Butterfly Release

I know that you all heard about our butterflies in the classroom! Mrs. Olecki took some beautiful pictures of the children during the butterfly release!

Author's Night

I am very sorry that it has been so long since we have posted on our classroom blog. I was very pleased with the turn out for our Author's Night and wanted to post the pictures from it. Enjoy!

Cookies & Science Fairs

We had a great week in Room 148 last week. Mrs. Soles taught the children about Functional Writing and instructed them on how to make an Over the Rainbow Cloud cookie. The students were then supposed to write their own functional writing on the cookie. When they finished their writing, they switched with a friend and we passed out the ingredients for the delicious treats! Following their classmate's directions, they made the cookies. Some cookies turned out perfectly and some did not... But everyone got to enjoy a delicious snack after lunch!

In Science, we have been working on our Science Project with Mrs. Olecki. We finished it on Thursday and our project is on display outside of our classroom (stop by and check it out!) The title of our project is "Do plants really need water?" Our hypothesis was that they didn't really need water but that they just needed liquid. We tested this hypothesis by "feeding" four plants liquids other than water and "feeding" one plant water. The outcome was that fruit punch Gatorade makes plants grow the fastest. We learned a lot of cool stuff! We are also studying gases in Science. We did a neat experiment with balloons and water bottles. Be sure to ask your child about it!

We also had a test on two digit addition with regrouping last week. Mrs. Olecki graded our tests and sent them home on Friday. Please sign them and return them so your child can make a visit to the golden treasure box on Tuesdsay!

Hope you're enjoying your long weekend! See ya tomorrow!

Holiday Party 2010

Hello parents! We hope you all had a wonderful holiday break. Our class has been very busy since we came back to school last Monday. We are busy working on functional writing, reading comprehension, two-digit addition with regrouping, and preparing our science fair project! It is a very exciting time in room 148! Here are a few pictures from our holiday party. Thanks to all the parents who volunteered their time and/or contributed items to help make our holiday party great!!

Mrs. Soles and Mrs. Olecki

Our Zoo Field Trip Was Awesome!

What a good time we had on our field trip to the zoo!   
First we went to the Educational Center where we learned about mammals, reptiles, and birds.

Then we were off to explore the zoo. We met back at the pavilion for our lunch of hamburgers, hotdogs and PBJ's. Then out to see any of the animals that we missed seeing the first time.

It was really cool because the zoo was decorated with jack-o-lanterns for the Halloween Spooktacular that is at the zoo.

We had a lot of chaperons with us so we just explored in small groups.

 

We were easy to spot in our lime green t-shirts.

Then it was time to load the bus and go back to school. Some of us fell asleep on the way back. Mrs. Soles took lots of pictures that she is going to put into a slide show on our 2nd grade website. Check it out soon to see all of the "animals"! :)

Parade of the Arts

Last Tuesday we had a Parade of the Arts. We went to 6 different rooms to learn about 6 different types of art. 
First, we went to the library and listened to a real author tell us how we could become authors.
Then, we went to the airnasium and danced with a jazz dancer.
Next, we went to the news room and Mrs. Carpenter told us how we could make a video. Next, we went to the music suite and played the drums with Mr. Nettles.

Then we went to a hallway and listened to Mrs. Fulp tell us how to take beautiful pictures. Last, we went to the art room and saw a real artist drawing a picture. His store is at the Landing and he said that we could come and visit him there! Some of us decided that we want to try to be an artist and enter in the competition.  Mrs. Soles and Mrs. Lynn are very proud that we want to enter the contest. We'll let you know how we do!

We've Got Worms!

In Writing we have now completed our story maps with our main characters, setting, problem, solution, and at least 3 events to help our characters solve their problem. This week we will learn how to write an "engaging lead" that will GRAB our reader and make him want to read our story.
In our Skills Block time, we have now learned the difference between synonyms, antonyms, and homophones. Thank you to Mrs. Pappas for making our card games for us to use during our center time or RTI time.

The worms have arrived in our classroom! Our Science Investigation is to see if the worms make a difference in the soil that they are in. Mr. Soles dug up some soil from his backyard and then bought us some worms from Walmart. One bag of soil has about 7 worms in it and the other bag has none. Here is the first picture of the bags. We will take pictures and make observations for 3 weeks. While we are observing our worms, we will start investigating seeds and see which soil is best to grow bean plants. We love Science with Mrs. Lynn and Mrs. Soles!