Leprechaun Traps!

The Second Grade has a real problem on our hands! 

Each morning for the month of March (so far) we have come in to find quite a mess in our classrooms. We were really concerned that someone was breaking in, but we have a new alarm system at the Banneker, so that can't be it. After a few read-alouds about Ms. Collins' favorite holiday ( St. Patrick's Day ), we think we know who our culprit is!!

A MISCHIEVOUS LEPRECHAUN

In the story, The Leprechaun Trap , the children are "lucky to have a leprechaun in their house because if they could catch a leprechaun causing mischief on Saint Patrick's Day, they had a chance of stealing his gold." We decided that we must be lucky too, but we need to catch him because his messes are getting really frustrating for the second grade teachers! 
We have decided to solve our problem by engineering leprechaun traps using what we have learned about simple machines this year. 

In Natasha Wing's story, The Night Before St. Patrick's Day, we saw examples of leprechaun traps that the characters Tim and Maureen made to catch the leprechaun that made messes in their home. 

We are currently designing and building our traps. 

Next week we will be testing and redesigning our traps 

to make sure they are ready for the holiday next weekend. 

Stay tuned to find out if we catch this wee little man! 

February Vacation Homework

Vacation is February 18-22 and we will return to school on Monday February 25th. Please return to school on Monday with your completed homework. 

1. Reading Log: Students must read for at least 20 minutes 

                             every day of vacation. 

2. Book Report Project: After reading a just-right chapter 

                                          book of your choice, choose from one 

                                          of the three project options...

Option 1: Comic Book Page

Please recreate your book as a comic. 

                     Be sure to include:

  - title and author

                     - main characters, problem, 

and solution

                    - speech & thought bubbles

Option 2: Story Cube

Side 1: Your name, title, author, illustrator and genre of book

Side 2: Summary of book 

                    What was the book about? What happened?

Side 3: Book Review 

                    Would you recommend this book? Why/Why not?

Side 4: Character Traits 

                   Draw a character and write 3 words to describe him/her/it.  

Side 5: Setting 
                    Describe where and when this story takes place and draw a picture. 

Side 6: Picture
                    Draw a picture of an important event in the story. 

Option 3: Diorama

For the diorama assignment, use an empty shoebox or other recycled box to create a 3-D scene from your book. 

On the outside of your box you must include:

                      - title, author, and your name (side 1)

                      - summary of the book (side 2)

                      - book review (side 3)

We CANNOT wait to see your hard work on 

Monday when we return from break. 

Have a safe, restful, and fun vacation! 

One Hundredth Day of School Celebration

Hooray for the 100th Day of School! 

On Wednesday February 13th, our school celebrated the ONE HUNDREDTH day of school. Isn't it crazy to think that we have been in school for 100 days?! 

Here are some pictures of our 100th day celebration. 

Enjoy! 

 Making a structure of 100 cups

 Reading our morning message with- you guessed it- 100 words! 

 Just to be sure- we counted ALL 100 words!

               Writing our name in colorful patterns to fill in 100 boxes. 

Our homework was to bring in 100 "somethings." 

(Miss Collins wasn't very creative.) 

 Another structure of 100 cups!!

 Ms. Robbie brought in 100 DELICIOUS cupcakes! 

(in her favorite color, of course)

 We predicted and measured what 100 tablespoons of water looks like. 

 We drew 100 of whatever we wanted!

 Mrs. Manuel-Nee came to help out. 

  Marselle, Fabienne and Camil made a very sturdy structure of 100 cups. 

 Lasell, Nyla and Kaila were successful too!

 The orange group did a great job drawing one hundred of their favorite things. 

 It was tricky to keep the 100 cups from falling over. 

Sometimes learning gets a little messy!

Second Graders are Material Engineers!

Second Graders are finishing up our Engineering Unit this week. 

We have been working to solve the problem 

in the story Yi Min's Great Wall.

                           

In the story, a rabbit keeps sneaking into her garden and eating her plants. Yi Min explores the property of earth materials, and she realizes that not all materials are created equal when it comes to building a wall. We have created samples of walls made from different combinations of mortar, gravel and water. Check out the pictures below to see which step of the Engineering Design Process helps us determine the best combination of earth materials.

 Can you tell which step we are at?

  If you guessed Testing/Try It Out, you are correct! 

             

   Ask your second grader to explain which mixture of earth materials they would want to use to build Yi Min's wall. 

+ - Math Fact Challenge - +

The Banneker Math Fact Challenge 

is 

Monday, January 14th! 

In second grade we have been practicing addition and subtraction facts to 10. 

We need to be able to: 

solve 30 addition/subtraction facts in 1 minute. 

All second graders should be practicing our math facts for at least 5 minutes each night. 

Here is a website with a fun game to practice as well! 

Mad Minute Game

Good Luck!!!

~ Your 2nd Grade Teachers

As we start the new year, our classes are reevaluating our classroom rules. We are thinking about what we want to achieve by the end of second grade and what we will need to do to reach our goals. 

Ask a second grader what their goals are for 2013 

and how you can help them! 

We charted our ideas and discussed how we can make our classroom a better place for everyone to accomplish their goals. 

Ms. Collins & Mrs. Julian Have Left the Building

Ms. Collins and Mrs. Julian are out on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week (December 11-12) at a Singapore Math conference in Connecticut. Singapore Math is one of the leading math programs in the world. We currently use the Singapore Math Math in Focus Curriculum in our classrooms and we are SO excited to learn some of the new strategies and approaches to teaching mathematics. 

We'll be back tomorrow to show you some of our new ideas!