Our guidance counselor, Mrs. Penny Palagyi, is visiting our second grade classrooms this spring for a series of 5 social skills lessons.  For our first lesson we learned the difference between good social peer interactions (handshakes, compliments, smiles, etc.) and poor social peer interactions (pushes, "mean faces", rolling the eyes, etc.).

The Children Begin a Meditation Exercise

For our second visit Mrs. Palagyi shared a book called Zach Gets Frustrated by William Mulcahy.  This book demonstrated the 3-step triangle process that a young child may use to calm him/herself when faced with a frustrating situation.  We learned to NAME the problem, TAME oneself (calm down with techniques that we practiced), and REFRAME the problem (look at the positive side of the issue).  You will see that triangle kite visual reminder sheet in your child's folder tonight.  We practiced "Counting Back" to relax, and we also practiced a quick meditation exercise to calm the mind.

Meditation Helps Us Relax

We Were Very Good at Calming Our Bodies:)

Today Mrs. Palagyi shared a new book called Zach Apologizes by William Mulcahy.  She taught us how to use a 4-step square to work through an appropriate apology.  Mrs. Palagyi gave us a situation where an apology was needed (for us to practice this process), but the children could use their own examples if they chose.  This practice sheet is also in their "Bring Home" folders this evening.  Many children chose to fill in their practice answers on Post-its so they could keep the original sheet blank in case they needed it in the future at home:)!!!  We have 2 lessons left, and the children are looking forward to Mrs. Palagyi's final visits.

The Students Have a Discussion with Mrs. Palagyi

Little Leprechauns Smiling So Sweetly...Looking So Well-Behaved!

The Little Leprechauns Waited for the Children to Arrive...

These Leprechauns WERE NOT Well-Behaved!

We Had to Keep Searching For Those Naughty Leprechauns!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

They Kept Running Away Throughout Our Day!

Those Leprechauns Were Sipping Mrs. Gough's Tea... in HER Room!!!

We Had to Keep Escorting Them Back to Our Own 2nd Grade Room!

At One Point They Even Ended Up in the Main Office...They Were Sitting in All Sorts of Nooks & Crannies!

Hailey Waits For Her Mom to Begin Reading

We Laugh During Mr. Mac's Bad Rabbits! by Simon Puttock

Thank You to Hailey's Mom...You Were a Great Mystery Reader!

Doodle Art on Friday!

Make the Doodle Into Your Own Creation

Friday Dance Party at the End of the Day!

Dance 2nd Graders...DANCE!!!

Shantanu Records His Results

We Compare The Weight of Our 5 Objects With The Weight of Our Partner's 5 Objects

Helen Compares the Weight of One Object with That of a 2nd Object

Lauren Uses the Equal-Arm Balance to Compare Weight

Charlotte & Drew Know the Equal-Arm Balance is An Example of a Lever!

Jude Places His Object in the Bucket

Scientists Take Careful Notes

Iraj & Tess Are Impressed With Their Results

Tommy's Object is Lighter Than Megan's Object

Megan is Shocked By Her Result!

Katie Waits for the Arm to Be Level


The 2nd graders  had a great day comparing the objects that they brought in from home to their friend's objects.  We discovered that an object's weight depends on:  what it is made out of, how big/small an object is, if an object is hollow or  solid, and how tightly packed the material is...

Mobile By Alexander Calder...Our Inspiration!

The second graders have been exploring simple machines in more detail.  They have constructed a basic beam balance using just a beam and a fulcrum (this is a crude lever).  The children then practiced balancing cubes (the load) in different combinations across the beam.  Ask about their challenge: 19 cubes on one side of the beam…and only 1 cube on the other!  They thought it was impossible to do!!!

This week we read about an artist named Alexander Calder.  He is said to be the originator of the mobile.  We examined some of his artwork, and then we began to think about the science that was involved when he was putting together his mobiles.

We noticed that he was basically suspending levers from fulcrums…and that the colorful shapes were the weights used to balance the whole creation!  

So we decided to create our own hanging levers with fulcrums to honor Mr. Alexander Calder.

Alexander Calder
The Man Who Made Sculpture Move

Will's Mobile Includes More Than One Fulcrum

Soma Adds Paper Squares to Distribute the Weight 

Simon Thinks About the Design of His Mobile

Hanging the Weights Involves A LOT of Balance!

Securing the Mobile to a Plank

Beginning to Add Weight to the Beam

Deciding How Long Our Beams Should Be...Then Cutting a Length of Beam

Mikolaj & Addison Cut Geometric Shapes to Act as the Load on Their Levers

Zachary Attempts to Balance the Beam

Suspending a Chain From the 1st Lever

Creating a Paper Clip Chain to Hang a Lever

Jude Carefully Adjusts the Load on His Mobile

We LOVE the Mystery Reader!

Will's Mom Shares a classic....The Tale of Henny Penny

Will Listens Carefully to His Mom Reading

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Looking Good Will!

We Honor Dr. Seuss With Our Big Hats!

It's a Dr. Seuss Day!

Dr. Seuss Party!

Shantanu Enjoying Snack

Relaxing With Dr. Seuss

Snacking Seuss Style

Cat in The Hat Cheese Sticks!

Eating Our One Fish, Two Fish Snacks

Listening to the Next Trivia Question About Dr. Seuss

The Cat in the Hat (AKA: Mrs. Bonacquist) visits our 2nd Graders

We Know Many of the Answer

Thing 1 and Thing 2 Ask the 2nd Graders Trivia Questions
Thank you Sophie & Isabelle!