Friday, March 18, 2016

Rolling Into Spring

There have been forces at work in our classroom. As we roll into spring break, we wrap up our study of balance and motion. Today we took a final look at objects that spin, roll, and are pushed or pulled. Along the way we came across numerous concepts and terms related to motion. In fact, there were so many words we decided to collect them and put them in a classroom glossary. Each scientist in our room selected a word, wrote a definition, added the necessary illustrations, diagrams, and labels so other readers could better understand the concepts. Who are these other readers you ask? They are first graders! We are going to send a copy of our glossary to Ms. Lankas' class along with a letter we wrote. We wanted to get these first graders thinking about the big thoughts they might be thinking in second grade. We thought this was a good plan. What do you think?

As we made the shift from researchers to writers, we had to pay attention to our ideas, our spelling, spacing, and punctuation. Writers use all these elements to communicate ideas to readers. We always want our readers to pay attention to and understand our ideas without having to work too hard. If our writing is a mess, our readers will probably be confused. Not a good thing at all.

After break, we will begin exploring different stories, different authors and illustrators, and more new ideas. Wow. It's nonstop learning in second grade. Until then...here's to sharing ideas; here's to spring break, and here's to Seconds.