February Terrific Kid

Congratulations to our February Terrific Kid: Fuller! He is well-deserving of this title. He is very considerate of his classmates and tries his best. Hurray for Fuller!

Star Snackers!!!

Today in second grade we celebrated those students who passed the Fast Facts test! From Miss Kristin's class, the following students were able to proudly snack:

Chandler, Josh, Matthew, Emma, Bennett, Fuller, Miranda, and Ryan!!!!!!!!!!!!

WAY TO GO!!! I am extremely proud of your progress!!!!

Ian's Squiggle Story

Ahh! I was in a crack! I did not know what to do! I was tightly in the crack! First I put my right hand then right foot. After that, the other hand and foot. Eventually I got out of the dark, scary crack. Then I tumbled down the mountain. After that I started to think. I kept thinking and thinking of what to do. Then I got an idea of what to do. I would roll down the small mountain. But how would I get up the mountain? The back? The front? The side? Yes! All I wanted to do was have fun. So, I climbed up the side of the mountain and rolled right down and layed on the grass and did nothing. I did nothing for hours and hours. Then I rolled over and did that for an hour. The last minute I was there I layed on the nice, wet grass and did nothing. Nothing.

Josh's Squiggle Story

First my mom was lying down on a towel getting tan. Meanwhile, I was running to go in the water. Then I paused. Next I saw this huge shark jump! I ran to my mom and told her all the details. She didn't believe me so I took my board. I ran to the shark and the shark ate half of it. The 15-foot black tip shark's tooth was wedged in my half-eaten boared. I showed my mom. Now she believed me. I showed my brother Thomas. Thomas was shocked by my dreadful story. I took the tooth out of the board and made it into a necklace. One time before I went to bed I noticed something. I felt part of my board in the tooth. I took the part of the board out and fell gently to sleep in my bed. I tried to shake off that horror of a day and I did.

Squiggle Stories

Our newest writing endeavor has been using Squiggle Stories to create stories that can be edited, revised, and published as final copies. A Squiggle Story is a super way to get your child to write. Simply draw a "squiggle" on a sheet of paper and have the child create a complete, colorful picture inspired by the squiggle. After that have the child use the picture s/he has created to write a complete story with a beginning, middle, and end. Encourage him/her to use descriptive words and phrases. Once the story is done, have the child use the following steps to help edit the work:

1. Point and read each word ALOUD. Can you change any words to make the story better? Does it make sense?

2. Check for capitals and end marks.

3. Use the tapping that we have learned from Fundations to tap the words.

4. Think about the Fundations trick words. Correct as many as you can.

In class we used this method to create Squiggle Stories. We also used Author's Chair to help expand each story. To do this, an author sat in the rocking chair and read his/her story. First we gave each author a bunch of compliments. After that, the author read the story again. At that point, we provided the author with suggestions using kind words. Finally, the author had time to revise the work and then share it again in the Author's Chair. The writing progress the students are making is incredible!!! Please enjoy reading and commenting on our stories. :-)

Fuller's: The Crazy World of Snowmen

On a cold winter night not a critter was stirring except a jolly snowman named Ricky. Ricky was on e of the oddest snowmen you had ever seen. His ears were made of two cucumbers. His eyes were two pennies and his mouth was made of Laffy Taffy. His nose was an ordinary carrot. But the next morning he was not the same. His ears were not two cucumbers. His ears were two carrots and his mouth changed too.
Where was I? Last night when I was in bed I heard a song being played outside. By the sound of it I already knew the name. It was a song called “Can’t Touch This”. I couldn’t believe it. It was my favorite song! One snowman was doing my dance. First he waved his right arm and then he scooted to the left. Then he waved his left arm and scooted to the right. Then he did the moonwalk.
I crept downstairs and I knew it. They were having a dance-off. I was steaming mad! In fact, I was so mad steam came out of my ears. So far I had only shown that dance to my parents.
All of a sudden it all turned into a kung fu fight. This was the time to get my revenge. I kicked him. He fell down. I said, “Wow! That guy was a real push over.” Almost every snowman was mad except Ricky. He was jumping up and down hollering, “Hurray!” I did the same thing too. One of them besides Ricky was not dead. He just fell down and said, “You swing those legs like a mad man.” I broke his arm off. Quickly I ran inside. There was still one more snowman. Since I was so tired, slowly I got my Frisbee. Then I opened my window and I threw it at the back of his head and yelled, “It’s time to go to bed!”

