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! 

Valentine's Day

Today was jam packed with all things sweet!  In the morning we finished writing our adorable Valentines for mom and dad. Don't you just love those little love birds!?

During center time we rotated through 4 Valentine themed centers.  Students created sweetheart bingo boards and read Valentine books, graphed and responded to data collected on a Candy Categories Venn Diagram,  played games having to do with time, and sorted, added, compared, and found fractional parts of a box of sweethearts.

Later in the afternoon we passed out Valentines and ended the day with a couple of rounds of sweetheart bingo!

I was completely showered with love all day!  Thank you for the beautiful flowers, kind cards, and sweet goodies.  I can't wait to go on the movie and yogurt date with my husband!  What a wonderful class gift, I love it!  It fills my heart with joy overflowing to work with the 21 little cherubs in room 8!

Happy LOVE day friends!
xo

Valentine's Day!

Phew!  Today was jam packed with learning and love, and I am officially exhausted!  This morning we  took our spelling test on those tricky r-conrolled vowel spellings, ir, er, ur, and ear.  I was so impressed with the student's understanding of the concept.  A few things we have been working on within the last two weeks are:  Sound spelling word mapping (By Kathrine Grace LOVE this!)  Going on a "Bossy R" word hunt (see below for a cute pic).  Word sorts.  Playing Sparkle.  Which is totally a student fav!  I switched things up a bit and found it super successful.  If their turn landed on the /er/ sound they needed to tell all the letters that spell the sound (ir, er, ur, ear).  And of course lots of reading to transfer and apply the skill.  I'm a big believer in the value of decodable text, and we also met Mr. Putter and Tabby this week as well.

Next we moved on to our study of The Mighty Mississippi River.  My teacher heart was bursting during our writing block today because the kiddos were completely immersed in their research and were writing fantastic paragraphs with little support from me.  Success!

During reading centers the students finished up these adorable Valentine bags.  I just love the way they turned out!

For math today it was all about Sweetheart math!  The students estimated, counted, sorted, solved equations, compared numbers, and found fractional parts -all with a box a Sweethearts!

I just have to share these super cute cupcakes our room mom made.  Aren't they just the cutest ever!

Happy LOVE Day!