In Full Swing!

Well... it looks like our school year is in full swing and keeping very busy! We have been keeping our agenda full. In writing we have been working on our sentence writing skills. We have been studying the various components of what makes a complete sentence. We put our skills to work writing friendly letters to our new principal Mrs. Mickel, our author study Kevin Henkes, and many fairy tale creatures.
Our journey with the Jolly Postman is coming to a close with the many versions of The Three Little Pigs. Along the way we have been practicing our sequencing skills and story components. Friday we will begin an activity called goal mapping, with a book called The Three Little Javalinas.
Our librarian Mrs. Fredrickson, has spent the last few weeks helping us to pick "just right" books. We used the acronym CAN IT Be good? to guide our discussions. C-cover, A-author, N-number of pages, I-illustrator, T-title, and B-blurb.
In science we began our study of different animal life cycles and the basic parts of insects. This understanding will lead in to our unit on butterflies! Our caterpillars arrive September 7th! We are looking forward to learning the parts of the caterpillars, components of the butterfly life cycle, and all there is to know about these amazing insects!
If you have any questions about parent night, or the information sent home, please do not hesitate to ask. Thank you for your support with reading at home and math homework. Just a reminder that math homework will be going home on most evenings. As a good rule of thumb, if your child is spending more than 20/30 min on this work, please let me know. Also, one spelling homework is due every Tuesday. If your child's practice isn't something easily turned in, a note that your child practiced is plenty!
Friday we will get a chance to meet our fifth grade book buddies. Next week we will get to spend more time reading and getting to know them!

Have a wonderful and safe weekend!

Beginning a New School Year!

I am so excited to be starting a new school year! It has been great getting to know your 2nd graders the past few days. Rather than sending home a paper newsletter this year, I will be posting important class information on this blog. When there is an update, I will send out an e-mail. I plan to update at least every other week. I encourage you to check in often. To the right, there are several links that will be helpful to you and your 2nd grade student this year! These links will change periodically to tie in with our curriculum.
We have been busy these first few days of school with many fun and engaging activities. One of the big introductory units we have started is called the Jolly Postman. We are visiting many familiar fairy tales and have been practicing our sequencing activities.

Don't forget that the 2nd grade curriculum night is tomorrow, Thursday, August 19, at 6:00 in our classroom. I hope to see all of you then!

Mrs. Amber Crooker

Welcome back to school!

Well... it is that time of the year and school is ready to begin! I am excited about this upcoming year and can't wait to get to know you and your families. Instead of a weekly newsletter I will be posting all information about class events and other information on this site. The blog will also offer sites and links supporting our curriculum at school. You will receive an email notification when a new posting is uploaded.
I am looking forward to meeting with you at Curriculum Night next week!

Mrs. Crooker

Happy Summer!

I can not believe I am sitting at my computer… writing our last blog! Where did the school year go? The last few weeks of school are full of fun, friendship… and still a lot of learning!
In math this week we will wrap up our math unit on function machines. We have been learning the patterns of what happens to numbers when they enter this special machine. These machines have rules such as doubling, add 7, or subtract 2. We also have been using data to investigate real life situations… such as how many kids are in our classroom families! We have also taken our end of the year assessment.
Last week the Boys and Girls coordinator Miss Laura, came to talk to us about internet safety using an online program called Netsmartz. She shared all of the games on this “safe site” that are fun for kids!
We have taken some time these last few weeks to reflect upon the projects, fun times, and memories we have made in second grade. Our bulletin board in our pod is a “buzz” with memories! Each student chose a memory from the year to write about and made a buzzing bee to go with!
Our end of the year science unit is called All About Animals. As a class we have taken time to look at what makes an animal a vertebrate and invertebrate. We have also studied how many animals have learned to adapt to their environment in order to survive! Each student created a poster of their animal and labeled what adaptations help this animal to eat and live.
Friday this week is… field day! We will also be having a pizza party for lunch thanks to our room moms If your child would like to have pizza that day, please do not send lunch with your child to school.
Next Monday we will be participating in yearbook signing and Tuesday is our end of year celebration called blue and silver!

I just want to take this moment to thank you for sharing your children with me this year. I have truly enjoyed having each and every one of them in my classroom and have learned just as much from them as they have probably learned from me! I hope you all have a fun and restful summer. Encourage your child to keep reading, writing, and thinking about the world around them! I hope to see you around Langston in the fall! Happy Summer!

