"Fall-ing" Into More Art Projects

We read the very wonderful and touching story of The Lonely Scarecrow in our class this week.  It's lovely to see the students' empathy towards the scarecrow as they watch the animals scurrying away from him.  We decided to make our own scarecrows and after making a "recipe" for what a scarecrow needed, we went to work drawing, finelining, and painting.

                                                

The students put so much care and patience into bringing their scarecrows to life!

We were also lucky enough to have Parent Helpers join us this week to help us create Fall "Twisted Trees".  We're pretty sure our scarecrows won't be lonely in the display case in the front hall!  We hope our families come by to visit them soon...

Celebrating 10 Days of School!

One thing is certain about Division 13.  We are an enthusiastic bunch who get excited about everything!  When the students noticed we were getting closer to the tenth day of Grade Two, they decided we needed to celebrate.  What better way to celebrate than to have some fun with Smarties!  We had fun estimating how many Smarties would be in the box, counting the actual number, and then making number stories as we ate them.  It was so interesting to see how close to 10 each box was.  One lucky student had THREE more than ten.  That's right - 13 Smarties!

The least number of Smarties was 8, and another student had 9.  The class decided that since they didn't get as many as everyone else, they should really get to share the extra box between them.  Empathy in action!  That, of course, brought about another exciting math moment in itself when we discovered that there was an ODD number of Smarties.  (Couldn't have planned that better if I'd tried!)  And so, in the end the kids decided I should cut the odd Smartie in half.  Did you know just how far a Smartie can travel when cut in half?  And so the teachable math moments continue...

Counting Collections

We've been having fun choosing and counting collections of objects in our classroom.  It's a great open-ended activity that gives the students a chance to show what they know in a playful format.  For added excitement, we put the collections in a mystery bag and each pair of children had to reach in and choose a box!  The students were so focused on sorting their collections in order to count them in a way that made sense to them.  It was a treat to have a window into their thinking as I circulated and listened in on conversations...

This group decided to round up their piggies into two rows.  "We're counting by 2's!"  But they found it was tricky to make sure they were working with exact groups of two when the rows weren't quite lined up.  Pesky pigs!

They decided to round up the pigs and bring the rows closer together to be sure.  Problem solving in progress!

Another group worked with rainbow frogs.  They lined these little guys up into groups (by colour and size too).  They announced that they had counted by groups of 12.



I wondered how "friendly" of a number that was for them to work with, and asked them how they arrived at 71.  The beauty of working with 7 year olds is how open they are about sharing their thinking. Ask and they love an audience!  They shared how they had used the 100 Chart to count by 12's.  They knew that twelve was "10 and 2 more", so they followed this pattern to get to 72.  However, one of the blue froggies was missing so they had to "minus 1" at the end of their counting.  And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you count frogs!  (As an afterward they explained to me that they saw the 72 on the plastic container, but it was a good thing they counted them anyway because one was missing!)






When we gathered to Connect and Reflect, we decided to record some guidelines for counting.  The class decided:

1.  Look at the collection first.  Think about what would make sense to count by.

2.  Choose a number to count by.  You might choose to count by 1's, 2's, 3's, 5's, 10's, or even 20's.

3.  Make equal groups.

I'm sure our counting guidelines will evolve as we continue exploring and learning together, but it's exciting to listen to the students sharing and discussing their thinking!  What counting activities do you like to do in your classroom?  What counting do you like/need to do as a family?


 

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 School, Hello My Name is Bob, Chrysanthemum, I 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!).

I Love You So "Mush"

The first week of school is full of magic and mystery.  We're busy wondering and waiting to find out which class will be our "forever" class, and often this leaves us all missing our family at home.  This little friend found the perfect way to capture this feeling at the drawing table one afternoon!  It sure made me think about how "mush" I love my family too...

'Twas the Week Before School Started...

'Twas the week before school started

When all through #204,

The books, desks and math tools

Awaited the roar!

Here is our classroom the week before school started.  It is looking much too quiet without the sights and sounds of learning in action!  With new books and ideas to share, I can hardly wait to meet my new students...