see you next week!

Celebration of Accomplishments, Final Pre-K Buddy Outing, and a Birthday for Madison

2010-05-31T07:50:00.000-07:00

Photos and Events from Last Week and This...

2010-05-19T11:05:00.000-07:00

After a brief interim without a camera (due to a second grade art project in the works), we are back on track with our weekly blog!

We love to party in class 2D! It has been two weeks full of celebrations as we celebrate May, June, July and August birthdays! Happy birthday to Riley (May 8), Lena (August 9), Alvin (May 19), and Taylor (June 25).

Mrs. Lichten came in last week as a Mystery Reader. Thank you!

Shreya was last week's Star of the Week and Alvin is this week's Star!

Special Friends Day

2010-05-09T07:50:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful day to spend a Friday! Special Friends Day was a fantastic day filled with people we love. Thank you to all of the special people who came to share in our eventful morning.

A Birthday for Shreya!

Stars of the Week

2010-05-05T13:17:00.001-07:00

Riley and Taylor

Making Caterpillars with our Pre-K Buddies

2010-05-03T12:45:00.000-07:00

Shepherd's Corner

2010-05-03T12:03:00.000-07:00

Friday, April 30, 2010

2010-04-30T09:45:00.000-07:00

This week our class formally ended our study of money. We have moved into a study of time. In chapter 16 we will be looking at time from the hour to the half hour and up to the minute as well as elapsed time and estimated time. Continue to practice using an analog clock in this digital world.

We finished our final two cursive letters today. We will continue to practice neat and legible handwriting in cursive for the remainder of the year.

Book clubs with Mrs. Black's class continue! The 2D Rocks may be reading a book on the environment or a book based in fairy tale depending on the current selection. The students are enjoying working with second graders from another class.

Our persuasive writing has taken off this week! Ask your 2D Rock about his/her persuasive letter on why there should be no homework. Also encourage them to share the reasons why Columbus Academy should compost.

Onward to May!

Friday, April 23, 2010

2010-04-23T11:14:00.001-07:00

Happy birthday to Joshua!

Our week began with a very quick Monday, with an early release time of noon. We read our SRA story, How to Hide an Octopus, a tale about camouflage. We continued our study of money and our Environmental unit book clubs. On Earth Day, we observed our decomposition bin again, watching for signs of decomposition. We are starting to see a pattern in the types of things that are biodegradable. We ended our week with a reading of The Lorax by Dr. Suess. We have some ideas about the Lorax and the 2D Rocks discussed the cyclical nature of the environment and pollution. We are interdependent beings.

Thanks to Mrs. Parish who was our Mystery Reader this week. She shared an Anansi the Spider tale. Anansi stories are folktales similar to Aesop's fables that are told around the world in many countries whose populations originated in Africa.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

2010-04-20T17:01:00.000-07:00

A day full of unique opportunities...

After our Early Release yesterday, the second day of the week was filled with some regular events and some out-of-the-ordinary experiences. We continued with our latest installment of book clubs with Mrs. Black's class. We are enjoying some books on the environment as well as fairy tales, a unit of study Mrs. Oeth has continued with Second Grade in the Spring of each year. We have moved quickly from an introduction to fractions to a study of money in math. The 2D Rocks are stellar mathematicians, enjoying money exchanges, identifying amounts and playing a variety of monetary games.

Recess and lunch today were followed by some time dipping our hands in buckets of glue! We helped paper-mache the giant globe which will be part of the Earth Day celebration this Sunday. (We hope everyone can make it to this fun-filled event!) After paper-mache, the 2D Rocks went to P.E. to race around the track for their Presidential Fitness test. The Rocks were worn out, but still smiling at the progress they made!