Mrs. Amber Crooker

Welcome May!

Welcome to May! Believe it or not… May is finally here! Our week kicked off with our visits from Jr. Achievement. Our teacher is from Peoples Bank and has been teaching us about jobs in our community and assembly line production. She will continue her lessons through this week.
We have finally wrapped up our non-fiction books! I am in the process of grading them and can not wait to send them home for your child to share with you! I am so happy with how they turned out. They put so much time and effort into this writing project. Our next unit in writing is called “You are in the picture”. Each student was given the choice of a picture book. They then were asked to select a picture that looked the most interesting. Next they wrote down what they could see, feel, hear, smell, and maybe taste in the picture. The final project will be a descriptive piece of writing!
In math we have started measuring distance, looking at direction, and have been using the axis to locate objects. Mr. Origin has been helping us to learn directions!
Monday a “Teach the Class” form was sent home with your child. Please take some time to discuss with your child, what they might want to teach their classmates. Return form by May 11th. If you have any questions please ask!
In spelling this week, we will begin reviewing patterns and will be working on theme words for the rest of the month!
We had such a fun week last week during Wellness Week! By far the highlight was a visit from KC Wolf from the KC Chiefs!! He came to talk to us about how important it is to eat a healthy diet and stay active! Thursday we had a smoothie challenge… although our recipe was not chosen as the winner, we had a lot of fun trying our smoothies!
Field trip… take 2! We are scheduled to go to the KC zoo on May 11th. I will send another reminder note home about sack lunch that day. Thank you for your patience and let’s think good thought about the weather!

Great trip to the Wetlands!

We had a great trip to the Wetlands last week! Thank you to all of the volunteers who were able to chaperone our class! The weather was beautiful, so there were many wildlife creatures out for us to see!
A note went home today with information about our next field trip to the KC Zoo. If you have any questions, please let me know. If you are signed up to chaperone our class on this trip there was also a hot pink form with information for you sent home with your child. The most important things to remember is to arrive on time to school that day (we leave at 9:00am) and to bring a sack lunch with all disposable items labeled with your child’s name and class.

Last week we wrapped up out study of area. Your children really became interested in making shapes and counting area. They loved using the geoboards and geobands to do this! We just began to work with 3D shapes this week. So far we have learned the names of the shapes including prisms and pyramids. We will be learning the attributes of each shape including the following: edges, vertices (corners/points), face (sides), if it’s able to be stacked, and if it can roll.

Our nonfiction books about our animals are getting close to being finished! Many groups have begun working on a glossary and index this week. When we are finished each child will have a copy to take home! They have put so much effort and time into this project! I have been so proud of their work!

In science we continue to study Herps… reptiles and amphibians. Last week we looked at the lizard family and then compared them with the newts and salamanders. This week we have taken a closer look at the turtle and will begin studying crocodiles and alligators as the week comes to an end. We will be learning lots of interesting vocabulary words about these creatures, as well as how to tell them apart!

Next week is wellness week! We will be having a smoothie contest as a school… if you have any ideas please share! PTO is providing a few ingredients to choose from. We will be rated on taste, how healthy it is, and creativity. Please let me know by Thursday if you have any good ideas. (May not have nuts.)

Okay… I dropped the ball… today our class earned a marble party to watch a movie. The class also wanted to wear pajamas, and I didn’t get a note home in time! I have offered to let them wear pajamas on Wednesday of this week if they would like!

Happy Earth Day Thursday!

Exploring the world of Herps...

It looks like spring is finally here!
This week, 2nd graders wrapped up their world travels and were assessed on their knowledge of maps, landforms, and the 7 continents. Everyone did an awesome job! It was great to see so much enthusiasm as we journeyed the world! In science, we are now moving into a month-long study of amphibians and reptiles. This week, students compared and contrasted these two types of animals and did some sorting. Our first animals that we has studied have been frogs, toads, and snakes! Stay tuned for more "hopping" news about these creatures!
We completed our math unit on geometry and took a break for an egg hunt! In our egg hunt each child searched for hidden eggs in the classroom and completed the math questions stored inside! Our new math studies are teaching us about counting the area of shapes. This week we also learned how to count the length and width of various shapes.
Please remember that our class will be going to the Baker Wetlands on Monday April 12th. A note explaining all of the details was sent home with your child this week. Each child should wear long pants, long sleeves and shoes suitable for walking. We will be leaving after lunch on this day and returning around 2:45pm.
Have a wonderful weekend!