superkiddos

Slice of Life!

2012-03-08T12:16:00.002-08:00

Makensie

Caleigh

Adam

Dylan

Abi

Dominic

Elizabeth

Avery

Breanna

Daetona

Kendra

Nick

Mark

Kelsey

Maddy

Gavin

Slice of Life: Mrs. Overman

2012-03-08T10:05:00.004-08:00

The flowers are poking through our mulch now. It's lovely.

Yesterday was such a gorgeous day that we all headed outside as soon as we were home from work and school. The sun was shining and it was warm--albeit windy--in our neighborhood.

Ian didn't care what we did outside as long as he could be outside. He is truly his mother's child in that sense.

Evan began scooping the poop in the yard (hey, we have two large retrievers!) while I cleaned the brown, crispy leaves off the lilies struggling to poke through.

"Ian, come here!" I said. "Look, I found baby flowers!"

"Oh, baby flowers?" he said.

"Yep, and look, there's a little spider!"

He froze. He could sense where this was going.

For some reason, he really hates spiders.

"Come look, buddy!" I called.

"No, Mommy."

"Just come here for a minute...before he goes back home to his mommy," I said.

"Okay. He goes back home to his mommy after this!" he said, and then agreed to come over.

Lesson learned: If there's a way to make a scary thing on the same level as a toddler, it will automatically make it less scary. Like spiders going home to their mommies.

Determining Importance.

2012-03-08T07:54:00.002-08:00

We've been learning to retell stories and that when we do, we don't have to tell every single detail the author wrote. Today we decided we really needed to think about what is most important and what's not, so we made lists of things we'd need if we went...

camping,

to a sleepover,

in the boat all day,

and to an indoor waterpark.

Then we took a good, hard look at our lists to decide if maybe we wrote some things that needed to be crossed off.

You don't HAVE to have a squirt gun to play at Splash Universe.

It would be nice to take swim toys to Florida, but they aren't absolutely necessary.

Video games and a camera would be nice while camping, but you can go without them.

You wouldn't have to take extra clothes on your boat if it was warm.

We learned when we retell stories, we need to decide what parts we MUST remember (main ideas) and what parts are just extra things (supporting details).

Slice of Life: Day 4

2012-03-07T10:34:00.003-08:00

Dominic

Gavin

Beau

Mark

Brady

Nick

Makensie

Dylan

Taylor

Makensie

Abi

Maddy

Slice of Life: Mrs. Overman

2012-03-07T07:28:00.002-08:00

I opened the door at the end our second grade hall and immediately felt the warm sun and cool breeze mix near my face. What a gorgeous day. My feet crunched walking the gravel track, and I spent some time praying, breathing, and taking in the signs of Spring all around me. I heard Sand Hill Cranes whoop, songbirds sing, and felt the tickle of bugs near my arms.

This kind of day makes me happy, I thought.

I was nearly done with my walk and I spotted a female bluebird perched on the topmost branch of an evergreen tree, her mate close by in another tree.

Thank you, Lord, for Spring.

Slice of Life Challenge: Day 3

2012-03-05T10:43:00.006-08:00

Brady

Timmy

Beau

Caleigh

Maddy

Kendra

Gavin

Dylan

Mark

Nick

Dominic

Taylor

Makensie

Abi

Inferring and Mrs. Overman's Purse.

2012-03-05T07:29:00.000-08:00

Inferring is when you use clues around you (or in a book) to figure something out--just like a detective.

What can we infer about Mrs. Overman from the contents of her purse (besides that she is a slob!)?

She has a doctor's appointment, she likes to have soft hands, she writes checks to people, she has a little kid, she works at NWES, she likes to write

She takes pictures, she lives where it's cold and rainy

Mark inferred that Dylan likes hunting just by looking at his shirt. What do you think?

Slice of Life #3: Mrs. Overman

2012-03-05T06:02:00.006-08:00

I am freezing from the end of September until the end of May. So basically, anytime the temperature outside is below 70 degrees, I'm freezing.

It's a yearly tradition.

Year after year I find myself in search of signs of Spring. Warm temperatures, songbirds sweetly singing, tiny buds on the trees, furry bunnies hopping around my yard, and...robins.

This year I'm searching for Spring for two reasons: 1) I'm cold; 2) I'm having a baby at the beginning of May. C'mon, Spring!

I have been on a robin search for about a month now. Somehow, I've been thinking that if I see one it'll make Spring get here faster. I've only seen a few Mallard ducks, white buds on my pear tree, and green daylilies poking through the old mulch...until this morning.

