Our First Celebrity Reader!

We welcomed our first Celebrity Reader today...

Mrs. Boocher, Miss Boocher's mom!

First, she read "Rhyming Dust Bunnies" by Jan Thomas.

Next, she read another book by Jan Thomas to the delight of the Second Graders. I think she might be a new favorite author of our class!

At the end of Mrs. Boocher's time with us, she read "Red Fish, Blue Fish, One Fish, Two Fish" by Dr. Seuss. The Second Graders enjoyed the story. However, I am unsure if they enjoyed it more than the blue and red fish cupcakes she made for everyone!

Check Out Our Class Spirit!

To celebrate our school spirit, each class created their own cheer. Here is our Second Grade cheer in action!

I Love to Read Challenge!

The Second Graders have decided what we should do for WSBT's I Love to Read Challenge. After thinking about how much we truly love to read, we want to let others experience the joy of reading! We are going to hold a book drive. After some intense research, students voted and picked the organization, Books for Africa!

More information will be coming home shortly.

Here is their website:

http://www.booksforafrica.org/

 

Here is a wonderfully written article from CNN about Books for Africa:

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/06/17/impact.books.for.africa/

Parents, check this out!

http://www.scholastic.com/readeveryday/

I am a Paleontologist!

Over the past two weeks, we have learned about dinosaurs, fossils and Paleontologists! This has been one of the most exciting units in Science this school year for the second graders. As a closing activity, Miss Boocher allowed the students to be Paleontologists for the afternoon! She brought in pieces of rock with fossils hidden inside (they looked a bit like brownies)! 

 Just like real Paleontologists, students took very detailed notes about the appearance of their rocks before they started chipping away. 

Check out the amazing 

Second Grade Paleontologists in action!

 

Just for Fun!

Congratulations! 

By viewing our blog, you have earned a Free Homework Pass! To receive your pass, simply have one of your parents sign and date a piece of paper with the mystery word "monsters" written in your best handwriting on it. Then, give this paper to Miss Boocher. Finally, sit back and enjoy a relaxing night without any homework!

Monster notes must be turned in by Friday, January 14th to receive a Free Homework Pass.

Great Start to the Day Breakfast

After learning the different parts of the Food Pyramid and how foods affects our bodies, we decided to celebrate. We had our first "Great Start to the Day Breakfast", thanks to many wonderful donations from our families! Our breakfast was a wonderful way to celebrate all the interesting things we learned about healthy foods and our bodies.

 

Look at all those yummy, healthy foods! I have never seen children so excited over fruit.

 

Thank you for all of your tasty donations!

Resources for Parents

Should the shootings in Arizona on Saturday come up, I thought these resources might be helpful when discussing a difficult topic like this with children. Below are links to information from child development experts about how best to talk with children about violent events.

"Talking to Your Kids About Natural Disasters, War, and Violence" is a Scholastic article that features advice from a child development expert about how to talk with kids about violent, disturbing news.

"Talking to Children About Community Violence" is a tip sheet from the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry about how to handle discussions with kids about violence in local communities.

Geography Bee

Students gathered in Father Jacobs Hall to witness the final rounds of our school Geography Bee! When Mrs. Williams told the ten contestants to take a deep breath, you could hear the second graders take one as well. The overall feeling in the room was nervous excitement!

 Following independently completed classroom rounds, the two top students from fourth through eighth grade were brought together to complete for the title of School Representative.

 

After two rounds of increasingly difficult questions, we were left with three students.

Here you see our three wonderful Geography Bee judges. They did a wonderful job!

Mrs. Williams congratulates Emily from Seventh Grade who will represent St. John's in the Geography Bee.

Learning Letter Sounds

 Fundations Battleship!

 

It's Time for Time!

How Long is One Minute?

To begin our study of time, we explored the length of one minute in time.

We started by seeing how many times we could count to ten in one minute. 

 Next, we tried saying the alphabet in one minute. One student said the alphabet 8 times in one minute! After that, we took estimates for how many times we thought we could write our names in one minute. Our estimates were WAY off!

Finally, we guessed how many times we could bounce a ball in one minute. It sounded like gym class in our classroom! We learned that we are great ball bouncers. 

 

One Minute = 60 Seconds