Check It Out

     Good evening everyone!  If you can, check out Mrs. Robinson's Blog.   Proud Panther visited London, England!  He was able to see some very interesting sights.  She took some wonderful pictures with him.  Try Google Earth to see if you can spot the places she went.  Thank you Mrs. Robinson and we look forward to seeing more of your adventures.

Spring Break Fun

Reading Links:

Study Zone -  This site contains contains links to many activities that reinforce 2nd grade skills.

Battleship - This is a game that helps with inference.  You have the opportunity to play Battleship and practice a reading strategy all at the same time.

Math Links:

Library of Virtual Manipulatives - Practice your shapes, fractions, measurement and much more.

Measure It - Practice measuring on Funbrain.

Know It All - A 2nd grade measurement practice site.

Science Links:

Harcourt States of Matter - This site was designed to help you visualize the states of matter.

Fun Links:

Funbrain

Yahooligans

Have a nice break and don't forget about your Cereal Box Book Reports.  Happy reading :)

The Dice Jar

     Well, the class finally filled the dice jar this past week.  The dice jar is the class compliment jar.  Every time the dice jar is filled, the students earn a prize as a class.  The first prize was an ice cream "social".  We do not have "parties" in school.  We have "socials."  This past prize was pizza and a movie.  They really seemed to enjoy that. 

       The next prize will be a day of games.  I have GOBS of learning games in the classroom that the children will be able to use.  Hopefully, they will be able to earn this final prize before the school year is out.  Well, I am off to find some activities that the students can do over spring break.  Good night!

Food Webs

Here is another short video to help you understand what a food web is. If you have a moment, please check it out. Thanks for stopping by and happy learning!

Verbs

Here is a short video to help you remember what a verb is. If you have a moment, check it out.

Happy Easter!

Happy National Chocolate Caramel Day

To celebrate National Chocolate Caramel Day, the students tested various choclates with caramel in them. They created a web to describe the candy they each ate. Then, using a Venn Diagram, the students paired up and compared their candies. Finally, the class then created a PowerPoint presentation detailing the results. Their presentation will be posted on their blog. For now, I am including a video detailing how chocolate is made.

Math Study Guides

Our Lucky Charms Adventure

Happy St. Patrick's Day

     Our class would like to wish everyone a Happy St. Patrick’s Day. We had an enjoyable day today. For reading, we took notes on cause and effect. The students watched a PowerPoint presentation on the topic. This is the same PowerPoint that you will find on our class blog. Afterwards, the students paired up and read a short passage. They then discussed any cause and effect events they found within the story.  

    We had a wonderful time while completing our math assignment. We participated in a project sponsored by TechnospudProject. We divided a 14 ounce box of Lucky Charms evenly among the class so each student had their own baggie full of cereal.  The students were then responsible for tallying and graphing their marshmallows based on shape.   The class hypothesized that the rainbow shape would be the most popular.  

     It turned out that the clover was the most popular shape.  Our box had a total of 72 clover marshmallows.   We discovered that our box only had 29 star shaped marshmallows.  We did have fun counting those marshmallows though.  

     We also read another wonderful text by Gail Gibbons called St. Patrick's Day.  We discovered quite a bit about the day from the text.  For example, did you know that the harp was used as a decoration for St. Patrick's Day?  We also discovered that St. Patrick's real name may have been Maewyn.  It was really a good book.

     Finally, we worked on a St. Patrick's Day word-search, fine tuned some of our writing pieces, went over the new reading vocabulary, and reviewed the newsletter.  Be sure to look for the hidden message in the newsletter.  Have a Happy St. Patrick's Day!

How do YOU eat an Oreo?

     We have been concluding our procedural writings for the past week.  To help inspire the children, we have been focusing on how to eat an Oreo cookie.  The students were given assorted Oreo cookies and milk to help them complete the task.  If you have a moment, check out their blog for instructions on how to eat an Oreo cookie.  In the meantime, you can also enjoy a short snippet featuring the NFL's Manning brothers.  Enjoy!

Our International Day Questions

Dear Mrs. Rosbinson,

These are our questions for you while you are away in England. These questions are in recognition of International Question Day which is today.
Here are the questions:

Are the students responsible? - Jordan

How big is your school? - Geon

Have you made any friends in England? - Jasper

What does England look like? - Brionna

Is it cold in England? - Brooke

Is it hard teaching the kids? - Shaugnassy

What is it like in England? - Kaylee

Is the class big? - Desirae

How many students are there in your class? - Serina

Does it snow in England? - Matthew

What stage are you teaching? - Justin (and he remembered stage all by himself :)

What do the kids do for fun? - Trevor

Is it fun in England? - Destinee

Have you met the author of Matilda? - Celine

Do kids speak English? - Hunter

Do kids speak any Spanish in England? - Trevor

Do they read about bats? - Justin

Are all the books written the way they talk there? - Brooke

Are the kids nice to you? - Jordan

Do you like England? - Matthew

Have the kids tried the Oreos yet? - Shaugnassy

Do they do fractions there? - Desirae

Do the teachers do the same things that we do here? - Celine

Do they have a playground? - Hunter

Do they have lunch bunch on Friday? - Brionna

We know you can't answer all of the questions now but we are hoping to learn the answers when you return. Thank you, have a nice trip, and Happy Internatiional Question Day!

