I'm Baaack! And Science Skills

     I'm baaaaack! I know it's been a while and inconsistent, but I'm really hoping to change that. Speaking of change, change has happened for me. Again. This year I'm teaching 1st and 2nd grade science. I have two classes of each grade level. This is my second year to have the students that are in second grade and I love it! They walked in the first day of school, sat down, and knew exactly what to do. And I'm the STAAR testing coordinator along with coordinating our tutoring program. I'm super busy, but totally loving what I do!

     We've been working on Science Skills and using our five senses to make observations. 

    In first grade, we wrapped up our lesson by comparing and contrasting an apple and a marker. 

     In second grade, we wrapped up our lesson by using our five senses to observe an apple. We created a circle map using our observations. 

    I'm so proud of my little scientists and how they are using their science skills! 

St. Patrick's Day

   We watched Holiday Facts and Fun: St. Patrick's Day and we read It's St. Patricks' Day. Then students illustrated a symbol for St. Patrick's Day. We grouped our symbols on our circle map and used shared writing to stretch out and label our symbols. On the frame of our circle map, we wrote where we learned about St. Patrick's Day.

    We wrote to explain why we wear green on St. Patrick's Day. I love how almost every child drew themselves as leprechauns.

    We read Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato and discussed story elements (characters, setting, and key events from the beginning, middle, and end of the story. Then students illustrated a part of our story map, and then they cut their pictures out. We put our story map together.

    We read and acted out 5 Little Shamrocks. Then students created and recorded their own shamrock subtraction stories.

    Mrs. Reed and I made leprechaun punch for the students while Mrs. Loftus read What Leprechauns Do. Then students enjoyed their leprechaun punch.

Here's our schema chart for St. Patrick's Day.

Here's my little leprechauns!

Day and Night

    We read My Day: Morning, Noon, and Night. As we were reading, students showed me thumbs up for day or thumbs down for night for each activity in the story. Then students were given an index card and drew a day or night picture. Then we created a tree map with their drawings.

    We graphed which we liked better day or night and then analyzed our data. We also read Little Quack's Bedtime and discussed what we saw in the sky in the story's illustrations. Then we created a circle map of objects in the night sky using the students' illustrations. We added a frame of reference for our learning around our circle map.

Heat and Cookies

We've been exploring heat in science. We read a book about heat and its sources and then created a circle map.

We discussed with our partners what happened in our popcorn experiment. Then we passed around sugar cookie dough to explore. We illustrated what our cookie dough looked like in our science journals and watched a short video clip about heat causing change on Discovery Streaming while our cookies baked.

 When they came out of the oven we looked at our cookies and discussed what changes we observed. Through interactive writing (where the students and I share the marker) we created a tree map to record our observations before and after heat. Then students illustrated what our cookies looked like after being heated in the oven.

Pumpkin Time!!!

We started by talking about what schema is and then discussing with our partners our pumpkin schema. We corrected misconceptions and added new learning throughout our study. We also reviewed the characteristics of nonfiction/informational text. We reviewed identifying the topic and details of informational text.

We learned about the parts of a pumpkin and each part's purpose. Students worked in small groups to paint a part of the pumpkin for our pumpkin brace map. After the paint dried, students work together to build our brace map and label the parts. Students then shared a part of the the pumpkin and it's purpose with their partner.

We used pumpkin candy to create positional patterns. Students identified and extended patterns I modeled for them. Then they worked with their partner to create a positional pattern. Then we shared and extended patterns partners made. Of course what's the fun of working with candy if you can't enjoy a little bit of it! Then we created and recorded patterns using our thumbprint as the pumpkin shell and our pinkie print as the stem. We labeled our patterns and identified the core (the part of the pattern that repeats).

We also sequenced the pumpkin life cycle. We illustrated and labeled the life cycle on a flow map.

We created a circle map using descriptive words for pumpkins as a class. Then we created our own pumpkins/jack-o-lanterns and used words from our circle map to write a pumpkin poem.

Christopher Columbus

We started by reading Deanna Jump's If I Were a Pirate and taking about explorers. We made a bubble map as a class about explorers. Then we wrote about what we would explore.

We started a schema chart on Christopher Columbus to see what we knew before we started our study. Then we went back and moved stickies to the misconceptions sections or added stickies to new learning the rest of the week.

We read A Picture Book of Christopher Columbus and created a tree map about Christopher Columbus.

We read Christopher Columbus and created a circle map about Columbus as well.

Ordinal Numbers

We practiced lining up according to ordinal positions 1st-10th. Then we talked with our partners about where we hear and use  ordinal numbers. Then we created a circle map about ordinal numbers. This was a circle map the first day. Later, we went back and added the ordinal numbers to our circle map as well as other times we thought of that we use ordinal numbers.

We reviewed good listening skills and as a class voted for the 10 best listeners. Then we handed out ribbons with the ordinal number written for which place they got. The students voted for the Best Listener awards.

We read Ten Trick or Treaters and located the kids according to their ordinal positions in line. Then we used our critical thinking skills to line up our monsters in our books according to the clues given about their ordinal positions.

We read The Berenstein Bears and the Spooky Old Tree. We focused on sequencing their walk through the tree and then their obstacles on the way home using ordinal numbers.

Wild Things

After field day, we read Where the Wild Things Are. We reviewed describing words and talked with our partners about adjectives for the Wild Things. We created a circle map.

We we decorated our own Wild Things.



We created a Venn Diagram to compare/contrast our Wild Thing with our partner's.

We created positional patterns using our Wild Things. Then will illustrated and labeled a Wild Thing positional pattern on a sentence strip. We watched the Scholastic video Where the Wild Things Are. Then we reviewed actions words and created a circle map of things our Wild Things can do.

Then we wrote a sentence about what our Wild Things can do.





Farm Times!!!

We sorted farm animals by coverings.

We created a circle map of farm jobs.

We compared and contrasted sheeps and pigs.

We sorted pictures by producers and consumers.

Dr. Seuss Fun

Dr. Seuss week has been the students' favorite by far! We had so much fun reading his stories and integrating them into our lessons last week!

On Monday, we had Cat in the Hat day. We wore black and white and read the story. We wrote about what we do if the Cat came back. We read One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish and created fish additon stories using color goldfish crackers. We learned about Dr. Seuss' life.

On Tuesday, we wore silly socks for Fox in Socks. We graphed whether or not we wore silly socks to school and anaylzed our data. We also created pairs of rhyming socks. We reviewed systems and created machines to clean our rooms. We also read My Many Colored Days, chose a color, and wrote how we feel on that color days.

On Wednesday, we wore mismatched clothes for Wacky Wednesday! We also had a special visit from the Cat in the Hat who read to us The Cat in the Hat Comes Back. We compared that story with the stories we wrote on Monday. Then created a story map for  Wacky Wednesday. We read Bartholomew and the Oobleck and made oobleck with Mrs. Guntorius' class. We read Happy Birthday to You and created a cirlce map of birthday celebrations. We also had blue goo and pink ink for Dr. Seuss' birthday.

On Thursday, we wore slippers for The Foot Book. We took off one slipper/shoe, put in the middle, then sorted and made a list of the ways we sorted. Then we compared and contrasted using a double bubble map the oobleck we made with Dr. Seuss' oobleck. We read Oh The Places You'll Go and wrote about a place we would like to go. We read Dr. Seuss' ABC and created our own ABC book.