May 1, 2015

 

We launched our new project this past week!  It is called, Let's Play! The idea is that the students will use their imagination and creativity when doing a variety of activities.  They will learn why imagination is important and how we can be more creative on the playground.  Throughout this project, our students will engage in a variety of adventures and have countless opportunities to be creative!  

 

We launched on Monday by going on an "Imagination Walk" in the canyon. We saw and experienced a lot of amazing things like an attack from great white shark, escaping an avalanche and spotting one thousand tigers!  It was quite the adventure. ;-)  Other experiences this week included building a solution to a problem that was presented in our current read aloud, James and the Giant Peach.  The students worked in pairs to build something out of recycled materials that would help James with his mean aunts. On Thursday, the students used their imagination to build a structure out of PVC pipe and connectors outside.  They have had a blast and am excited to see what else their imaginations will bring!

 

 

March 20, 2015

Wow!  The kids have been working so hard.  I was so imporessed at their confidence and expression at the performing arts exhibition last night!  I loved watching them on stage as they sang and danced their hearts out.  They have been practicing so hard in order to make the evening such a success.  

 

In addition to all the work learning songs and dances, the kids have been hard at work finishing up their non-fiction narratives.  They spent time with Mr. Gabe in his professional recording studio completing the audio part of our book.  They loved getting to have this experience and their recordings are amazing!  They put so much effort into reading with expression and flency and their hard work really paid off.  We can't wait to reveal our audio book to you at exhibition!

 

In preparation for exhibition, we also paid a visit to the high school.  We were able to see our buddies getting ready for their exhibition, learn more about their project, and offer them some feedback . The students always love getting to spend time with the high schoolers but really enjoyed seeing their work.  The high school students even showed our students how to print on t-shirts!  I hope your family is able to make time to go and see other exhibitions next week at Semana Del Sol!

 

March 6, 2015

Last Wednesday, our class was part of our school wide community meeting. The meeting focused on our efforts in improving our trash and recycling habits at HTe. Our students presented information from our most recent trash/waste audit to show that we've made some improvements and that we need to continue to be conscientious and work together towards the goal of keeping our school and Earth clean. Following our meeting, the entire school did our first ever campus clean up! Each grade level adopted an area and picked up trash and recyclable items to properly dispose of them. Our students are motivated in making a difference and we hope to continue to see them take positive actions!

 

Our students have moved onto the next part of the illustration process. After many critique sessions and revisions, they had a bear outline that they felt proud of and were able to move onto adding in details such as claws, fur and facial features. Then, the next step was to blend colors to match the color of their bear's fur in order to look realistic. After this work was done, students participated in a gallery walk to celebrate one another's work and give some feedback and critique. Now, we are working on our final drafts!

 

Students have also listened to many examples of audio stories in order to gain an understanding of what makes a strong reading. They identified things such as, using a strong and loud voice, using punctuation to guide expression, reading smoothly, and fluctuation in voice. We used this discussion to co-create a rubric to use as students practice reading their own stories. Soon, students will get to record their stories with the help of Mr. Gabe and his professional equipment, space and expertise!

 

February 20, 2015

The past couple of weeks have been filled with writing!  The kids have been working extremely hard to write complete drafts of their bear stories.  Once their first draft were complete, the students typed their entire story on a laptop. They always enjoy the opportunity to work on laptops and worked hard to get their story typed. With our stories typed, it was time to revise and edit.  The students checked to make sure the story made sense, there was correct punctuation and capital letters.  Finally, the 11th graders came to read the stories one more time with the second graders to check for any last changes.  The stories are really beautifully crafted and show a lot of growth of the students as writers.  We can't wait to show our final products to you at exhibition!

 

In addition to all the writing students are doing, we have also begun working on the art piece that will accompany the story.  The students are working to draw a realistic picture of the bear they are studying.  We are currently working on prefecting the outline of the bear before adding in the details and fur.  With the help of critique the students have already created some amazing work!

 

Along with all this project work, the second graders have also been very engaged in math learning more about repeated addition.  We have learned this by building small "buildings" with cubes. The students are learning about patterns and also coming up with muliple ways to solve these problems.  We are setting the ground work to learn more about multiplication in third grade.  

 

February 6, 2015

Over the past two weeks, our students have been becoming bear experts!  The five types that our students are studying are sun bears, black bears, panda bears, grizzly bears, and polar bears.  Each group spent last week researching and taking notes on topics such as how the bear looks, where it lives, how it grows and changes and also on the habitat that it lives in.  We also watched videos and observed photos in order to gain more information.  In order to keep track of the facts that the students were learning, each group kept a large chart which tracked the new information learned as well as wonderings.  

