Force, Motion, and lots of fun!

We are very busy trying to wrap a few units up before Spring Break. Can you believe it is almost Spring Break?!?!?!?!

In science we have been studying Force and Motion. We did a lot of fun  investigations to help us understand the concepts of energy, force, motion and friction.  These investigations also gave us some extra practice of the recent math skill of measurement.

Last week was Dr. Seuss' birthday!  We read lots of Dr. Seuss stories and will continue to read more this week to help with our ELA skills.  We wrote letters to The Cat in the Hat telling him our opinion of him letting those Things in the house. (Then we made Grade 1 & Grade 2 Things to hang up with our letters.)

Second grade used Dr. Seuss stories to find examples of alliteration.  Then we did a carousel activity to write sentences with alliteration.  A carousel activity is when each group adds to what the group before them did.   It was such a big hit, first and second grade will be doing another carousel activity before Spring Break!

February was Black History Month.  We read a story about Ruby Bridges and wrote letters to her.  We thought she was VERY brave when she was a little girl.  

We also released our Painted Lady Butterflies.  Watching the life cycle of the butterflies was so much fun and tied in perfectly with the science unit we will begin after Spring Break!

See you Monday!
Ms. Gilbert

Butterfly Update

We released 4 of the butterflies today before the rain started! They wanted to stay in their net and had to be coaxed out!  One landed on Ms. Gilbert.

Over the 3 day weekend the butterflies went to Ms. Gilbert's house so they wouldn't get hungry! They enjoyed fresh oranges each day. They also had a good "babysitter". Rocky spent the entire weekend watching them. Don't worry, Rocky couldn't reach them so they were safe! 

We also made our class quilt for Diversity Week. It looks very pretty in person.

Today both grades continued to practice money. Here is a picture of the second graders activity.

I hope you all get a chance to check out the online math programs I sent home information about today!

Ms. Gilbert 

January Pictures

Here are some pictures from Literacy Week, the 100th Day and our caterpillars!

We are out of tissues again and appreciate any you could send in!

Ms. Gilbert

STEM Challenge

To wrap up our Weather Unit in science, we completed a STEM Challenge.  It helped us understand the power of wind and how to stay safe during a severe storm.

Just like in The Three Little Pigs we didn't all use the same materials.  

Here our our final houses. 

All of the houses survived the wind! After watching all of the "tests" were all able to come up with improvements that would make them withstand even higher winds!

Our wind was provided by a hair dryer!

I only have a few other pictures from our week. On Wednesday I shared our "Daily 5" routine with the rest of the teachers at Osceola during a professional development meeting. Here are some of the pictures I used in my presentation.

Here is what we will be learning about next week:

In reading, first grade will continue to read informational texts and gather information about penguins while second grade will be doing the same for bears. 

In phonics, we will be working on "ou" and "ow" words. We will be reviewing those tricky long e words, too!

In math, first grade will be adding and subtracting multiples of ten and continuing to measure to the nearest inch.  Second grade will be continuing to work on measurement. 

In science, we will be learning about the states of matter. 

In social studies, we will continue to learn about maps! 

Have a great 3 day weekend! See you Tuesday!

Ms. Gilbert

Hundredth Day Ideas

Friday, January 30 will be the 100th Day of School!  To help us celebrate we will be dressing like we are 100 years old.

Reminders:

• Dressing up is OPTIONAL.  
• Students MUST follow the dress code.

Here are some pictures of how students dressed in the past!

Ms. Gilbert