Science Benchmark Tomorrow!

Here is a small study guide on the different topics that will probably come up on the benchmark.  We reviewed today by getting into groups and making posters

Review list:

Plants and their parts

What each plant part is for

Stars, moon phases, sun

Water cycle (evaporation, accumulation, precipitation and condensation) 

Where to find fresh and salt water 

Animal classification (amphibians, mammals,fish, birds, reptiles, insects)

Food chains (energy, producers, consumers and decomposers)

Words such as:

Hibernation, mimicry, camouflage, dormancy, migration

Natural and man-made resources

Upcoming Events

We are down to the wire! Our second grade year is coming to a close. 

Here are some important dates to keep in mind:

May 6: rock wall climbing

May 8: Muffins with Moms

May 8: field day 8:30-10:30

*** LOOKING FOR A FEW VOLUNTEERS. SEND ME A NOTE IF YOU'RE INTERESTED

May 12: Math Benchmark

May 14: Science Benchmark

May 18: last day to earn AR points

May 22: Rocking Reader Carnival

May 28: Award Night at 6pm

Welcome Back!

Our class had a great first day back!  It was good to see everyone and hear about the weekly activities everyone engaged in.  I hope every enjoyed the week off. Now, it's back to business as usual. 

This week we have started a unit on plants. I'm asking that all students bring two different leaves  for our study.

Also, we have a writing benchmark just around the corner. You will notice your child bringing home small readings, in their bee binders, that work on editing and revising. These are the type of skills that will be tested on the benchmark. They will not have to write. It is all editing and revising. 

Please contact me if you have anyway questions. 

Spring Break

Have a wonderfully, restful, and safe Spring Break! I'll see everyone back on Monday.

Phases of the Moon

Today we got to eat cookies!!!!  Lessons are always more fun with food. Each student was given 4 cookies, and they were to break them apart to depict the eight different phases of the moon. Getting the icing just right was a challenge, but they did it!  I told them I wouldn't let them eat their cookies till they showed me each phase appropriately. Unfortunately, the icing was hard to work with for some, and it ended up in their mouth instead of as a moon phase!  Here's one of the better depictions of the phases. 

Math Benchmark Review

This afternoon we reviewed for the math benchmark. I also sent students home wih a the paper review. Please go over this with your child. Lots of students did well on this review. The harder questions were the first few....these were all finding the missing number. Within the next hour, I will be placing answers to this review below. (Need to get home and get my household in order 😉). Check back soon if you want the correct answers.  

Another thing I noticed is that students are not showing their work when they're completing the questions. Please remind them that showing their work helps them get the correct answer. We also talked about ways to check your work. Checking your work does not mean that you check to see if you answered the question, but to check in see if you got the right answer. To do this you need to work backwards. Plug-in the answer you got into the question and see if it still makes sense. reading the whole question is also something that I noticed students not doing today. Some people were missing questions only because they didn't read the whole question to find what they were really wanting from them. All of these are good test taking practices and strategies.

Pennies for Patients

Save your change!  We are collecting spare change (or donations) in support of leukemia and lymphoma studies and patients. Please send any change back to school in the box provided to you last week.

There is also a contest through the school...the class that raises the most money gets a pasta party sponsored by Olive Garden.

Here's to hoping we can be the winning class!

For more information, please visit the link below.

Pennies for Patients Link

Money!

I'm excited on how well the kids are doing with counting up money. The only problem they are having is with identifying the coins. When they have to identify coins on a black and white print out, they don't take the time to really look at the pictures on the coins. Here is the strategy we have been using in class. 

We have also talked about the four ways to write money: with a cent sign, with a decimal and dollar sign, using a zero dollar sign and decimal, and also in words. 

Valentine's Day Exchange

I have placed a sign up for our Valentine's Exchange in sign up genius. Remember, you may sign up for as much or as little as you would like. 

Here is the link:

Http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0C44AEAB23A5F85-valentines2

Science Benchmark Skills Check

I was so excited to hear kids say, "My mom made me study!"

I was also asked by parents, "Are you going to make a science review?"

So here it is!

As promised, here is a review for the Science Benchmark that we will be having this week.

Vocabulary

-One of the most imperative things to know is the words increase and decrease. 

Science Safety

-Know science gear (goggle, lab coat, gloves) and why it is useful

-Know science tools such as beaker, thermometer, balance, etc.

Properties of Matter

-EVERYTHING is made up of matter.

