What teachers do during the summer...

While we miss our students during summer vacation, we do have extra time to spend with our own children. This summer Mrs. Metzger and Missy found an awesome bookstore! Missy picked books from the teen fiction section while Mrs. Metzger loaded up on third grade chapter books for the class.

 

Sarah and Joey enjoyed camping in the Georgia mountains. 

 

 

 Mrs. Metzger and Mrs. Morris went on a "road trip" to Atlanta, Georgia.  While there, we found a restaurant called The Varsity that serves delicious cheeseburgers and french fries.

 

Mrs. Morris felt right at home because some of the seats in the restaurant were actually school desks!  

 

 Soon we will be cleaning and organizing the classroom to get ready for our third graders!  

Second Grade Comes to a Close

It's hard to believe 180 days are up! We've had a GREAT year together growing, learning, and enjoying school life. This last week has been filled with friendship and fun. We've played games, had a talent show, learned about each other through show and tell, and capped it all off with field day! Field Day Fun on PhotoPeach

Hot Dog - Now We're Cookin'

As we study energy in science, we decided to put the sun's energy to work for us.  We constructed solar ovens from simple shoe boxes and foil.  We picked a bright, sunny day to "bake" our hot dogs for about 1 1/2 hours.  Then.... mmmm.... LUNCH!

Hot Dog - now we're cookin! on PhotoPeach

Twins, Twins, and more Twins

In our class this year, we have three sets of twin boys. Two sets are identical and one set is fraternal. We thought it would be interesting to hear what these boys have to say about being a twin.

Our identical twins look exactly alike.  It's almost like a mirror showing a line of symmetry.  Although they may look alike, they have different interests and tastes.  Dressing alike is okay for picture day but not for everyday.  As babies, dressing alike was an everyday event.  Now, they have their own tastes in clothes.  Shoes, while the may be the same size, are not shared!  One way to tell them apart is by adding a letter to the inside.  LOL
Our fraternal twins, on the other hand, do not dress alike or share clothing.  They have completely different personalities.  They also have different interests, such as favorite authors (one likes Psuedonmonus Bosch and Orson Scott Card and the other brother likes Rick Riordan and Dan Gutman).
The best thing thing about having a twin brother is always having someone to play with.  It's also fun to play tricks on your friends - if  you're identical!

Field trip fun to Sally Corporation in downtown Jacksonville

What a wonderful day downtown learning about a local robotics business that creates dark rides for amusement park fun!  Add to it, lunch in Hemming Plaza, a ride on the Skyway, a peek into City Hall, and a read aloud in the children's room of the Public Library and you have an awesome day!!

Field Trip to Sally Corporation on PhotoPeach For more information, visit their website. http://sallycorp.com/

Fairy Tale Characters

We are in the middle of unit seven of Lucy Calkins e-book for the Reading Workshop Grade 2.

In our classroom, we are reading classic and fractured fairy tales - paying close attention to the cast of characters we meet!

We've noticed some character traits that seem to fit into most of our stories.

We chose some words that describe our character traits.  

 The boys and girls chose a book and worked in a small reading group to determine what part the characters played.  They looked for text evidence to support their opinions.

Just for fun, we self assessed our own character traits and wrote them on post-it notes for our Jot Lot. 

I have... Who has?

We play this fun fluency math game in our class called I have... Who has?  Each student gets a card and looks at the number on the card.  One card reads, "I have the first card.  Who has...?"  Each child needs to think about the question and decide if their card holds the answer.  If it does they read their card out loud.  We have many sets of cards that allow us to practice ten more than/ten less than/ one hundred more than/one hundred less than/ etc.  To make it really challenging, sometimes we time ourselves and see if we can go faster and beat our time!