Polar Express Day

What a fun day!  

Wearing pajamas...eating popcorn...drinking hot chocolate..and watching The Polar Express.  What a great way to celebrate the holiday season!  We had a guest reader, Kyla Kiburis (Eagle teacher).  They also curled up with a blanket and pillow and read books and took AR tests at the end of the day. 

Butterfly release!!

2nd Grade with butterflies

  Fly Away Painted Lady Butterflies!!

1-2-3----Release!!

What a great day!!  Back on October 6, my class began watching butterfly larvae.  They each had one to observe as it went  through metamorphosis.  We watched as they changed into pupas.  Then I hung them on a butterfly net.  On Day 26 ALL of the butterflies had emerged!!  The students looked on a poster and in books to find out what kind they were.  They are Painted Lady butterflies.  It was fun to watch them fly!!

Wow! Read with Taylor Swift!!

Today my class watched a webcast from Scholastic, "Read Now! with Taylor Swift".  It was awesome!  The kids sang along with the songs and listened to her speak with host Nick Cannon.  She talked about how reading books and poetry helps her write her songs.  She answered questions from the studio audience and from kids around the world.  It was being filmed live from New York.  Wow!  It was great!!

Short Week

I will be attending a technology inservice tomorrow in Cedar Falls for all the schools in the NICL conference.  I look forward to gaining a lot of information on using technology in my classroom. 
My class is observing butterfly larvae/caterpillars in our room.  We are watching as they are getting bigger and slower.  It's fun to see their excitement as they watch the changes so far.

Our elementary put up a "Good Luck"banner, streamers, balloons to give Mrs. Creswell a send off for her running a marathon this Sunday in Des Moines.  She is raising money to help build a school in Africa.  Run, Mrs. Creswell, Run!!

Frog and Toad Play

Last Thursday my second grade class performed a "radio play" of a Frog and Toad story The Swim.  We invited the kindergarten and first grade classes.  My students practiced to use expression as they read.  They also designed pictures of Frog's bathing suit.  It was a fun time and they did great!!

Its Fall!!

We are getting into a good routine with reading AR, Daily 5, and learning and using addition strategies in math.  We have learned and are practicing 3 of the Daily 5 literacy componants.  They are Read to Self, Work on Writing and Read to Someone.  We will start the 4th one next week, Word Work.  The students are really enjoying it because they also used Daily 5 in kindergarten with Mrs. Creswell.  We will be finishing up our Social Studies unit on Communities and then we will begin a science unit.  Enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend!

One full week!

It's great to have one full week of school in!  I've had a great time getting to know the students. We are going to continue working on our reading story next week because it takes a little longer...until we get into a  routine.  Hope you all have a wonderful--relaxing--weekend!