Tuesday, October 27, 2009

2D and 2A are sponsoring the Pace family for our holiday service project this year. This evening your 2D Rock is bringing home a list of the family members and some facts about each person.

Below is a list of the many things the 2D Rocks suggest for this family of eight. The Pace family has 5 boys: Roy, age 7, Christopher, age 5, Ka'Ron age 4, Tayshawn, age 3, and Keion, age 9 mos. Susan Swank, the boys maternal grandma lives with the family as well.

Light bulbs, power strips, toy cars, plates, cups, band-aids, blankets, comforters, pillows, clothes, notepads, pencils, pencil sharpeners, glue sticks, scissors, shampoo and conditioner, lotion, board games, books, shoes, socks, playing cards, baby toys, soap, rubber ducky, toothbrush and toothpaste, bags, baskets, sippy cups, towels and washcloths, DVDs, gift cards, watches.

Needless to say, the 2D Rocks are thinking deeply and with empathy about our sponsored family. What kind people you have brought into the world! Compliments to all of you.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Today we started our Native American unit by working on the first two sections of our KWL chart. A KWL chart is a graphic organizer that helps us organize our knowledge about certain topics. K stands for "Know"-what we know about a topic. W stands for "What"-what we want to know about the topic. L stands for what we learn about the topic. Some KWL charts end with S which stands for what we still want to learn.

The 2D Rocks know some facts about Native Americans, but have many questions. We are excited to find the answers to during our studies over the next few weeks.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Have a great weekend!

Happy birthday, Ellie!

Next week we begin our Native American Unit.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Today we spent the morning finalizing our Dinosaurs Galore! books. We can't wait to share them with you next week. We also worked on our writing and reading during Daily 5, worked on subtraction in math and read Chapter 9 of Frindle. In the book, who do you think gave Judy Morgan the class picture? More to come...

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Campfire!

We had a great time with our Buddies listening to Mrs. Oeth and Mrs. Mullin tell stories and roasting marshmallows for S'mores!

We also worked on our dinosaur books - we are almost ready to unveil our final projects!

Thank you for reading our dinosaur research books last night. The kids had a wonderful time sharing what each of you enjoyed about their books.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Camp Fire Tomorrow!
Dress down in comfortable, weather-appropriate attire.
We will walk with our Pre-K Buddies and our Second Grade Buddies (Mrs. Black's class)

Today we read some poems about school by our visiting author, Kalli Dakos. She will be visiting November 3 and 4.
The Second Grade is fortunate enough to be part of a Writing Workshop Ms. Dakos will be holding for the big kids of the Lower School.
Yeah! We are finally BIG(-ish) KIDS!

Is Your Head on Nice and Tight?

Is your head on nice and tight,
Do you kneecaps fit just right,
Did you shine up all your skin,
And bring your belly button in?

Have you lost a toe or two
And could your brain be overdue?
Please look in the Lost and Found,
If your ears are not around.

Students must remember parts,
Be they books or pens or hearts.
How can your school day begin
If you're searching for your chin?


Remember: The Academy Clothing Exchange has MANY uniform pieces in every size. You are welcome to take what works for you and when your child grows out of his/her uniform, pass it on to the Exchange!
Also, please wear belts to school.
Think about wearing appropriate layers as the weather is colder in the morning and cool in the afternoon.
Label everything!

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Where did the day go? When the 2D Rocks put their minds to it, great things are accomplished. Luckily for their teachers this happens more often than not! Today we:

• Continued our persuasive dinosaur writing...wait until you hear what your Second Grader wants for a pet!
• Read and wrote independently.
  
• Listened to a selection in Open Court called Monster Tracks.
  
• Played Zip Around Addition.
• Continued working in our math groups.
• Put some finishing touches on our dinosaur pages for our dinosaur books.

This week's word sorts: Prefixes and 'or, ar, wor' patterns.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Have a wonderful three-day weekend!

Remember Wednesday is a Late Start Day. Classes start promptly at 9:30.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Today we...

• continued conferencing about, editing and rewriting our Acrostic poems.
• read a short reading on Stegosaurus and answered questions based on the selection.
• listened to Frindle by Andrew Clements.
• read independently.
• wrote independently in our 'Devices.' Ask your 2D rock about these amazing inventions!
• drew a picture of our buddies for our pumpkin frames.
• identified our fossil imprints.
• discussed what we would take with us on a trip to the moon.
• continued to work on our dino reports.
• enjoyed the company of one another.
  

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

After a mini hiatus, the 2D blog is back in action!

Our morning was great! The 2D Rocks are positively perfect partner-readers and powerful poets. Because of the great focus of our class, the Rocks were able to work in small groups or individually to have some fun building landforms out of play dough and puzzling over dinosaur puzzles and building activities.

Friday, October 2

Have a wonderful weekend! Enjoy the sunshine while it lasts and play in the fall weather! See you next week.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Caesar Creek! A day filled with fossils! We arrived at Caesar Creek Visitors' Center at about 10. We visited the creek and took a hike through a man-made prairie filled with plants native to Ohio. We learned about many plants along the way-Narrow Leaf Mountain Mint and Foxglove that smelled, according to Ranger Eric, like old gym socks! Phew! We continued our hike on a trail high above Caesar Creek Lake and ended back at the Visitors' Center. In the Center, Ranger Eric talked to us about some fossils we may find at the spillway. Lunch. And off we went to hunt fossils! The paleontologists of class 2D scanned the fossil bed for signs of former life. We found brachiopods, gastropods, cephalopods, and more. Wait until you see the fossils up close. It was a great trip!

The Columbus Academy Second Grade impressed the Caesar Creek rangers and our bus drivers today with their very polite behavior. They also impressed their teachers. You should be very proud of your 2D Rock!