A Successful Shel-ebration!

Last Wednesday, the Owls celebrated the end of their poetry unit in style! It was a beautiful day filled with sunshine. After lunch, we headed outside to publish a piece of writing where the sidewalk ends. 

Once finished, it was fun to walk along and read our friends' poems. Each student received an illustrated copy of each poem in a class book to take home---a wonderful keepsake!

After the publishing was complete, it was time for the poetry reading. The SMS garden provided a perfect arena for our performance. Each Owl did a FANTASTIC job memorizing their selected Shel Silverstein poem. Memorizing lines and performing in front of a crowd is quite an accomplishment. I am so proud of their hard work and courage!

 While our poetry unit has come to an end, I have no doubt we have created a group of lifelong readers and writers of poetry! Thank you to ALL who were able to attend our celebration. These second graders worked very hard and having an audience to share their work with is invaluable. Thank you, as always, for helping make learning fun!

Grade 2 Explores Our National Parks!!

As part of our social studies curriculum, second graders learn all about our national symbols, landmarks, monuments, and parks! To launch this final unit, each classroom was given a national park to research. By teaming together, our Owl class learned TONS of exciting information about Redwood National Park and Sequoia National Park. Connecting to our plant unit, we wanted to learn about, and teach others about, these two special places (and the two special trees that grow there!). 2H had a BLAST working together to create exhibits and information to share with the other second grade classrooms. Check out all of their hard work!

Erik, Michael, and Lucas worked together to measure out a 29 foot diameter in our classroom!

Hailey, Sebastian, and Hayden hid fun facts around our classroom and created this map for visitors to follow!

Mackenzie and Caraden worked to create travel brochures teaching about these great parks.

After our exhibit was open and ready for visitors, it was time to put on their ranger vests and head out to explore!

 Their adventures first took them over to Alaska to visit Denali National Park.

 Denali National Park is home to the tallest peak in North America, Denali (Mount McKinley), which is 20,308 feet tall. 

From there, it was time to head to Wyoming to check out Yellowstone National Park. Their visit there allowed them to see Old Faithful, a famous geyser that can shoot water 90-184 feet into the air!

As their adventure continued, the Owls flew south to visit Everglades National Park.

Finally, ready to travel closer to home, 2H made their last stop at Acadia National Park. 

After an adventuresome day, the Owls headed back with their vests filled with badges, and their brains filled with new, fascinating information!

What a great day we had! 

I think we have some future travelers on our hands!