Off To A Slow Start

This morning everyone was quiet and I think still half asleep.
I could definitely see how hard the time change was on everyone.

I put out this hat and thought SR should model it for us.
Doesn't he look a little like a leprechaun with it?This afternoon we started our new newspaper. By the afternoon we were rolling pretty good as you can see by the look on these two boys faces.
No signs of exhaustion that I saw on their morning faces.

Here NS and SM are focused and working well together on their news article.

This is LW's work. As she types, this is what she sees.

These girls are having fun writing about the walking club. They have walked over 35 miles this year!
They are planning on setting a goal for the end of the year. Look in our upcoming newspaper to get more information.

Some of us worked with a partner while others felt like working on their own. Either way is fine. It kind of depends on your article and the mood you are in. We are getting pretty fast getting our ideas down on paper with few errors. I always like that.

During reading block KZ and JM finished writing their letters to their parents in their home journal. Looks like they are adding a picture. Fun.

When not in a reading group with a teacher, students have a variety of options. Here LW and ML are reading independently.

RV is enjoying a book while sitting at her table.

DE has settled with a book about animals.

SM is finishing up his home journal too.

Meanwhile I have a small group using the Activotes to take a reading test.
We are working on fluency and comprehension.

MA is reading her reading group book about, Colleen the Leprechaun.

SR is reading independently at his table too. Good job second graders!

African Reports Are Coming

Fire Drill Practice

We practiced a firedrill today just in case we ever need to exit the school.

Once we are outside we face away from the building and wait for the "OK" to go

back in.

In the morning we went to the computer lab. DE is getting his hands sanitized so we don't share germs with everyone on the keyboards.
We worked on our speed doing flashcards and then we played Sum Stackers to work on strategy. Please visit my webpage at: http://www.pendleton.k12.or.us/schools/mckay/classrooms/index.php

Here is a short video of us playing our new Math Mat game.

Mystery Box Solved

Today we played another round of Mystery Box hoping to find out what the surprise was.

After two rounds, we did it! We were down to the very last guess and KZ pulled it off and was able to guess what it was.

It is a Math Mat.

When we turn it on, it gives us a math problem then we quickly step on the answer.

It will be a fun way to get quicker with our simple math facts.

We didn't get to practice our spelling today and we have the game of Sparkle tomorrow.

Please practice this list so you will be ready for tomorrow.

Spelling words: skid, smash, snob, spin, step, swish, scab, smog, scum, snug, how, who, live, they, because

Thank you Mrs. Miltenberger!

We raised $3,500 with our Read-A-Thon. We were short $500 from reaching our goal but she said she was very pleased, and would still call the BIG TOY company and have them bring the toys for us.

Mystery Box

McKay kids have earned $3,000 towards our reading goal. If we collect $4,000 we get to have the Big Toys come to our school and we will get to spend the afternoon playing on them. Thank you for all that have sent in donations. Our room was in the lead for the first few days. What is in the Mystery Box?????
I bought the class something and they have to ask "Yes" or "No" questions to find out what it is. Today was their first attempt at figuring it out. They want your hlep! Here is what they know.

Yes....
It is about 2 feet
It is for us
We can listen to it

No ...
edible
wings
feet
red
green
brown
have a beak?
bring good luck?
can you read it?
scarf
one color
can you climb on it?
Does it have a crown?

Slavery Movie

Welcome March...I can't wait for Spring weather to come and stay.

Here is our March calendar. See if your child can find their shamrock.

Here is NE reading as his grandma listens in. She was

subbing for our reading assistant today.

LH and NW painting their shamrock calendar pieces.
Finally, after many tries, we did it!
I hope you enjoy our movie on slavery.

Slavery Study

We have been studying about slavery the last couple of weeks.

This is CS coloring his picture that illustrates the sentence we will use in our soon to be released movie.

Once the coloring was complete, we scanned each picture.

Unfortunately we had technical difficulties and weren't able to complete the movie yet.

But we will be diligent and keep trying. Hopefully we will be successful on Monday and then share it with you here on the blog.

We also invented a "slave" game today.

I secretly told these students (below) that they would be the conductors in the game.

The rest of the students played the roll of a slave or a master.

Students spent about an hour and a half observing and visiting with

each other, while working, to see if they could find someone that would help them escape

to freedom. The goal of the game was to learn how hard it was to find a way to freedom and that they had to be careful with who they could approach for help. The kids seem to enjoy it and I think it helped us understand a little more about what it must have been like.

Next week we are celebrating our classified staff here at McKay.

We are making a poster for Mrs. Dennis. She helps us with our reading.

The class wanted to make her a mug with cute kids on it.

The boys here are working on the words to go with it.

We are also making signs to put up for Susan our custodian.

We thought for her we would us the Harry Potter theme.

We are going to put brooms all over with nice notes on them.

This group took their Mount Rushmore study on the road today.

They explained why these famous people were selected for the monument.

LW wrote a really good story and then shared it with us today.

It was a busy day. We also make BB his birthday book.

Happy 8th birthday!

At 1:30 we went to our all school Patriotic Assembly.

Here is a short video of our second song.

Mount Rushmore

We are finishing up our display of Mount Rushmore.We added information about why each person was included

on the monument of Mount Rushmore.

Tomorrow we will be presenting it to the rest of our class and the other second grade classroom.

Today was our special birthday lunch with Mrs. Thorne.

Here are our happy February birthday people.

Statue of Liberty

Lady Liberty

We drew the Statue of Liberty today.

Here is SR with his after he finished coloring.
AD and CSH adding color to their art.

GH all done with his for today.

During reading TC and NE did a great job reading together.

KC worked on his oral reading with the help of the computer.

After reading group DL held a reading discussion.

I was impressed at how he listened and answered everyone.

CS practiced her reading too on www.raz-kids.com

This reading group is learning about Mount Rushmore.

Here they are tracing the monument. You will see more later.

Happy Birthday

This week we celebrated LW and DL's birthdays.

We made each of them their own birthday book. At the end of the day we straightened up the room.

This group helped get all our math manipulative's back in the box.

We made our Valentine's Day scrapbook pages today.

This is DE with his book.

During reading groups some of the students are reading about snails.

They each chose a snail to learn about. Here AD is working on his report. On Friday they each shared their reports with us.

LR told us about her snail that smells like garlic.

Then RV told us about her snail that is "good to eat". Yummy!

We are also learning about segregation, slavery, and the Underground Railroad.

Here are SR and TC typing up their opening paragraph about slavery.