Happy Thanksgiving!

We ended our short week with the annual game of all school Turkey Bingo.  We had a fun time, and 2nd grade even had a winner who gobbled down to the office for a prize.  Happy Thanksgiving 2nd grade families!

Adjective People

 In the last few weeks we've been learning about adjectives.  A fun project to go along with the study of adjectives is making adjective people.  Before we started our own adjective people, one student was called up and we brainstormed many adjectives to describe him!

The class found this activity to be incredibly funny!  After we took all of the adjectives off our friend, we got to work brainstorming adjectives about ourselves.  The class came up with a variety of adjectives to describe themselves: smart, funny, unique, innocent, kind, happy, friendly, and many more!  Our adjective people turned out great!

Personal Narrative Writing

 Last week we finished up our personal narrative writing.  We start all of our writing projects with a graphic organizer for the students to get their ideas down on paper.  Then we take our ideas and put them into complete sentences.  The students highlight the capital letter at the beginning of the sentence and the end mark.  Once this is complete, the students sign up for a teacher conference.  I meet with the students to go over their sentences to make sure they make sense and help with the spelling of any unknown words.  Then they get their final draft materials.  This book included a dedication page.  The class loves reading each other's books!

Thank you to our Veterans

 On Veteran's Day, our school gathered in the gym to pay tribute to our veterans.  We listened to a veteran in our community talk about his experience in the military, and the elementary students sang a beautiful song.  In the classroom we made letters to send to active soldiers to say thank you.  The students wrote sweet messages of thanks and illustrated with beautiful pictures.  Thank you to our veteran's and active soldiers.  We appreciate you!

Banana Bingo Celebration

 "Banana" is a word used quite often in 2nd grade!  I created this banana bingo system several years ago to help us transition quickly and quietly around our classroom.  Whenever the students hear the word "banana" they are to head right back to their seats without voices.  Each time this is accomplished we earn a "banana point."  Once 5 points are earned a number is drawn and a banana is added to that number on our board.  The students have to work hard to also keep their points.  If at any point the class hears "banana split," voices need to go off in order to keep the points we've accumulated.  The class is always very excited when another banana is added and we get closer and closer to a bingo!  Once we get a bingo, we brainstorm a fun way to celebrate as a class. 

They were so excited to finally get a bingo early last week!  We brainstormed many different ways to celebrate, and then we voted on our top choices.  The final vote was for electronic day.  The students could bring in a device from home or use their school ipad.  They were able to use their devices for about 20 minutes to play games or watch a video.  

Once a celebration is chosen, it won't be repeated. 

 For our next celebration, something new will be chosen.  

Our board is cleared, and we are ready to earn another banana bingo!