Over the last couple of months we have learned a lot of new interesting things! In math we worked on identifying and counting money, measurement, and now we are beginning our unit on telling time to the 5 minute mark, graphs, and data.
In science we have learned about the moon, amphibians, insects and will be learning about reptiles next! Our classroom has many visiting pets that align with the topics taught in our curriculum. The Science Center brought us 3 amphibians when we learned about amphibians so that the children could observe them and see them up close. During a three week rotation with the other second grade classrooms we had a bullfrog, an american toad, and two tiger salamanders. We also received wood frog eggs so that the children could observe the life cycle of a frog. Right now our tadpoles are just beginning to grow their back legs! In addition to the amphibians we also have a moth cocoon and painted lady caterpillars that we have watched change into chrysalis'. As we learned about insects it was really cool to have the insect life cycle right at our fingertips! We are beginning to learn about reptiles now and currently have a corn snake visiting with us. It just went through a molt. What a cool thing to see! We already had a baby snapping turtle visit with us and a gecko that will be making it's way to our classroom soon!
Another really exciting this going on now is our "special" art project with Miss Fallon. She is amazing and has found some time to work with the second graders to create 3-D insects! They are enormous! The children built the base out of cardboard, tubes, empty containers, and whatever else Miss Fallon could find. The second class was used to cover the insects in paper mache. The children were covered and so was I but we had a blast! The final session was used to paint the insects in a realistic way. They came out fantastic! We are just waiting to put a few finishing touches on our bee, dragonfly, and cricket.
We went on our third and final field trip to the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary on Friday for an insect program. We had an amazing time and got more than just an insect lesson while we were there! Our group was extremely lucky to see all three animal groups during our trip. We saw a baby painted turtle, many insects, a snake actually in the process of eating a toad and many other interesting sights. Make sure you ask your child about all of the neat things we saw while were learning in the great outdoors. Below are some pictures of the field trip and the many other science activities going on in our classroom!
In Fundations we just finished our unit on the (ow) sound using ou and ow. Our next unit will focus on the (u) sound using ou, oo, ue, and ew. During reading groups the children are practicing fluency through reader's theater. One group is working on perfecting Goldilocks and the Three Bullfrogs and the other group is practicing The Pig Who Cried Wolf. They seem to really enjoy this and we hope to perform for Mrs. Lane's and/or Ms. Varrell's reading groups this week!
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