Adjective Me Cartoons

In writing, we have been learning how to make our sentences and stories more interesting by adding describing words.  To help us practice, we made "Adjective Me" cartoons.  Everyone had to think of six words to describe themselves and then make a cartoon.  They turned out pretty awesome!

Persons and Places and Things, OH MY!

We have been concentrating a lot on nouns lately!  We are trying to spot them in our reading and use nouns more often in our writing.  For our first day of learning about what nouns are, we read a few great books.  Together, we made a list and categorized almost 40 nouns!

On our second day of nouns, we went on a noun scavenger hunt!  Before beginning, eveyone needed the necessary supplies: clipboard, pencil, and worksheet.  There were about 25 nouns hidden around the room we had to find and record.  Because everyone was concentrating and working hard, our room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop!  We had a lot of fun and now can recognize and categorize nouns on our own!

Fun Run!

We were very lucky the rain held off today, so McDole's Fun Run could still take place!  We were bursting with excitement all morning, since our scheduled time wasn't until the afternoon! Here are some pictures of all the fun we had...

Check back in next week to see how many miles we ran and how many miles McDole ran altogether!

Celebration Time!

While we have a clip chart for individual behaviors, we also have a classroom incentive plan.  Every time our class works together, is caught doing something positive, earns a 5 in specials, or receives a compliment from a teacher, we earn a link.  The links are connected to our poem which then makes a chain.  When the link chain finally reaches the floor, we are rewarded with a special celebration!

After four weeks of being in school, our link chain already reached the floor yesterday!  We took a class vote of how to celebrate and "Fluffy Friend Day" won.  So today, our room was filled with cute, colorful, and fluffy stuffed animals!

Wordless Picture Books

Wordless picture books were our focus this week.  We discussed how pictures can tell just as many details as words can, if not more! We read Chalk by Bill Thomson.  The first time we read it, we just did a picture walk; no talking, only looking at each page.  Everyone was using their imaginations to create a story from the pictures.  The second time, we took turns sharing what we thought the words should be.  We were all very patient while listening and learned how creative some of our classmates are!  By the end, we had created a complete story.

The next day we split into groups , with each group receiving a different wordless picture book.  Here are the different books we read...

Every group had to read the book two times, just as we had in class.  First, everyone looked very carefully at the pictures.  Then, groups went back and added in their ideas for words.  Once this was done, each group member had to pick their favorite page.  We then used an app, Educreations, to make a slideshow of our favorite pages.  We typed the words we thought should be on the page too.  The slideshows turned out great and we even recorded our voices reading the words!

From Chrysalis to Monarch!

One of our activities during reader's workshop is the observation table.  Each week there is something new and exciting for us to observe, wonder, and learn about.  Whether it is with books or technology, we have many resources to use.  But before beginning our research, we just sit, observe, and wonder.  All of our questions get written down on sticky notes and posted to our Wonder Board.  The new facts we learn are posted to the learning side of the board.

The past two weeks have been very exciting at the observation table, because we have been watching a chrysalis transform to a butterfly!  Since it takes about two weeks for the butterfly to hatch, we were able to learn A LOT of monarchs!  

After what seemed like a VERY long two weeks, we arrived at school Friday morning to find a beautiful monarch butterfly!  All of our research and learning had come to life!  Our classroom was filled with excitement and awe.

While we were bursting to go outside and let our monarch free, we learned how important it is to wait until their wings are dry enough to fly.  After math class ended, we decided it was time.  We went out into the grass and waited patiently for our butterfly to take its first flight!

Meet Room 119

Meet our smart, funny, kind, smiley, eager, helpful family of room 119!

Launching Writer's Workshop

The last several days have been busy with the launching of writer's workshop!  Over the course of the year, we will learn how to write personal narratives, opinion pieces, and informational writing.  We start the year with personal narratives because, well, we know LOTS of great stories about ourselves!  To help us start thinking of ideas, we read My Map Book.  It has many pictures and words of everything that is special to the main character. 

After reading the book, everyone received their own 'Me Map' where they wrote or sketched people, places, or things that are  very near and dear to their heart.  

L.S. and E.F. have their 'Me Maps' displayed in their writing binders.

Once we finished our 'Me Maps', we couldn't wait to start writing!  But we still had more learning to do.  To gain a better understanding of personal narratives, we read Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.  We really liked how many details the author gave us and how the main character, Alexander, told us his feelings!  We made chart to help us remember what to include in our own personal narratives.

Helpful charts and tips like this have a special spot in our writing binder. Our binder also has our finished and unfinished work.  So that we feel like true authors, there is all different kinds of paper for our writing.  Many of us like to write in the small books.  Take a look at these second graders working so hard on their personal narratives! 

Stay tuned for more great things we are working on in Writer's Workshop!