In our latest unit, we have been learning about continents of the world and their natural resources. We are making globes using paper mache. We also colored coffee filters to look like a globe to use in a different project. We have been turning our chicken eggs twice a day for the last 18 days. It is now time to lock down the incubator and wait for the hatch. Lock down means that we fill all of the reservoirs with water to increase the humidity in the incubator and then we do not open the lid again until it is time to remove a hatched chick. Check out our live cam below to see how the hatch is going. Check out our live chick cam at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iQCA82XjUs&feature=youtu.be. Learners enjoyed sharing stories that they have written with the class. Earlier in the month, this learner had a chance to read to a kindergarten class. We enjoyed a visit from author and illustrator Ross Burach on Friday. His new book, The Very Impatient Catepillar, was very entertaining. Learners also enjoyed hearing tips for collecting ideas for writing and pointers for drawing characters. Happy birthday to this sweet girl. The doughnuts were delicious! Thank you, Mr. Trevathan, for coming to be our guest reader this week.
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We started out our busy week with our Lunar New Year parade. In art class, learners made lanterns. We have been busy taking care of the eggs in our incubator. They have to be turned twice a day. Mrs Marilyn Horton spoke to 2nd grade about recycling. 2nd graders sorted and delivered valentines from the valentine mailbox to Pinkerton staff and learners. I loved getting handmade valentines from old and current learners. They warm my heart! We ended our short week by celebrating Valentine's Day. A big thank you goes to all of the parents who planned and helped at the party! Happy Valentine's Day and Happy Presidents' Day!Our class has been very busy over the last couple of weeks. The class used their thinking skills and creativity in Maker Space. In science, we explored magnetism. Mrs. Kirkley worked with the class during guidance time on kindness and giving compliments. This went along well with what we were doing in class. The class has been writing compliments about classmates for our compliment books. Pinkerton was featured on Brag About Your School on NBC5. I ran into these happy 2Aers during the broadcast. NBC5 Brag About Your School Links
We celebrated two birthdays and a half-birthday. One of our classmates, who is a Girl Scout, donated Girl Scout cookies to the whole second grade that have inspirational messages on them. They go perfectly with our IB program and they were YUMMY! As part of our Sharing the Planet theme, we have been studying about the continents and oceans. We have been sampling foods from each of the continents we have studied. We made empanadas from South America and sampled Tim Tam cookies from Australia. Both were delicious. We had hot chocolate when we studied Antarctica to keep us warm. We also enjoyed Penguin Day as part of our activities relating to Antarctica. Other activities included snow ball fight math and buddy reading with our 2C friends. We had a good time spending time with our 5th grade buddy class. To celebrate Groundhog Day, we enjoyed making groundhog toast. We also did a lesson on shadows. We traced our shadows in the morning and then again in the afternoon to compare how they looked. We discussed why the shadows looked different. In between the shadow tracings, we read about groundhogs and why we have Groundhog Day. We also tried to find our groundhog stick puppets' shadows in the classroom. Before the cold weather hit, we were able to get out into the Pinkerton Patch and plant onions. The class was VERY excited when our eggs arrived and we got them into the incubator to begin the hatching process. We will turn the eggs twice a day for 21 days and learn about the development stages of the chicken. We can't wait for the chicks to start hatching out! It was our turn to work with the Dad of the Day. We would like to thank Mr. Dubois for helping us play this fun math game! Another dad paid a visit to our class. This time it was to celebrate World Read Aloud Day. Thanks go to Mr. Caviness for volunteering to read to our class. We loved his choice of books. As part of our study of natural resources, we looked at water pollution and ways we can fix the problem. Groups of learners worked together to develop a water filter that would remove all of the pollutants from our water sample. Of course, the highlight of this past week was Global School Play Day. All of the learners at Pinkerton had fun playing together to build relationships and learn to work and play together.
It was great to get back to class last week after our winter break. Since the second nine weeks period ended in December, our first week back was filled with celebrations and awards. At our assembly, Global Citizens were announced. Global Citizens consistently display lour learner profile traits. We had two special recipients of this award. Congratulations to them! The Coppell Education Foundation presents an award to outstanding learners each nine weeks period. We were proud that the award for second grade went to one of our class members. The winners receive this special t-shirt to wear. Way to go! This learner received a music award for January. Our class received an award from Spring Creek Barbecue for attendance at spirit night. Everyone in the class received a t-shirt, cup, and gift card. Thank you Spring Creek and PTO for sponsoring the event! During our first week back, we finished up our IB unit on Cultural Celebrations by exploring how people celebrate the new year in different ways. The class wrote resolutions to make 2020 a successful year. This past week, we launched our IB unit called Sharing the Planet. In it we will be looking at natural resources around the world and how we can help protect them. We started off by exploring rocks. We looked at the properties of rocks and how we might group them together. We were very excited to have Mr. Newton come in and talk to us about his job and show us many cool rock samples. We had fun lessons with Mrs. Kirkley and Ms. Ward this past week. Mrs. Kirkley talked to us about how to handle frustration when we feel it. Ms. Ward did a great thinking lesson to exercise our brains. We are looking forward to a restful three day weekend!
