Valentine's Day (in Pictures)

Happy Valentines Day!



How many words can you make out of these letters? Well, 2nd grade made...

over 100 words! They were so proud and excited for a job well done!

The students made Valentines for their families during writing time...

They worked so hard!

They really love their parents and families!

Great job!

They handed out candy and valentines at the end of the day. I hope they share some of it with you. ;)

Enjoy the long weekend! See you Tuesday!

Please remember to take your child to church.

Inferring and Telling Time

We're regular detectives in 2nd Grade...

Today, we put on our thinking caps and used pictures and context clues to predict compound words and infer word meaning in our read aloud. We had words like grasshoppers, sunflowers, stagecoach, rattlesnake, and doghouse, just to name a few. Look below at a compound word match the students did after the read aloud:

Once There Was a Bull... (frog)

Finding the compound word matches

Can you make a compound word?

We'll be working on inferring word meaning the rest of this week, and next week we'll focus on inferring what characters are thinking and feeling.

In other school news, we made special clocks today to help us tell time to the nearest 5 minutes. Check out the clocks below:

It looks like just a normal clock, but...

the hour numbers open to reveal the minutes!

We're off to a great start this week!

*Reminders*
-There is no school this Friday (2/15) or Monday (2/18).
-Our weekly children's liturgy will be on Wednesday (Ash Wednesday) at 8:15am in the church (instead of Friday).

Busy in 2nd Grade

We have had quite a busy week in 2nd grade. We took a break from our normal Math routine to learn about capacity (how much liquid a container can hold) and liquid measurements. Your child should have come home with this guy- Mr. Gallon Man- to help remember how many cups are in a pint, how many quarts are in a gallon, etc.:

 In Reading, we started a new reading strategy- Infer. It is using clues to make an educated guess (or prediction). I brought in a bag of items from my apartment. The students inferred things about me from the items. See the chart below for some good inferences:

Today (Friday) we celebrated with our 2nd Quarter Bee Buck afternoon filled with crafts. The students made Valentines with Miss Snyder, Mardi Gras masks with Miss Longton, snowflakes with Mrs. Afton (Miss Sullivan), and snowmen with me. (I apologize if they came home with a little bit of paint on their hands and/or clothes! They had a good time!)

Thanks for another great week. Here are a few reminders:

1. Family Mass - Sunday, February 10th- 10:30am in the church. Hope to see many of you there. The students will read and bring up the gifts. (We even have altar server helpers from 6th grade!)

2. No School Days - There is no school for students on Friday, February 15th (due to a staff development day). Monday, February 18th, is also a day off of school (for everyone) in honor of President's Day. Enjoy the long weekend.

Many of the students have really become interested in learning about the presidents. Look below at one of the second graders putting all of the presidents in order (during recess)!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Catholic Schools Week

Happy Catholic Schools Week! It has been a full week with lots of activities to help us celebrate how special it is to attend a Catholic school. We made Valentines for Veterans, had breakfast for the parents (and made thank you cards), listened to a visitor who is an architect (he read us a story and did an activity with us), and watched a movie to celebrate the students. We even celebrated the long-awaited 100th day today!

Check out some pictures from the week:

Add caption

Happy 100th Day (Thursday)!

2nd Grade in their 100th Day glasses 8)

Field Trip

The First and Second Graders went on a field trip to the Museum of Science and Industry today. Please ask your child about what s/he learned and saw.

Our visit included watching the movie "Born to Be Wild" about elephants and orangutans. The kids loved it! We also had a chance to walk around and view a variety of exhibits. We saw cars, trains, baby chickens, tractors, tornadoes, and so much more! I think everyone was exhausted when we loaded the bus to head back to school, including our wonderful parent chaperones.

Unfortunately, I lost my camera at the museum today, so I do not have any photos from the trip. If anyone has any photos that they would like to see posted on this blog, please email me (foyleolu@gmail.com), and I will happily add them. (Thank you!)

Here are some pictures (courtesy of one of our chaperones- thank you to Claudia's mom!):

inside a tornado

electricity

group shot

looking at the baby chickens

Focusing on Nonfiction

This week during Read Alouds, we focused on nonfiction texts... and not just any nonfiction texts, but books about American History. We read about three very important United States symbols.

Monday the students learned about the American Flag.

--> It has 50 stars, one for each of the fifty states.

--> It has 13 stripes, one for each of the original thirteen colonies.

--> A man named Francis Scott Key wrote The Star Spangled Banner (our national anthem) about it. 

The flag in our classroom

Our read aloud

Tuesday, we moved on to learn about the Statue of Liberty.
--> A man named Frederic Bartholdi modeled the statue after his own mother.
--> The statue was a gift from France. It was so big it took over 200 crates (boxes) to ship it to the United States.
--> The Statue of Liberty is in New York Harbor.
--> Liberty means Freedom!

We even borrowed Miss Debbie's miniature Statue of Liberty!

Wednesday, we learned about another important U.S. Symbol- The Liberty Bell.
--> The Liberty Bell is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
--> When it came from England, it had a big crack, so the makers had to make a second one, which also later cracked.
--> It is also a symbol of freedom for our country.

Liberty Bell read aloud, miniature Liberty Bell (from my summer travels), and craft.

It's fun to learn about the history of our country! The students are asking all sorts of great questions during our discussions too.

Tomorrow we're going to compare the past and the present with a read aloud about Alexander Graham Bell and his invention of the telephone.

What's the Matter?

This week 2nd Grade has been learning about 3 states of matter:

1. Solids
2. Liquids
3. Gases

We read a book about the states; we brainstormed examples of each state of matter; we discussed their shapes and sizes. Then, today we made pictures out of Cheerios to show how the molecules look. Check out our project:

our "jars" to fill

our "molecules"

Look at the differences!

The solid molecules are packed tightly together. That is why solids keep their shape.
The liquid molecules are further apart, so they have more space to move. They move slowly, but that is why liquids change their shape to take the shape of their containers.
The gas molecules are the farthest apart and have a lot of space to move around. That is why gases fill the room (or their container).

Here are some examples of the states of matter:

*Solids: block, brick, desk, Cheerios, pencil, carpet
*Liquids: oil, water, milk, juice
*Gases: bubbles, air in a balloon, hydrogen, oxygen

Next week we'll discuss how states of matter can change and also the physical properties of matter.