It has been a busy two weeks in second grade! We have been working hard in all subject areas to stretch our thinking and apply what we have learned.
In math last week, we continued our work with various word problem structures. Students applied what they learned about modeling, writing an equation for, and using related facts to solve word problems. After a quick review, students were given a word problem that they had to solve independently. Upon completion of that, students participated in a "scoot" where they move about the room solving problems and recording their work on a recording sheet. Students were working so hard! I'm proud of them for being able to write an open sentence that represents the problem and manipulate that open sentence to get the variable in the answer spot in order to solve!
This week in math, students were able to apply what they have been learning about computation in our computation carnival! Students were given a packet of review problems. After answering approximately 5 questions, students had their papers checked by a teacher and were able to play a fun carnival game to win prizes! It was totally fun and very motivating!
In reading over the last two weeks we have been reading and enjoying some fun Halloween books - The Big Pumpkin and Room on the Broom. Using these stories students flexed their comprehension skills and learned about some fun new concepts! With the story The Big Pumpkin, we learned about onomatopoeia! Students identified the onomatopoeia in the book and then worked to write their own sentences with onomatopoeia words! With Room on the Broom, students learned about sequencing. They had to take the events in the story and sequence them with a partner then use sequencing words (first, next, then, last, finally, etc) to retell part of the story. Additionally, students had to correctly sequence how the new broom was made in order to retell the end of the story. They illustrated these events as well! Finally, students learned about homophones - words that sounds the same but have different meanings and are spelled differently. Through our exploration of homophones in the book, a great discussion was sparked about multiple meaning words versus homophones! Ask your student about the difference between the two! Students brainstormed a list of homophones that they knew (that didn't appear in the book), and next week, they will be writing sentences containing two homophones!
During encore time, students used their knowledge of magnetism to begin the ACME Magnet Company STEM Challenge! In this challenge, students have to create a vehicle that can move a load of 10 grams a distance of 1 yard only using magnetism! This week, students explored how they would use magnetism to move a vehicle this distance. They were given two magnets and told they had to move one a distance of 1 yard using the magnetic force of the other magnet. Of course, there were some rules they had to follow - (1) the magnets could NOT touch at all, (2) the students couldn't touch the magnet being moved, and (3) the magnet being moved had to move in a control and "safe" way (the same as a car would move - no weaving side to side or jerking movements). It took students a while to figure out that using the attraction of two magnets proved to be the better way of moving the magnet, but then they had to figure out how to use this attraction without letting the magnets touch :-) Students also spent time designing their vehicle. Next week, they will finalize their plans and begin building and testing their vehicles!
In math last week, we continued our work with various word problem structures. Students applied what they learned about modeling, writing an equation for, and using related facts to solve word problems. After a quick review, students were given a word problem that they had to solve independently. Upon completion of that, students participated in a "scoot" where they move about the room solving problems and recording their work on a recording sheet. Students were working so hard! I'm proud of them for being able to write an open sentence that represents the problem and manipulate that open sentence to get the variable in the answer spot in order to solve!
This week in math, students were able to apply what they have been learning about computation in our computation carnival! Students were given a packet of review problems. After answering approximately 5 questions, students had their papers checked by a teacher and were able to play a fun carnival game to win prizes! It was totally fun and very motivating!
In reading over the last two weeks we have been reading and enjoying some fun Halloween books - The Big Pumpkin and Room on the Broom. Using these stories students flexed their comprehension skills and learned about some fun new concepts! With the story The Big Pumpkin, we learned about onomatopoeia! Students identified the onomatopoeia in the book and then worked to write their own sentences with onomatopoeia words! With Room on the Broom, students learned about sequencing. They had to take the events in the story and sequence them with a partner then use sequencing words (first, next, then, last, finally, etc) to retell part of the story. Additionally, students had to correctly sequence how the new broom was made in order to retell the end of the story. They illustrated these events as well! Finally, students learned about homophones - words that sounds the same but have different meanings and are spelled differently. Through our exploration of homophones in the book, a great discussion was sparked about multiple meaning words versus homophones! Ask your student about the difference between the two! Students brainstormed a list of homophones that they knew (that didn't appear in the book), and next week, they will be writing sentences containing two homophones!
During encore time, students used their knowledge of magnetism to begin the ACME Magnet Company STEM Challenge! In this challenge, students have to create a vehicle that can move a load of 10 grams a distance of 1 yard only using magnetism! This week, students explored how they would use magnetism to move a vehicle this distance. They were given two magnets and told they had to move one a distance of 1 yard using the magnetic force of the other magnet. Of course, there were some rules they had to follow - (1) the magnets could NOT touch at all, (2) the students couldn't touch the magnet being moved, and (3) the magnet being moved had to move in a control and "safe" way (the same as a car would move - no weaving side to side or jerking movements). It took students a while to figure out that using the attraction of two magnets proved to be the better way of moving the magnet, but then they had to figure out how to use this attraction without letting the magnets touch :-) Students also spent time designing their vehicle. Next week, they will finalize their plans and begin building and testing their vehicles!