We kicked off our last week before winter break with Pajama Day. The weather was quite cool, so we were glad to be wearing our cozy pj's. On Tuesday, we baked and decorated gingerbread cookies. Yum! On Wednesday, we enjoyed our annual Cultural Luncheon. Parents send foods representing their family's culture. The food was delicious! We would like to thank all of the parents who sent food and/or came to help set-up, serve, and clean-up. On Wednesday afternoon, 2nd graders went caroling in the Pinkerton halls. Each class learned three songs. Here is one of 2A's songs: Our class elf, Jingles, was very bust this week. She even brought along some of her sisters to join in our fun. By the end of the week, Jingles was packed and ready to return home. I think she will have a good report for Santa. Our own 2A elves were hanging around in the hall! One of our classmates was interviewed for Friday Live announcements this week. Also on Friday, our 5th grade buddies came for a visit. After singing a song for us, they joined us for a holiday game and reading holiday books. We loved having Mr. Trevathan and friends come back and sing holiday songs for us. He also shared a great book. Last, but certainly not least, we enjoyed a fun holiday party before our winter break. We would like to thank Mrs. Terry and all of the parents who came to help out with the fun! I ran into this interesting guy after school on Friday. I hope he can find his way back to the North Pole! I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable winter break! I am looking forward to a wonderful new year and semester in 2A!
Our week started off with a visit from the CHS Madrigals. We loved hearing the beautiful music and I loved seeing one of my former students! We also had a visit from Middle School North. We enjoyed hearing music from both the band and the choir. It was great to see our former Pinkerton (and 2A) students shine! The Pinkerton Student Council held their annual door decorating contest. Our class is sending warm winter wishes to everyone! In class, we are continuing our research projects on celebrations from different cultures. We are getting ready to present our findings with a Google slide presentation. We will be comparing how the celebrations are alike and different. On Friday, we had a great time visiting 5A, our buddy class. They taught us how to make paper reindeer. We enjoyed hearing a presentation from a 2B parent on celebrations in Spain. We especially liked trying out the tradition of eating grapes at midnight to celebrate the new year. The class loved finding and sharing jokes from Jingles. Reading holiday books is fun, but reading them with a buddy is even better!
December is finally here! Learners were very excited when our elf, Jingles, arrived. We hope she will continue to come back each day to watch over our class. Wednesday was Grinch Day at Pinkerton. Grinches were everywhere! 2A enjoyed watching the original Grinch story and eating Grinch (green) cookies! This learner shared some of her own family's holiday customs and traditions with the class. Our fifth grade buddies dropped in to work on puzzles. We love our buddies! 2A learners from last year also dropped in to read stories that they have written. We were actually working on our own writing at the time, so it was great to have some real examples of fabulous writing to hear. We celebrated an early birthday for this sweet girl with delicious cookies.
Happy Birthday!!! At this time of year, we all think about what we are thankful for. One of the things that I am thankful for is my sweet class. They are such a kind and caring group of learners. They are hardworking, yet fun to be around when it is time to be fun. Parents, thank you so much for sharing these wonderful children with me. I hope you enjoyed reading the books that we worked on this week which showed what each of the children are thankful for. They were very moving. 2A was thankful for our 5th grade buddies. They came to our class on Monday to work with us on our Living Museum presentations. They gave us some great advice! Presenting 2nd Grade's Living Museum Learners worked hard to research, write, and present their research at our Living Museum. We had many famous leaders represented. Learners used their research notes to write and publish a biography book about their chosen leader. To get in the Thanksgiving spirit, our class made pumpkin pies. Yummy!! We are thankful for Mrs. Hunt for setting up Maker Space. We had a great time exploring new activities this week! On Friday, we met with our 5th grade buddies for game day. Half of us stayed in our class and half of us went to 5A. We are thankful for the Trevathan family for helping us to get in the proper spirit by telling an awesome turkey story and leading us in a rousing turkey song! Thanks so much! It was the day for turkey activities as we made Oreo turkeys in our class. I want to wish everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving! See you in December!
Last Monday we honored all veterans at the Veterans Day assembly. We loved seeing Pinkerton students honor our veterans with their performances. Our veterans and their families were invited to a reception following the assembly. Former 2A learner! In science, we continued our exploration of motion by observing wind-up toys and how they move. We also explored sound and how it travels. Mrs. Kirkley came to our class for a guidance lesson. Learners made table decorations for the homeless shelter to use at Thanksgiving. On Friday, our class enjoyed a delicious pizza party provided by our PTO. It was our prize for having 100% participation in the goPinky fundraiser. Thank you, PTO and 2A parents!!! Mrs. Heitz was our guest reader on Friday. We loved hearing the books that she brought. Thanks for coming to our class.
On Thursday we were able to enjoy the rescheduled Pinky Palooza. Pinkerton kids and staff had fun participating in all of the fun activities and eating the delicious food. We appreciate the PTO for planning such an exciting event. Our class prepared for Veterans Day by making thank you cards for our veterans. They will be given to the veterans at our assembly on Monday. Friday fun building with Legos with our 5th grade buddies! We are proud of this learner and his brother for collecting and shipping 30 pounds of candy and other items to military personnel through Operation Gratitude. Thanks to those of you who sent candy and notes for their project. In science, we continue to explore motion. This week, we looked at things that roll. Learners were given wheels and axles to create that move in different ways. We enjoyed hearing Mr. Caviness read to the class on Friday afternoon. We would like to thank all veterans for their service to our country. We appreciate you!
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November 2020
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