Here comes the Tooth Fairy!

Two of our favorite classmates lost a front tooth this weekend! We couldn't resist sharing.

Living Biography Wax Museum

Our Living Biography Wax Museum was a HUGE success last Thursday.  Each student did an incredible job teaching us about their historical figure.  The project linked reading, writing, social studies and character education together.  Our local newspaper came out and created a wonderful video of our students.  Thank you Mr. Baxter!

Biographies

Create your own Playlist on LessonPaths!

This month has been all about Biographies!  Each student has been researching and writing about a famous historical figure.  In 5 days our class will be opening a "Wax Museum" to share our learning with family, friends and peers.  Students are learning about what made their historical figures famous, what their childhoods were like, major contributions they made to society and what, if any obstacles they faced. We have also been discussing which of the 8 Keys of Excellence our historical figures exhibited throughout their lives and/or careers.

Christmas Around the World: Day 1 & 2

This week our class began traveling the world on Reindeer Route Airlines!  So far we have visited Mexico and Brazil.  We are learning a lot about the similarities and differences between ourselves and the citizens of these countries.  We have discovered that some of us have traditions in our families that originated in the countries we are studying!  We think that is pretty cool. We are creating scrapbooks and learning a lot about geography and seasonal differences in the opposite hemisphere.

Our classroom map.

Journal pages.

We can't board the plane with our our tickets and passports!

Did you know Papai Noel wears a suit made of silk?  It is HOT this time of year in Brazil.

On Christmas Eve Brazilians light fireworks to celebrate at the beach...

and in the cities.

Reindeer and Measuring

Here are the reindeer that we made last week. They are so CUTE! You should really come by and take a look at them in person.  We have also been working on measurement this week. We read the story Inch by Inch by Leo Lionniand then created some grass collages.Today we are measuring our blades of grass and will use our data to create line plot graphs.  

Santa Claus is Coming to Town!

This week we made these adorable Santa glyphs from the Glyph Girls.  We have been discussing measurement and data this month and found these were a really fun way to look at and discuss data.  They also make our school look super festive!  We thought Santa needed some reindeer as well and made them too. Pictures coming soon!

Padlet

Created with Padlet

Tomorrow I will be introducing second grader's to the website Padlet, formally known as Wallwisher. Richard Byrne, author of the website Free Technology for Teachers, has a great tutorial on how to use this website.  His post offers excellent suggestions for using Padlet in the elementary classroom.  You can take a look at it by clicking here.

As you can see, Padlet allows you to embed your wall on your classroom blog which I think is very handy for using with little ones.  One less URL to try to copy down. Love it!  You can also change the URL from the given number code to one you think your kiddos would be able to remember more easily if you don't have a classroom blog that your students access regularly.

We will be using this wall, our first experience, as our exit ticket at the end of the day.  I love using websites and apps like this (yes, there is a free Padlet App) because they encourage students to pay close attention to what they write, students get immediate feedback from their peers, everyone shares an idea and a whole lot of reading goes on using this format. Visit us tomorrow afternoon and read about all the new learning that took place.