I pulled up to our babysitter's house, opened the car door to get my son out of the back and--HEY, PRESTO!--three orange and gray robins were hopping around the gravel driveway right next to my car!

This is a very important day.

*Grownup readers: My apologies for the highlighted adjectives...that's our mini-lesson for today. :)

2nd grade Writing Celebration

2012-03-02T09:32:00.003-08:00

We've been writing reviews of things

and all of us from all the second grade classrooms

wrote comments to one another

about what we did well.

We moved from classroom to classroom

and read our friends' writing

and had a great time.

Slice of Life Challenge: Day 2

2012-03-02T09:02:00.000-08:00

Makensie's slice

Claira's slice

Breanna's slice

Brady's slice

Gavin's slice

Mya's slice

Slice of Life #2: Mrs. Overman

2012-03-02T05:07:00.002-08:00

When Ian was born, he was immediately taken to Lutheran in Fort Wayne. I had to stay in Goshen, far away from him. Keep that in mind. :)

I remember chomping at the bit to be released from Goshen to get to him. Finally, the day came. The car ride was eternally long. We parked our car, and I was nearly running, despite having a c-section just three days earlier, to get to the NICU floor. We found an empty elevator that, I swear, took 10 minutes to get to where Ian was.

Could the process have taken longer?

As soon as we rang the doorbell to be allowed in to the NICU, we had to stop at the desk and check in. I was about to die waiting. I had only gotten to see Ian's face in pictures. I hadn't held him; I'd only been able to touch his arm. I was practically shaking while waiting...again.

The secretary informed us we had to scrub in (kind of). I remember thinking, Seriously? There's yet another thing that's keeping me from seeing him? I did it anyway.

I rounded the corner into a hot, dark, small room. Sitting on a stool, holding a dark-haired, brown-eyed baby was a nurse, feeding him the milk I'd sent from my hospital room in Goshen just the day before. Ian's eyes looked at me; I immediately said, "Hi, baby!" and then melted into a puddle of tears.

Story Maps by Mya and Timmy

2012-03-01T10:30:00.000-08:00

A story map of "Jackelope": Jack always wants to be scary. Then he saw the first star and wished for horns. Jack woke up and saw Fairy Godrabbit. Poof! and he got his wish. Every time he lied his horns get bigger and he lied to a hummingbird (zzziiipp!). Coyote jumped at Jack.

A story map of "How I Became a Pirate": I went to the beach. I saw a pirate ship...that picked me up. I played on the ship. I went home.

A Few Story Maps in Progress.

2012-03-01T09:48:00.001-08:00

Slice of Life Challenge: Day 1

2012-03-01T07:25:00.003-08:00

We began our Slice of Life Challenge today by slicing together.

Avery's slice

Kelsey's slice

Breanna's slice

Nick's slice

After we wrote our slices, we shared them with partners.

We had a happy slicing time!

Retelling stories.

2012-03-01T05:10:00.001-08:00

We been learning WHY readers retell stories to themselves and others. When readers retell stories, they don't tell everything that happened in the story; they only tell the most important parts that move the story along. (Bonus question: do you remember what the prefix "re" means?)

Slice of Life: Mrs. Overman

2012-03-01T04:55:00.002-08:00

There were banana muffins in the oven baking for Ian's snack. I could smell that they were just about finished, so I picked Ian up and we went to pull them out of the oven together. Pivoting on my right leg with Ian on my other hip, I put my hand on the oven door and felt a crack in my leg. I fell to the ground and I heard Ian's head hit the hardwood floor. He was crying, but he was okay. I felt white-hot pain sear through my leg and up to my head. I'm going to pass out, I thought. Wait--I can't pass out...I have an 11-month old baby here on the floor, a hot oven, and bread that will catch fire if I do! By the grace of God, my cell phone was near enough for me to reach (it NEVER is that close, and I certainly don't remember putting it there), and I dialed 911. Just minutes later I heard our door open, and in came a neighbor, Evan, some firemen, and the EMTs. Off to the hospital I went!

Slice of Life Challenge!

2012-02-29T07:47:00.002-08:00

We will be participating in the Slice of Life Challenge beginning tomorrow with Mrs. Ayres and other writers on Two Writing Teachers. Each day in March we'll write a "slice" of our lives, and by the end of the month we'll have a collection of many things that happened to us.

