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Health Day Take Two!

5/19/2018

This week, students took part in the second round of our health-day event. Students went to different 2nd grade classes to learn about dental health, physical health, germs & cleanliness, healthy eating, stress, and physical exercise. Students got to explore the benefits of living a healthy life and got to describe the barriers preventing healthy living.

Here is a summary of what happened in our classroom:

In Langauge Arts...

This week in Unit 5, Week 4 students are learning how characters respond to major events are challenges. Addressing standard 2.RL.3 Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges, students identified the problem in a story and determined the steps to the solution that characters took. After having a better understanding of how characters respond to problems, students had to list character traits to best describe a character's personality. We read a story called The Art Project by Wonders and completed the following flow map.

Our essential question this week was How can we protect the Earth? Students read about a woodcutter and his gift to the townspeople after a storm knocks down a huge mesquite tree in the middle of the main road.

In Writing...

Students have begun a second opinion writing on 'What animal makes the best pet?' Using a flow map to help organize their ideas, students came up with three reasons and supporting details on which pet makes the best pet for them.

In Math...

Students used grid paper to count unit squares to determine the area of various polygons. Students learned that not all objects or polygons will have straight sides or fall nicely lined-up on the grid paper. Therefore, they may have to combine halved unit squares with others that are halved to complete one unit. Students practiced this by drawing their shoe on grid paper and counting the unit squares.
Students were introduced to the customary unit of measure, the pound. Using a balance, they compared one pound with other objects. The children saw that equal masses do not necessary take up the same amount of space. We made predictions whether various objects would be less than or more than a pound, then we used the balance to validate.

Announcements:

I hope all our Mothers had a wonderful Mother's day. I hope you are enjoying your personalized notecard set. I wanted to thank Chloe Glatt (Arius' Mom) for working so hard on assembling the cards and wrapping them. They came out beautiful!
We will be having a pizza party on the last day of school which will be in lieu of school lunch on that day. A flyer will be going home and other information is forthcoming.

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Let's Be Everyday Heroes!

5/12/2018

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Connecting our pervious unit about citizenship with our heroes unit, we talked about how being a good citizen can also mean being a hero. We also discussed what an "everyday hero" is and how doing something small can be big. Sometimes the most insignificant thing - saying hi to someone, asking someone with no friends to play, helping a friend carry something, picking up trash that's not yours, picking up a pencil that's on the floor instead of stepping over it so someone doesn't slip, can make some of the biggest differences. Students talked about all these little things that seems so small, but leave lasting impressions and make us "everyday heroes!"

Here is a summary of what happened in our classroom:

In Langauge Arts...

To supplement our unit from last week, we read about another very important hero named Malala Yousafzai, a female educational activist who stood up to the Taliban and survived an assassination attempt, and at only 17 years old became the youngest person ever to win a Nobel Peace Prize. To address standard 2.RL.3 Describe the connection between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, students sequenced events in Malala's life using time-order words.

Students learned about Ruby Bridges and her impact on Civil Rights and American History. We read The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles and learned about what her life was like everyday going to school in an empty classroom with a crowd of angry white men, women and children shouting at her, but how she remained brave, courageous and hopeful through it all.

In Writing...

Students are publishing their final drafts on a google doc where they can make any last revisions.
Students have began a second opinion writing on 'What animal makes the best pet?'

In Math...

Students used the partitioning (sharing) model to determining the number of objects in each share. Students noticed a relationship between division and multiplication.
Using counters, students arranged quantities into equal groups.
Students explored different representation of one-half, one-third, and one-fourth by folding paper shapes into equal parts, shading one part, and writing a fraction to represent that shaded part.
Students focused on recognizing that the same fraction can be represented in a number of object, lengths, or shapes that differ. This helped students to see that the size of the fraction is proportionate to the size of the whole.

Announcements:

iReady diagnostic will be on Monday and Tuesday. Please make sure your child gets a good night's rest and a well-balanced breakfast. Also, please have your child arrive on time to school on both days.
Thank you to all of my lovely students and parents of D103 for making Teacher's Appreciation Week so special. It was a week to remember always. Thank you for all the goodies and I love my T-shirt from the entire class! Thank you!

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Farewell to Ms. Gonzales and best wishes!

5/5/2018

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With a heavy heart we bid farewell to Ms. Bianca Gonzales, our Chaminade O & P student (student teacher) who was with us every Monday, Wednesday and Friday since the beginning of March. We will miss her very much and wish her all the best as she continues the next chapter in her journey to becoming a teacher!

Here is a summary of what happened in our classroom:

In Langauge Arts...

Before doing any reading, we used a circle map to brainstorm what we know about heroes. It was very interesting to see the responses. We listed everything from heroes are strong and professional at fighting to heroes can be normal everyday people. Wow! How insightful. Everyone had different ideas about who our heroes are and what they do. Many of our ideas are jotted down on the following circle map: The ones highlighted are items we added to the chart after completing some reading assignments.

We read a biography about Cesar Chaves and learned that he was a hero to many migrant farm workers. Not because he was physically strong or fought bad guys, but because he worked hard to change the lives of many people and made a huge positive impact on his community by leading people to peacefully solve problems.

The essential question this week was What do heroes do? Students also read a biography about Bessie Coleman called Brave Bessie by Eric Velasquez. Using this biography, students continued to learn how to sequence major events using time-order words. The following standard was addressed: 2.RL.3 Describe the connection between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text. Students learned that Bessie Coleman inspired many people and in doing so, she is a hero to many.

Students read about another hero named Rudy Garcia-Tolson. We learned that he overcame many adversities in his life, the first being that he was born with physical challenges that crippled his legs, then when he was 5-years-old he had his legs removed. He had to learn how to use artificial legs. He worked hard everyday to get better and soon discovered his love for swimming. He started racing in swimming competitions and beat people with legs. His determination did not stop there. He went on to competing in the paralympics, triathlon and ironman competitions. The following quote is a testament to his courage and positive attitude: "I have a responsibility to show the world that having no legs is nothing, the real disability is having a bad attitude"

In Writing...

Students are publishing their final drafts on a google doc where they can make any last revisions.

In Math...

Students learned how to draw 3D prisms, which helps students with spatial awareness and visualization. Students can more easily identify the shape's attributes.
Using play money students identified the names of each coin and their values. Students also got to compare their sizes and determined how many coins can be traded for $1.00 or less.
Students learned how to calculate different amounts of coins and make various combinations of coins. Students learned that there are so many combinations of coins to make a $1.00. Students applied these skills to solving money word problems.

In Social Studies...

Students learned about scarcity and its effects on daily life. We read a story called A New Coat for Anna, which was about a girl living in the Netherlands. The town is enduring hardship due to the devastating effects of the war. The town's shops remain empty. Despite this scarcity, Anna still needs a new coat for winter. Her mother decides to trade many of her valuables to get the materials for a coat. For example she trades a gold pocket watch with the farmer for his sheep's wool. After gathering all the materials needed she finally trades a porcelain tea pot with the tailor who sews a beautiful coat for Anna. This book taught many economic concepts such as scarcity, trading and limited resources and choice (capital, human and natural resources).
Students wrote down ways they can be good citizens in speech bubbles and are now on display in front of our classroom. Students votes many things from picking up trash even when it's not mine, donating food to people in need, to voting when I'm 18 years old.

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Health Day Take Two!

Let's Be Everyday Heroes!

Farewell to Ms. Gonzales and best wishes!

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