 

With the information learned, our students have begun to write their non fiction narrative about their specific bear.  The hope is that our students will include true facts about their bear while writing in an interesting way.  The main thing our students are trying out is how to stretch out their writing.  This basically means that they need to show rather than tell.  Adding details that engage the reader and paint pictures in the reader's mind are just a couple of ways our students are showing rather than telling. Currently we are all working on our first drafts and they are looking great!

 

We also heard from some fourth graders who helped us learn more about recycling.  We are realizing that we need to help keep our school clean by making sure that we are throwing away our trash properly.  It was fun to see the students sort trash and learn about how recycling works. 

January 23, 2015

Our students had a blast on last Thursday's field trip to the San Diego Zoo! My deep appreciation goes out to all the parents who chaperoned and contributed to the success of our project launch. The first part of the day was dedicated to an animal scavenger hunt. It required students to solve riddles and get clues in the form of letters that would help them determind what type of animal we would be studying in our next project. After finding out that we would be studying "Bears" our students had the rest of the day to observe and learn about bears by visiting those exhibits. When we returned to school at the end of the day, our students were proud to show off the notes and drawings they had made throughout the day. It was such a fun day seeing the student's excitement and enthusiasm about our next project. Go team BEARS!

 

Upon returning to school, we spent some time thinking about our hopes and dreams for this project by completing a compass activity.  It was really interesting to learn about what the students were excited about learning and also their suggestions.  They always have such wonderful ideas!  Next the students picked which bear they would most like to learn about and dove into the research.  I have loved watching them learn about what the bears look like, eat, and how they grow and change.  It if fun to see them work together to read non-fiction books.  Soon we will begin writing our non-fiction narratives about their bears which will all be put into an audio book.  

January 9,2015

Welcome back families!  We ended our trimester brainstorming ideas for our next project! Students had some great ideas about what essential questions they would like to study.  Some of the questions were:  How are computers made?  How do you make a skateboard?  Where did words come from?  How do you make shoes?  Why do some animals eat other animals?  We also thought about what types of products we would like to make.  Things like furniture, robots, dishes, cars, video games and books were some of the many.  It was great to hear what types of things the students were thinking about and interested in.  Next week, we will launch our second project of the year!  Stay tuned to see what it is!

 

This week has been filled with a lot of reading, writing and math practice.  Our students have been focusing on using a variety of problem solving stratgies, so that they can experiement with ones that work well for them and are more efficient.  Many students have been giving new strategies to try and its great to see that light bulb go off in their heads when they discover a new way!  The students also spent some time this week writing welcome letters to Ms. Lopaz.  They are all very excited to get to know her and wrote very kind and thoughtful friendly letters.  

 

Our students have also started to work more specifically on our sight words through different activites and games during word work.  During this time our students can use magnetic letters, wikki stix, white boards, stamps and a variety of writing strategies in order to practice their sight words in a fun way.  They are truly enjoying it!

December 5, 2014

The students have been busy the past couple of weeks finishing up their stories and getting ready for MakerPlace.  After Thanksgiving break, the students edited and revised the story that they have created about their toy.  They needed to revise for essential elements like setting, problem, and solution and make sure the story was clear for the reader.  The students also had to edit their stories to add missing punctuation and correct the spelling of word wall words.  After this difficult work, students needed to type their stories.  Although this was a lengthly process, the kids enjoyed using laptops and seeing their work on the screen.  With the words of our stories complete, the students began to work on the illustrations.  They reread the beginning, middle, and end of their stories and created "snapshots" in their heads in order to imagine the image before drawing it.  The pictures and stories they have created are beautiful and we can't wait to put everything in the books for their buddies!

 

In addition to lots of project work, the students have been working hard in math where the focus has been geometry.  We have learned how to identify 2D and 3D shapes, count the number of faces, and how to identify a right angle.  The students have enjoyed this exploration and love pointing out shapes around school.  We are currently shifting our focus back to addition and practicing to add strings of numbers together.  It is fun for me to watch them grow as mathmaticians and develop more ways to solve problems!

 

Everyone is looking forward to exhibition on December 17th where we will be able to showcase our toys and stories before we give them to the preschool buddies on December 18th.  

 

 

November 14, 2014

By now, each toy group has finished their prototype of their toy and had an opportunity to critique it.  They made decisions on what to keep and what to change.  It has been amazing to see their little minds at work!  I am so excited to see how this will improve their final product!  

 

We have also spent some time looking  at the three stories that the students have already written.  The students considered which story had the strongest problem and solution and picked  one story that they thought they could strengthen in the coming weeks.  Our students will be working on one story and will go through the writing process in attempts to create an interesting story for their preschool buddies.

