Helping Hands!

Don't forget, tomorrow night is Helping Hands Night at Dillman! Each grade level will meet at different times and give important information for throughout the year. 

There will also be a SSTEAM display with the different things we have been working on in class! We hope to see you here!

Insect Observation!

Check out these cool grasshoppers a second grader brought me today for us to observe! He even had leaves and grass inside of the water bottle for them the have some food! :)

I just added a water pad (like we use for the crickets) and put them in an extra container I had. I love when your kiddos bring in cool stuff for us to look at! We'll watch them until Friday, then let them go in the afternoon. 

Thanks, second grader, for sharing!

Texas 4-H Project!

Back in August, there was a lot of flooding that occurred due all of the bad and rainy weather. Several schools is Louisiana were affected by that flooding in August. Mrs. Tovar has set up for our school to work with Texas 4-H to collect school supplies that anyone may be able to donate for those classrooms. If you have any school supplies or are able to make a donation of school supplies, we would really appreciate it.  

 In SSTEAM class this week, we talked a little bit about some of the items that would we beneficial to those who were affected by the flooding. Here is a list of what we talked about in class if you would be able to donate: 

  Pre-K: A Pencil 

 Kindergarten: A Pencil

1st Grade: Bottled Glue or Glue Sticks 

  2nd Grade: A Folder 

 If you are able to donate any other supplies, that would be helpful as well. There are baskets outside of my classroom in the hallway for anyone to drop off items that they are able to donate. These will be picked up Wednesday after school and taken to be sorted and mailed to school that need it. Thank you so much for any and all help you are able to provide! 

Recycling Races!

This past week in science, 2nd grade talked about reducing, reusing and recycling! On Wednesday, we watched a BrainPOP about the 3 R's which took up the entire 30 minutes of class.

Thursday, we reviewed what we had talked about in our BrainPOP Wednesday, and then we headed outside for a Recycling game! The kids stood on one side of the courtyard where the cones were in 4 different teams, and carried the recycling (thank you for all that you sent to school for our game!) to the other end of the courtyard where the different recycling bins (paper, plastic and aluminum) were. You guys have some fast kids!

The pair of teams that won at the end of the race got 100% stamps! The pair of teams that came in second place got Very Nice stamps!

We even had a special guest come to play with us in one of the groups ... Mrs. Tovar!

The kids did an awesome job sorting through all of that recycling and placing the items in (or next to) the bins they belonged in!

Thank you again for all of the recycling that you sent to school with your kiddos! You helped to make this a fun game!

Sneak Peek ...

We have a new classroom pet to go along with our fish! This weekend I picked up our Bearded Dragon and all his supplies! It will need some time to adjust so the kids won't get to see him too much this week. Maybe next week we can have small groups each day come and meet him ... or her. I'm not sure what it is yet! I've held our new friend several times, it is very friendly.

Boat Engineering Day!

Friday Second Grade had their first engineering day! Their challenge was to make a foil boat that held a cargo of 20 pennies without sinking. They did an awesome job of working together as a group to come up with a plan for their boats. We went over the engineering process that has six steps:

1. Ask a question - What are we trying to figure out or what problem are we trying to solve

2. Imagine - What will it look like to solve the problem and how could we do it

3. Plan - Draw a picture or write about how you will solve the problem

4. Create - Build or make the design you planned and see if it will solve hte problem

5. Improve - If your plan didn't work, what can you change to make it work

6. Present - Show off your work and how you achieve your goal!

One of the second grader came up with an awesome idea to try and make their boat a different way once they got their original plan to float and see if their new plan worked as well as or better than their first design.

First the reader of the group read the instructions to their table so they knew what they had to do and what the rules were. We went over the rules of making a foil boat that had to hold up to 20 pennies and still float.

Then, the designer of the group drew a picture of what the group wanted their boat to look like. Everyone had to have some input on their boat design, not just one or two people.

Once they had a design of their boat, the builder used the foil to put their boat together just like the design they drew. Then, the kids took turn placing pennies in their boat one at a time to see if it would float or sink. Some boats sunk, and the kids had to improve their design and change it up some while others floated the first try! Some groups learned that they had to spread out their pennies and not pile them all on one side or their boat would sink. It was a lot of fun to see everyone's wheels turning!

The kids did an amazing job! I can't wait for our next engineering project!

Second Grade's Second Week of School!

Second grade had a SUPER busy week! They started the week of with music on Monday and Tuesday. We review steady beat and strong and weak beats from last week, then talked about different meters. The meter of 3 was our main focus in 2nd grade this week. To help us feel the beat of 3, we "ice skated" around the room to a waltz.

We also watched a video about meter and played a game where the kids had to guess if the meter was 2 or 4.

Wednesday and Thursday we did Social Studies. On Wednesday, we watched the School BrainPOP and took the quiz.

After the BrainPOP, we had time for one center. The kids finished the other 5 centers Thursday. The kid played on iPads, drew and wrote about a rule they follow in school, colored bookmarks, played on the SMART board, read and colored a book about our school community, and sorted pictures into things to bring to school and things to leave at home on our pocket chart stands.