Weekly News 1-30-26

Weekly News for 2-P 1-30-26

     *Thanks for sending coats, mittens, hats and boots, plus indoor

shoes daily!

*In math we kicked off unit 7 on measurement. We worked on identifying

what an inch is, why we need standard measurement units, and also

began to work with feet and yards. Kids love measuring things around the

room. We are working to carefully line the ruler up with the beginning

of the object to be accurate. Using our personal tape measures has been a big hit!

 

*In writing workshop we worked on more descriptive writing - but this time

with poetry. Students chose an animal and brainstormed sensory details to

describe this animal and how it acts. Again our grammar tie-in was adjectives

so students got lots of practice coming up with interesting words to help the

reader picture their animal. The extra challenge was that this poem had to

rhyme. This was harder than it sounds! The kids showed a lot of perseverance

working through this piece all week! 

*Our focus was on inflectional endings (s, es) in spelling this week. During our phonics time we practiced dipthongs (oi and oy) and vowel team review words.

*In Go2 Science Beth and Curtis took a boat ride to the far end of San Cristobal

as they continued searching for penguins. No luck so far - but good scientists

know that sometimes this happens when you are trying to find the answer to your

scientific questions! We learned a lot about the blue and red footed booby birds

and their very unusual feet! Curtis donned S.C.U.B.A. gear to dive deep, and

Beth surveyed the surface while snorkeling. There are amazing animals at this

new location, but it did not seem like the penguins call this remote rock their

home. More research next week! 

*In science we completed the Mystery Science lesson called “How can you

unlock a door using a magnet?” To investigate magnetic attraction and repulsion

we tried to build a useful product; a magnetic lock that can open a paper door.

Tricky stuff, but we persevered! 

We enjoyed using rulers to measure around the room as we learn about inches, feet and yards.

So much snow!

We wrote a class poem about penguins and shared our revisions to our own animal poems.

We really liked using our personal measuring tapes!

One of our last force and motion explorations was figuring out how to make a door that a magnet could open.

We tried lots of techniques and strategies.

Sample magnetic door

A little birthday treat for a new 8 year old friend!

Finished animal poems!

Maine Maritime Museum

 

The "storm" in the sea

Building an old ship

Weekly News 1-23-26

 Weekly News for 2-P 1-24-26

     *Thanks for sending coats, mittens, hats and boots, plus indoor shoes daily! *We are in need of clorox cleaning wipes for desks/high touch surfaces in the room.

*In math we finished unit 6 with two days of problem solving, both one step and two step word problems. Then we did lots of review and practice with subtraction strategies. We finished the unit 6 test on Friday and will hit unit 7 next week - measurement is up next!

*We enjoyed our field trip to the Maine Maritime Museum. The kids loved seeing the Chris Van Dusen exhibit and enjoyed learning about old ships and how cargo is transported from place to place.

*We continued our force and motion unit with an investigation about the patterns of motion exhibited by a trapeze. In the activity, “Trapeze Tester,” students built a model trapeze. They made observations and took measurements of the motion of that model and used that data to predict the motion of a real trapeze. Then in our next investigation, “What Can Magnets Do,” students explored the surprising properties of magnets and experimented with an invisible force that acts at a distance. In the activity, “Magnet Discovery,” students used ring magnets and common objects to discover the push and pull of magnets and how magnets attract certain types of metals. The magnets were a big hit!

 

*In writing workshop we worked on descriptive writing. Students chose a place to describe and brainstormed sensory details to describe this location. Our grammar tie-in was adjectives so students got lots of practice coming up with interesting words to help the reader picture their chosen place. 

*Our focus was on dipthongs (oi, oy)  in spelling this week. During our phonics time we practiced the /aw/ sound and different sounds /ea/ and /a/ can make in words like bread and water. . 

*In Go2 Science we went along with Curtis and Beth as they investigated a very interesting animal on the way to La Loberia! They found a feather floating in the water, but we had to wonder if it was really evidence of penguins? On Thursday’s livestream they explored the Rookery on San Cristobal Island as they searched for evidence of penguins. Along the way, they find a creature that sneezes salt! We are fascinated by the sea lions in this mission. 

Magnet exploration

We loved making a magnet float

Weekly News 1-16-26

 Weekly News for 2-P 1-16-26

     *Thanks for sending coats, mittens, hats and boots, plus indoor shoes daily!

*We could use some Clorox wipes for extra desk cleaning. 

*Next Thursday we go to the Maine Maritime Museum in the morning!

*In math we have continued our work with subtraction in unit 6. We have practiced regrouping with base 10 blocks, subtracting on a number line, and adjusting to subtract with friendly numbers. We have also learned to use a related addition fact to count up to subtract. We have also been working hard to learn to identify coins. We are working on naming and telling the value of pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. This is a great thing to practice at home with some mixed change!

*In science we focused on balanced forces and engineering in an exploration called “What Makes Bridges so Strong?”  Students learned about the different types of supports and designs that engineers use to build bridges and got to try their own hand at creating a sturdy paper bridge that could hold as many pennies as possible. There was a lot of trial and error and bridge revision happening Friday.  Some of our paper bridges held 88 pennies!

*In reading workshop we read lots of nonfiction texts about force and motion. We also did work solidifying our understanding of nonfiction text features - hunting for these helpful organizational parts in a variety of texts. When you are reading at home with your child you can point out bold words, the table of contents, captions and photos as ways to get more information while you are reading.

 

*In writing workshop we published our invention reports and shared them with classmates. Then we took the mid-year writing prompt, a chance for me to see how students do with writing a piece independently. This is helpful for me in setting individual writing goals to get students working toward year end writing benchmarks. Toward the end of the week we kicked off a new unit on descriptive writing, where we will focus on describing a place with sensory details.

*Our focus was on silent letter words in spelling this week. During our phonics time we practiced  /ew/ spelling patterns and did vowel teams review work.

Brainstorming for descriptive place writing

We shared our invention reports this week.

We loved seeing sea lions with Beth and Curtis this week.

Force and motion fun: trapeze training!

Identifying the swing pattern of our model trapezes

We counted the swings in a variety of ways.

Setting up for the experiment!

Making our friend Harry birthday cards during read aloud

Free Choice Friday Fun

Great partner work on the trapeze model

Look at those mini trapeze models go!

Ready to launch!

Showing multiple strategies to solve a problem

We researched about MLK on Pebble Go.

UFLI story student leader

Working on spelling with magnetic letters

Sample bridge design notebook

Partners tried to build paper bridges with supports to hold many pennies.

We are practicing how we get information from nonfiction text features like headings and photos and captions.