Life Cycle of Flowering Plants

For the past two weeks, our class has been learning all about plants.  We have learned that plants need air (carbon dioxide), water, sunlight, and a place to grow.  Also, seeds need warmth and water in order to sprout.  We planted some bean seeds in plastic bags so we could see the plants develop - it's been really exciting to watch our baby plants emerge and grow!

Sprout Houses

Day 4 - Roots!

Day 7 - Stem and leaves!

Day 12 - It's getting bigger!

We kept a log on the changes that took place - complete with drawings and descriptions.

As their final project in this unit, students drew a diagram to show the life cycle of flowering plants.  

We made butter!

Students were skeptical that we could make our own butter.  But after our discussion about how hard it used to be to gather baking ingredients in the days before supermakets, I thought it would make a valuable point.  The characters in Thunder Cake milked the cow to churn butter, gathered eggs from the hens, picked strawberries from the patch, etc.  For our butter, we did not milk a cow - but that would have been something!  We poured heavy cream in a container and shook it until the fat clumped together to form a solid lump of butter.  It took about a half hour of shaking, but we acheived success!  And amazed students!

Remind 101

I'm joining a new service for teachers that will allow me to send one-way text messages to parents for important notifications.  If you'd like this service, please click on the link below and follow the directions with your cell phone.  I plan to use this service to remind parents about bake sales, field trips, the spring program, etc.  I will be sending home more information in this week's newsletter.

https://www.remind101.com/join/33430

The Life Cycle of a Plant

Currently in science, we are studying the life cycle of plants.  We have learned that the parts of a plant,  the flower, fruit, and seeds, help a plant reproduce.  We are trying to grow our own plants from bean seeds - no luck yet.  I think they know that we still have snow on the ground and are refusing to sprout!  Until then, we created our own garden in the hallway.  Students used our new I-pad minis (donated by Mr. Aronson to Lemmer)  to research a vegetable that they learned about in the book, The Vegetable Alphabet.  With a partner, they looked up pictures of the plant to learn how it grows, from root to seed.  Then they made a diagram with cut paper and labels.  I just hope that someday, in the not-so-distant future, the snow will leave and we can really plant!

Click here to see the Bill Nye - Plant Life Cycle Video

Reading Recipes

Before spring break, we read the story Jalepano Bagels.  It is a story about a family bakery.  To celebrate coming back to school, I decided we should read a recipe and do some cooking!  Instead of allowing 21 kids to knead bread, like in the story, I thought it would make more sense to make a recipe we could complete right in the classroom.  Pancakes were perfect.  One group of students was in charge of reading the recipe and making sure we followed it correctly, one group measured and stirred ingredients, one group cooked the pancakes, one group served, and one group did clean-up.  Some chose to customize their pancakes with chocolate chips or craisins.  While measuring, we reviewed fractions too.  Hands-on lessons are always the best!

Counting Money

We are working very hard on counting money in 2nd grade.  Most of our work with money is in the form of word problems: making change, totalling amounts, using different coins to represent the same value, etc.  Any work parents do at home with this concept would be greatly appreciated!

Reading Month

March is almost done, and with that another Reading Month comes to an end.  In our classroom, we've enjoyed DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) time, I've been reading a very interesting chapter book called The One and Only Ivan, we've had guest readers from the Escanaba hockey team, and we've enjoyed many special assemblies and activites.  This Friday we will be watching Diary of a Wimpy Kid to celebrate the end of Reading Month.  I like this book, not for the fart jokes, but because it has inspired so many kids to dive into chapter books and really immerse themselves in an epic adventure that only a chapter book can deliver.  After I read the book aloud to our class, I noticed many of them continuing to read the series on their own.  That was my hope!
Lemmer students have read over 3000 books this month!!! Check out our book counter on the Esky Schools homepage: AR Book Counter