We had a great last day and a half of school! For our final balloon popping, we went downtown for a treat. Although there had to be a last minute change of plans, the students loved the ice cream from Clara's. Thank you to Clara's for our last minute visit. It was so appreciated! After ice cream, the class enjoyed the beautiful afternoon at the park.
One of our last writing projects was nonfiction research and writing. The students enjoyed researching an animal and putting together their information in a final book. We started our research by taking notes on the topics of what the animal looks like, the habitat, what the animal eats, and fun facts. We put our notes into complete sentences. We wrote our complete sentences into our books. We ended with a page about the author. This class did a wonderful job on their nonfiction writing!
On Friday we popped the balloon for classroom bumper seats. The students got to pick out their own seats for the day which they love doing!
We popped the balloon for lunch and dance party in the classroom today. It's always a special treat to eat lunch in the classroom and to add music and dancing on top of that is so fun for the kids!
1) I am a male.
2) I've had Mrs. Howard as a teacher.
3) I like to paint.
A couple students thought it might be their older brothers or possibly a cousin. When this student walked in the door, little brother wasn't surprised. He said the clue about painting gave it away. His brother loves to paint! He's also a great singer, as he shared with us in the book "Happy!" by Pharrell Williams. Thanks so much for being a mystery reader!
Today the students popped a balloon for marker day! Each student picked out a special smelly marker to use on their assignments throughout the day. They also get to keep the marker! It's a fun treat to use markers for our schoolwork!
The students were so excited to hear that they could chew gum throughout their school day! Each student received a small bag with 4 pieces of gum that they could decide throughout the day when to chew. We also delivered our senior letters today which was so fun! A few of us have even received letters back.
We started our Balloon Countdown today! We'll be a popping a balloon everyday until the final day of school. Whatever activity is in the balloon, we do! Today we popped the balloon for writing a letter to a senior. We worked hard on our letters today, and tomorrow we'll be delivering them to the seniors.
1) I've never been a mystery reader before.
2) My last name has 2 syllables.
3) My favorite color is blue.
Many of the students thought it was their mom, dad, brother, sister, but these clues belonged to one particular mom that we are so lucky to see everyday! Mrs. Bunke is a wonderful paraprofessional in our school, and we love her! She read us the book Going Places by Paul A. Reynolds. Thank you so much for reading to us!
On Thursday the class celebrated our final banana bingo. After brainstorming several ideas, they decided on classroom bumper seats. Everyone in the class got to choose their own seats for the day.
The class couldn't wait to get track and field day started! Great job yesterday 2nd grade!
We had a wonderful time on our field trip to Lake Lodge. It was a beautiful day for paddling and playing at the park.
Thank you to all of the family members who attended "The Weatherman on Trial." I don't know if I've ever seen the library so full for one of our plays. So exciting for the kids. They worked very hard to learn their lines, and they did a fantastic job! I'm so proud of you 2nd graders!
1) I have 3 kids.
2) I learned how to fly an airplane.
3) I love tea.
Upon reading the clues, one student said, "Oh, that's Mrs. Ferrie!" The rest of the students weren't so sure. Mrs. Ferrie told them long ago that she had learned to fly an airplane, and this student remembered! Other students thought it might be a grandparent with this skill that they just hadn't heard of before. We were thrilled to see Mrs. Ferrie, our librarian, walk through the door. She read "Peanut Butter and Cupcake" by Terry Border. I think the students' favorite part was hearing more about how she learned to fly an airplane. Thank you so much Mrs. Ferrie. We adore you!
We've been learning about force and motion in science. A force is a push or pull applied to an object to put it in motion. For our first investigation, pairs completed an obstacle course. Each pair used a broom to push or pull a bowling ball through a course while trying to get the fastest time. The students agreed that it was harder than it looked. They did great!
Our second investigation was all about friction. Friction happens when there is resistance from a surface or object which slows down the object in motion. We tested out six different ramps. First we made predictions about which ramp surface would create the most friction with a small moving toy car and which surface would create the least amount of friction. Then we tested them. We measured the distance the car traveled after it left the ramp.
We had a lot of fun writing our own Piggie and Elephant stories in the month of April. Earlier this week we visited kindergarten to share our completed stories. Kindergarten had recently written about their favorite Piggie and Elephant books. We knew they would love to hear our own versions of these two loveable characters!
1) We are best friends.
2) We like to drive a car.
3) We like to share our ice cream.
We have been writing our own Piggie and Elephant books in 2nd grade. I wrote a book about Piggie and Gerald being mystery readers. Gerald's clue were the above clues. When Mason heard about my book, he thought it would be a great idea to have him and his friend visit as mystery readers to confuse the students a bit. They were confused! They knew the clues were from my book, but they wondered how Piggie and Gerald would be visiting as mystery readers. The above clues happen to also describe Mason and Lucas. They even shared some ice cream with the 2nd graders. That was probably the class' favorite part! Thank you Mason and Lucas!
1) I love fishing and gardening.
2) Tacos are my favorite food.
3) I'm going to a Timberwolves game with my family tonight!
Upon hearing the clues, one student knew immediately that our mystery reader was his mom! He knew there was a Timberwolves game in his future, but he didn't realize it was happening tonight! How exciting! We enjoyed this fun book, "What Should Danny Do?" The students got to choose the main character's behavior decision and see the consequence play out. They had a lot of fun with it! Thanks so much Sara, and have fun at the game tonight!
1) I live on a farm.
2) I am a grandma to someone.
3) I like chocolate.
After reading these clues, many students were convinced it was their grandma! About half of the class was anticipating who would walk through that door! Everyone was so surprised to see our very own Mrs. Ruen! And they asked her, "Whose grandma are you?!" Mrs. Ruen explained that her oldest daughter has 2 young children. We loved having Mrs. Ruen read us "Arthur's Promise." Thank you Mrs. Ruen, we adore you and were so happy to have you read to us!
We've been learning about the 3 states of matter: solid, liquid, and gas. On Friday we had some fun with this messy experiment! Oobleck is considered a non-Newtonian fluid because it has properties that act like both a solid and a liquid! This is an easy experiment for the students to try at home as well. You just need 2 parts cornstarch to 1 part water and food coloring if you'd like.
