2H Class Blog!: Dec. 9th News

Brr! It sure was a chilly week! We're hoping these hallway owls will remind us to bundle up! Just ten school days left before our holiday break! You sure can feel the December excitement buzzing around SMS!

Highlights from our week:

*Reader's-Workshop: We had a FABULOUS time during reader's workshop both this week and last. Launching into our character unit, students did a great job analyzing the characters in their stories. We talked a lot about how we can describe our characters, using both their physical traits, as well as their personality traits.

We read a lot of great stories this week that gave us many opportunities to get to know different characters. 2H Readers went shopping for books with "strong characters" and have been spending their time "going on adventures!" with them. When reading at home, be sure to pay careful attention to the characters. They do a great job describing their characters, identifying feelings (and why the character is having those feelings), and comparing how they are like (or not like!) their character. It's impressive work!

*Scholastic Book Orders: Last week, 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. 10th, in order to guarantee delivery before our holiday break. If your order does contain a gift, just let me know!

*Science: Our materials engineering unit continued as we began to look closely at exactly what materials could be used to create a wall. Students went on a "wall tour" to observe and draw several walls and identify the material (or materials) used to build them.

Later in the week, as we prepare for actual construction, we learned about mortar. In our story (Yi Min's Great Wall) we were introduced to Yi Min's grandfather who is a materials engineer! His job is to test different mortars in order to create the strongest type. Using earth materials (soil, sand, and clay), the Owls had to describe and then build "mortar sandwiches". We SO look forward to seeing the results next week!

*Writer's Workshop: We will have a LOT to celebrate during our Writer's Workshop next week, as each Owl sent a nonfiction "expert book" off to the publishers. These amazing nonfiction books, focused on a topic in which the student was already an expert on. While these books required no additional research, each Owl had to work hard at incorporating important nonfiction features (which included a table of contents, catchy introduction, bold words, headings, detailed diagrams, and a glossary!). They should be so incredibly proud of all their hard work---I sure am!

Doing the all important "final read" before shipping off to the publishers!

*5th Grade Buddies: On Friday, we participated in our very first STEM BIN challenge. Each buddy pair chose a bin containing one building material and were then challenged to build a SYMBOL OF WINTER. They could ONLY use the material in the bin and had only 10 minutes to build. Mrs. Loh and I were SO impressed with the creativity, thinking, and teamwork that went into this challenge. We can't wait to participate in more challenges!

Using only index cards and tape, this pair made a snowman replica!

*Holiday Reminders: *At 1:00, on Thursday, 12/20, 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 to celebrate with our families and friends. In order to be allergy friendly, we will be asking each child to provide their own bag of toppings for this event (more information will be sent home tomorrow). Thank you in advance for all of your help! If you have any questions, please let me know!

*To enjoy the season of giving within our classroom community, on Friday, 12/21, 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.

*Finally, thank you to all who have been able to donate an item to our Holiday Mission. You are going to make one local family's holiday very special this year. We are still looking for a few items to complete their wish list. If you are able to contribute, you can find the Sign Up here. Thank you for all you do to spread holiday cheer!