What's a Slice of Life story? It's an ordinary (or sometimes not-so-ordinary) thing that happened to you, but not over time. It is just one small piece or moment in your life that you write down. It could be:

Come back and visit us and (hopefully) you'll get to read at least one slice a day!

Revising our Reviews

2012-02-29T07:38:00.004-08:00

Beau and Abi share how to make their reviews better.

Revising our reviews

Mark's Harry Potter review

Mya's Blue Heels review

We've been thinking...

2012-02-29T06:16:00.003-08:00

Learning to Write Reviews.

2012-02-21T06:29:00.000-08:00

Nick: Snakes are cool because they're awesome because they have sharp teeth and they eat eggs.

Brady: Ice cream is good and you can get sprinkles on it. And you can put caramel and chocolate on it.

Dominic: Soccer is fun. We play it every day at school and our team always wins. When we line up our team says, "We won!" Ready, get set, kick!

Timmy: Cats are a good pet to have. Cats are very nice. They are fun to play with. Cats do not like water to play in. If you see a cat on the road, tell someone. Cats can be funny. If you have a cat it has to be safe. If you have a cat and it is sick tell someone.

Makensie: Cats can be different colors. But you have to take care of them. Make sure you get them a a litter box. And get them a toy to play with. Ready, set, play!

Maddy: Halloween is fun to me. I love my costume because I am a witch. And my dad is someone that cuts trees.

Mya: Cats are nice. Some cats have no homes and live on the streets. Those cats are called homeless cats. Sometimes you find kittens on the streets without mothers. Cats and kittens are very very calm with little kids. If you find kittens on the street without moms you can bottle feed them.

News for this week.

2012-02-17T07:16:00.001-08:00

Somenews for this week!

February 17, 2012

Thisweek we have:

Taken three days of Cog-At testing to determine what we know.
Started reading “James and the Giant Peach” together.
Decided we wanted to learn a little about the Loch Ness Monster!
Wrote more reviews about things we love (or don't love!).
Continued working on regrouping while adding in math.
Stretched the kinds of thinking we're doing in reading.

Thingsto keep in mind for next week:

No school Monday, February 20^th, in honor of Presidents' Day.
No school Friday, February 24^th. This is a snow make up day.
No spelling test next week. The grading period is ending and we have a short week.
No school Monday, February 27^th.
Please make sure your child has a pair of clean shoes to wear to P.E. on Mondays and Fridays. These shoes don't have to be new, they just need to have been cleaned well if they've been worn outside. It keeps our floor clean in the gym and helps with preserving it as well.

Check out our blog to seesome pictures of our Valentine's Day party and all the other coolstuff we've done this week!

www.wearesuperkiddos.blogspot.com

What we do in school! By Kelsey and Avery

2012-02-17T06:34:00.000-08:00

We go to the nurse's office when we're hurt at school.

We say the pledge at school.

We learn about animals in school.

We use teamwork at school.

We draw in ART class!!!!

We're Writing More Reviews!

2012-02-16T12:00:00.000-08:00

Opinions on the Loch Ness Monster.

2012-02-16T09:53:00.000-08:00

We think it's real!

We're not sure.

It's not real!

The Loch Ness Monster.

2012-02-16T07:31:00.000-08:00

We're decided we'd like to learn about the Loch Ness Monster this morning after reading this book:

We're creating our own opinions about it and deciding what we think.

Here are the sites we checked out so far.

Wikipedia
Legend of Nessie

What do YOU think about the Loch Ness Monster? Leave us a comment here on our blog or on Twitter (@superkiddos).

Sorting our Thinking in Reading.

2012-02-16T07:25:00.000-08:00

We discovered we are doing four kinds of thinking in reading by sorting our pictures.

These people were thinking about the entire book once it was over., like when Mark said, "Gloria finally makes them listen...finally!"

These people decided something about the book or a part of the book or a character in the book, like "The kids seem to like Gloria the best."

These people made connections while they read, like "This book reminds me of another police officer book."

These people did very quick thinking, like people who said, "I like Gloria."

We decided we'd like to try to do more of thinking outside the orange hula hoop...and maybe we will need more hula hoops for different kinds of thinking. Stay tuned...we've been challenged!

Our Valentine's Day Ice Cream Party!

2012-02-14T12:20:00.000-08:00

We had an ice cream sundae bar. Look at all our toppings!

Most of us put all the toppings on our sundaes.

Elizabeth got a cherry and sprinkles.

Dylan put lots of syrups on his!

Then we opened our Valentine cards from our friends.

We found lots of nice surprises in our bags!