From P.E. we moved on to Organ Day. Dr. Bezant, a middle school biology teacher, organizes a day for his biology students to see real organs provided by doctors whose children attend Academy. He extends an invitation to the rest of the school to come and visit his classroom during the event. The 2D Rocks were able to see a brain, an eye, a heart, as well as a skeleton, intestines and an ankle socket. We had some great conversations to follow this visit: "The heart isn't really the shape that we draw it," "They said the brain was spongy," "Intestines kind of look like chewed up gum," and "Our bones look like plastic."

Finally, we came back to the classroom to write about our experiences. We ended our day with a special presentation by Mr. Ahern, parent of another second grade student in 2C. Mr. Ahern works for the EPA, specifically on air pollution. He shared many slides of the effects of air pollution from reduced plant size to sooty buildings, leafless forests to smog. He also brought in two different machines used to collect data on air pollution. It turns out inside our building we have less than 9 ozone parts per billion while outside today the air was 30-40 parts per billion. Those people with asthma would notice more difficulty breathing if the level were about 70 parts per billion. We were in the clear today.

After a busy day, I hope your 2D Rock finds a little peace this evening...

especially since we'll be at it again tomorrow!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

2010-04-13T18:49:00.000-07:00

Today we celebrated Lena as our Star of the Week. She shared some photos of a trip to Arizona to visit her grandparents and their shitzu who can be very friendly, but also a little hyper.

We also took some time to observe our decomposition bin. We had to adjust some predictions as to what items are more biodegradable than others.

This week we started collecting food waste at lunch. We are only collecting items that can be put into a compost pile such as fruit peels, pasta, bread, etc. Yesterday the second grade filled two 5-gallon buckets about half full. Today, after a more thoughtful selection of foods, the second grade filled one-third of a bucket with food waste. What a collective effort! Great job Second Graders! We hope that this awareness and teaching opportunity creates seventy-one environmentally-savvy teachers who can spread the message of thoughtful eating throughout Columbus Academy and beyond.

So many spring events!

2010-04-12T18:56:00.000-07:00

Our Pre-K Buddies in The Bear Case

Working on our recycled bulletin board

Our decomposition bin-Ask your second grader how our class objects are decomposing.

A Mystery Reader: Mrs. Klug
Let me know if you are still interested in coming in to be a Mystery Reader! All relatives welcome!

Biography Projects

Alexandra: From Star of the Week to Birthday Girl...

Post-Spring Break

2010-04-11T18:36:00.000-07:00

A birthday boy!

A Magician: Bill Boaz

A pair of Stars of the Week

Friday, April 2, 2010

2010-04-02T12:36:00.000-07:00

Have a wonderful sunny weekend! Come back some time in the near (weekend) future to take a look at photos of Bill Boaz's Magic Show along with photos of our birthday girls and boy.

A Fool of a Day

2010-04-01T11:55:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to a sunshine-filled week here at Academy! We are glad to see everyone well rested and ready for spring.

Our first week back from Spring Break has been filled with writing and math, social studies and handwriting, reading and art.

Today the 2D Rocks were a little slower at deciphering the Morning Message and our morning routine this morning. And although they are a quick bunch, they couldn't quite figure out how to make their Amazingly Easy Origami Rock this afternoon. We'll keep perfecting this ancient art with practice whenever possible.

Happy April Fool's Day. Don't forget to sign your 2D Rocks permission slip this evening for our field trip. It will be out of this world!

A Warm Wednesday

2010-03-10T12:28:00.000-08:00

I would like to say this is quite a busy week, but that would an accurate description of all of our weeks. Second Grade is moving at the speed of light! Here are some "high-lights" of the beginning of this week:

*Assembly-Fourth Grade Boys basketball team won the state championship! Their coach, Mr. Friedman presented a very large trophy to Mr. V. Also at assembly, we watched video of several different types of dragon and lion dances for Chinese New Year.

*Mr. Glimcher brought in chicks from his family farm, Circle G Farms. The fuzzy little ones are already sprouting adult feathers despite being less than two weeks old!

*Core is our Star of the Week. Core would like to be a roller coaster designer when he grows up.

