This week we celebrated Earth Day.  We have been talking about how humans impact the environment.  Unfortunately there are many things we do that cause pollution.  But, there are also ways we can help the Earth. Miss Zimmerman taught the class about the 3 R’s- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. We also learned that one way to help the Earth is by planting trees. Today each second grader got a White Pine seedling to take home.  We hope you choose to plant this tree or give it to a neighbor or friend to plant.  It could grow up to 100 feet tall!

This week we have been practicing skip counting.  Earlier in the year we learned to skip count by 2s, 5s, 10s, 25s, and 100s to 500, but now we have to extend our skip counting all the way to 1,ooo. Today Miss Zimmerman planned a “Skip Count Scoot” for us.  Students scooted around the room and took a turn sitting at every student desk and table.  Each spot they stopped at had a card with skip count pattern for students to identify and continue (example: 678, 688, 698, ___, ___).  Students wrote the missing numbers on a chart that they carried with them.  The students did a great job scooting around the room and skip counting.  During Math Activities they played a skip count game that Miss Zimmerman created called “Hop, Skip, Jump.”  Skip counting is an easy skill to practice while making dinner or carpooling to an afterschool activity.  Just give your second grader a starting number and tell him/her what to count by.

Amigos- sports day on PhotoPeach

Thursday was a fun day in second grade.  We filled our marble jar and celebrated with Electronic Day. Students were allowed to bring in their hand-held video games and tablets to play for 1/2 an hour. Some also used the school laptops to play games.  The halls of Brecknock were filled with Super Heroes- an incentive to raise lots of money during Jump Rope for Heart.  Only a few students in our class showed their super powers.

We are learning about soil.  We have learned some arm movements to help us remember that soil is “the loose top layer of the Earth’s surface.”  This week Miss Zimmerman did some experiments with us to help students explore the properties of 3 types of soil: potting soil, sand, and clay.  Students had a chance to look closely at the soils and determine their colors.  Next students felt the soils to describe their texture.  We concluded that potting soil is crumbly, sand is gritty, and clay is smooth.  The final step for the experiment was to pour a measured amount of water through the soil.  The soil was placed in a coffee filter inside a strainer.  We observed that about half the water moved through the potting soil.  The other half stayed in the soil for plants to drink.  More than three fourths of the water flowed through the sand at a quick pace which would make it difficult for plant roots to absorb it.  The water puddled on top of the clay and did not drain through much at all.  Plants growing in clay soil would have a hard time getting water to drink.  For our Earth’s Materials test students will need to be able to compare these soils using the words color and texture in their response.  Example:  Clay is smooth in texture but sand is gritty.  Potting soil is dark brown but sand is light in color.

Check out the slide shows from our field trip today.  The kids had TONS of fun!

Whitaker Center Field Trip on PhotoPeach

April is Autism Awareness month.  This month our school is raising money for Autism Speaks.  Your child can bring in $1 to “purchase” a puzzle piece that will be displayed throughout the halls of Brecknock.  Today Miss Boyer, an autistic support teacher at Brecknock, visited our classroom to teach us a bit about autism.  She did a few activities with the kids.  For the first activity students approached her to tell her about a pretend “hurt” they had (example: My leg hurts) but no matter what body part the complaint was for she could only put a bandaid on their hand. The kids thought this was so silly.  Miss Boyer made the point that teachers can’t always do the same thing for every student and autistic children may need to learn differently or be taught different skills.  For the next activity four students had to try to lift up a ball, but there were a few challenges: the first child couldn’t use his hands, the next child had slippery gloves on, the third student had one glove on, and the last child could use both hands.  We saw that some basic tasks can be more difficult for others depending on their challenges.  Miss Boyer finished by reminding us what we can do to be a friend to someone with autism.

Today your second grader will be bringing home their spring pictures.  Each student had their picture taken.  Now you have the choice if you’d like to purchase some, all, or none.  Just send back the pictures you don’t want and money for the ones you would like to keep. Pictures or money are due by April 17th!

Today we learned more about Mexico with our “Amigos” in Mrs. Kidhardt’s 5th grade class.  We made instruments, listened to Mexican music, and even learned the Mexican Hat Dance.  Check out the slideshow of our morning.

Amigo’s Music Day on PhotoPeach