-There are three states of matter- solid liquid and gas

-Solid-Have their own shape (know examples)

-Liquids- take the shape of their container and are easily poured (know

examples)

-Gas-fill their container, most times, they can not be seen (know examples)

-Water can be a solid (ice), liquid (water) and gas (steam)

-Know what happens when you increase and decrease the temperature of water.

**Classifying Matter (this ties into lots of the different topics we have learned)

-You can classify matter by shape, size, texture, flexibility, color, and temperature.

-Classify means to sort things

Changing Matter

-You can change the properties of matter such as shape color and size by doing things such as cutting, folding and bending them.  These changes are not permanent.

-If you mix beads and blocks in a bowl you can take them apart (reversible change of matter)

-If you mix flour, sugar, milk and eggs, and make cookies you can NOT take the ingredients apart (that’s an irreversible change)

Structures

-A structure I something that is made up of a number of parts that are held or put together in a particular way.

-Structures can be held together by tape, glue, etc. 

-Certain shapes can make structures stronger…like a triangle

-Twisting or folding can make a structure stronger also.

Light Energy

-Know the word dim.

-When you decrease light, things get dimmer.

-When light is dimmer it makes it harder to see.

-There is natural light (sun, fireflies, fire, stars) and man made light (light bulbs, flashlights)

Sound Energy

-Sounds are made by vibrations

-The vibrations make sound waves that travel to our ears

-Sounds can be loud (increase) or soft (decrease)

-You can change the way something sounds by moving further away from it or even by covering your ears.

-Ex. A car horn going off in the school parking lot, will not sound as loud if you are inside the school building.

-The pitch of a sound can be high (like a flute) or low (like a tuba)

Heat Energy

-Heat can be increased or decreased. 

-If you increase heat, properties of things can change:

-Candle wax can melt

-Water can boil

-If you decrease heat, things such as water can freeze into ice

Magnets

-Magnets are used in our everyday life

-Magnets attract (pull together) and repel (push away)

-Magnets have two poles (north and south)

-Opposite poles attract

-Magnets attract things made of metal (iron, steel, nickel)

-The earth acts as a magnet because of its iron core

Motion

-Friction can make heat by rubbing two things together

-Motion works by PUSH and PULL

-Gravity is a pull

-Different motions are: turn, twist, spin, slide, roll, etc.

Man...I never know how much we have learned until making these skill checks! We have learned so much this year already and still have another half of the year to go.

Social Studies Benchmark Review

Thursday, we will be having a Social Studies Benchmark.  The benchmark is comprehensive and will test the students on all material we have learned since the beginning of the year.  The following Topics will be covered on the benchmark.  You may review these topics with your child by having a conversation with them.  Ask them if they remember the some of the following things.  If they get stuck, use this review to help jog their memory on such topics.  If you keep your child's graded work, it will also help you in preparation for the upcoming test.  This test will go into the gradebook as a major grade and will hold great value.  Happy Studying!

Landforms:
Your child should know all of the landforms and a short definition of each.  We went over these and made an "All About Landform Book" describing each landform

hill- raised piece of land
Mountain- Highest land form on earth
plateau- raised land that is flat on the top
island- land that is FULLY surrounded by water
peninsula- Land that is ALMOST surrounded by water
valley- Low area between to raised areas of land
forest-An area with many trees
plains-a large mostly flat piece of land

Bodies of water:
lake, ocean, stream, river
-Know that oceans are the biggest bodies of water

Maps:
-Know that a compass rose tells directions
-There are for directions on a compass rose (north, south, east and west)
-A map helps you to find locations
-A map key tells you what each symbol on a map stand for
-Know the difference between a map and a globe (one is flat, one is round)
-Know that the map of the world shows the five oceans and the seven continents

Continents:
There are seven continents, and we learned them with the following song(Where is Thumbkin):
There are seven,
there are seven,
Continents,
Continents.
North and South America
Europe, Asia, Africa,
Au-stra-lia
Ant-arc-ti-ca

Oceans:
Arctic, Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, and Southern

Texas:
-Know the capital of Texas is Austin
-Know the symbol and Landmarks of Texas are: Blue Bonnet, Mocking Bird, Alamo, San Jacinto Monument

Citizenship:
Citizens are people what are part of a specific group (large group like the United States or a small group like Mrs. Humphrey's Class)

Patriotism:
Know that some one who is patriotic shows respect and honor for their country.
Some Patriotic Citizens we learned about were Paul Revere and Abigail Adams.
A patriotic symbol would be the Flag of the United States
We also show respect and honor to our country and state by saying the pledge of allegiance and the pledge to the Texas flag.