*We continued to write cerlihew poems (a pair of couplets about a famous person) about the people we saw at the Wax Museum.

*We wrote thank you notes to Julia Codispoti, a geologist from the Byrd Polar Research Center that came to visit us. She shared her rockin' knowledge in science class on Friday.

*We finished up chapter 11 in math and moved from addition with regrouping to subtraction with borrowing!

*We practiced using guide words in the dictionary.

*Mr. Razek came in as a Mystery Reader to share the book 365 Penguins. He also shared some tasty penguin cookies straight from the Antarctic for a very special black and white treat.

*We are putting finishing touches on our many biographies to create our biography books. We can't wait to share these with you when we come back from Spring Break!

The chicks

Mrs. Razek's Mystery Reader story-A Yoga Tale-From last week...

Photos From The Last Few Weeks

2010-03-06T07:02:00.000-08:00

Here are photos from several great events!
Valentine Party and a Valentine Mystery Reader:

Jump Rope for Heart:

The Real Eyes Presentation with Dr. Nichols and Dr. Nichols:

Thursday, March 4, 2010

2010-03-04T15:25:00.000-08:00

This week the 2D Rocks have:

learned that our Star of the Week, Katelyn, can only give her favorite book 4 stars because the ending was "not as great as [she] thought it would be."

researched a famous person and worked on creating a biographical poster that represents that person,

used saws and other woodworking tools to create wooden animals in art,

visited a Wax Museum with amazingly life-like statues,

created incredibly imaginative cerlihew poems about the said life-like statues,

continued their amazing run as addition wizards regrouping with two- and three-digit numbers with gusto,

played that p.c. game called "Nuke 'em" in P.E.,

laughed at Ramona's four-year old antics during class readings of Beezus and Ramona,

practiced yoga during a moving Mystery Reader event with Mrs. Razek,

continued to be pencil-toting members of the cursive club,

and completed a host of rigorous physical endeavors including, but not limited to, the arm-stretching "Sit and Reach," the belly-burning "Curl ups," and the much anticipated "Pacer Test."

What will Friday bring?!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

2010-02-23T11:56:00.000-08:00

We continued to bop to our biographies today! It's fun learning about so many amazing individuals! We also had a special assembly this morning complete with sports rap, Chinese New Year dragon dancing, and a sing along. In the afternoon Mrs. Naguib surprised us as our Mystery Reader. She read, The Big Orange Splot and Holey Moley. After the stories, Mrs. Naguib shared the immigration story of her parents as well as Mr. Naguib. It was very interesting to hear about both immigrations from Egypt.

Yesterday we had another very special Mystery Reader, Mrs. Faciana, Mr. Connick's first grade assistant. She shared a book that she authored about her dog, Sneakers. We were privileged to be the first class to hear her rhyming adventure story!

Sam is our Star of the Week this week. He plays indoor soccer and says his mom is his hero.

February 20, 2010

2010-02-21T04:01:00.000-08:00

Read-In!

The 2D Rocks enjoyed a day of reading on Friday. Our short weeks have kept us very busy, so Friday was a welcome respite for all. Shortly after our day began, the 2D Rocks jumped into silent reading-books from home, books from the school library, books from the classroom library, books from one another, books from the public library. We are so grateful to have so many books at our fingertips!

The class listened to a book, My Librarian is a Camel, that discussed the many ways children get books in other countries. Many places have mobile libraries and some have virtual libraries such as the Inuits of Canada. In a small oceanside town in England, the librarians carry their books in wheelbarrows right down the beach! Some books come by boat, some by camel, some by donkey-pulled cart. In a few areas of Asia, the books are delivered by elephant. The importance of reading can never be overestimated!

The 2D Rocks did a little biography bopping on Friday as well. Following the basic form of musical chairs (minus the shrinking number of chairs), the class shuffled around the room stopping at a new desk to read the short biography placed at that seat. This is the third time we've "bopped" to read biographies independently. It's a hit! We're enjoying all aspects of this fun and educational activity.

