Christmas Program

It was a wonderful evening! The fourth graders put on quite a show and our second graders were spectacular in the chorus! They all worked very hard and it showed. Here are some pictures from the BIG night.

My Apologies!

I am embarrassed at the fact that I have not posted anything new in such a long time! I hope you will forgive me. I also hope you haven't given up on us. We have been very busy and do have new (and old) things to share with you!

Body Venture

What an amazing experience! We had the opportunity to walk through the "human body" and learn about how different body systems work together. In each part of the body, a parent volunteer talked to us about nutrition, exercise and making healthy choices. They told us how those healthy choices can affect our bodies and our health.

Here we begin by entering the brain through the ear!



We learned that in order for our muscles to be strong and to keep from having too much fat in our bodies we must exercise regularly and eat foods with protein. Protein is the nutrient that makes our muscles grow and develop.



While in the lungs, we had the opportunity to see what a real, healthy lung looks like. It was full and pink. We also saw what the lung of a smoker looks like. It was gray, black and shriveled - YUCK! We all decided that we did NOT want our lungs looking like that one. To demonstrate what emphysema is like, we were given coffee straws and told to hold our noses. Breathing through that little straw was not easy. We learned that breathing could be THAT hard for someone with emphysema.



We learned that digestion of food actually begins in the mouth. The teeth chew the food to break it down and the saliva begin to break the food down even farther. We need to take good care of our teeth so that they will last throughout our lives.

Spider Day Fun!

Eeeek! Spiders! But, please don't squash these spiders...they are really 2nd graders.

We spent all of the last school week learning about spiders. While some people are scared of spiders, we did learn that spiders are very helpful creatures. The smallest spiders are as small as the period at the end of a sentence. The largest spiders can grow as big as a dinner plate!

We also learned that most spiders are not poisonous to humans, so hopefully we don't need to feel as afraid of them. Many people think spiders are insects, but they are not. They are arachnids. Their bodies are different than insects in several ways.

During the week, we read spider books, finished Charlotte's Web by E.B. White, made spider hats and did lots of spider activities in centers.

We even had a chance to eat spiders! We read that about 200 years ago people ate mashed spiders as a remedy for the common cold. Yuck! Luckily, our spiders tasted much better because we made them with cookies, almonds, pretzels and other goodies. Believe it or not, the spider making was an assessment. Mrs. Helms could tell what we had learned about spiders' bodies by how we put our spider snacks together.

Enjoy our pictures from this fun week!

We love centers!

Each week, 2nd graders do centers on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. These centers are a variety of activities that they work on in small groups. These are some pictures from this week's centers.

Go Fish with Pumpkin shaped cards



Read around the room for er/ir/ur words



Spelling word rainbow


10 Important Sentences from "Bremen Town Musicians"


Making Words (plural nouns with -s and -es)




Paint your spelling words on the chalkboard




Monster Faces fun book




Center groups are responsible for finishing their work, checking it off of their lists and then staying busy with a choice center. If there is any unfinished work or work that needs correcting, they work on that before going to a choice.

Fire Prevention Activities

Some members of the Moundridge Fire Department stopped by on October 7th to help us practice fire safety. They showed us what a fire fighter will look and sound like when they are wearing all of their gear. The can seem a little scary, so the reminded us not to hide from them if we are ever in a fire.

We practiced staying low and crawling along the floor if there is smoke or fire in our house. They asked us to check the batteries in ALL of our smoke detectors and to make a plan with our family on where to meet if there ever is a fire. Remember to practice that plan, even after dark, just in case!

Finally we were able to go the 'smokehouse'. It filled with 'smoke' and the kids had to practice staying low and escaping out a window. When they were out, they had to find all of their group members and call 911.

Frog Day!

It has been a while since things were "hoppening" in 2nd grade, but I thought you might enjoy looking at some of the pictures anyway. Frog Day was a huge success again this year. Thanks to all of the parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles who helped!