Disability Awareness

This week we began our unit in DASH, which stands for Disability Awareness Starts Here. Through interactive activities and experiences, the children will gain a better understanding of visual disabilities such as macular degeneration, tunnel vision and blindness. The DASH program in our class will take place on March 24 and 31, and April 7.  After learning about Louis Braille, the children each wrote their name in braille using split peas. We will be doing many more engaging activities in the weeks to come! 
Here is the braille alphabet - can you figure out who's work is displayed below??

Fun with Technology

We have been doing some exciting activities involving technology! First, we were able to Skype with a real published author, Nancy Krulik. She has written many books including the series Katie Kazoo, Switcheroo and George Brown, Class Clown.The children enjoyed hearing about what it's like to be a published author, and even got to ask some questions about her work.

We got to listen to her read a section of her latest George Brown book!

Last week we were able to join Mrs. Madden's and Mrs. Dunn's class in the library for a special Dr. Seuss activity with the iPads. We had to hunt for and scan QR codes scattered around the library, and then record our answers on paper.  In case you don't know, QR codes are those weird black and white squares you see everywhere now. You just scan them with your iPad or iPhone and it links you to information. They look like this:

Example of a QR code.

It was a lot of fun working with children from other classes and grades, all while learning more about Dr. Seuss!

Great teamwork to answer all the questions!

Our Fables and Folk Tales Project is Complete!

It's finally here! Each child studied one particular fable or folk tale and completed an extensive book report on it. Then they chose a character from the story and took on the role of that character to tell you about their story. They did a fantastic job! We hope you enjoy! **Second graders - be sure to leave a comment below with your thoughts about our awesome movie.**  Mrs Mack's Fables and Folk Tales from Jennifer Mack on Vimeo.
RL2.2 Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

We had a blast today celebrating the great Dr. Seuss during our kick-off to the Seussical month of March. We joined with thousands of schools around the country this morning for NEA's Read Across America. After listening to the inspiring read aloud Oh The Places You'll Go, we had a great time listening to different music from around the world and working together to figure out from which continent the music had originated. Thanks again to our special reader for making today so memorable!

Mrs. B reads Oh The Places You'll Go

Studying the map to figure out where the mystery music came from!

We also have decorated our door after one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books - The Sneetches. Each student decorated a star to be as unique as they are. Special thanks to Ms. Rogers for helping us put it together!

Fables and Folk Tales from around the globe

During our extensive study of fables and folk tales from around the world, the children spent a lot of time analyzing the characteristics of each (Common Core Standard RL2.2), as well as comparing and contrasting many of the stories (Common Core Standard RL2.9). To conclude the unit of study, they each chose one fable or folk tale to study in depth. By completing a book report on one story, they were able to use their higher order thinking skills to analyze the book, as well as relate how the moral applies to their lives. Here we are hard at work putting together a special slide show for you.

Stay tuned!!