Surprise Box continued...

We opened our box today, and we were VERY excited about the present inside. It was something that was going to really help us practice our descriptive writing. We were going to have to use all 5 senses (even our favorite sense of taste!)

A Surprise Box...

This present arrived in the classroom this morning:

It's a present for the kids, we are using it to work on our descriptive language. We have been working with adjectives and property words in both writing and science. In order for the students to find out what was in the box, they had to complete a descriptive writing sheet first. Check back later in the week to find out what was in the box!

Who is worth more to you than gold?

I asked our class this question and here are a few of their answers...

How-To: Tie a Tie

To help students with writing How- To books, last week we had a How-To Tie a Tie literacy center. This was a very fun activity where students had to first order the steps. The steps consisted of a photo and written directions. After students put the directions in order they got to practice with ties. They quickly discovered it was going to take LOTS of practice. 

How To Books

We started our new writing unit today. We will be writing non-fiction how-to books. The topic was introduced with a fun activity of using grapes and toothpicks to make squares. We wrote the steps together as a class to practice. Then students got to build their own squares with the grapes and toothpicks.

Setting Goals for the New Year

We have been writing goals this week in our writing center. The students were encouraged to pick a goal for something they have never done and would like to do in 2012. Here are a few of those goals.

"I want to go to Romania to see my grandparents"

"I want to do gymnastics with my friends"

"Read everything that I see"

"Read a chapter book on my own. When I am finished I get a new book"

"I want to learn more things in 2nd grade"

"I want to go to Seattle in Washington to see Dustin Ackley"

"My new year goal is to become a black belt"

Writer's Workshop

We have completed our first week of writer's workshop. We worked on the process of THINK-WRITE-DRAW. We also learned the phrase "when I am done, I've just begun" to remind us that writer's are ALWAYS working. To end the week we learned about stretching out our words like rubber bands.