The Little Red Pen

It is so neat to have a student who has an author in their family. After Thanksgiving, Sophia brought us the latest book written by Susan Stevens Crummel. The book is titled The Little Red Pen. With all of the hustle and bustle after the holidays I have not had a chance to read it aloud to the whole class. It has been very popular as individual students have already read it. I can't wait to read it and get students excited about writing after the holidays.

Thanks Sophia!!!

Sneak Peak:

Doesn't this book scream READ ME!!!

She even wrote a lovely note inside :)

LOVE that my class is full of writers that love to write!

I cannot believe it is already time for the 3rd quarter. I guess time flies when you are having fun. As we wrap up half a year, I wanted to reflect on each student. My class this year has been one of the sweetest groups I have taught. I absolutely love teaching at St. Francis and it is definitely because of each one of my sweet students.

what a class!

Who could resist?

Ashley - You have a beautiful voice. You always go out of your way to throw my lunch trash away and pick up after others.
Kayra - Your bubbly, fun personality is contagious. You make me laugh and I love to hear you share your thoughts during class.
Jacob - You love cars and to make others laugh. You are kind to each friend in the class.
Sophia - You are an amazing writer. You always take what we learn and apply it in the classroom.
Devin - You are passionate about sharks and love to write. You are super sweet and always leave me with a smile.
Lauren - You have a very giving heart and are such a great friend to others. You always do your personal best.
Luke - You are so kind and I love to get your hugs in the mornings.
Alex - You are fun to be around and always polite. You love sports and we have a lot in common.
Meredith - You love to tell stories and are super sweet. You never give up and always impress me.
Mimi - I love that you love dogs as much as me. You go out of your way to include others and have a good heart.
Grace - You have a bubbly personality and love to give hugs. You are so fun to teach.
Walker - You love sports and writing . You are gifted at both.
Gracie - You are always following the rules. You work really hard at everything you do.
Tatum - Of course, you love frogs. You love to learn which I love too.
Clayton - You always do what is asked and are great at math. You love the Saints.
Christian - You are kind and quiet but love sports. I love when you open up and talk about sports.
Foster - You love to learn and are always sharing interesting facts with me.
Jackson - You have come out of your shell. You are athletic and nice to others.

Thank you to each one of you for making teaching fun!!! Can't wait for 2012 and to wrap-up your 2nd grade experience.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Toys for Tots

RAOK

Acts 20:35 "It is more blessed to give than to receive"

Random Acts of Kindness

Wow... I am in absolute awe of my amazing kids. They truly have a giving heart. Two weeks ago I decided as a class that we should demonstrate acts of kindness around the school. I challenged the kids to think of 10 people or groups of people that they would like to give back to. I really wanted them to see how much better it is to give than to receive.

Well the outcome was way more than I ever though possible. Every morning they were eager to find out who we were going to do RAOK. They lit up when they gave back to others and more importantly the people receiving were shocked, happy, and grateful. Some kids were even excited do their own version of RAOK at home and shared with me. It was such a great experience. Definitely one I will have to keep doing over the years.

Celebrity: Grace

We are off to a great start before the holidays arrive. Grace is our Celebrity of the Week this week. She is having a great time! Grace read The Elf on the Shelf and it brought to life our elf, Jolly (we named him earlier this week). Her poster was so awesome! We loved all the fun pictures.

Math Explorations

Love our awesome parents that worked with the kids on money and time. What a fun way to reinforce math skills. THANKS!!

Celebrity: Mimi

Another week celebrating an amazing student. Mimi showed off her dancing and singing skills for her talent. We loved her poster and the skateboard...well wow! So cool. Thanks Mimi for a great week.

Beautiful!

Matter: Liquids

We finally finished up our Matter Unit last week. We did some experimenting with the volume of liquids. Pictures speak louder than words so check them out!

Celebrity of the Week: Meredith

I love how Celebrity of the Week is turning out way bigger than I had anticipated. The kids love their week to shine and everyone wants to know Monday who the new "celebrity" will be. I originally had bought a couple of props for students to wear but now everyone is bringing in their own stuff. I love it!!! It really showcases their personality. This week Meredith brought in her grandpa for show and tell. He performed some amazing magic tricks. Everyone was so excited about this. She also danced hip hop for her talent. We all had a wonderful time dancing as well! 

New Science Unit: Matter

The last couple of weeks we have spent some time learning about matter. When I first asked "What is Matter?" The kids really had no idea or background knowledge about this topic. YAY for me because I had lots to teach them. We have watched some really cool videos on the Smart Board that gave us some pertinent information.

Here is the need to know: (of course according to the students)

• Matter is all around us
• Matter is a solid, liquid, or gas
• Matter has properties
• Use a scale to determine the weight of a solid
• Matter is made up of tiny particles called molecules
• Volume measures liquids

In addition to all this, we have experimented with matter as well. We found out that matter has mass even if it is a gas. Have your child tell you about this one. All you need is a bucket of water, plastic cup, and paper towel. I wish had video of this one! It was super neat. I may need to invest in a Flip Camera so we can capture more these activities on video!

We also learned about molecules. Here are a couple of pictures showing what they learned about molecules.

The cheerios represent what the molecules would look like inside each type of matter.

Ask your child to explain it at home :)

Wolf Award

WAY TO GO MRS. K'S CLASS!!!!

I am so excited and proud to announce that our class was the FIRST 2nd grade class to win the Wolf Award. The Wolf Award is given to one outstanding class for the week. It is announced each week during Wolf Time on Fridays in the dining hall. We are super excited that our hard work is paying off.

Celebrity of the Week: ALEX

We loved looking at Alex's pop up Sports book. It was quite the hit. Sharing about his many adventures from his poster was also fun. Awesome week!

Acts of Kindness

We were partnered up with 6th graders for our Acts of Kindness. Once the 6th graders arrived in our pod, we split up into House colors. I was the green house so all the green shirts came to my room to read with a 6th grade buddy. It was super cute and really gave each person confidence. Some of mine even shared their Specialist books. Wonderful community building time!!!

Celebrity of the Week: LUKE

WOW!!! Luke took on the rock n' roller! Great week celebrating Luke.

Halloween Madness

I realize that I am LONG overdue for updating the blog. It has been a whirlwind of a month. The Friday before Halloween we spent all day immersed in Halloween activities. It was so much fun. I will leave with you tons of pictures.

Enjoy!

Table 4: Halloween Fruit Snacks Graph

Table 1: Halloween Fruit Snacks Fun

Table 2: Fantastic Fruit Snacks

Special Guest!

Witches Brew

Gotta love my class :)

Lauren working hard on her Witches Brew graph

Go Mimi...counting seeds

That looks like FUN

Walker reaches for the gooey seeds