Journeys Unit

Wow!  Time is zooming by and it's been a while since I have last shared.  A lot has been happening in room 8 and our little stars are growing by leaps and bounds!  Let me start a recap of some of what we've been up to!

Our "Flat Selves" have been trickling back and we have been learning all about our beautiful country as well as many travel adventures.  To go along with our Journeys unit, we've been studying about our American Flag, our national bird, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and the three branches of government.

Partners researching and taking notes on Bald Eagle facts.

Digging deep to find the answers to all of our questions about eagles.

Teamwork <3

Hard at work! We separated our notes into various categories to keep our research organized.

We watched a live eagle cam to see these magnificent birds in the wild.

The children followed along with a directed draw and tear art project.
Last, students wrote exceptional acrostic poems about BALD EAGLES to share all about what they learned.

We also studied all about the American Flag.  I love seeing the kiddos become experts in new topics!  We read, researched, watched videos, and wrote informational paragraphs all about Old Glory.  Then we put our problem solving and math skills to work and created the American Flag.  I literally gave each student a ruler, (to ensure success, we spent time learning how to measure and draw straight lines the days prior in math) a white and red piece of 18" x 12" construction paper and asked how are we going to create the American Flag with these supplies.  They had to measure and problem solve to figure out the most logical way to make the flag look realistic.  Last we added the 50 stars using our spacial awareness skills.  I love the way they turned out, and our second graders were proud.  This was a tricky task!

Next we studied all about our Lincoln and Washington.  In our classic room 8 style we read, researched, watch videos, learned songs and dances, wrote, and created projects centered around these two significant American heroes.

Researching and sorting Lincoln Facts and Fibs.

Creating a timeline of Lincoln's life.

I love seeing my sweet students belly down and hard at work!

Off to a good start!

Working hard!

A finished project and some happy faces.  

Having fun and learning too!

We incorporated Lincoln with our Valentine's Day fun.  We read that Lincoln kept important letters in his hat, so what a perfect place to keep our Valentine's Day treasures!

Graphing Sweet Goodies.

Graphing Skittles!  Joy!

For my sweet friends.  I <3 them! 

Our Adventures with Flat Stanley!

This week we read a fun novel titled Flat Stanley, written by Jeff Brown.  One of the amazing things Stanley is able to do once he is flat is visit friends by traveling through the mail.  Well, we took this idea and wanted to try it out for ourselves!  Each child has created a flat version of them self, written a letter to a friend or family member that lives somewhere in the USA, and we mailed out our flat kiddos on Friday.  This is such a fun way to learn about several different states in the U.S.  I am so excited to hear about the upcoming adventures!  Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Young for walking with us down to the mailbox on a wild and drizzly afternoon. You are amazing!

Click HERE to see some shots from our project. :)

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!

Mount Rushmore

This week we explored another American symbol.  We traveled to South Dakota to learn all about Mount Rushmore!  We watched a few videos and went on a virtual field trip video 1 , and I promised to put this one up for the kids fun video.  I love that the students are requesting things to be put on the blog so they can share with their families.  This has become such a great place to share!

Then we set up our notebooks with key questions we wanted answered and got busy researching.  The kiddos are becoming quite skilled at close careful reading. Yay!

Last we wrote postcards sharing what we learned about this special place and created beautiful art to go with it.

The Bald Eagle

Hanging out with the sweetest second graders and learning about cool stuff makes my heart happy! 

This week was all about our national bird the bald eagle.  I introduced this new symbol by asking the students what they knew about the bald eagle and questions they wanted to find the answers too.  After a good discussion, I presented a highly engaging and interactive SMART lesson and low and behold we found the answers to many of our questions.  Next we set up our notebooks so we were ready to record our knowledge about this fascinating and fierce bird.  Students had six, which later turned into seven categories for note taking: appearance, diet, habitat, predators, what they symbolize/what you find them on, interesting facts, and babies.

Students worked in partners and practiced their close reading skills to become bald eagle experts.

Throughout the week we watched a few live bald eagle cams which was an AWESOME experience!  I think all of our jaws hit the floor when we saw the mama fly out of her nest and leave her three eggs.  Not to worry she was back in a matter of minutes to keep them warm from the Minnesota snow.   But those wings... WOW!

Our adorable student of the day waving Old Glory as we sing the Star Spangled Banner and watch our eagle cam.

Then we did a bald eagle fact or opinion sorting game (i forgot to snap a picture).

Next students got busy writing acrostic poems for BALD EAGLE(S).  My challenge to them was to go beyond one word for each letter and write a good juicy fact.  They did awesome and have proven they are super knowledgable about our national bird.

Students final projects turned out Ah-mazing!  They are definitely Winter Art Gallery worthy, but the timing didn't turn out quite right, which is just fine with me because our room is turning into a patriot's dream!

Our American Flag

We have become quite knowledgable about the American flag in our sweet classroom.  After a lot of read alouds and some close reading students wrote informative paragraphs all about the Stars and Stripes.  We also danced (because music and dance makes everything just so much more fun!) around the room and shared our knowledge with our classmates.  Then we got busy applying our knowledge and using our problem solving, math and art skills to create these magnificent flags.

Working hard!

Those stars! Brandon's eye for all things spacial is pretty amazing. What a talent! 

Little patriot :)

We are loving our patriotic song books!  (ummm disregard the mess in the background #ineedamaid)