 

In the past week we have shifted our focus in math and have been looking at three dimentional shapes.  The students have been describing, building and drawing these shapes and it has been super fun!  They have been improving on using their math vocabulary words in order to describe each of the 3D shapes.

 

October 16, 2014

The second graders have been working hard on their project "Toy Story".  They each chose a type of toy they would like to make and are working to either design a toy on wheels, stuffed animal, or block puzzle.  Each group has created a rubric to help them with their toy design.  They have been working on their first drafts of outlines for their toys.  The students have worked together to critique their outlines and redraft them in order to improve them. We are looking forward to making our first prototype with either cardboard or fabric.  

 

Last week, we also had the opportunity to visit Mi Escuelita preschool again.  We took a schoolbus on the field trip and the students LOVED riding the bus.  At the preschool both the second graders and the preschoolers felt more confident during this visit.  It was fun to watch the preschoolers begin to open up more to our students and share more about the type of toy they are hoping to receive.  The second graders made play-dough to take with them and everyone enjoyed building and playing together.  

 

In addition to thinking about how to design a toy, the students have also been learning about the elements of a story.  We have read many stories about toys that come to life.  The kids have completed a story map about each story to identify the setting, problem, and solution.  This knowledge will help the students write their own story about the toy that they make.  The students have put so much thought and love into their toy designs that I know their buddies are really going to love the final product!

 

 

October 3, 2014

The second graders have had an exciting couple of weeks since we have started our new project Toy Story!  Last Friday, the students left a toy at school over the weekend. On Monday morning, the students were surprised to come to school and learn that the toys were all over the classroom "pretending to be second graders."  The toys were reading our books, playing with the cubes and magnetic letters and really made a mess of the classroom. We thought this was quite magical and it made us wonder, "What is the magic of toys?" We will be thinking and exploring this question throughout the project.  The students also learned that they would be designing, building, and making a toy for a preschooler and also writing a story about that toy.  

 

Before we could start designing our toys, we needed to learn more about the preschoolers who would receive these toys.  The second graders were able to visit the preschool and interview their buddy to learn more about their likes and dislikes.  We used the information we gathered to make tally charts and pictographs to find trends throughout the preschoolers.  Next, we looked at examples of preschool toys to learn about what makes a toy appropriate for that age child.  The students said the toys needs to be safe and study while also helping them learn or comforting them.  After that, the second graders chose either a toy on wheels, block puzzle, or stuffed animal to make for their buddy.  They have begun to study the type of toy they are making in more depth to figure out how to make it themselves.  All the students are so excited to begin to prototype their toys!

 

September 19, 2014

The second graders have been hard at work the past couple of weeks!  They worked hard to learn the parts of a friendly letter, draft a letter, revise and edit the letter with the help of our 11th grade buddies, and write a final draft of it.  The second graders have also worked to learn how to make different types of friendship bracelets.  After making a couple different bracelets, they chose the one they thought their secret buddy would like most. Then last Friday, we had our secret buddy reveal. The students were all so excited to learn who their secret buddy was but also share the letter and bracelet they made for another student.  Each student stood in front of the class, shared one great thing about their buddy and then gave them the letter and bracelet.  It was really fun to see all the smiles and hugs as they read the kind words that were written.   

 

In addition to doing amazing project work, the students have also been busy learning new Math games.  We are learned "collect 25" and "Plus 1 or 2 Bingo".  Please use these links to continue playing these games at home.  

 

We are all excited to start our new project next week!

 

September 5, 2014

The first two weeks of second grade have been full of excitment!  We have spent a lot of time getting to know one another.  The students have done various team building activities to learn about how friends work together.  After each activity, the students reflected about the types of behavior they noticed in their friends.  They talked about how friends trust one another, they listen to eachother's ideas, they use nice works, and they work together and never give up.  For the next part of the project, each second grader chose a "secret buddy" to get to know more.  They learned more about their "secret buddy" through a bingo activity and also a fun starburst activity.  They are currently taking notes about their buddy and will use the infomation they gather to write a friendly letter.  The second graders have also formed a friendship with an 11th grader and worked with them to make friendship bracelets for their "secret buddy".  The students are excited to reveal who their "secret buddy" is and give them their bracelet on Friday September 19.  

 

In addition to all of these activities, the second graders have also been busy building their stamina while reading independently, working in math groups to begin learning more about addition, writing in their reflection journals, and so much more.  I can already tell that this year is going to be full of exciting adventures!

 

 

To learn more about the types of things we do in second grade at HTe please check out "Bright Spots" from past years.  

 

2013-2014 Bright Spots

2012-2013 Bright Spots

2011-2012 Bright Spots