Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! We apologize for missing the blog yesterday. We were so busy finishing up our centers that we forgot to fit it in. The most exciting part about yesterday was our visit to our second grade computer buddies. We used a typing game to learn to use the "home keys" on the keyboard. This game in on the internet. You can find it and use it at home by visiting Mrs. Myers' teacher page and clicking on the links page.

Today our word of the day was "which". It was a rule follower with lots of consonant digraph sounds. It has a homonyn -the word "witch". We practiced the -itch family on a witch's hat. Later in the morning, we finished our October calendar. Check my mail tonight to see what I thought was the best part of the month. After recess, we finished our math centers. We used the giant numberline to add. We used number stamps and pumpkin cards to show the commutative property. We used candy corn and candy corn math mats to add. Last, we used number beanbags to find the sums for different numbers. After lunch and recess, we read the story Shake dem Halloween Bones. It was a great story. It had a song in it, too. We listened to hear all the characters from other stories who were at the Halloween ball. We made great book - to - book connections. We had reading workshop and finished our centers. For Fun Friday, we had a Halloween crossword puzzle and a new story in the listening center. We also worked with a partner to spell words on the big wipe-off board. We also finished the art center. Our q-tip skeletons turned out great! We had fun! After centers, we had writing workshop time. We continued to write in our journals. Mrs. Myers conferenced with us about our "grab the reader" beginnings. They were so great! At the end of writing time, Mrs. Myers shared beginnings by Ian, Thomas, Macy G, Evan, Matthew, and Nicolas. They used questions, something important, onomatopoeia, and quotations to start their stories. YAY! To end our day, we earned a Halloween reward. We had a Halloween dance party as we listened to The Casper Slide. It was so fun. Check out the video and pictures! Happy Halloween to everyone! Have a great time trick-or-treating and be safe!

Almost Halloween

Today our word of the day was "an". It was a rule follower, but it had a funny accent on the "a". We read the words we already wrote on the "can of -an". We learned that the word "an" is just like the word "a", but we use it when the word that follows it in a sentence begins with a vowel. (ex. I will be an alligator for Halloween). After word of the day, we had math. For Halloween math, we used candy corn as the tool to measure the length of objects around our classroom. We discussed how we usually use a ruler, yardstick, or a tape measure to measure length. One candy corn was the same as one inch, so we could still measure in inches, but without a normal measurement tool. First, we worked with a partner to choose an object in the classroom that was less than 12 inches. Next, we drew our object on the recording sheet. Then, we estimated how many candy corns long our object would be. Last, we checked our estimate by measuring using the candy corn. We recorded our information on our recording sheet. It was fun. Let's try it out at home. After lunch and recess, Mr. Seibel came and read a story to our class. It was called, I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat. After the story, we put the events in order using pictures. Then, Mrs. Myers helped us make a retelling bag with the old lady on the front. We retold the story using our props with a partner. I can't wait to retell the story to you tonight. Then it was time for reading workshop and guided reading. At the end of reading time, Madison gave us a book commercial about the book, Spooky Hour. Then, Grace, Elizabeth, Ian, and Ryan performed a reader's theater of the book, Sam's Seasons. We really liked the surprise "WOW" ending. Finally, it was center time. We visited our third center and got to do the first part of the art center. At writing workshop time, we didn't do regular writing today. Instead, we played a game to practice stretching our words. We listened for word family and word of the day words around the room. We also tried to use the sounds on the clothesline like - ar, -am, -oo, and the consonant digraphs sounds - sh, ch, wh, and th. It was a very busy day. We are learning so much! Today is the end of the first marking period. We are so surprised that the time is passing so quickly. Only two more days until Halloween - we can't wait!

A Few Tricks and Treats

Our word of the day today was "use". It was a rule breaker, because the "s" made the sound of "z". We liked the way "magic e" did his job to change "us" into "use". It was not a popular word family. Later in the morning, we went to Mrs. Lauber's class to hear the story, Halloween, by Gail Gibbons. It was a nonfiction story to teach us facts about the history and holiday of Halloween. Before we heard the story, we worked with a partner. We read a new vocabulary card and decided if the word would be in the story or not. During the story, we listened for our word. We stood when we heard it. All of the people who thought their vocabulary word would not be in the story were wrong. Mrs. Myers tricked us. Then, we wrote two new facts about Halloween and one opinion. After recess, Big Shark's Halloween Mystery. We retold the story using a GO map. We practiced telling the when, who, where of the story. We put a star on the problem event and a star on the solution event. Then, we had reading workshop and guided reading. Then, we had centertime. Mrs. Myers introduced our new art center. We are making a skeleton using q-tips for bones. We are so excited. At writing workshop time, we went to Mrs. Lauber's class. Mrs. Myers read us a story that she wrote. It didn't have an ending. We divided into eight groups and each group was assigned a kind of ending. We used a feelings ending, a question ending, a surprise ending, and a something important ending. At the end, we shared our endings and awarded beans to the best ending of each type. We will continue to practice using these new endings for a long time! We finished our day with phys. ed. and Junie B. Jones.

