Helen creates Thomas Edison

Ellie Researched Betsy Ross

Andre & Iraj work on Alexander Graham Bell & JFK

Will Designs Barack Obama while Zachary Designs Abraham Lincoln, and Soma Puts a Spacesuit on Neil Armstrong!

Making the Clothing Just Right!

Thomas Cuts Theodore Roosevelt's Clothing

Lauren Works on George Washington

The 2nd graders spent a month on a very extensive non-fiction writing piece.  Each child chose a person to research.  The purpose of the research was to create a biography, including the following parts:  Title Page, Dedication Page, Table of Contents, an Introduction, an Early Childhood Chapter, an Adulthood Chapter, a Conclusion and a Glossary.

We tried to use at least 2 book sources and one on-line website source.  We read A LOT about our person!  The students learned to take notes (trying to take notes on the main ideas and not just the details), then we recorded our notes in our journals in a phrase form.  We arranged our notes in a proper sequence, and then we rewrote the notes into sentences in a 1st draft (we weren't allowed to copy text from any source).  Then we conferenced with peers and teachers to rewrite our sentences in a 2nd draft.  Finally, we edited our pieces...we checked for capitals, punctuation and spelling errors.  The final biographies will be revealed at our Poetry Cafe!  I am so proud of how hard the kids worked!  They were able to read their reports to some 4th grade friends, and the 4th graders couldn't believe that the reports were written by 2nd Graders!!!

Thumbs Up for our Bus Drivers!

We Wished our Bus Drivers a Happy Breakfast:)

Our 2nd Graders Visited Their Bus Drivers to Say Thank You During the Transportation Day Breakfast in the Slingerlands Cafeteria.  Thank you to all the parents who sent in wonderful breakfast treats.

2nd Graders Chant a Thank You to All Those in the Transportation Department!

Megan's Mom Entertains Our Class as the Mystery Reader!

Thank You for Sharing Book! Book! Book!
by Deborah Bruss

Megan Enjoys Listening to Her Mother

Shantanu's Mom Shares an Old Classic, Love You Forever by Robert Munsch

Shantanu Enjoys the Story

Thank You for Being Our Mystery Reader:)

Second Graders Work with the Attribute Blocks During a Geometry Lesson

Team Work!

Experimenting with Different Designs Using the Polygons that We Know

Looking Good!

Using Our Imaginations

Some Pretty Fancy Designs!

Mikolaj's Masterpiece!!!  See the Sun with a Cloud Raining Down on the Flower?!?!

Interesting Things Happen with Attribute Blocks!


Can your child identify the following?

Circle, square (4 sides of equal length), triangle (3 sides), rectangle (4 sides with 2 equal pairs of sides), pentagon (5 sides), hexagon (6 sides), octagon (8 sides), trapezoid (4 sides with 2 sides parallel), parallelogram (4 sides with 2 separate pairs of parallel sides), rhombus (4 sides...a parallelogram with sides of equal length) , quadrilateral (all polygons with 4 sides), cube, sphere, cylinder, cone, pyramid and rectangular prism?

Can your child explain...
vertices/vertex (points), edges (where 2 flat faces meet), faces (flat side of 3D shape), angles

solid figures (3D) versus plane figures (2D)

This unit has a HUGE amount of vocabulary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Keep practicing analog time...children are still not mastering this.  MUST PRACTICE BASIC FACTS-we are adding and subtracting 3-digit numbers with regrouping sometimes to the thousands place...and children who still count on their fingers are taking excruciating amounts of time to work through complex problems with inaccurate results.

xtramath on the computer takes less than 5 minutes per session, the students can do this independently and the results are proven successful...currently there are 3 out of 24 students who take advantage of this quick and easy program on a consistent basis.

We will continue to review regrouping in mixed 3-digit addition and subtraction problems when we return from April Break.  The last units focus on Money, Measuring Length in Metric and Standard Inches/Feet, and Analyzing Data by Reading Charts/Graphs.  Count mixed coins at home for practice: quarters, dimes, nickels, pennies and half dollars.


Enjoy your April Vacation One and All...See you in May!!!!

It Was a WHOLE TOMMY FAMILY EXTRAVAGANZA MYSTERY READER DAY! Yeah!!!

Tommy's mom shared Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss & What Do You Do With an Idea by Kobi Yamada

Tommy Listens 

So Does Sweet Baby Matthew!

Thank You to Simon's Mom & Charlotte's Mom for Teaching the First of 5 Junior Achievement Lesson in Conjunction with our Social Studies Unit:  Communities

We Learned About Who Works in a Community (Like Bethlehem) and the Many Jobs/Careers that We Can Have as We Grow to Adulthood!

This is...Officer Drew!

Answering Questions

Ready to Share Our Ideas

Second Graders Enjoy a Presentation from the Voorheesville Area Ambulance Staff in conjunction with two of our 2nd Grade Units of Study:  Communities/Service Providers (Social Studies) and The Human Body Shop (Health/Science)

Students Listen to What a Typical Day Would be like as a Trained EMT (Emergency Medical Technician)

We Asked Great Questions

The Best Part Was Visiting the Ambulance!

The Students Examine the Equipment

We Wait Patiently to See the Inside of the Vehicle

We Get to See All the "Secret Compartments!"

We Learned A Lot!!!

Finally...inside the Ambulance

We Were Able to Fit All 24 Kids and 2 Adults...it was Much Bigger Than We Expected!

We Even Got to See the Pneumatic Stretcher Move In and Out of the Ambulance!

Thank you to Drew's mom for being our first April Mystery Reader!

We listen to a great new book, The Day the Crayon Came Home by Drew Daywalt

What a Great Read!!!

HMMMMM....where are all your chairs, kids?!?!

The Second Graders Were Terrific Sports When April First Arrived!

The Students Did Their Work Sitting on Their Desks, Standing Up at their Desks or at the Rug Area because.....Mrs. Reiss Had an April Fool's Trick Up Her Sleeve!

No Chairs For a Day:) and the Students Loved It!  The Kids Were Able to Move Freely/Get Their Excess "Wiggles Out!"  Maybe Standing Desks ARE the Way to Go!!!!

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