Friday, April 30, 2010

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

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

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

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!

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

A birthday boy!

A Magician: Bill Boaz


A pair of Stars of the Week

Friday, April 2, 2010

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

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!