4 months, 1 post, 4 more days until summer...

Where did the year go? We've had so much fun this year and have been so busy the past few months! I'm  behind on blogging but I'll try to catch you up on February-May at hyper-speed using this post. February brought us African American history month projects and programs as well as our Valentine's Day party!

 

We began March with some Seuss-tastic activities including measurement and antonym lessons using "The Foot Book."

We also completed a States of Matter unit where students explored characteristics of different states of matter and experimented with physical and chemical changes.

 

We took a field trip to see one of our own classmates perform in the Academy Children's Theater's performance of "Freckleface Strawberry."

It was also in March that I was honored with the opportunity to attend the National Art Education Association's Convention in Chicago, IL with some fellow teachers. I learned so much and was inspired to bring back some amazing arts integrated lessons and ideas.

Did I also mention there was a comic expo in the same building?!?

In April, our brand new theater opened. The 2nd graders were honored to get to perform our school song at the ribbon cutting. We also had our first Fine Arts Festival in the new school.

Our awesome parents help create silent auction art!

On Earth Day, we did research, read "Miss Rumphius" and created art inspired by ways we can make the earth more beautiful.

We had spirit week dress-up days, took a field trip to the Space and Rocket Center, and Panoply School Days. The students also worked hard to create their very own solar system models. They were out of this world!

May brought Mother's Day art and writing projects. 

 Tomorrow begins the first day of our last week of school. We will have our awards ceremony and end-of-the-year cookout at the state park. This has been a wonderful year of growth and learning--the students and I all have learned so much! Thanks for taking the time to follow our journey. See you in the summer!

Writing, Centers, and Our First Project!

It's been a fantastic August; I can hardly believe we've been in school a whole month already! The transition to second grade and a new school building has been an adventure but I think we're all finally settled. Here are a few of our fantastic ELA centers in action:

We got our classroom iPads and learned how to take care of them while exploring our new apps! 

We also started visual art class with the amazing Ms. Bradford!

We read our first nonfiction unit story of the year, "Exploring Space," learned about main idea and details, and tried our hands at expository informative writing. These kids amaze me everyday!

For this story we also incorporated some visual art experiences by creating sentences and murals to define our amazing words for the week. Each group of students had two words to incorporate into a sentence and picture. Here are some of the collaborating groups in action: 

We also had our first drama/theater class. The director, Ms. Fleischman, focused on projection and expression while reinforcing the importance of listening to directions through Shel Silverstein poems. Can't you just see the emotion expressed with each child's face and body language? 

Our first class project was a "Me Project" in which the students designed a mini-me and presented it to the class. Students were to focus on what made them unique. The listening audience was to compare and contrast what similar interests they shared with the presenting students.

Download project instructions HERE. 

We've had a blast so far and can't wait to share more of our learning!