Voting:
Know that citizens vote in an elections
Know that you need to be 18 or older and a citizen to vote
Use a ballot and choose the best candidate for the job
Campaigns are held to find out more information about the candidates

Government:

-Be able to identify functions of government such as to keep order, make laws, and to keep us safe   
-Be able to break the government into three parts: Local, State and Federal
-Know who runs each Government: Local Government is run by the mayor (Webb K. Melder), The state government is run by the Governor (Rick Perry/ Greg Abbott), and the Federal Government is run by the President (Barak Obama)
-We pay taxes to help pay for government services
-Things are taxes pay for are: The library, public park up keep, Schools and hospitals
-Government services and jobs are : Mail delivery, Trash pick up, Firefighters, Police, Teachers

Holidays:
Know that Veterans Day, Memorial Day, Thanksgiving are all holidays and why each is celebrated.

We Finally Did It!

We finally earned all the pieces to Mr. Potato Head. This means we earned a small class "party". The class voted in favor of a stuffed animal party!

Here are the rules for the party:

1. The stuffed animal must be able to fit into your backpack and can only be taken out  when you get to the classroom. 

2. The stuffed animal can not make noise. If it does make noise it will be confiscated until the end of the day. 

3. There was another rule...I just can't remember it!

Can't wait to meet all your kiddos special friends tomorrow!

It's cold!

Please make sure you are sending your child with their coat, every day. We will continue to go to recess, and with the weather in the mid 40s, we want to make sure that everyone is prepared.  I don't want anyone getting sick and missing any school...keep warm!

Two Digit Addition

We have learned three different strategies to add two digit numbers together. These strategies and the split strategy, the jump strategy, and basic addition with regrouping. 

Below are some examples of each with steps. If your child is still having trouble and you would like extra practice at home, please let me know. 

Split Strategy

Jump Strategy

"Stacking" Addition with Regrouping 

Red Ribbon Week

Last week was red ribbon week. We talked about the importance of being drug free and taking the right paths in each child's future.  Lots of the students have great goals planned for their lives. 

Durin career day, we had veterinarians, businessmen, teachers, military, and doctors all in our classroom. I'm so proud of the high goals they have set for themselves.

 

Author Celebration: Personal Narratives

We spent quite a few weeks on writing personal Narratives. personal Narratives are true stories that happen to you. I loved hearing all the stories and experiences that each student has had outside of school. 

Because our unit was coming to an end, we celebrated our growth as authors with an author celebration. Here are some pictures of us sharing our stories with each other. 

Our Newsletter Is Going GREEN!

What’s The“BUZZ”? Our weekly Newsletter is going GREEN! You will now be able to find the newsletters on our blog, from here on out.                          This Weeks newsletter:

Dry Ice!

Playing with dry ice is always fun, and this experience was just that. (Of course you always need your safety gear.) We were able to watch a solid change into a gas. It's skipped the phase of a liquid! What we had to do was take dry ice and put it into water. After doing this we watched it dissolve into a gas. I took some bubble solution and made a bubble over the top of the bowl that the water and dry ice was in. That made the gas from the dry ice trapped underneath the bubble. Because it was trapped it slowly blew the bubble up and we watch the gas move around inside of it. They showed us that the gas takes up space, because it's matter.Then all of a sudden… Pop! We watched all the gas is excape into the classroom. Fun stuff!

Changing phases of matter: Jello!

All last week we looked at how cooling or heating things can change matter into solids, liquids or gases. Last week we looked at jello. First we looked at the powdered that makes jelly. We decided that Jell-O was a solid even though we can be bored easily and makes a heap which means that it's still a solid. Then we took it and we put it into boiling water we watched the powder dissolve. After dissolving it turned yellow. We place the yellow liquid into the freezer to let it cool. When we cooled it, it became a solid known as Jell-O. We touched it and felt it to find all the properties it had. Properties such as color, shape, texture, size, and temperature.

Then we took the Jell-O and put it back into a beaker and warmed it up with the hot plate. We found that the Jell-O turned back into a liquid just as it was before!

  

Throwback....Monday!?!

Look how cute!  These are some pictures on the class facebook page. I found pictures of some of the kids in our class from when they were in PreK! 

You can see more pictures through Facebook. Find Humphrey's Class and add us as a friend. Or just use the Facebook link on this blog.