Valentine's Day Morning.

2012-02-14T09:55:00.000-08:00

Some of us dressed up for Valentine's Day.

Nick brought the biggest balloon ever to Mrs. Overman!

We made bags to put our treats in.

Abi finished her first chapter book (here at school)!

2012-02-10T10:15:00.000-08:00

"I couldn't have done it without everyone being so quiet," she said.

Making our Valentine's Day bags!

2012-02-10T06:36:00.000-08:00

We're Thinking about our Thinking in Reading.

2012-02-08T08:16:00.000-08:00

We wrote down what we were thinking while reading "Officer Buckle and Gloria." In a little while we're going to sort our thinking to learn more about it! Come back soon!

Aaugh! Blue Teeth!

2012-02-07T08:02:00.001-08:00

Kelsey has blue teeth--just like the Grand High Witch!

GO story tellers!!!!!!! By Kelsey and Avery

2012-02-06T11:39:00.000-08:00

These story tellers are the best storytellers in the world, and their names are Chip and Amy. I think the best story they told is Finn Mac-Cool but I have not watched all of them. If you are a teacher you should let your kids in your class watch all of these stories. I think you should watch these videos because you can practice reading like story mountain/ beginning middle and ends. So get ready, set, videos!!!!!

Click on the link to get to the site:

http://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/StoryVideos

Brussels Sprouts Review by Kelsey.

2012-02-06T05:53:00.002-08:00

Writing our first reviews.

2012-02-02T12:34:00.000-08:00

Makensie's review is about Just Dance! 3.

Beau reviewed the waterpark at Shipshewana.

Elizabeth loves elephants and thinks you should too!

The Waka Waka Dance.

2012-01-27T12:12:00.000-08:00

On Monday we are hosting our school's Pow Wow and

we will be teaching our fellow classmates how to do

the Waka Waka dance!

The rest of our 100th day celebration.

2012-01-26T12:13:00.000-08:00

Kelsey brought in 100 photos.

The boys work on their 100 necklaces.

So do the girls!

More necklace-making.

And even more....

This is what necklaces made of 100 fruity loops look like!

We made pictures with 100 pieces of torn-up paper.

Here is our chart of 100 animals.

Blowing up 100 balloons

Playing with our 100 balloons

More of our 100th day party!

2012-01-26T06:34:00.000-08:00

We wanted to draw 100 animals together.

Later today we'll make necklaces with 100 pieces of fruity cereal. Yum!

Some of us are working on odd and even numbers making a 100 picture.

Kelsey and Avery whipped out 100 words...they're almost to 200 now!

More of us are working on the 100 Animals chart.

Lupito works on a 100 puzzle.

100 Day is just beginning...

2012-01-26T05:54:00.000-08:00

Tearing up paper for a project

Working on 100 necklaces

Stay tuned...more to come!

Our favorite books right now!

2012-01-25T07:51:00.000-08:00

We printed off our pictures with our favorite books and put them on our lockers so other kids can see what we're reading and they might read it too!

News for the week of January 16-20th.

2012-01-23T05:13:00.000-08:00

Wow, we've had a whirlwind week! This week we have:

worked on ending punctuation
learned how to do mental math
finished the book "The Twits" by Roald Dahl
started the book "The Willoughbys" by Lois Lowry
studied Dr. Martin Luther King Junior
took two NWEA computer tests
began learning about opinion writing/writing reviews for things

Things to remember for next week:

We will take two more NWEA computer tests next week on Monday and Tuesday.
We have a snow make-up day on Friday, February 3rd. If we don't miss a day of school between now and then, we'll be off that day!

Spelling words for next week:

can't
don't
it's
couldn't
isn't
four
Wednesday
Saturday
that's
they're

Happy Birthday, Claira!

2012-01-20T06:12:00.001-08:00

Kelsey and Avery: The Rough-Face Girl

2012-01-17T10:10:00.000-08:00

About The Rough-Face Girl
(begining) Her sisters put her in ashes):
(middle)Her sisters try to marry the invisible being. But they do not.(:
(end)The rough-face girl tries to marry the invisible being. And she does.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.!

2012-01-16T11:28:00.000-08:00

We read "Martin's Big Words,"

"My Brother Martin,"

"Rosa,"

"Ruby Bridges Goes To School," and

"Through My Eyes."

We wrote on different colored hands

things that Dr. MLK taught us

that still apply to our world today

like what Avery learned: "You can make a difference by being nice to each other."

Mark wants you to know that "It doesn't matter what your skin is, we're still all the same."

