Saturday, November 3, 2018

Our Curious George Literacy Pumpkin


It'a that time year again... FALL! Hayrides, corn mazes. Halloween... and literacy pumpkins. This year we chose to decorate our literacy pumpkin as Curious George. We used the book, "Follow That Hat!", as our inspiration, as well as my little stuffed Curious George. I borrowed the hat from my stuffed George to put over the pumpkin stem, and set the painted pumpkin on top of a glass container. I also lined the inside of the glass container with a piece of red paper that read, Curious George, in yellow letters (it was supposed to look like his shirt).

I think that it turned out really cute. My class loved it and they were so proud to have it on display in our school library. I must say, this is probably my most favorite pumpkin I have made with my classes so far... I mean, who doesn't love Curious George?


Monday, October 29, 2018

Red Ribbon Week 2018


WHAT A FUN WEEK!!  

Our PTA at Crown Point is the absolute and total best! They did a most excellent job at showcasing Red Ribbon Week and bringing the drug free campaign to Crown Point.

We had "be on the right team" day and got to wear a t-shirt to support our favorite NFL team. I chose to show some love for Texas and my daddy and wore my Dallas Cowboys t-shirt...


We also had NERD DAY... because we are too smart to do drugs! I had a little too much fun dressing up as a nerd for my kiddos...


On Friday it was time to show our school pride and wear a Crown Point Elementary t-shirt. I was sporting my Crown Point Leadership shirt to show my Panther Pride...


... and as if all the themed days were not fun enough, we also got to decorate our doors for a little friendly competition between the grade levels. This year's theme for Red Ribbon Week was, "Life is a journey... travel drug free". This theme was a little tricky, but I decided to go with an alien decor and had each of the students sign their drug free pledge...


Turns out, our alien door decor was a total success... we won the door contest!!



A special THANK YOU to our PTA for all their hard work to make this week SUPER amazing!



Sunday, October 14, 2018

States of Matter Cotton Ball Experiment

We started off our week exploring the different states of matter... solid, liquid, and gas. During our science lab, I filled Ziploc bags with a solid object (toy car), a liquid (water) and a gas (air). We talked about how a solid object keeps its shape, a liquid takes the shape of its container, and a gas fills the space it is in. We passed the bags around and the students got to feel each of he bags, compare each of the states of matter, and turn and talk about the properties of matter they were exploring and observing.


As we continued our exploration on the different states of matter, I decided to let the students have some fun with this cotton ball experiment.

First, we filled one glass to the tippy-top with water, and filled another glass to the tippy-top with 30 cotton balls. Next, we made a prediction of how many cotton balls we could put in the glass of water before the water would begin to spill over the top of the glass. To show the students how easily the water could be displaced, I filled a smaller cup with water and put my fingers in it while the students watched the water spill over the top. After careful consideration, the class decided that we would only be able to put 8 cotton balls in the glass before the water would spill over.


Then the fun started... as I placed each cotton ball in the glass, the students started counting. It was so awesome to hear the disbelief in their voices as they got closer and closer to using all 30 cotton balls. When we put the 30th cotton ball in the glass, I swear I thought that our principal was going to come down to my classroom to see what all the screaming was about... lol! The students could not believe their eyes! All 30 cotton balls were in the glass of water and it never spilled over!


While we were putting the cotton balls in the glass, I made a quick video of our observations. The students got to observe that as the cotton ball was going in the water, air bubbles were coming up out of the water. The water was taking the place of the air that was in the cotton balls. We were then able to conclude that because the cotton balls were made mostly of air, and the air was being replaced by the water, that is why we were able to put all 30 cotton balls in the glass without having any water spill over.


To add a little visual learning to this experiment, I took a cup and filled it with toy dinosaurs. Then I slowly poured the water left in the cup I used to show the students how water gets displaced into the cup of dinosaur toys. The students watched the water fill all the spaces of air in between the dinosaurs. I heard about a dozen students say, "I get it now, Mrs. Kearson"... it was AHH-SOME!!


No dinosaurs were harmed while conducting this experiment... LOL!


Sunday, September 9, 2018

KWL Chart - Asia


Friday we started our module on Ancient Asian Civilizations. To introduce this module, I did a KWL chart with each of my classes. What is a KWL chart you ask? Well, KWL is an acronym for the following...

K = What I KNOW
W = What I WANT to know
L = What I LEARNED

It was really fun to see just how similar and different my two classes were. Some of their responses for what they already knew about Asia where too funny. Especially when one of my students said, "Mrs. Kearson, I know that all of the things we buy are made in China... China makes all our stuff for us". I also loved how my homeroom class wanted to know if Asia had beaches. Adorable!

Here are the KWL charts I made with each of my classes.



Once we finished our whole group KWL chart, the students wrote out three things on their own KWL chart that they already knew and wanted to know. After we have read several of our stories on Ancient Asian Civilizations, we will add what we learned. FUN!









Sunday, August 26, 2018

ABC Easy As 123


This is a fun way to practice and master our alphabetizing skills during centers. The students use the ABC worksheet and Saxon alphabet strip (both pictured below) to alphabetize the weekly Saxon spelling words.

For this center, the students look at each letter on the alphabet strip beginning with "A" to see if there is a word on the spelling list that begins with that letter. The students then move on to the next letter in the alphabet, and so on until all 20 words are used. This is a great beginning strategy for the students to use when alphabetizing. 

As the students work on this center with each week's Saxon vocabulary, the need for the alphabet strip becomes less and less, and the students are able to show mastery of this skill. I really like that they work on this in small groups and share their thinking with each other, rather than just copying what is modeled by me in a whole group lesson.




Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Meaningful Sentences


Next week we begin using our Saxon Phonics vocabulary words to write meaningful sentences in our ELA centers, as well as for homework. 

SO... What is a meaningful sentence you ask? A meaningful sentence is a sentence that has value to the reader. A meaningful sentence needs to make sense, begin with capitalization, and end with punctuation. A meaningful sentence should also paint a picture for the reader by using describing words, or adjectives, to give details. An example of a meaningful sentence is on the Weekly Homework sheet. I have also created a Homework Rubric to make sure your child knows what goals to reach with the homework writing.



Both the Weekly Homework sheet and the Homework Rubric will always be posted in the Newsletter tab of the blog for your reference and convenience.

Here is the Meaningful Sentences worksheet we will be using in centers. At the bottom is a writing rubric to check off and help your child to ensure that the sentences are meaningful.


Thank you for all you do to ensure your child's academic successes in second grade!


Sunday, August 19, 2018

Welcome, Welcome, Welcome!!

WELCOME CROWN POINT FAMILIES!

This 2018-19 school year is going to be amazing! I am so excited to be sharing this second grade school year with your little ones. If you were not able to attend our Meet the Teacher Orientation on August 10th, here is the school supply list for second grade. Thank you to all my families that already sent in school supplies, and thank you in advance to those of you sending supplies this week. All of your generous donations are GREATLY appreciated.