Miranda's: Snowgirl at the Mall

One winter night in Norfolk my snowgirl named Cristle was very beautiful in the moonlight. She had fake silver eyelashes that shimmered in the moonlight and a beautiful blond wig. I gave her my mom’s purse, too. I also gave her my aunt’s cowgirl hat from when she was a little girl. I gave her my blue scarf my grandfather gave me. And, added a carrot nose.
My snowgirl wanted to go to Lynnhaven Mall. She slipped off my lawn, onto my sleigh, and sped down the street. She stopped close to the main entrance of the mall. She shopped at Hechts, Dillards, and Claire’s.
Then she saw it. She saw Mani’s Manicures. She got fake nails. She picked a nice color. She picked silver palm trees. The people there were nice.
After that she got hungry so she went to Pizza Pete’s. She loves cheese pizza so that’s what she got.
After that she wanted to go ice skating. She bought pink skates. It was good to be cold again. Then she heard something. It was the zamboni! She slid as fast as she could. But got away just in time. She got really tired and wanted to go home. She rested on my lawn for the rest of the night. So that’s what my snowgirl does at night.

"Snow" School = Saturday School

We will have school on Saturday from 8-11. This will avoid using a day at Spring Break. Keep your fingers crossed for no more inclimate weather.

Italy WebQuest

To answer the questions about Italy, watch the slide show. Be sure to read carefully. Have fun.

"Snow" School

Monday, February 20th:

There is no school today. The Dare County Schools page says it's because it's snowing. I will let you know about the make-up day as soon as I hear.

2006 Olympics & Other Neat Stuff

The Olympics are well underway, and actually halfway complete. We have been discussing the world-wide event in class and keeping a daily medals chart to see which countries have been winning medals. Each day two children use the table on the Internet to update the chart we keep in class. We are always excited to see the numbers increase. We have used the globe to locate Italy on the map and know that the country is shaped like a boot. One morning we looked at pictures that showed the many events that take place during the Winter Olympics. Although there was quite a bit of interest in curling, snowboarding was by far the most popular.

This week we also began to subtract with regrouping. This is a very difficult concept for the students to master. We have used base ten blocks and work mats to actually manipulate the numbers and are slowly building up to solving the number sentences without the manipulatives. A cute rhyme that helps the children remember what to do when subtracting numbers that have more than 1-digit follows:

(Don't say this part as part of the rhyme: Look at the ones place for the top and bottom number)
"More on top, no need to stop." (This tells the students that they can subtract safely without any other steps.)
"More on the floor, go next door and borrow ten more." (This tells the students that in order to subtract properly, they need to borrow a group of tens from the tens place and add the tens to the ones.)
"Numbers are the same, zero is the game." (This reminds students that if the numbers in the ones are the same the difference must be zero.)

You can create practice worksheets if you would like to assist your child. Please use the rhyme to have your child examine the ones column and the tens column before subtracting. The more they use it, the easier the subtracting will become.

Presidents Day is Monday. We have spent some time this past week learning about George Washington and even worked on a WebQuest about him. You can find out other info there as well.

Have fun! Kristin

Gold Medal Math!!

Hurray for our gold medal recipients! In true Olympic fashion, the following students were honored with "the gold" today for earning 100's on the Fast Facts portion of the Weekly Math Review: Miranda, Emma, Bennett, Ian, Indica, and Chandler! I am thrilled with the improvement! I can tell you have worked hard and done all your homework! Being recognized with the silver (for passing the test) were Josh and Matthew! Excellent! Keep practicing. You can even practice online!

Congratulations, Bennett!

Bennett entered a picture in the PTA Reflections contest. The theme this year was I wonder why.... Bennett created a picture entitled I Wonder Why Monkeys Don't Wear Clothes. His picture placed first in the school and was honored last night at our monthly PTA meeting. Hurray for Bennett!

Paloma's: Snowman at Night

One cold day Bailey and I had three balls of snow. I made a snowman. My snowman was done. She had leaf hair, a gumdrop mouth, and icing eyes. Bailey said she would sleep over. She had packed her clothes.
That night my snowman went to a party. The party looked cool. It had punch. Then my snowman went in the pond. It looked like it would freeze my snowman to death, but it didn’t because she was made of snow. I woke up Bailey to show her my snowman. She was shocked. Bailey tumbled. I had to get her a bag of ice. I felt something with leafy hair, icing eyes, and a gumdrop mouth. It was my snowman! She said, “Can I go upstairs with you?”
“Okay. I will be there in a minute. Go upstairs. My room is the first one. Be quiet. My mom and dad are sleeping.”
I skipped to my room as fast as I could go.
Then that next day it was so hot. I was soaked with water. My snowman was gone. It melted. She was not the same at all. All that was left was her nose and her hat.