Kaleb learned "Don't punch. Fight back with words. Love beats hate."

Kodee's advice? "Be nice to others."

Makensie says, "You can help people be brave."

Dr. MLK taught Dylan "to be nice to everyone."

Caleigh says Dr. MLK wants us "to be nice to people."

Writing Celebration: Personal Narratives

2012-01-13T11:09:00.000-08:00

Mrs. Willaman's class came over to our room and we shared our books with partners.

Then we had a toast...to ourselves as writers! Cheers!

Oh, and we had cupcakes too!

Makensie: What I Got For Christmas

2012-01-12T10:29:00.000-08:00

What I Got For Christmas!

What I Got For Christmas (fly page)

I got something for Christmas. I can't wait to see what it is!

It's a checkerboard game and two more stuff!

And the other present? It's a tie-dye for your shirts.

And a curling iron! But I burnt myself.

That was my true book! Ho ho ho!

Beau: When I Went to Gramma and Papa's

2012-01-12T10:04:00.000-08:00

We are going downstairs. We are asking Grandpa if we can ride the four-wheeler.

Four-wheeler

Me and my sister went to my grandpa's pond and my sister said I can come down now.

Punctuation: Read Like You're Talking

2012-01-11T05:59:00.000-08:00

From "You Read to Me, I'll Read to You"

Reread and use punctuation.

2012-01-10T05:45:00.000-08:00

We know how to sound like pirates when we read, but now we need to use punctuation to help us make sense of all the stuff they say. Sometimes when you read something the first time, you're just thinking about getting the words right. Reread it and use the punctuation to make it sound better! Let's try it together.

"We be needin' the treasure we buried in your backyard!"

"Treasure!" the pirates repeated.

"Shush!" I said. "Not so loud!"

"Not so loud!" roared the pirates.

"The map!" said Braid Beard. "Hand over the map!"

"The map?" Everybody emptied their pockets. No luck.

Text taken from this book. We love it!

Punctuation is Everywhere!

2012-01-09T11:27:00.000-08:00

Look at all the punctuation Mya and Kelsey found around our school!

WIP (Work in progress)

2012-01-09T10:35:00.000-08:00

Dylan

Adam

Caleigh

Basic Punctuation with the Pigeon!

2012-01-09T06:24:00.000-08:00

What should go at the end of this sentence?

A Sunny Friday Morning.

2012-01-06T06:27:00.000-08:00

Punctuation Tells Your Voice What To Do.

2012-01-06T06:13:00.000-08:00

Let's read these together. How should they sound? How do you know?

I love donuts!

What in the world are you doing?!

Who ate my pickles?

I am too tired to drive the car.

Back (Book) Covers.

2012-01-05T11:18:00.000-08:00

We noticed that the back covers of books often have:

funny pictures about the story

a picture directly from the story

words about the story

hints about the story

about the author

part of the actual story

an exciting or scary part of the story

other books by the author

lots of little pictures from the story

nice things people say about the book

Kaleb Reads to the Class.

2012-01-05T08:00:00.000-08:00

Kaleb read "The Rainbow Fish"

Book Covers!

2012-01-05T06:09:00.000-08:00

We decided that covers have a title, the name of the author/illustrator, and a picture that gives a hint about the story. Most important: covers make readers want to read your book!

Holes.

2011-12-16T10:59:00.000-08:00

We decided we needed a map to help us understand...

this great book!

Santa's Reindeer Cam!

2011-12-16T06:07:00.000-08:00

Look! It's Santa's reindeer! Some of us think that Rudolph is one of these and Santa screws a red lightbulb on his nose when they're ready to fly on Christmas Eve.

Make your illustrations realistic.

2011-12-15T12:25:00.000-08:00

Mrs. Overman had to draw everything from the same point of view. It looks like you're flying above the land.

Look how real Timmy's dad's gun looks.You can even see the stripes on the raccoon and the bark on the tree. Oh, and Timmy WAS awake during this time...he just looks sleepy!

Daetona's day that she wrote about was sunny and clear. Can you tell?

You can see Beau drew tracks and spokes on his wheels so his vehicle looks real.

Notice how real Mark's fire and tree look. You can even see the coal under the fire.

Sorry it's so fuzzy, but Gavin's tree is decorated like a real Christmas tree!

To keep her page realistic, Kelsey had to draw her characters from the side because they're talking.

Abi made her house look as real as it gets! We can see the chimney, the slide and playhouse, and the door!