Next Mrs. Reckner read one of her favorite books, Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing. Ask your child about the many troubles the animals experience as they put on all forms of clothing.

With our blankets and pillows, the class curled up a few different times during the day to read independently. Although there were a couple of pairs of drooping eyelids, no one succumbed to sleep, but enjoyed short and long, fiction and non-fiction, chapter and picture books throughout the day.

It was a great day from beginning to end! Read-on 2D Rocks!

Friday, February 5, 2010

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Friday was a whirlwind of a day before the snow arrived. We had some great sharing including photos from Shreya's trip to an Indian orphanage, a 3D sculpture made of toothpicks and marshmallows by Miles and Sam and Sneakers, the guinea pig, brought in by Alexandra, aka, "The Vet."

Mr. Johnson also came in as a Mystery Reader to read about the Obama family.

On Thursday, the Second Grade participated in a rotation of classes to report on famous people in history. Each Second Grader became an expert on several individuals. He/she gave information on these famous people to Second Graders in other classes. The exchange of information was exciting to see and the students enjoyed working together.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

2010-02-02T16:12:00.000-08:00

On this chilly Groundhog's Day, we had visitors aplenty! Our Mystery Reader, Mrs. DeAscentis read a great book that left us guessing! Mrs. Lichten, along with Sophie and Jake, brought treats for Sam's half birthday celebration. In between special guests, the 2D Rocks presented their family trees. The class shared very interesting facts and fantastic stories about their family members. (I promise to use this information only for good in the future!) The 2D Rocks also worked in small groups on several biographies: Paul Revere, Sacagawea, Abe Lincoln, and Sally Ride. Our class will be the experts on these four individuals during our Thursday rotation of biographies with the other Second Grades. The 2D Rocks will teach 2A, 2B, 2C about these famous people while students in these classrooms teach us about other famous individuals.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

2010-01-27T10:32:00.000-08:00

Photos of our first two Mystery Readers...

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

2010-01-26T16:41:00.001-08:00

Another Tuesday in class 2D! Today is the 90th day of school! Can you believe we are half way through the year? We had a great day today with only one, yes, one marble remaining in our 100 marble bowl. When we have 100 marbles transferred to our marble jar, we can celebrate our good behavior with a day of special events such as a "Read In," a movie and popcorn, "Game Day," etc. Hopefully we will score our final marble early in the day tomorrow.

We have a new Star of the Week this week: Keshav! Congratulations, Star!

Mrs. Glimcher surprised us as a Mystery Reader today. Her book selection was Enemy Pie, a book about friendship.

We also finished up chapter 7 in math today. There is quite a bit of vocabulary to be familiar with when studying 2D shapes, so the 2D Rocks have been working on a small book of terms to use as a reference at home. The books came home today for students to share with you.

This afternoon the 2D Rocks decorated placemats for tomorrow's faculty appreciation luncheon and played, "Run for the Roses" a game of categorizing.

We are nearing the end of our Maps and Globes book. Reviews of the topics covered in the book will take place over the next couple of weeks. A variety of assessments will help determine which topics the students understand and which topics may need to be revisited in class.

Cursive continues!

Our immigration unit is coming to an end. We read The Butterfly Seeds this week, a story loosely based on the author's grandparents own immigration story. We are beginning to work on a presentation of our family trees as a culminating activity for this unit.

Biographies will begin soon.

Tuesday, January 19

2010-01-19T12:37:00.000-08:00

Star of the Week! Mark's hero is his father. He really enjoyed a trip his family took to Italy. They rode on a gondola and a water taxi. One of his favorite books is Stink and the Great Guinea Pig Express. Congratulations, Star!

Today we watched a video called My Friend, Martin. The Second Graders really enjoyed this cartoon about the Civil Rights Movement and the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

We read, The Story of the Statue of Liberty, and discussed the importance of this symbol of freedom.