Mrs. Barbas’s Weblog

On SMART kids’ day, second grade students visited room 26 and got to explore Oobleck.  The name comes from a Dr. Seuss book, Bartholomew and the Oobleck, in which a gooey greenish blobs fall from the sky.  Students were asked to draw on their experiences from studying solids and liquids  in first grade, and decide which properties they could observe in Oobleck.  The students had a great time getting their hands on the sticky stuff, and were curious to find out how they could make Oobleck at home.  So, as promised, here is the recipe:

1 1/2 cups cornstarch

1 cup water

food coloring (optional)

Stir together thoroughly, and enjoy!!   I find it easiest to use my hands to mix.  Beware of the food coloring though!

     The unit we are currently working on in Social Studies is “Our Government.” In this unit students will learn why a government is important, what a government does and who is part of a government. They also will learn about the roles of different public officials and the characteristics of a good leader. Here is a link to the speech from President Obama that is directed to the students about education. I encourage you to take the time to watch it and share it with your child.  http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=125512&title=Obama_Message

     The science unit has been very interesting. Students have been learning about the needs of insects, the body parts all insects have and the life cycle. To help students remember the information they learned the insect song, played insect hunt and created their own insect and showed each stage of its life cycle. They also have the opportunity to create a model of  their insect and share it with the entire class. Here is the link if your child would like to play the insect hunt at home. http://www.fossweb.com/modulesK-2/Insects/index.html

     In Math we have been working on solving addition and subtraction story problems. The goal of the unit is to have students solve the problem and then be able to show their work and explain how they got their answer.

     In Language Arts we have been working on a variety of things. Our focus skills have been identifying the characters in a story and identifying the main idea and details of a story. In phonics we have been working with short and long vowel sounds and learning how to find specific patterns to help us decode words. Students have also been working to improve their writing skill by learning what a sentence needs. (Capital letters, punctuation, a telling part and a naming part)

     Also just a reminder Celebration of Reading Night will take place on Thursday October 1, 2009 at 5:30 p.m.

Today, Mrs. Weiss from the YMCA’s SELF program visited our classroom.  The boys and girls learned about being good problem solvers.  They practiced using puppets to role play some “second-grader” problems, and talking about how to solve them.  The children learned about “I messages” so they have the language to talk to a peer about the problem they are having.  For example, “I feel frustrated when you talk to me while I’m working.”  Please help your student remember these strategies by talking with them about how they are solving small problems in the classroom.

Welcome!  We have an exciting year ahead.   Our class will host Ms. Nicole Bartkovich as a student teacher for the first 9 weeks of school.  She will gradually begin taking over the teaching of the class over the next few weeks.   We are both looking forward to meeting all of you at Open House, on Tuesday, September 15.  More info about that will be coming home as it gets closer.  Get ready for a great year!!