From Enemy Pie to Community Day

Last week the 2D Kings and Queens read a story called, Enemy Pie. The main character of the story has made an enemy of the new boy in town.  (The new boy doesn't know it-he just lives next to the main character's best friend.) He tells his dad about his enemy, Jeremy, and his dad suggests making Jeremy an enemy pie.  This sounds like a great idea, except there is one catch.  The main character must play with Jeremy for the whole day before he invites him over to have enemy pie.  Ask your second grader how the story ends....

To accompany Enemy Pie, 2D wrote their own recipes for enemy pie.  Our recipes included things that would help our enemy become a friend.  We included:  kindness, empathy, honesty, room to grow, fun, sense of humor, and more.   A pinch of this and a dash of that...and voila!  Enemy pie!  Although we didn't cook, we used our imagination to create special pies out of Model Magic to accompany our recipes!

Our week was also filled with a fun game of "Guess the Object" for drawing conclusions, working as a group to match analogies, playdough maps, drawing what CA would look like in 100 years and reading to our pre-k buddies.

This week we listened to an Open Court story called, Mushroom in the Rain.  We took our first Word Study tests and passed with flying colors!  We used the laptops in the classroom to check out our new account at RAZ-KIDS.COM.  We met Mr. Mele from the tech department.  He took us to visit his office, to an upper school language lab, and to the CA server as well.

We ended our week with Community Day.  As a second grade, we cut and organized boxtops to raise money to help another local school.  We played a hula hoop game and then split in to groups to play HUMAN KNOT, LAND SHARKS & MINNOWS, BALL GAMES AND BALLOON RELAYS.  After all of that physical activity, Timbits and water were a welcome snack!  Mr. Vorenberg came to sing songs with us at the end of our Community Day.

Next week we begin our study of Native Americans.  The 2D Queens and Kings have a lot of information about Native Americans as seen in movies and in books.  We will soon be looking at Native Americans as they live today throughout the United States.  And we may learn that some of the things we thought were true are only partially true or not true at all.  There will be a great deal to share with all of you soon!

Buddies, Birthdays, Concerts and More

Pre-K Buddies!

 The 2D Queens & Kings interviewed members of our Columbus Academy community last week.  We met Officer Lenny,  and Miss Stephanie and Mr. Ray who run the Dining Hall.  We found out a lot of interesting facts about our community.  We asked great questions and took notes to add to our Building Community books.

A Popsicle Birthday...Happy Birthday, 2D King!

A BonBon Birthday...Happy Birthday, to another 2D King!

 Our First Star Student-

This 2D Queen loves the color aqua and has travelled to Egypt and Turkey!

BonBon Birthday #2! (Different flavor!)  Happy birthday, 2D Queen!

The string quartet, Carpe Diem, played some wonderful songs for us including several songs composed by members of the group.  Our toes were tappin', our fingers were snappin'!  It was a great addition to our week!

This Tuesday the 2D Queens and Kings sketched Academy Hall.  We added these drawings to the "Architecture" section of our  Building Community books.

A Day of Honor, Service and Fun

Our tribute blocks

As a tribute to honor the tenth anniversary of 9/11, the 2D Kings and Queens chose a single word to write on a block.  The words they chose reflected the feelings of the people who experienced the events of September 11, 2001.  The words also reflected the student's personal feelings as empathetic listeners to the many stories they have heard second hand.  In addition, words that represented ideas, actions and people were also included:  remember, hope, saved, relieve, respect, honor, courage, healing, help, heroes. 

We are happy for those who survived.  We will remember those who did not.  We will show we care through our actions and words.  We are thankful that others before us have done the same.

An unending amount of love.  

After thinking about the events of 9/11, the 2D Kings and Queens served the CA community by helping organize clothing in the CA clothing exchange. 

There were many heavy bags.

A lot of teamwork. 

And some very happy kids. 

A little weary too, but happy nonetheless.

Weariness only lasts a few minutes when you're seven or eight.

 

Photos from the First Day of School

The 2D Queens & Kings!

The 2D Queens and Kings enjoyed a great first couple of days together.  We went to Convocation to listen to Mr. MacKenzie and our student body president.  Everyone was very well behaved!  Each 2D student made a comic strip about the "Six Things I Didn't Do This Summer."  What an imaginative group!  Check out the comics in the classroom.  The 2D Qs & Ks also enjoyed taking a tour of the classroom and reading some great books including, Salt In His Shoes, a book about Michael Jordan and self-motivation.  We are currently finishing up the chapter book, Gooney Bird Greene, and singing along with the books Take Me Out of the Bathtub and I'm Still Here in the Bathtub.  These selections by Alan Katz are lots of fun to share with new friends.