2H Class Blog!: 2017

What a magical week we had before beginning our holiday break! We took the time to enjoy our family and friends and worked hard to truly appreciate this season of giving. Our little owls worked hard on completing their family gifts (hope you love them!), counted and sorted all the food collected for our food drive, watched a holiday favorite with their fifth grade reading buddies, enjoyed an SMS production, learned about the holiday traditions of others, and spent time together.

The major highlight from our week, of course, was the annual 2nd grade Gingerbread House Decorating Celebration! Thanks to all of you owl families for donating the many supplies to make this event possible! We had a BLAST! It was so fun to celebrate the season bringing so many families into our classroom.

On the day before break, SMS students were in for a real treat! Students filed into the cafeteria for the annual staff performance of "The Holiday Butterfly"! What fun!

All of the second grade teachers had a special role in the show!

The fabulous SMS staff!

After enjoying the performance, we headed back to our classroom to begin our classroom celebration! We had so much fun participating in our "Mug Swap" as we read The Gingerbread Baby. Thank you for sending in mugs! They were VERY much appreciated :)

Due to the early release, we were unable to hop aboard the Polar Express, but luckily we were still able to test out our new mugs with some tasty hot chocolate!

I think I speak for all of them when I say it was the absolute perfect way to end 2017 together!

I am so incredibly thankful for the families of 2H! Your continued support and involvement in your child's education amazes me everyday. I wanted to thank you SO much for the very generous gifts! What a wonderful treats! Thank you so, so much for thinking of me :) The real gift, however, is the wonderful children you share with me each and everyday. I am so incredibly thankful to be their teacher.

I hope your family had a very, happy holiday, and a safe and wonderful new year. Enjoy your holiday break and I look forward to seeing the kids back at school on Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018!

Image result for owl happy holiday clipart

As the snow has started to fall, you'll sure feel the December excitement buzzing around SMS! Just ten school days left before our holiday break!

2H and 2D were ready for snowy activities even before the snow arrived!

What we've been up to:

*Science: We had a BLAST launching our new science unit this week. After listening to the story, Bartholomew and the Oobleck (by Dr. Seuss!), we set out to determine whether the mysterious substance of Oobleck was a solid or a liquid.

After LOTS of experimentation, our scientists determined that Oobleck has properties of both! To make your own Oobleck mixture at home, mix 1 part water with 2 parts cornstarch (the food coloring is optional!).

The next day, in a science talk, we explored the science term property. After deciding upon a working definition, we played a fun game called "What's my property?" Working with a collection of items, one person thinks of a property (blue, magnetic, circle, etc.) and pulls out all objects that have that property. Other players have the task of trying to figure out what the mystery property is! Try playing at home---you'll be super impressed with all of the different properties they can come up with!

After playing several rounds of our game, we ended our science talk with a challenge: to sort our shoes by property!

Laces vs. No Laces (vs. "In-Between Laces"!)

Further breaking down the Laces group (first by lace color, then by brand!)

As if we hadn't had enough fun in science this week, the Owls were put to a final test using all that they had learned about properties. After testing the properties of various materials (paper towel, paper bag, paper plate, and aluminum foil), students had to then design a hat that would keep sun off their head. We had a TON of fun testing, designing, and creating!

*Scholastic Book Orders: On Friday, December flyers from Scholastic were sent home. While the SMS Book Fair is just in our rear view, the book flyers are there if you need a last minute gift! If you'd like to place an order, please do so by tomorrow, Monday, Dec. 11th, in order to guarantee delivery before our holiday break. If your order does contain a gift, just let me know!

*Writer's Workshop: Students have been doing an amazing job demonstrating their ability to write just like our mentor author, Kevin Henkes! Each student has finishing drafting their own interesting, realistic problem and solution! Bravo, writers! Many tried using some of his signature writing "moves", such as using a repeating line, or adding "silver-dollar" words to their own writing. With the writing part complete, we will study illustrations for the upcoming week and put the final touches on these great stories!

Painting the covers for our latest books!

*Holiday Reminders: *At 2:00, on Thursday, 12/21, we will enjoy the second grade tradition of decorating gingerbread houses. If you’re available, we’d love to have you join us! It’ll be fun decorating (and snacking!) to celebrate with our families and friends. Thank you to all who have already signed up to send in materials for our day. We're still looking for a few more items to be sent in (you can view our signup here if you are able to help out.)Thank you in advance for all of your help! If you have any questions, please let me know!

*Finally, to enjoy the season of giving within our classroom community, on Friday, 12/22, 2H will be participating in a mug exchange! Please send your child to school with one, wrapped “coffee” mug (available in all sorts of varieties, inexpensively at Walmart, the Dollar Store, and Target). It would be great if your child could write their name and the date on the bottom of the mug as well (ex: From, Ashley, 2017). We will enjoy a swap as we read a classic holiday tale. By the end of the story, each student will end up with a new mug! What will go perfectly in their new mug? Hot chocolate, of course! We’ll enjoy sipping on hot cocoa on our Polar Express Journey.