Week of June 2, 2014

What a fun week of reading activities, poetry celebration, and Como Zoo field trip!

Week of May 26, 2014

This week we were busy observing our plants and preparing our presentations in STEAM. We also had a great trip to Moore Lake park!

Week of May 19th

What an eventful week! Students worked hard taking the math MAP test this week. They have grown so much since the fall! In math we are working on measuring objects using different units including inches and centimeters. Students had fun exploring objects around the studio and comparing their measurements. We also talked about the different tools used to measure items: ruler, yardstick, measuring tape. We are having so much fun observing our growing bean plants. They grow extremely fast! Students continue to test different variables and work on their scientific method Book Creators. We had a BLAST on our field trip to Blooming Heights! We had a lovely picnic lunch together, played at Castle Heights playground, explored what's growing in the Blooming Heights garden and played BINGO! We couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather! We are looking forward to our next field trip! At the end of each day we enjoy writing poetry. We've even enjoyed writing poetry outside for inspiration in nature. Students are learning to write various types of poems and enjoy sharing "on stage" at the end of our school days. Our 2nd grade Poetry Cafe is June 5th. Our students will be sharing all their hard work. Stay tuned for more information! %2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2F104826825328574508950%2Falbumid%2F6016707182800269745%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26authkey%3DGv1sRgCM7MnZKCh8CKyAE%26hl%3Den_US" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer">

Week of May 12th

Our 2nd grade botanists have been planting and observing bean seeds with different variables. They are answering the question, "How does _____ affect plant growth?" Students are investigating how different liquids, different amounts of water, different light sources, different soil, and different foods affect the growth of bean plants. Check out our plants on the Photo Gallery tab! Students worked hard in reading this week as they took the Spring Reading MAP test. It's amazing to see how much they've grown in reading. We started our Poetry writing unit this week. We continue to explore the various forms of poetry and students will be writing their own poems in a person poetry journal. Stay tuned to hear about our upcoming Poetry Cafe event in the Learning Studio! We had such an exciting week with end of year activities. Track and Field Day was on Thursday. It was a cold day but students worked hard and had a blast finishing all of their track and field events. Friday after school was the North Park barbecue. It was wonderful seeing families and friends with their students and enjoying great food! Thanks for coming!

Week of May 5, 2014

This week we began working on our technology project for our STEAM experiments. We are using the iPad app, Book Creator, to document our plant growth with both pictures and words. In writing, we had fun putting together a Mother's Day craft for an important female in our lives.

Week of April 28, 2014

This week, some of our STEAM groups began designing and planning our own plant experiments.  In collaborative teams, we are observing the affect different variables have on plant growth.  For example, students may be testing how the amount of water, type of liquid, amount of sunlight, type of light, amount of seeds, etc. affects how affects our plants.  We are excited to test our hypotheses!

View all

Get your own

Week of April 21, 2014

This week the highlights were nature bracelets and continuing to observe the growth of our plants!

Week of April 14, 2014

This week 2nd graders were busy observing plants and starting to think about how to design and build a hand pollinator for their engineering project. There was a lot of creativity to see in the Learning Studio!

Week of April 7, 2014

The botanists of second grade had the opportunity to plant some seeds for vegetables that will go to the Blooming Heights garden near the high school and Highland Elementary.  Later in the spring, we hope to take our seedlings over to the garden and plant them.  You can learn more about the Blooming Heights Edible Schoolyard here.

Week of March 31, 2014

New Plants is the name of our new science unit for the spring quarter.  This week we have been learning about what plants need to live, the parts of a plant, and the plant life cycle.  We planted Brassica, a fast-growing plant designed especially for science classes, and we planted a lawn, which is a combination of rye grass seed and alfalfa seeds.  The students are using the iDiary app on the iPads to journal about their plant observations. The student botanists are eagerly awaiting the emergence of the first sprouts!
A favorite morning activity as students enter the Studio, is to watch the live bald eagle cam.

Week of March 24, 2014

This week we finished our Play Dough unit in STEAM, put our All About books on the iPad and began a program with a volunteer called "Junior Acheivement."

Week of March 10, 2014

This week we enjoyed math games, STEAM presentations and writing our "All About" books!

Week of March 3rd, 2014

We kicked off the month of March by talking about Kindness. We will focus on how to show kindness this month by participating in various kindness activities during our morning meetings. Everyone carries around an imaginary bucket. Your bucket gets filled when someone shows kindness toward you or if you show kindness to others. Ask your student how he or she filled someone's bucket today. Students are working really hard during STEAM, creating commercials and print ads to advertise the play dough they created. We can't wait to show off our ads to visiting families and professional advertisers next week! During specialists students started their dance unit this week and look fabulous working together in the gymnasium. Students continue to work on nonfiction writing with their All About books and practiced measuring in standard and nonstandard measurements during math. We ended our week with the March community gathering in the gym with the whole school. We celebrated March birthdays and did the Cupid Shuffle with all students and staff! We also celebrated with a popcorn party in the learning studio. What a great week!

Week of February 24th, 2014

We finally had a full week of school! Despite the terribly cold weather, we had a fun-filled week! During STEAM we created a recipe for making high-quality play dough. Students cooperated by carefully reading the steps and measuring ingredients. The next step is for students to create advertisements for their play dough! They will be creating print ads and commercials on the iPads. In writing we continue to work on our "All About" books. Each student chose a topic to research facts and write a nonfiction "All About" book on that topic. Our math focus this week was 3D shapes. Students were able to identify and name 3D shapes and compare them to real world objects. As February came to an end, we celebrated with a Friendship Celebration/Pajama Read-a-thon/Popcorn party! We had so much fun playing friendship games and activities. We had yummy popcorn and enjoyed a movie during the afternoon. We also attended the Jump Rope for Heart celebration in the gym with the whole school! What a great week!

Week of February 17, 2014

We performed our 2nd grade song and dance, flash mob style, at our Community Gathering.

Week of February 10, 2014

We have been continuing to learn about solids and liquids in STEAM by mixing ingredients to make play dough. An advertising expert even came to present to us what makes a good advertisement. When we have to create our own advertisement to sell the play dough we've made, this information will come in handy! We have also been working on "how-to" writing.

Week of February 3, 2014

After so many days off for extreme wind chills, it was nice to be together for an entire week! The 2nd graders worked hard and are making great progress in reading and math!

Week of January 13, 2014

The new year brings about new groups in STEAM and a review of our North Park rules.  Our new STEAM groups spent a little time getting to know one another in the "Cup Challenge."  The students had to get six cups into the shape of a pyramid without using their hands.  With collaboration and perseverance, they met the challenge head on!

We will be spending the next few weeks reviewing rules and CARES (Cooperation, Assertion, Responsibility, Empathy and Self-Control).  This week we focused on cooperation with peers and adults.  A favorite cooperative activity this week was the Spider Web greeting.

The second graders have been busy exploring solids and liquids and learning about their properties.  One activity was to think like engineers and design the tallest, or strongest, or most beautiful tower with some solid objects.  The students shared why they chose certain objects for the top and bottom of their tower.  

We spent time learning about solids, time and having a birthday popcorn party!