Makensie dressed her character. Who wants to read a stick-people book? (Well, except for Diary of a Wimpy Kid....)

Writers make their illustrations realistic so readers will take them seriously.

Oh my! News you might want to know.

2011-12-13T05:48:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! So sorry I didn't get a newsletter to you last week! I wrote myself two notes and STILL forgot (imagine that!). Anyway, we've been working on:

telling time
quotation marks
adding detail in our writing
reading like we're talking
reading like a character
finishing chapter books
reading "Holes"
addition
ten more and ten less than a number

Things you'll want to know for the next week-ish:

no spelling test until after Christmas break. We're going to be having other tests, like quotation marks, and I don't want to over-test us!
We'll have a small Christmas celebration on Tuesday before break at the end of the day.
Please let us know if your child needs a coat or hat or gloves. We have some available.

Merry Christmas (almost!)

what we do for christmas! by Avery and Kelsey

2011-12-09T11:39:00.000-08:00

we dress up P.S. she is Mrs.clause.

We decorate tree's. OH chirstmas tree OH chirtmas tree.

Santa clause gives presents!

We clean up things always:(

We shop for books:)

We spend money Booooooo.

We READ BOOKS!!!

We pet our pets!

Here is Santa Clause shopping for KIDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

People travel lots of PLACES!

We build snowmen in the snow.

We get together for chirstmas.

Santa is checking his list.

Comet's getting ready.

We donate food to poor.

We draw pictures.

Snow falls down.

We tell what we want for christmas.

We give cards.

We write books.

Writers Add Tiny Details in their Pictures.

2011-12-08T11:48:00.000-08:00

Kelsey made curtains in her house.

Makensie made grass and boots.

Abi showed the lines in the road and even the bus number!

Breanna showed herself throwing up on her mom's shoe...yikes!

Mark's Christmas tree is decorated.

Beau made tracks and hubcaps on his wheels.

Lupito added the names of his family in his story.

Mya put small people in the background of her page because they were walking around her at the store.

You can do lots with crayons.

2011-12-06T06:02:00.000-08:00

Yikes! Mrs. Overman took away our markers! We were sad, but she taught us some things writers and illustrators do with crayons. Don't tell...but we kinda like it!

You can use your eraser to rub over your coloring and make it lighter in places.

You can color, then scratch with your fingernail to make cool textures...this one isn't done yet.

You can color in your letters like David Shannon.

You can write important words in crayon.

You can make a background with crayon and still read your words well.

You can outline with crayon, then color lighter inside the outline like on these trees.

You can color in lightly with crayon, like the purple on the outside of Adam's picture, or you can color hard and make it dark, like the middle of his picture.

News for last week (Nov 28th-Dec 2)!

2011-12-05T04:56:00.000-08:00

Our blog posting has come to a screeching halt over the last couple of weeks because we're working on doing reading tests...this is one-on-one (teacher and student) and takes a long, long time!

This week we:

learned how to find ten more and ten less on a number chart.
figured out numbers before and after another number.
(some of us) began Accelerated Math (more of us will soon!).
read for 35 minutes each day independently, then more as a class and with partners!
began telling true stories from our lives with a beginning, middle, and end, and important details.

Things to remember:

The book fair is open in the Little Theater all week. If your child would like to bring money in to spend, that's fine...just no more than $20 please. :)
We will NOT be doing a gift exchange this year. We'll have a little celebration for Christmas and make something fun instead.
Christmas Break dates: (no school on these days) December 21-January 3.

Spelling words for next week:

junk
brothers
float
house
crash
trip
shook
snap
with
stop

We Voted Today!

2011-12-01T12:24:00.000-08:00

In Junior Achievement today, we had to decide on what would be best for our pretend community...an animal shelter, a toy store, or a skate park.

In groups we wrote the pros and cons of all of them.

Then we voted!

We decided an animal shelter would be best for everyone (especially the animals!).

Writers Tell Stories.

2011-11-28T11:01:00.000-08:00

We told family stories

friend stories

sad stories

snow stories

happy stories

disgusting stories

barfing stories

boat stories

and scary stories

Writers need to talk before they can write well. We must fill our brains with words--from books, from others, and from our own voices--before we can write.

Spelling words for this coming week...

2011-11-28T04:49:00.000-08:00

black
knew
bug
city
nice
too (they should know this kind of "too" means "also" rather than the number or "to")
sometimes
rain
thank
them

A Writing Celebration!

2011-11-23T09:03:00.000-08:00

First, we read other people's books.

