Friday, November 9, 2012

Veterans Day

Here's a video explaining the meaning of Veterans Day.  A little history lesson for all of us!
Veterans Day

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Bucket Dance Celebration

The elementary school surpasses 500 kind words and kind actions in our fill the bucket challenge.  Our celebration included dancing in the halls and Phil, the bucket, danced through the elementary hallway.  We loved our chance to be loud and proud in TES hallways.




Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Good-by Butterflies










Butterfly Release


We released our butterflies to the outdoors on Monday, October 22.   We will miss our lovely creatures that spent 27 days in our classroom, but we sent them off with some heartfelt letters of love!  We cared for our caterpillars, watched them molt several times, observed the chrysalis stage, and even caught a glimpse of a few emerging from their chrysalises with crumpled wings.  We watched them pump their wings and unfurl their proboscis to sip sugar water from the sponges we soaked.  The release was happy and sad at the same time.  The butterflies were not in a big hurry to leave their friends from class 2-1.   They landed on our shirts, and shoulders and open hands.  Farewell 2-1 butterflies!  

Red Oak Park Insectigation

Class 2-1 visited Red Oak Park for a morning field trip on October 15.  We went on an insect hike, played games to learn about the life cycle of an insect, and made beautiful butterflies with clothespins, coffee filters, markers, and spray bottles of water.  We even found a mouse in the shelter!



Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Stop Bullying Video

Stop Bullying

Caterpillar Models






We made realistic models of caterpillars that include all the important body parts.  Students drew the caterpillars with pencil, labeled the parts and then painted them.  We are very proud of our creations!

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Scholastic Book Order

Hello Parents,

If you would like to order Scholastic books for your child, here is the link to our class page.  Our class code is: LL7P4

2-1 Scholastic Book Order

Orders are due by October 10.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Red Oak Field Trip

2-1 will be going to Red Oak Park on the morning of October 15th.  We will be participating in an "Insectigation" with Sarah Subbert, the Cedar County Naturalist.  We will leave the school at 8:45 and return by 11:05 for lunch.  Students should come prepared for cool weather and wet grass, as we will be outdoors all morning.  The park has an abundance of hickory nuts and acorns, so please let me know if your child is allergic to those particular nuts.  We are welcoming chaperones!  Parents/grandparents can send a note, email, or call if interested in joining us for the "Insectigation" field trip.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Creativity and Toontastic App

Hi Parents,

Here's a good article dealing with creativity.  We are working with the iPad app Toontastic at school.  This article invites you to think about ways to encourage your child's inner creativity.
Boosting Creativity

Monday, September 17, 2012

Saturday, June 16, 2012

I have created a tutorial using the Explain Everything app on my iPad.  If you would like to see it, go to the Learning Resources tab and scroll down to #6.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Evaluating iPad Apps

Wonderful tool!
http://langwitches.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/iPadAppEvaluation.pdf


A "Blooming Butterfly"so learning can take flight and a "Digital Learning Farm" so we can easily figure out the the best app for the job.  Genius!

I love these visual representations of Bloom's Taxonomy!  They are beautiful in so many ways!  It's great to be an educator in the digital age!

Monday, May 21, 2012

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Parents and 2-1 Students,

Check-out our new RESEARCH page on the top tab between HOME and LEARNING RESOURCES.  It has safe places for kids to do research.  Our Animal Reports are nearly completed, but there are so many more cool things to learn about!

Also, I have added some links on the LEARNING RESOURCES page for internet safety.  We will be using the links at school, but try them at home too!

Parents,
Check out the PARENT page for a great link to Common Sense Media.  It's a great site for media information and reviews on movies, games, apps, books, websites, music, and more.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Which metals are magnetic?


Students are testing which metal items are magnetic.  We are beginning a magnet unit and are discovering that coins, a necklace, aluminum foil, a pop can, some matchbox cars, and some jewelry are NOT magnetic.  Many of our metal items were magnetic:  a wire, a heavy can, a photo button, a battery, an egg dipper, paper clips, a screw, a washer, a nail, and a crown.  We will be testing magnet strength next.

Nine for California

Small groups shared the story Nine for California as we listened to the CD.  Ma took five young'ens all the way to California in a stagecoach with a few other passengers.  Ma was clever and brought a big sack full of supplies to keep her children occupied during the trip.