Happy Snow Day! The kiddos must have worn their pajamas inside out last night... How else would we have had this snow day?!
January was such a COLD month! With the below 0 temperatures, it has felt as though we have been stuck inside a snow globe! We decided to take this idea and run with it. The students wrote about what they would do if lived in a snow globe. Many of them thought it would be lots of fun, but some of them said that they would NEVER want to live in a snow globe. I have to say, that I agree with the latter! Be sure to click on the images so you can see their great photos and read their writing!
Thanks to http://toristeachertips.blogspot.co.uk/ for the great idea. :)
We also kicked off the month of January talking about our "Rockin'" New Year's Resolutions. We shared our resolutions on our Rockin' guitars. Not only was it fun sharing our resolutions, but I just LOVE how the bulletin board turned out!
I got these templates from dots and spots... https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Rockin-New-Years-Resolutions-469651.
In science we had so much fun with two major units: Polar Animals and Properties. Everyday the students would ask, "What are we doing in Science today?" I just love their enthusiasm! Science is so much fun. The first thing that we did in order to learn about Polar animals was talk about the Polar regions. We looked at maps and the globe and found the Arctic and the Antarctic. We read about and watched video clips of the characteristics of both regions. Then, it was time to start our Arctic Animals lap book. Take a look at the cover that we made...
We glued 2 maps, one showing the North Pole and one showing the South Pole. Then we began our animal research. Each day the students learned about a different animal. We read some information about the animal on an animal card. Then we created a special book with information about that animal. Some of the information included in the cards and books was what the animal eats, what it looks like, where it lives, and other characteristics about that animal. When we were finished with book, we had learned about 8 different animals! If you click on the picture with the kids holding the lapbook, you'll see that we did a little more with polar bears (there are 2 books). But I'm sure you understand... we are Pashley Polar Bears!!
When we were finished learning about the polar animals, the students each got to choose their favorite one. They did a little more research on this animal and then wrote about it during computer class. The writing came out great! We are still working on the finishing touches, so I will take some pictures, and share them on the next post!
Properties was our other science unit. We have learned about the properties of solids, and have just started introducing liquids. We will be working more with liquids within the classroom, and soon we will be introducing gases as well. We have done, and will be doing, some REALLY cool experiments! It's a good thing that our class is well versed in science experiments. Since they were all "Santa Scientists" during the month of January, they knew just how to properly take part in a science experiment. Some of the activities and experiments that we have done so far include, doing a scavenger hunt to find objects that have certain properties, grouping solid objects by property, and predicting whether or not solid objects will float or sink in water. It was a lot of fun testing those predictions. We learned a great lesson: Our predictions are not always right, but that's ok! Science is all about predicting, experimenting, and learning new things!
Towards the end of January, the Pashley Student Council hosted Twin Day. We had so much fun on this day. We had some twins in our classroom. Mia and Graison planned their outfits, but Evie just happened to be dressed the same way! So in our classroom we had triplets!
The Pashley teachers also took part in twin day. All of the teachers wore a white t-shirt, jeans, and a scarf. However, the second grade teachers took it to a different level. They all put a pillow in their shirt to match me. It was nice to feel like I was just a regular part of the crowd for a day. We made our rounds to show our "twin outfits" to other teachers and classes. One teacher asked their class what was the same with all of the teachers standing in front of them. One little boy said, "They all have scarfs!" Another little girl said, "They all have white shirts on!" Then another student said, "They are all wearing jeans!" And finally one said, "They all have zippers!" Don't you just love the innocence? Either they really didn't notice all the bellies, or they were just a VERY polite class!
Here's to a warmer February! One can wish...
