Thanksgiving already...?

It seems like we just started the school year (or 2013 all together) and it's already time for Thanksgiving!  Where does the time go?  When I was in 2nd grade, time seemed to drag by soooo sloooow!  Christmas and summer vacation could never come fast enough.  Things changed when I grew up.  Now the days go by very fast.  We've already been in school for 46 days and we have accomplished so much as a class!  Here's another peak at what we've been up to...

 

Enjoying center time with Even & Odd math games.

 NaKayla was the first to win in addition Bingo!

Dontravion & Alonzo enjoyed the fall themed Place Value cards

 

It's almost time to take these down, but our class worked hard on writing and editing their stories about their pumpkin or Frankenstein.

APPLE ORCHARD FUN!!!

Today was the field trip to Blake's Orchard for all of my wonderful second graders who worked hard and earned their field trip.  I am so proud of my students for how well they behaved for myself and the chaperones that attended.  A huge thank you to Alvin's dad for tagging along - I hope you had as much fun as I did!  I promised that I would post pictures as soon as possible, so I didn't want to let any kids down, because they always remind me when I forget.  (Thank you, Kyra!)

 

My wonderful 2nd graders that worked so hard to be a part of this trip!

But this is how you can usually find them.... 

 
My small group that hung out with me all day.

Time for the hay ride!

 Mrs. Hall's group for the day.

Alvin's dad with his boys.

Emanii picking her first apple!!

After we picked apples and pumpkins.

Fun by the....hay man?

Just another day on the farm.

 We got to pet the ponies!

Some kids even climbed the mountain of hay with Ms. Harper!

October's Virtual Window!

We had a few last minute changes in our classroom this week for our virtual window.  I had originally planned to use a webcam located in one of our national parks, but because of the government shutdown, the cams were shut down as well.  So I went to plan b and I think it turned out very nicely.  All of the students were really excited about the animals at the San Diego Zoo, so we kept the theme going for one more month and now our virtual window is...

The Vancouver Aquarium

 There are a lot of really great webcams that the students can watch on their site and a ton of educational resources to learn about aquatic animals.  If you happen to look at the site at home, let me know what you think by leaving a comment on our blog!  What webcam is your favorite?  I think I like the jellyfish the most!

Read to Someone Else

Towards the end of the week, usually on Thursday's, students have the chance to read with a partner the story we've been reading all week long.  It gives them a little extra practice with reading out loud and allows students to work with each other on improving their fluency!

Back to School Ice Breakers

Part of our back-to-school fun was an ice breaker called "A Friend Like Me."  Students had to go around the room to fill out their sheet with students names who had similar qualities/interests/features as them.  Needless to say, they had a lot of fun!

We also created out own line of pennants to hang out in the hallway that told a little bit about us.  I even did one myself.

A Virtual What?

Being in a classroom all day presents its challenges for young children - especially after a long summer break!  You can't talk to your friends whenever you want to, you can't jump up and down to let off that energy that's building up inside, and you can't even look outside.  Wait...what?  That's right, our classroom is a windowless room at DAAS.  Instead of feeling down in the dumps about it, this 2nd grade class has a solution of its own!

Here is a picture of the bulletin-board-turned-window on the outside of our classroom.  It gives a little bit of information about what we're doing to create a window in our classroom.  Thanks to the eno board and a laptop computer, we are able to view webcams from around the world. 

This months virtual window focus is at the San Diego Zoo in San Diego, California.  Although the zoo has several cameras available, we are focusing on the polar bear, panda bear, and elephant cams.  Thanks to this amazing resource, we have been able to connect what we watch on the webcam to documentaries about these same animals eating habits on Netflix!  We are very fortunate to have this kind of technology right at our fingertips.

Here are a few of the shots we've been able to capture while watching our animals!

The FIRST post!

Hello and welcome to our 2^nd grade blog!  This blog is set up to keep both parents and students informed of what is going on in our classroom here at the Detroit Academy of Arts & Sciences.  I am looking forward to this school year and have been preparing for it over the last month! 

Are you ready, parents and students?   I think that we’ll have a lot of fun this year.  We are going to grow and get a little better each today.  Together, we are always learning and together we will be stupendous in 2^nd grade! 

Are you curious about who your teacher really is?  Well, you’re in luck, because it’s time to find out!  As you know, my name is Ms. Sheets and I graduated from the University of Michigan-Dearborn in December of 2012 (GO BLUE!).  I have been passionate about learning and working with children my entire life.  My greatest inspiration for becoming a teacher was my own 2^nd grade teacher.  She made learning a fun, hands-on experience and I am hoping that I can do the same for all of my students.  On a personal level, I live in the downriver area, have a Boston Terrier named Brody, and a cat named Mariah.  I am a huge animal lover and love spending time at my favorite place – the Detroit Zoo!  My favorite colors are pink and green, my favorite foods are cheesecake or pizza, and I am crazy about drinking plenty of water each day.  I have traveled to over 25 states and really hope to see them all one day!  During the 2013/2014 school year, I’m really hoping to learn fun facts about all of you and your favorite things!

There are going to be some exciting posts in the coming weeks about books we’ll be reading together this year and how we’re going to solve that tricky problem of being in a classroom with no windows – YIKES!  Don’t worry, because I think all of you are going to love the solution for seeing outside in a windowless room.