Second Grade Celebrates Johnny Appleseed Day!

Everyone had a GREAT time today as we celebrated our first theme day: Johnny Appleseed Day! The Owls got to visit each second grade classroom and participate in an apple related activity. After learning about Johnny Appleseed himself, it was all about those apples!

Their first stop was next door to do some apple math with Mrs. Page! While there, students used their math knowledge to find circumfrence, weight, do some graphing, and compare and contrasting!

After their first stop, they headed back to our classroom where they worked together to create homemade applesauce! Many thanks to YOU all for donating an apple to make this possible! Students helped core and slice the apples! After placing them in the crock pot, we topped it off with some water, sugar and cinnamon, set it on high, and let it cook!

While the applesauce was cooking, 2H headed to the next activity in the Starfish class! In Mrs. Murphy's room, the Owls had to use careful listening ears to follow along as they learned how to draw Johnny Appleseed! What success they had! Check out their amazing artwork!

 Next, they headed over to Ms. Donlon's class. After learning more about Johnny Appleseed and how he was an upstanding citizen, the Owls were challenged to think of all the sweet words others would say about them! Adorable! They each have many great qualities that make them SWEET!

Finally, it was time to learn about apples as scientists with Ms. Bucklin! Students investigated the life cycle of an apple and then created a project to demonstrate their understanding. We'll have to revisit these great projects when we study plants later in the year!

After a busy, busy day, they were welcomed back into our classroom by the delicious wafting smell of our applesauce! While it cooled, we completed another Mystery Science exploration which had us thinking about why some apples are red and some are green. This led us into discovering how today's farmers end up with the biggest, sweetest, juiciest apples! Ask your child about this discovery. The natural next step was to TASTE some of these yummy apples! After tasting four types of apples (granny smith, golden delicious, red delicious, and pink lady), we voted on our favorite! 

Lastly, it was FINALLY time to enjoy our homemade snack! All I can say is YUM!!

I have to commend our Owl Class for all their excellent behavior and hard work. I received numerous compliments from the other second grade teachers. Way to go, Owls! Thanks for making Johnny Appleseed Day such a huge success!!

Happy Fall!

Saturday, Sept. 22nd marks the first day of the first day of the fall season. On behalf of all the Owls, we would like to wish you a very "Happy Fall!". Don't forget, on Wednesday (9/26), Grade 2 will enjoy "Johnny Appleseed Day!" Please send in one apple (any size or variety) to help us complete some apple-licious activities! Thank you for your continued help in making learning fun!

Highlights from our week:

*Classroom Community: The beginning of the year is all about getting to know each other and getting to know ourselves. Check out the #awesome bulletin board we created highlighting all of the amazing qualities that make us unique!

Another important part in building our classroom community involved a discussion of what would help create the best learning enironment possible. We decided to brainstorm what we would need from each other in order to be successful this year. We then took all of our ideas, categorized them, and came up with a few rules we could all commit to. A copy of this important contract will be sent home for you to review with your child.

*Math: This week in math, we learned a fun new math game!  Fishing for 10, a lot like Go Fish, has players seeking combinations of 10. After sorting a deck of cards to only containing numbers 0-10, each member takes 6 cards. Unlike regular Go Fish, however, the Owls had to look for a match that added to 10--for example, if someone wanted to find a "match: for their 7 card, they would need to find a 3 card, because 7+3=10!

 Knowing the combinations of 10 is an essential skill to help set us up for continued math success. As some Owl students are already fluent with these facts, they are being challenged to practice fact extensions by "Fishing for 100"  (70+30=100) and using multiple addends to reach their sum (4+5+1=10).

We also spent the week looking at the importance of fact families. The beauty? When you know ONE fact, you really know FOUR!

Please continue to have your child work on fact fluency at home. A list of additional ways to practice math facts will be sent home on Monday. 

*5th Grade Buddies: On Friday afternoon, we finally had our first day of Buddies with Mrs. Loh's fifth grade class! Both she and I were SO impressed by how quickly each pair settled in together. Ask your child who their reading buddy is and what they read together. We will continue to meet regularly with our buddies, typically every Friday afternoon, for the remainder of the school year.

*Science Buddies: Wrapping up our collaborative masterpieces, 2H, 2D, and KMM had a great time sharing out and providing feedback on each amazing piece.

Next week, our adventures with Science Buddies will take us outside! 

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Questions to promote "School Talk":

-What word did you choose to use to #describeyourself?

-What is having a "growth mindset"? How can we use the "power of YET to show perserverance?

-What is a "stop and jot"? How did you use post-it notes during reader's workshop this week? How can you write "long and strong" off of one of your stop and jots?

-What topics did we write about during writer's workshop this week?

-What is our new read aloud? What are some of the wacky things that have happened in this silly story?

-What is your 5th grade buddy's name?

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Please help me send a big "THANK YOU" to Meredith Walters, Hugh's mom, for agreeing to be our room parent! I'll be sharing classroom email addresses with her so be on the lookout for any communication that comes your way!

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Important Dates:

Wednesday, Sept. 26th: Johnny Appleseed Day 

Thursday, Sept. 27th: Early Release 

Have a great week!