Hurray for the 100th Day!

It's finally here! The 100th DAY OF SCHOOL! To begin the day, the students had to write journal entries pretending that they were 100 years old and describing a day in their lives. Completing that task earned 10 points. After earning the 10 journal points, the students had the opportunity to earn 90 more points by finishing a variety of centers. The students could complete 100 piece puzzles, make a graph of the gumballs we had collected from the first day of school, search for 100 items buried in a box filled with pattern blocks, and many more! Many students chose to wear 100 items. On display here is Kyle's illustration of what he thinks he will look like when he is 100. The 100th day was wonderful!

SPIRIT FINGERS!

SPIRIT FINGERS for the students who passed the Fast Facts test today: Indica, Josh, and Ian!
I am seeing GREAT improvement....keep practicing.

Chandler's: What Snowmen Do at Night

Once I built a snowman. He had a blue scarf, blue mittens, coal eyes, and a carrot nose. In the morning I saw my snowman was not the same. I saw slide-like tracks in the snow. I began to wonder, “What do snowmen do at night?”
They partied hard and they had races like roll, snowboard, ski and they will see who can slide down the hugest hill in the state. My snowman won! I couldn’t believe my eyes. I didn’t know my snowman was alive in the first place. Then I walked up to him. He said, “Come on with us and join the party. So I did. We had the best time.
We had the biggest, best snowball fight ever! It was fun. Then we built more members. They looked just like my snowman except for this one little twig on my snowman’s right stick.
Then we went home. My mom made cold chocolate for us. She made hot chocolate for me. It was the best hot chocolate I ever tasted. I asked my mom if I could sleep outside. She said no. Then the snowmen went outside. I went to bed. It was the greatest night I ever had!

Bryan's: Snowman Gone Wild

One wintry night at 9:50 when I go to bed, I looked out the window and saw a snowman sliding to the beach. He had a striped scarf and a cowboy hat. He was on a snow horse. I was so surprised! I had never seen a real live snowman ever!
I sprang out of my bed. I had to tiptoe down the steps because I didn’t want to wake Mom and Dad. When I got outside I said to the snowman, “Do you love to ski?”
“Yeah. Do you?” he said.
“Yeah.” But I had never skied before.
The snowman grabbed my hand and he said, “You will see,” and off we went. We jumped over frozen waves.
When we were done we decided to go to the circus. There was a clown on a unicycle. There was a giant snow elephant. Everybody was made out of snow. There were snowmen trapped in a cage and on dirt bikes. They went up and down and upside down.
Afterwards we went to the zoo. The lion ate the snowman’s hat. “That’s weird. I thought lions ate other animals.” My snowman heard footsteps coming. Oh, no! It was the snowman catcher. He was right in front of my snowman. He almost got him, but he got his nose and ate it.
Afterwards, we went home. The snowman went back to the neighbors with no nose. I went home and went to bed.

Matthew's: Snowman at Night

One night I made a snowman. It was a big snowman. I couldn’t wait to build him. I made him on the side of my house. He was made of snow. I made him with raisins for his eyes and raisins for his mouth. Then I put a carrot for his nose. Next I put three black buttons and a red and blue striped scarf. Next I put mittens on him. Then I named him Zack. We had snowball fights and races. Then we went home.

100!

Tuesday, February 7, is the 100th day of school! We will be celebrating by having a Second Grade Centers day that focuses on the number 100! The entire second grade will have the opportunity to select centers located in all three classrooms and move freely between each one. Students are invited to wear 100 things that day. If you would like to join in the celebration, feel free. As always, check in at the office first.

Josh's: What Snowmen Do At Night

One shivery day in Canada I was in my bed barely asleep. I looked out my window and my red-scarfed snowman with with black buttons and a black hat was getting off the front lawn and sliding to the park.
First my snowman was at the park to race. The race was awesome! It had 20 snowmen. They lined up and they had the race. There was a snowman that had a watermelon for a head. My snowman won!
Then they went to ice skate. They sang some beautiful carols. Then they did some radical tricks. They did back flips and front flips.
Later they snowboarded. There were 30 snowmen lined up and ready to race in the snowboard competitions. First Zack won. Bennett made him. Then another snowman won. His name was Billy. Kyle made him. Then my snowman won first place.
They finished snowboarding and they started to sleigh in one big race. It was the last race. It was the championships. They lined up and my snowman won! The other guy tripped and that’s how mine won.
After that we went back home and it was six o’clock in the morning! So, I went to sleep and so did the snowman.