International Ask a Question Day

     Tomorrow is International Ask a Question Day.  It is rather neat that tomorrow is International Ask a Question Day since Mrs. Robinson will be venturing on her journey to jolly old England.  In honor of her trip and the holiday, the class will be posting questions to her on the blog tomorrow.  Happy asking!

Halves

     Last week, the class began exploring fractions. Using shapes we cut out from the Ellison machine, the students discovered about halves. Here are some snapshots of their findings.

     The students also discovered about symmetry and other fractional amounts using these shapes.  Ask your child about the giant Hershey's Bar.  See if they remember what we learned using the super-sized Hershey's Chocolate Bar.

Cause and Effect

     This week we have been working on cause and effect in reading. We will continue to work on it next week. Cause is something that makes something else happen. Effect is what happens as a result of the cause. When you are trying to determine cause and effect, you need to ask yourself two questions. You ask yourself "Why did it happen?" to determine cause. "What happened?" is what is asked when your are trying to determine the effect.
     Here are some sites that will help you to practice cause and effect.

QUIA Matching - You match the cause to its effect.
Quizzes - It is a multiple choice quiz related to some sample texts.
FCAT Express - This site was designed for 4th grade but still contains good information.

     This is also a PowerPoint that I will be using with the class next week.

     Hopefully, these links and the slideshow above will make cause and effect easier to understand.

Fractions

Old Witch's Magic Nut Cake

     On Friday, our class was lucky enough to have a wonderful treat. Desirae read a Old Witch and the Polka Dot Ribbon. It is an older book that I really did not know much about. It was donated to my class by a teacher that retired several years ago so I added it to my classroom library since that is where I need books most.
     Well, last Wednesday morning I spotted Shaugnassy and Desirae copying something from a book. Upon closer examination, I saw they were copying a recipe from the back of a book. The book, it turns out, was The Old Witch and the Polka Dot Ribbon.

     I was happy to see the children interested in a text, especially an older text like Old Witch. I was also thrilled they were making connections and discussing texts with one another. Desirae and Shaugnassy must have chatted about the text at some point since BOTH were copying the recipe. I am not sure who read the story first but the fact remains, one of them shared the text with the other and a connection was made. This is what makes good readers!
     I thought I would go ahead and share the recipe with you. It is a wonderful and tasty recipe. So next time you are at the library, take a moment to check out Old Witch and the Polka Dot Ribbon by Wende and Harry Devlin. Then, if time allows, try your hand at baking a wonderful cake.

Old Witch's Magic Nut Cake

(Get Mother to help)

3 eggs

1 pound can of pumpkin

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup water

Beat together and then add:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 1/4 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

3/4 teaspoon nutmeg

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup of raisins

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Pour the batter into three buttered one-pound coffee cans and place in teh oven standing up. Bake at 350 degrees for an hour and 15 minutes or until a straw from a witch's broom, inserted into the cake, comes out clean.

Cool the cakes, turn them on their sides and frost with:

4 oz. cream cheese

3 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon lemon juice or vanilla

1/2 box of confectioner's sugar

Sprinkle with chopped walnuts.

Happy baking!

MOSH

     On Thursday, our class was able to visit MOSH: The Museum of Science and History.  We had a fabulous time!  The students saw a wonderful program on the states of matter as well as had the opportunity to tour the museum at their own pace.  We also had a picnic lunch outside.  The weather was beautiful and the kids really enjoyed it. 

      Here are some photos of our trip.  Thanks for stopping by!

Current Links of Interest

     Here are some current links of interest. These links relate to our current areas of study. Please feel free to check them out.

Science

NOAA: The Arctic Theme Page - A neat web site where you can find photos, web cams, maps and so much more.

Arctic Institute of North America - A web site where you can find photos, research stations, and much more on the Arctic.

Scholastic's Iditarod - Scholastic's site devoted to the Iditarod. The Iditarod is a dog sled race across Alaska. Check it out if you have a moment.

The Iditarod - Official site of the race in Alaska. It is going on right now so check it out. Have fun!

Eye on the Trail - The Official Blog of the Iditarod. The Iditarod began today!

ZOOM Rainforest - Information on the rainforest written for kids. There are coloring sheets, quizzes, activities, and much more.

Rainforest Biomes - Here is some information about the rainforest.

Passport to the Rainforest - All sorts of information about the rainforest can be found here.

Math

The Fraction Pizzeria - An interactive site designed for 2nd graders to help them understand fractions.

Crossing the River - A game designed to practice identifying fractions.

National Library of Virtual Manipulatives - Check out this site for help in understanding fractions.

Grammar

Rat's Common and Proper Noun Practice - Here is a neat site to practice common nouns and proper nouns. This is excellent practice to help your child capitalize at the appropriate times.

Proofreading - Here is a great site that will help you to practice proofreading for punctuation and capital letters in your work.

Have fun surfing!