Brainy Kids

We have completed our study of animals & their habitats and moved on to our growing healthy unit.  Students will learn about the following:

• the brain & nervous system
• the ears
• the eyes
• 5 senses
• healthy eating habits

They kicked off their study of the brain by learning that the brain has different parts.  They put together pieces of a brain puzzle.

A Very Important Day!

Parents, have you voted?  Your kids did! 

Obama vs. Romney?  Nope! 

The Duck vs. Ms. Langner was our election today! 

Students read the great book Duck for President and learned about the election.  Many students expressed interest in becoming president some day.  They watched videos of each REAL candidate and learned about their childhood.  Did you know that Mitt Romney's dad ran for president in 1968?  Students each made their own voter registration cards.
Time for Kids
Elections for Kids
Zoom Out the Vote

The kids worked together to brainstorm their thoughts on the qualities of a good president: 

• a great citizen
• take care of crime
• honest
• mjsical
• makes good decisions
• responsible
• they recycle
• makes smart decisions about money  (spend the money on good stuff)
• helper
•  cares about kids and education

The President

Last night, Dol, his mom, and dad all traveled to Des Moines.  Dol had no idea where they were going or who they'd see!  Their purpose was to see the President.  He was in Des Moines for a last minute campaign stop.  Dol says there were a bunch of people.  (20, 000 according to the Washington Post) He reports that President Obama talked about health care and donating money to the Red Cross.  
"I felt so excited," said Dol.  "I couldn't really hear that well because there were a bunch of people cheering.  I feel proud having seen him."  No matter what your party affiliation is, seeing a president is a significant event in your life.  I am SO happy for this smart young man to have experienced this.  He will remember it forever. 

Washington Post Politics

The Mayor Comes to 2nd Grade!

How lucky are we? 

The Mayor of Storm Lake, Jon Kruse, was a guest reader in our room today.  He read the story The Relatives Came.  Our PIE partners, The City of Storm Lake send us a guest reader once each month.  Thank you Mayor Kruse for coming to our school today!

Notice....Tinkerbell is listening too!

 

 

Hic or Treat

Character Counts



                                  



Teachers performed funny skits to teach us about what responsible kids look like.  Mrs. Lange!  Responsible kids do not throw fits at the lunch table!!  Mrs. Knapp, slow down & be a good friend!  :)





New reader in our room!

Miss Cedar is our student teacher!  She will soon be a UNI graduate looking for a full time teaching position.  We are having fun learning new things from her!

Thoughts on Homework

Homework: 
1. Word Journeys
2. Poetry
3. Read aloud take-home books
4. Read personal books




I spoke with many families at conferences about the importance of studying Word Journeys words each night.  Take the time to sort and spell each day.  Fridge pages come home every Monday, or in some cases stapled to the test on Fridays.  Hang it in an important spot all week & practice, practice, practice. 



I don't send additional homework home with students, however they already have a lot on their plate.  They are checking out take-home books & repeatedly reading poetry to increase their fluency and comprehension skills. They are supposed to be reading their own personal books for fun.  I do expect that kids practice their Word Journeys at least 3 times each week.  This would amount to 30-60 minutes of "homework."  Please encourage your child to keep at these daily activities.  They will make a tremendous difference in their reading!

Yum....oranges!

What are those ants doing?  We added an orange...they went CRAZY!

Fun Moments on a Rainy Day



We started our day thinking about smart ways to estimate a group.  Then we counted by 5's and calculated leftovers to get our total.  We will chart and graph our findings as a class.



Ugh.  Rainy days mean no outside recess.  Adventures to Fitness to the rescue!  We climbed, ran, & jumped while learning about Yellowstone National Park.  Bison stampede!

Katie van der Linden, Buena Vista County Naturalist brought her turtle in today to help us learn about habitats.  Perfect this week, we are learning about our goldfish habitats.

Character Counts

http://youtu.be/cyVzjoj96vs

"What I Am" by Will.i.am  Our official Character Counts theme song!!

New Assignment

Edmodo

To log in:

skylern712

Here Fishy Fishy!

Close observations were taken today.  Students wrote and drew what they were seeing. 
What was the goldfish's behavior? 
What body parts did you see?
Did his behavior change when you fed it?

Over the weekend....

Use the link below to access Edmodo.  Remember your username is your first name with your last initial + 712.  Like this:

melaniel712

You'll have to remember your password on your own!  :)

Answer the math question that I posted about the number 35.

What is happening on Monday?