Latest Outdoor (indoor) Learning Classroom Experience

We continued on in our BIRD STUDY and learned all about bird's BEAKS.  We discussed the various FUNCTIONS of beaks, as well as the different KINDS of beaks birds have.  The class then had the opportunity to TEST OUT  materials that were very similar to a beak, and  use them to find different food sources.  Make sure to have your child fill you in a little more on this very cool, 

hands on experience!  A HUGE THANK YOU to the parent volunteers 

that were able to help out today!

Sending a little WINTER to FLORIDA!

We received some letters this week from our Florida pen pals.  We thought it would be fun to send them SNOW along with our letters back.  We know that when it gets to them our snow will have melted...but it is still fun to MAIL a little  WINTER!  

We bundled up and took a class picture outside in the snow! 

Lots of LOVE in 2L!

Our class had a WONDERFUL time at our Valentine's Day Party!  The kids passed out and enjoyed reading Valentine's from friends, as well as making a special I LOVE YOU craft to take home.  The PINK POPCORN was a HUGE HIT!  MANY THANKS  to all the families that helped make this party a fun and memorable event!

Video Chat with a REAL SCIENTIST!

We are wrapping up our Writing unit on Lab Reports, and I thought it would be fun for the class to talk with a real scientist, that uses LAB REPORTS in his job!  (Helping to make a real-world connection to what we have been learning.)  I was so happy to get to introduce my older brother, Dr. Chatham Callan, to 2L this week!  My brother is a marine biologist in Hawaii, and took some time out of his day to talk with the kids about how her uses lab reports in his job, as well as how he has to at times "tweak" and repeat experiments.  The kids were able to each ask him a question, and say hello!  

Here we all are with my brother in the background!

It is not everyday you get to talk with a real scientist!  

Nathan has a question to ask.

Mya asked if he had tried feeding the fish watermelon!  

Jay had a question to ask.

Carter says hello!

Here is Angela asking her question.

Peyton is reading her question to Dr. Callan.

My brother turned his phone around so the kids could see some of his labs (down below his office), as well as the mountains and Pacific Ocean in the distance.  

Force and Motion = FUN

The kids have been really enjoying learning about Force and Motion... and ALL of the cool experiments that go with this unit!  Make sure to ask your child about the various experiments pictured and what they learned from doing this experiment.

A look at last week, and a look a head to this week!

I was so upset that I my Dr. said I needed to take Friday off and REST...but she was right.  I feel SO much better than I did all last week, my fever is gone and I can actually breathe and have a voice!!!  I am excited about all of the learning I have planned for this upcoming week!

MATH - - In math we started Math Workshops last week, and this week we will continue working on place value and money combinations to $1.00.  Did your child tell you about some of the different games that we have been learning how to play?  Don't forget about iXL...this is a great resource your child can be using at home!

SCIENCE --  We are still working in our unit Force and Motion.  The kids have been busy working and creating different experiments, and writing up their results and the overall process in Lab Reports (our current writing unit).  This Friday they will work in groups to create a house... then we will use some FORCE (hair dryer) to see if the house will remain standing!

READING - - Last week we started our Non-Fiction unit.  We will take some time this week to take a closer look at what nonfiction books have in common, and how readers LEARN from and USE things like an index,  graphs/pictures, table of contents etc.

HANDWRITING - - We started learning how to write in cursive last week.  This is a slow process.  We are taking our time to learning how to form the different letters, and also have to connect letters.  The kids are SO excited!!!

Have a great rest of the weekend!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

What a jam-packed first week back to school!  We started off the week by watching Kid President challenge us to make someone else's year AWESOME, and then set our own goal or resolution.  We have these displayed in the hallway, make sure to take a look if you are in the building.

This week we finished up/and tested on our States of Matter unit.  On Thursday and Friday we did some fun, extra experiments involving temperatures effect on gases as well as how can we keep ice from melting.  Some interesting and fun findings came from each of these experiments.

We also started (and finished) our math unit on patterns.  The kids did such a great job with this material,  I assessed them on Friday, and we will begin a new unit on number/place value on Monday.

As we are now 1/2 way through the year... some of the school supplies that the kids use everyday have either run out, or on their way.... if you can make sure your child has the following, that would be great: crayons, markers, glue stick and scissors....I am not sure what has happened to some kid's scissors... I had a bucket of my own scissors (to share w/ anyone that needed a pair... and that bucket has VERY FEW scissors left).  A pencil box or some sort of organization item to keep all these things in one place would also be very handy and useful!