Then we commented on what they did well as writers.

We wrote things like "Your pictures have lots of details" and

"You wrote lots of words" and

"I liked your book because it was easy to read."

We did a lot of reading!

People wrote books about their lives and

fiction books about bunnies and

stories about holidays and

friends stories, just to name a few.

We are good writers, and we know what writers do!

We like to share that with everyone.

We love celebrating writing.

Then, after all the celebrating, we had snacks! (Punch and Christmas cakes)

Yummy!

Great job, writers!

American Thanksgiving

2011-11-21T06:02:00.000-08:00

We have lots of friends all over the world. Would you like to know more about the holiday we'll be celebrating this Thursday? It's very important to us. Click HERE to watch a movie about Thanksgiving!

News for the week of November 14-18

2011-11-18T11:00:00.000-08:00

This week we have:

worked hard to make sure ALL of our books have a beginning, middle and end, even if they're nonfiction. Thinking of an end for nonfiction is MUCH more of a challenge than making an end for a fiction story.
learned about tens and ones and arrays (groups of things lined up neatly). We are beginning to learn that multiplication is fast addition.
read some of our favorite books during reading time in the morning. Did you know we now are able to read for 32 minutes without stopping? We've learned we are able to read that long because we LOVE the books we choose!
started taking AR tests this week.
continued working on our books for our upcoming writing celebration.
watched short (as in less than four minutes) videos from National Geographic Kids about dung beetles (eww!), jungles, sea turtles, and lizards.

Things to remember for next week:

No spelling test. We are doing a writing celebration and many time-consuming one-on-one assessments for our district...and it's a short week.
No school November 24 and 25. Happy Thanksgiving!
Please be sure your child is wearing a coat to school. If you are in need to a better coat, please let me know ASAP. We have some available.

Happy weekend!

Paying Taxes...What a Bummer.

2011-11-17T11:23:00.000-08:00

Today during JA, some of us were chosen to work for the government as teachers, firefighters, police officers, etc.

The rest of us worked at Sweet O Donut Factory.

The donut workers were paid $5 for their hard work.

The donut workers were told by the tax collector that they had to give two of their dollars to her to pay taxes.

Some people even hid under the table so they wouldn't have to pay!

Then...the unthinkable happened! The tax collector gave the donut workers' dollars TO THE GOVERNMENT WORKERS!

They thought they were really something...until the tax collector came for their money too!

We decided we're just going to stay kids and play with stickers and never get mixed up in all this tax stuff.

A Giant Sock Monkey in Second Grade?!

2011-11-17T11:13:00.000-08:00

Sock Monkey sat with Makensie this morning.

During Community Circle, Sock Monkey said he wished we could have bananas for lunch.

Sock Monkey read with his owner, Kelsey, during independent reading time.

He even took an AR test with her. He didn't tell her any answers.

Then guess what happened? The kids went to lunch and this is how Mrs. Overman found poor little Sock Monkey.

She felt bad for him, so he sat on her lap while she worked during lunch.

Lucky for Sock Monkey, the kids came back and he got to do a Junior Achievement lesson with them. He was much happier after that.

The View From Here. Do You Do This Too?

2011-11-15T07:58:00.000-08:00

Playing Dizzy Dizzy Dinosaur

Playing Chutes and Ladders

Playing Hi Ho Cherry O

Playing Tic Tac Toe

Making a book

Playing There's a Moose in the House

Playing the computer

Cleaning the closet

Drawing on the easel

Wishing Dylan a happy birthday on our whiteboard

Nick's Story

2011-11-15T07:51:00.001-08:00

I like summer. Me and Mystique like to play.

Me and My Gramma by Breanna

2011-11-15T07:46:00.000-08:00

Me and my gramma are going to the park right now.

I am at the park with my gramma right now.

Now I am done with the park right now. Now I am going to the gas station to get a drink for me and my gramma.

Now I'm at the gas station with my gramma right now.

Now I am going home. It was fun today.

Happy Birthday, Dylan!

2011-11-15T07:33:00.000-08:00

Mark, Dylan, and Gavin

Spelling Words for this week.

2011-11-14T04:56:00.001-08:00

We have had such a busy week. Friday we celebrated Veterans' Day with a program most of the morning and I forgot to get you the spelling words! Oh my. So sorry. So here they are:

drink
eating
line
caught
clock
outside
two
pretty
that's
thing

Live polar bear cam!

