Graphing our little points!

In second grade we have been studying graphs as you have probably noticed from the kids' homework.

On Friday, March 16, we created our own graph and the students were able to each graph an ordered pair they received. (For example, 3,2). The students had a blast with this and afterwards we played a game called "Herkle" where you have to pick a point on the graph to hide 'Herkle' and others have to guess where he is at. When playing this game not only do students have to know how to use ordered pairs they also must work on using their directions (North, South, East, and West). When someone guesses the wrong spot on the graph the hider of Herkle must say whether Herkle is N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, or NW of the previous guess. It's similar to the game Battleship in this way, in fact if you have the game Battleship it might be a great way to further emphasize this use of graphs!

Let's Play!

We put on a reader's theater called 'Sun and Ice' from our reading book. This play brought up the weather, while also fitting in with the school's theme of 'Grow Smart, grow strong, grow true'.

The plot is of a little seed (or seeds in this case) who want to find somewhere to grow. The winter however, has decided not to leave. It isn't until the sun comes out and melts the winter away that the seed(s) are then able to plant themselves.

The kids had a blast making their own costumes, and putting the play on. Not to mention they did a wonderful job!

Our March Madness

We studied Ireland, St. Patrick and Leprechauns. If you happen to run into a child from our class who is disguised as a Leprechaun, ask what they know about the magical little fellows (hint: they have Leprechaun facts written on the back of their beards).

Crazy March Weather

Our story this week is called Thunder Cake. It is about a little girl who is afraid of thunder storms. Her wise grandmother, trying to get her mind off of the storm, teaches her to make a cake in the amount of time it takes for the thunder storm to travel to their house. It is a great story and has a lot of learning in it. We have also talked a lot about the weather and how crazy it is in March. We are studying different kinds of graphs in Math. We are tracking how many lamb and/or lion days there are this month. We wrote poems about the weather and we made lamb and lion puppets.

Telling TIme

The kids were able to use the school's lap-top lab to play a game about telling time. They did a great job and it really helped cement their learning about how to read clocks.

Spelling with shaving cream

Ms. Bennett sprayed some shaving cream on each of the kid's desks. They practiced the spelling words. It was amazing how well the kids did on the test. Way to go kids!!!

Read Across America Day

Friday, March 2nd was Dr. Seuss' birthday and Read Across America day. After eating green eggs and ham with our parents, Dr. Kessler read The Lorax to us. Then we got to read with our parents and grandparents. We also ate some blue jello with fish and whales in it. It looked a lot like McElliot's Pool, one of our favorite Dr. Seuss books.

President's Day

We studied United States' Presidents Washington and Lincoln. We learned that they were great citizens and changed the course of American history. We made a George Washington tri-corn hat.

Valentine's Fun

First, we went heart-attacking then we played some fun, learning games. We'd cut out tons of hearts. We stuck them all over ourselves. We sneaked down to the Principal's office and attacked it covering it with hearts. Dr. Kessler was surprised and thrilled. Then, we did the same thing to our librarian. We wrote about the people we love and we read Somebody Loves You Mr. Hatch. We counted and graphed hearts and played some fun math games. We exchanged Valentines. We had a really great time.