Halloween Week

Our theme this week is Halloween. Our word of the day today was "there". It was a rule breaker, because of the "ere" at the end. This word is a homonyn for the words "their" and the contraction "they're". In math today, we did candy corn estimation. There were 35 candy corn in the jar. Dawson had a perfect estimate. We had other close guesses, too. We had library, lunch, and recess. After recess, Mrs. Myers read the story, The Brave Witch. We listened for contractions in the story. We learned how to pull the contraction into two words and put it back together. A clue that a word is a contraction is to look for the apostrophe. We had reading workshop next and Mrs. Myers read with a group. Then, we had a special visitor. Mr. Carlisle, Abby's dad, came to visit our classroom. He is a dentist, and he came to remind us to brush our teeth twice a day, especially after we get Halloween candy! After our visit, we read the story, The Room on the Broom. We listed words on the -oom broom. We made brooms to read to you at home! Then, it was time for writing workshop. Mrs. Lauber's class joined us. We learned how to write a "WOW" ending. Ask me to show you the "WOW" signal at home tonight. We can end a story using a feelings ending, a surprise ending, telling something important, question, and or a fantasy ending. We will practice this all week! At the end of the day, we had new centers for Halloween. In the games center, we are adding hats and brooms to witches who have contraction shirts. The hat and the broom tell the two words that make the contraction. In the sentence strips centers, we are reading the book, Skeleton Hiccups. Then, we are finding the verbs from the story, circling the root word, and underlining the ending -ed. In the writing center, we are choosing a card from the character pile, the setting pile, and the verb pile. Then, we are making a story using these cards. The last center is the listening center. We are listening to the story, The Spookiest Halloween Ever. We are writing and drawing a text to self connection to the book. We will hear all about the art center tomorrow!

Fall Festival

Today was a fantastic fall festival day! We started the day with a Steven Courtney concert. He was great! Mrs. Myers has almost all of his CD's so we will be listening to him in our classroom, too. If you want to hear his music, his website is in Mrs. Myers links page in the school website. Mrs. Myers' daughter, Madeline and her mom came for the show. We were excited to meet them. After the concert, we went to music class, lunch, and recess. Then, we met with Mrs. Lauber's class to hear the story, The Biggest Pumpkin Ever. It was a really neat story. The events in the story were the same for each character. It was called parallel events. In the middle of the story, the two characters meet and the events come together. After the story, we worked in three groups to sequence each character's events. Then, we retold the story together using our teams. Then, it was time for writing workshop. We stayed with Mrs. Lauber's class and finished our "build-a-story" scarecrow project. Each student wrote an event to the whole story. We are hanging it in the hallway for everyone to see. We also made a book for our classroom library. It is quite a scarecrow adventure for Bob! After that, we had our fun Friday time. A few of us had to finish our centers. The rest of us made a pumpkin on a vine to show the steps of how a pumpkin grows. We will finish our projects on Monday. After recess, we had our fall festival party. Mrs. Rishel, Mrs. Donnor, Mrs. Pressley, Mrs. Bashada, Mrs. Elder, and Mrs. Yancanich threw a great party for us. We made a ghost craft that was really spooky. We heard the story, Pumpkin Soup. We ate some yummy food in the dark and listened to Halloween music. Last, we played fall BINGO. We all won stickers!! It was the best party ever. We also wanted to thank all the parents who donated foods for our party and to Mrs. Bowman for planning the party, even though she wasn't here today. YEAH! FALL!

MOST IMPORTANTLY - Have a great weekend and GO PENN STATE!!!

A Very Busy Day!

We started our day a little mixed up! First, we went to our second grade buddies and did our writing time on the computer. We practiced opening a word document, wrote one fact and one opinion about pumpkins, changed the font and the size, and printed it. We will try to use the computer without our buddy tomorrow at writing time! After recess, we came back for a guest math lesson. Mrs. Mumme, our math coach, came to our classroom to teach us a reasoning lesson. We worked in groups to solve reasoning problems. It was fun. She will be visiting our classroom again soon! After lunch and recess, we came back to the classroom and had word of the day. Our word today was "when". It was a rule follower. It was so popular. We recorded the word family on the "pen of -en". We have to work really hard to spell this word in adult writing, because the "wh" is tricky! Next, it was time for our afternoon story. Mrs. Lauber read the story, Patty's Pumpkin Patch. After the story, we made a personal connection to the story. We could connect it to another story, a movie, or our own lives. We circle the connection on both sides of the paper. We had a short reading workshop. Then, we listened to a pumpkin story, just for fun. It was called Pumpkin Town. It was really funny and had great pictures. At centertime, we went to our fourth center. In the art center, we made the stem and teh leaf on our three dimensional pumpkin project. They are looking great! The last step is tomorrow. We also made a book about how pumpkins grow. Ask me to read it to you when it comes home. At the end of the day, we had art! Remember, tomorrow is Roundtown's Fall Day. Dress in Roundtown clothing or fall attire. We are excited to have our fall party and hear Steven Courtney!

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins

We started our day visiting Our word of the day today was "your". It was a pronoun. The word "your" is a rule breaker, because the "u" does not below with the "or" to say or. It was a popular word family, but there was six different ways to write it. WOW - that is confusing! In math today, we went to three math centers. We finished our packet, and you can see it in our mail tonight. After lunch and recess, Mrs. Myers read the story, The Vanishing Pumpkin. It was a fantasy story. We liked it a lot. After the story, we drew or wrote the story elements - characters, setting -when and where, problem, and solution on a story map. We are working very hard to do neat and careful work. We can earn lots of bean for taking our time! (but not too much :) Then, it was time for reading workshop. After reading workshop, Mrs. Myers read the story, The Pumpkin Patch. It was a great nonfiction story about how a pumpkin grows. The story was full of photographs from a real farm. We learned lots of new facts and saw the steps of how a pumpkin grows. Tomorrow morning, we are going to make our own book about it, to share with you. The day was going by so fast. We went to music and recess and then back to class. Mrs. Myers introduced the new art center. We are making a three dimensional pumpkin. Today we did the first step. We made round, orange balls! We finished our centers for the third day. At the end of the day, Ryan Fahs and Jordan Winkler read a new Junie B. Jones book to us. We finished the day with a "pumpkin hug" from Mrs. Myers!