Weekly News 2-28-25

 Weekly News for 2-P 2-28-25

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

*In math we reinforced our measuring skills by strengthening our ability to estimate accurately and use everyday objects to look to as benchmarks. We continued to relate centimeters to meters and practiced drawing line segments of varying lengths. We also solved word problems involving length. Each day we did review of double digit addition concepts as well.

*We kicked off our Mystery Science unit on “Plant Adaptations.” Our hook leading into the unit was the phenomenon of the superbloom in Death Valley, California. Ask your kids to tell you about it! In our first investigation, “How did a tree travel halfway across the world?”  students investigate the mystery of the koa tree, a type of tree that grows in only two places—islands halfway across the world from one another. We developed three different physical models of seed structures and practiced dropping them to see how structure affects the seed’s function in dispersing away from the tree. During our second investigation “Animal Seed Dispersal” we explored how the structures of seeds enable them to disperse, with a focus on seeds that utilize animal structures to aid in their dispersal. We developed a model of a furry animal (“fluffadoo”) and then used it to test how far seed models with different structures can travel.

 

*In writing we were immersed in week 2 of our photo essays on habitats. This week we revised by adding adjectives to describe our habitats, including definitions of habitat words and adding an appositive to part of our report. Then we turned to our editing checklist and final drafts. We worked really hard on this project and it’s great to see these second graders sustain a challenging project and show perseverance!

*Our focus was on -ou and -ow words in spelling this week. During our phonics time we practiced suffixes (ly, ness, ful).

Sample Habitat Report

Working diligently on a final draft

Another sample habitat report

Using the revised draft to create a finished product!

We added "photos" to our photo essays.

Writers at work!

Testing out our FLUFFADOOS with partners

We counted how many hops we could get in before the seed fell.

We tested two different seeds.

One was a pom-pom and the other was a bean.

We had to jump very carefully!

We tracked our hop count on a special recording page.

The fluffadoo was a model of a furry animal.

This is us making the fluffadoo model.

In math we did a standing long jump event!

We each got two do two jumps. 

The rest of us took turns marking and measuring the jumps.

Action shot!

We had to start behind the same line.

We measured each jump in inches and centimeters.

Lots of teamwork

Buddy Reading!

We went up to Ms. Moran's class this time.

Testing our seed models in science

We had 3 different seed models to test.

Our goal was to see how different seed structures help seeds disperse.

First we had to make the seed models.

Peer Review work in writing

We listened to each other's habitat reports to give feedback.

Lots of hands-on measuring in math all week!

Monday's snow was super fun!

Recording our thoughts about the "Superbloom" mystery in Death Valley, California