Fresh from the Garden

Earlier this week we harvested the carrots that we planted in October.  We planted the traditional orange variety and also some multicolored carrots.  We've been patiently waiting as they grow in the garden behind our school.  It was easy to pull them out from the sandy Florida soil.  We had orange, yellow, and purple carrots.  The teachers washed them, peeled and cut them, and then served them to the children with a side of ranch dressing.  Some things that surprised us: when you peel the purple carrots, they are orange inside and all colors of carrots taste like... carrots!

 Soon after we planted them.

 Our harvest.

 Who knew carrots came in so many colors?

 It turns out, when you peel the purple ones, they are orange inside!

Mmmmmmm.  Fresh and delicious!

Our Fund Run

Fund Run on PhotoPeach
Today we participated in our biggest fund raiser of the year... The Fund Run!  All week students have been gathering pledges and collecting prizes.  Today was the day to run those laps.  Up to 36 - two miles!!!  We are so proud of our kiddos.  They ran together and had a blast with dance music keeping us all motivated.  Here's a peek into our day.

A Whole New... Point of View

I am participating in a book study conducted by our reading coach, Melanie Holtsman.  We are reading and discussing the book Falling in Love With Close Reading by Chris Lehman and Kate Roberts.  

 Every Thursday we gather in the media center.  We discuss one chapter at a time.  Melanie always has an interactive lesson for us to participate in.  We usually have homework.  :-)

 This past week we read chapter 5, A Study of Point of View and Argument.  As I read through the information I asked myself, how would this look in a second grade class?  It seemed as if all the examples and student work were from middle school.

 Luckily our coach anticipated my confusion.  First we practiced using this lens as an adult by viewing a news broadcast and then a commercial.  We identified ideas vs. techniques.  Then we brainstormed ways to use this point of view lens in the primary grades.  One of our other second grade teachers was way ahead of me and recognized that our next common second grade Text Talk book, The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry, would be PERFECT!

 I read this book to the class for the first time last week so the kids were already familiar with the story and it's message. We specifically looked for examples of ideas and how the author conveyed them to the reader.  We also looked for techniques she used to get her point across.  By the end of the lesson, Lynne Cherry had convinced all 35 of our second graders that the rain forest must be saved! We could clearly see her purpose for writing this book and the effect it had on us as readers.

Catapult!!!

For our second scientific experiment, we designed a catapult to launch a ping pong ball and cotton ball.  

As scientists, we asked the question - Which would travel farther?  

Again, we wrote up our materials and procedure page, make a hypothesis, and conduct the experiment 

three times - recording our results each time. 

   After our conclusions were published and discussed, we asked the question...

                                                                 Time to get to work!

Informational Writing via Lucy Calkins

We began our new unit of study by Lucy Calkins, Grade 2 Information: Lab Reports and Science Books.  Our students designed and conducted a force and motion experiment using ramps.  

Each child gets a 5 page packet and a writing partner.  They create a hypothesis by asking a question starting with, "I wonder what would happen if..." Then they list the materials they will need and the steps (procedures) they will follow.  On the next two pages they write their predictions (hypothesis) of what will happen.  The classroom is filled with energy and excitement during the writers' workshop where the children conduct their experiments.  Some of our students wondered if the height of the ramp would matter - 6 inches vs. 12 inches.  Others predicted that a small car would roll farther than a linker cube.  To gather accurate results, they tested each experiment three times and recorded their data.  Finally, the last page in the report documents the results and if the student's prediction was correct (conclusion).  

In our classroom, we only had one plastic toy ramp and several small toy cars, but our clever kids created ramps using big books, white boards, clipboards. and paper towel rolls.  

Stay tuned for the next bend in the unit when we will be creating catapults to launch cotton balls!