Family Venn Diagram

Remember that interview your child did for homework last week?  Well they put it to good use today and created these wonderful Venn diagrams comparing and contrasting themselves with the person they interviewed.  They really did a great job.  It is so fun watching them all get so engrossed in project based learning!

Pumpkins and Cats

It's beginning to look festive in room 8!  We finished our first Halloween project yesterday.  The students created these oh so cute pumpkins and cats by carefully folding paper to divide it into fourths.  Then they gave their pumpkin or cat a personality and added adjectives to describe it.  Super cute!  Let's see... that's math, art, and grammar in one sweet little package.  I'll take it!

Our Golden State

Well we officially wrapped up our California facts and symbols project today.  It was a BIG one! I  am so proud of the students' hard work.  It was our first attempt at writing a paragraph and they did so well!

To start out we did some close reading of an informational text passage all about California.  Then the students went back and reread in order to answer questions about our state.  Our goal was to answer each question with a complete sentence.  Those little finger muscles got quite a work out that's for sure!

Next we used QR codes to lead us to internet resources on California's state symbols.  The students conducted their researched in pairs.

Later, we took all the information we gathered to create these spectacular posters about California.

Once the kiddos became experts on California we took all the information they knew and wrote our very first paragraph!  Let me just say, this was no easy feat!  I put my game face on, and strapped on my roller skates to zoom around the room, and with each sentence things got smoother and smoother.  Today we started our second paragraph all about the pumpkin patch and praise the Lord and pass the mashed potatoes because our writing time was like 100 times easier.  They are getting it!!!! #happyteacher Here we are doing some peer editing, because there needs to be like 22 of me during writing time. #justsayin

The dot stickers are a visual (and fun) way to mark each part of the paragraph: hook, topic sentence, detail sentences, and conclusion.

To wrap everything up, and make our writing purposeful, our sweet second graders got to share their projects with a 4th grade student today.  They were all kinds of nervous, but felt so proud and happy after they did it.  Growth happens when we step out of our comfort zone my friends!

Way to go my little writers!  I'm so proud of you!  WRITE ON!

HEART of an Eagle

Congratulation to our first Core Values recipients!  Ethan, Owen, and Carter I am oh so proud of you!  This precious shot has my heart! 

James and the Giant Peach

We've been really digging into this treasured read aloud!  Along the way we have been sharpening our skills and doing lots of fun things to bring this book to life.   I'm going to try to keep this short and sweet because, well, its 7:00 on a Tuesday and this teacher is certainly ready to unplug for the evening.  :)

Peach art for our front covers, discussing the novel's characters, setting, problem, and solution, analyzing James' character traits, and comparing and contrasting Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker.

We also taste tested real peaches and peach candy.  Then created a Venn diagram to share our data.

I can't seem to get these pictures to rotate tonight.  I hope you can see from this sideways view!

Have a lovely evening all!

Pumpkin Book Report

Dear Parents,

  For this trimester’s book report I have something very fun and festive planned for our second graders!  Each student will be creating a book report poster telling all about a narrative book of their choice, then they will use a pumpkin to create the main character of the book. 

  For the poster, written responses must be in complete, thoughtful, neat sentences.  Illustrations and other details should also represent best effort work.  Feel free to add details that will bring the project to life!

  As for the pumpkin H it is time for our second graders’ creativity to shine!  The only criteria is that the main character of their book must be clearly depicted.  I have shown the kiddos some examples online and they are oh so excited to make their own projects!  I added the link on our blog that shows some fantastic examples for reference.

  Projects are due Monday, October 26, 2015.  This gives one week to find a book, one week to read it closely, and one week to work on the project.  Homework will be light during the last week so everyone has enough time to work.

Thank you for partnering with me in this fun creative project! 

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you have any questions.

                        Happy Reading,

                          Mrs. Lara        

examples