Anansi

     We have been reading Anansi stories.  He's usually a tricky little spider and not very good to his friends.  Anansi pretended to be a talking melon, tricked his friends with a magic moss covered rock, and flooded his neighborhood with a magic stick, but he couldn't trick turtle when they went fishing.  In one tale though, Anansi was clever enough to get African stories from the Sun God. 

     All the students have picked an animal for their diorama.  I'm excited that some students picked animals that I don't know much about.  I love to learn new things.  As soon as the "writing" part is complete, please return it to school.  Don't get carried away.  Be sure your child's answers are second grade friendly.   One student already has passed hers in.  Next weeks homework will be to work on the projects.   We started talking today about habitats.  There are four major ones we will explore: forests, rain forests, deserts, and tundras.  We've only tackled deserts and rain forests so far.  Ask you child to tell you about them.

     Today was fun!  We spent the morning playing "games" involving telling time.  We should be experts by now.  If your student is still struggling, keep on practicing at home.

     Mrs. Chisholm's class came to hear our finished penguin reports!  Students worked hard on them and they came out great.  The fifth graders were impressed.

Penguin-palooza

     It's been a while since my last post.  We are trying hard to get back into the swing of things but all these days off make it a bit tricky.

     We are pretty close to wrapping up our penguin fun.  We have read both fiction and non-fiction books about penguins.  We may be penguin experts.  Tacky has been the main character in many of our fiction read alouds.  He's "an odd bird but a nice bird to have around".  Tacky is nothing like his companions and he always seems to save the day.  I'm not sure which Tacky story is my favorite.  They are all so fun.  I think I like the cheerleading competition the best.  We also read a story titled, The Emperor's Cool Clothes.  It's very much like the story you know and love, except stars an emperor penguin.  Only cool people can he his fancy new duds.

     Mrs. Elin has been helping us write penguin reports.  They are almost done and coming along splendidly.  After this, students will be taking home instructions for their diorama projects.   Get ready and save a shoe box.  Remember this is a second grade project and does not need to be "museum quality".  It's supposed to be your child's work and fun.  Of course, he/she will need your help.

    Students have also been reading and learning about Martin Luther King, Jr.  I loved how their directed drawings came out.

     Money, money, money!  Who doesn't love money?  I will tell you, in my opinion, teaching it is not very fun, nightmare even.  Please,  play with money at home.  Students can group coins, sort coins by value, and add up change.  The more exposure the better.  This year I tried something new, hairy money.  It's working like a dream.  Each coin has "hair" which represents five cents.  For example, quarters have five strands of hair, dimes two strands, nickels one.  Students count the hair by fives and voila, they can easily count a handful of change.  It's brilliant!  Of course not always practical in the real world, but its a easy beginning step into the world of counting change.

     Remember to send in a half gallon milk container, cleaned with the top cut off.  We will use them to make our Valentine mailboxes.  Also, remember when buying valentines that candy cannot be shared.  I know many come with lollipops and sweet treats, be sure to skip those.

     Tuesday is a half day, please mark your calendars!