Saturday, September 21, 2013

Getting to Know Division 13!

We were able to settle into our "forever" classes on Monday, September 9.  It was pretty special to hear the excitement in the classroom once we were all gathered at our meeting place!  There were hugs, high fives, and plans to meet other friends at recess.  We learned that we are a class of 22 Grade Two's and we are Division 13.  Our first week together has been spent getting to know each other through great books, "turn and talk" discussions, and jumping right into an art project (Liquid glue in Week #1?  No problem!).  After reading a series of fun favorites; including David Goes to SchoolHello My Name is BobChrysanthemumI Like Me, and more, we made a list of characteristics that described ourselves.  I have never seen such a detailed list in Grade Two before!  We brainstormed words like, honest, flexible, fashionable, creative, handsome, and trustworthy.  Wow!  We created these sunflowers to represent ourselves, and our classroom is now a field of sunflowers that are helping us get to know and respect each other for our similarities and differences.



Here is a sunflower before adding our photographs to the middle, and our first and last names on the leaves.


Of course, we had to look closer at real sunflowers too!  Here are a couple from my backyard before the squirrels got to them.  We have been enjoying zooming in closer to notice the amazing patterns in the seeds by looking through jewelers' "eye loupes" (the BEST magnifying tool ever - thanks to my teaching soul mate Mrs. Martin!).

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