It's December in Our Town!

Yes, it's that time of the year when we learn about all of the holidays people celebrate in December.  What a better way to learn than by singing and dancing?  Here's a glimpse of our second grade play, performed on December 10th.

Our Holiday Play on PhotoPeach

From Garden to Table

Last week we harvested some sweet potatoes and today we got to eat them.  Many of the potatoes we dug up were purple and so... the sweet potato pie was PURPLE!  It tasted great!

Harvesting Sweet Potatoes

Getting ready to clear the vines.

Pulling up vines and putting them in the compost pile.

Digging for potatoes.

Showing off our prizes.

About 15 pounds of potatoes!

Pumpkin Math

On the last day of October we carved six pumpkins. Yes, we did carve faces into them and yes, we did use candles to light them up but our lesson was much more interesting than just that. First we did some estimating. How heavy was our pumpkin? How many seeds did it hold? What was the circumference? Then we actually measured to find the answers to our questions. After writing our conclusions, we carved faces and lit them up.

Estimating

Scooping seeds out

Sorting the seeds

Finished project

Catty Shack Field Trip

We had a WILD time on our field trip to the Catty Shack. It was interesting to see such BIG cats up close. The roar of the tiger gave us all shivers! Visit their website for more information. www.cattyshack.org Our field trip to the Catty Shack on PhotoPeach

Patricia Polacco Author Study

In our school we start each year with a vertical author study on Patricia Polacco.  We all begin with her auto-biography, Firetalking.  Each grade level has chosen to read five or six books containing the appropriate content for that age of children.  In second grade, we watch the Reading Rockets video visit and enjoy reading Thundercake, Rechenka's Eggs, Natasha's Doll, Thank You Mr. Falker, and There's Something About Hensley's.  This week we concluded our study with a webquest.  In groups of four, the students searched three wesites for information about our author.  When all of the questions were answered, the children created a poster to share what they've learned.  Our last activity was to write Patricia Polacco a letter telling her what our favorite book of hers is and why, giving her a compliment, asking her a question, and pointing out something we've noticed about her work. At this point we consider her a friend and feel as if we know her.

Patricia Polacco Author Study on PhotoPeach

Picture Day

Today we looked our very best and waited anxiously to be called downstairs to have our pictures taken.  These photos will be in our school yearbook and perhaps twenty years from now will resurface in some form of social media bringing back memories of our childhood and elementary school days.  Say Cheese!