2011-11-08T09:42:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we discovered this cool cam on the National Geographic for Kids website, but we didn't see even ONE polar bear.

We left it up all day again today and we've seen lots of them all day today!

We even read during independent reading time in front of the polar bear cam.

A Post by Abi and Dominic.

2011-11-08T07:04:00.000-08:00

we like school and math.
we love specials
I like my teacher and she is nice to us.
we like recess.
we like lunch.
we like reading workshop.
we like reading harry potter.
friends are nice.
we like writing workshop.

Horses and Ponies by Claira

2011-11-08T05:46:00.000-08:00

Horses and Ponies

Some horses are wild. Some are not. But they're all pretty.

Ponies are colts. Mothers take care of their colts. They do not have to be the same.

Happy Birthday, Kelsey!

2011-11-07T06:24:00.000-08:00

Mya, Avery, and Kelsey

Why Writers Zoom In.

2011-11-03T11:57:00.000-07:00

We discovered three reasons writers zoom in:
1. To show a big feeling
2. To make a big problem feel even bigger
3. In nonfiction, to show something up close that you couldn't see from far away

Breanna's Book.

2011-11-03T07:15:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday, Lupito!

2011-11-03T05:57:00.000-07:00

Brady's Book.

2011-11-03T05:52:00.001-07:00

Add caption

Writers Zoom In and Out.

2011-11-01T12:22:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth zoomed in.

Kendra zoomed in so you could see the paints this person is holding.

Maddy's zoom in

Beau zoomed out so you could see the whole room, including the spinning ceiling fan.

Gavin showed how big the Sun is by only showing half on his cover. The other half is on the back.

Gavin zoomed out and showed the whole Sun inside the book.

A zoomed-out pic from Daetona

Mya zoomed in on her people. They are much bigger this way.

superkiddos

Slice of Life!

Slice of Life: Mrs. Overman

Determining Importance.

Slice of Life: Day 4

Slice of Life: Mrs. Overman

Slice of Life Challenge: Day 3

Inferring and Mrs. Overman's Purse.

Slice of Life #3: Mrs. Overman

2nd grade Writing Celebration

Slice of Life Challenge: Day 2

Slice of Life #2: Mrs. Overman

Story Maps by Mya and Timmy

A Few Story Maps in Progress.

Slice of Life Challenge: Day 1

Retelling stories.

Slice of Life: Mrs. Overman

Slice of Life Challenge!

Revising our Reviews

We've been thinking...

Learning to Write Reviews.

News for this week.

What we do in school! By Kelsey and Avery

We're Writing More Reviews!

Opinions on the Loch Ness Monster.

The Loch Ness Monster.

Sorting our Thinking in Reading.

Our Valentine's Day Ice Cream Party!

Valentine's Day Morning.

Abi finished her first chapter book (here at school)!

Making our Valentine's Day bags!

More of us thinking about our reading thinking. (Confused?)

We're Thinking about our Thinking in Reading.

Aaugh! Blue Teeth!

GO story tellers!!!!!!! By Kelsey and Avery

Brussels Sprouts Review by Kelsey.

Writing our first reviews.

The Waka Waka Dance.

The rest of our 100th day celebration.

More of our 100th day party!

100 Day is just beginning...

Our favorite books right now!

News for the week of January 16-20th.

Happy Birthday, Claira!

Kelsey and Avery: The Rough-Face Girl

Happy Birthday, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.!

Writing Celebration: Personal Narratives

Makensie: What I Got For Christmas

Beau: When I Went to Gramma and Papa's

Punctuation: Read Like You're Talking

Reread and use punctuation.

Punctuation is Everywhere!

WIP (Work in progress)

Basic Punctuation with the Pigeon!

A Sunny Friday Morning.

Punctuation Tells Your Voice What To Do.

Back (Book) Covers.

Kaleb Reads to the Class.

Book Covers!

Holes.

Santa's Reindeer Cam!

Make your illustrations realistic.

Oh my! News you might want to know.

what we do for christmas! by Avery and Kelsey

Writers Add Tiny Details in their Pictures.

You can do lots with crayons.

News for last week (Nov 28th-Dec 2)!

We Voted Today!

Writers Tell Stories.

Spelling words for this coming week...

A Writing Celebration!

American Thanksgiving

News for the week of November 14-18

Paying Taxes...What a Bummer.

A Giant Sock Monkey in Second Grade?!

The View From Here. Do You Do This Too?

Nick's Story

Me and My Gramma by Breanna

Happy Birthday, Dylan!

Spelling Words for this week.