Happy Halloween from 2nd Grade!

Cale, Sam, and Jake getting ready for the parade!

Braden, Drew, and Tommy during the Halloween parade!

Happy Halloween! 

Addisen, Allison, Cale, and Mallory enjoying snacks at the Halloween party!  Thanks again to all the parents who contributed to the party!  We had a blast! :)

Mummy wraps!

Candy corn toss!

Busy, busy, busy...

Our class has been so busy the last couple weeks.  I have seen students grow so much already since the beginning of the school year.  We are currently focusing on the elections and presidents, past and present.  Students have chosen a candidate to represent and are "campaigning" for the person of their choice.  Second graders have so many great ideas and I can't wait to see how everything turns out- from debates to commercials and posters to talk shows.  Their job is to convince the rest of the class to vote for their candidate- Barack Obama or Mitt Romney.

Other Things Going on in Our Room...

Classroom Coin Challenge!  This is a huge fundraiser to help put books into the hands of children in our community.  We will have a collection container in our classroom to collect loose change from students during the week of the book fair.  The classroom in each grade level that collects the most change will receive $25 in free books for their classroom.  Help our class collect the most change!  This will start next Monday, October 29th and end November 8th.

Halloween Party: Next Wednesday, October 31st - Students can wear their costume to school.  They will participate in the parade Wednesday morning and then costumes will be taken off.  We will have our class party at the end of the school day.

Conferences: November 5th and 8th at the time assigned to you (Please send your yellow half sheet back with your student if you have not done so already.)

Bucket Filler

Congrats Mallory!  You truly are a bucket filler! I called all of the previous bucket fillers to a meeting and they decided that Mallory deserved the title last week.  I couldn't agree more!  She is a very caring friend and a great listener.  She is always willing to help anyone in need and is always filling buckets with compliments and good thoughts.

iPads

The iPads are here!!!  They arrived last Friday and we've been using them non-stop!

Connor and Addisen

Tommy and Hannah during social studies yesterday.

Bucket Filler!

Mikayla was named the Bucket Filler of the week, last week.    Mikayla is such a nice friend and is very reliable.  I can always count on her to help another friend in our class.  She is very polite and has great manners. :)  Way to go, Mikayla!

Great Citizens of 2nd Grade

We have some pretty awesome kids in our class.  I told the kids about an old friend of mine that is collecting items to donate to the Children's Hospital in Iowa City.  Her son passed away when he was two from a brain tumor and every year for his birthday she tries to do something in honor of him.  I told the kids that it is their choice if they want to contribute and they were all so willing to help!  All of the students made cards today to give to other children their age.  They are also working on making two blankets to donate, too.  If you have items on the U of I Children's Hospital wish list that you would like to donate, please send them to school by Friday as I will be giving them to her this weekend.

Things I heard the students say: 

"We are filling other people's buckets and we don't even know them!"

"I hope this makes another kid smile."

U of I Approved Donation List Items:
http://www.uichildrens.org/childrens-content.aspx?id=226280
http://www.uihealthcare.org/otherservices.aspx?id=225476

Our Week in Review

Fire Safety at the Fire Station

Practicing getting low if there is a fire or smoke in a building.

Aim the water towards the bucket!

Bucket Filler!

Our bucket filler of the week!  Way to go Maggie!  Always a great listener and friend to everyone in our class!

 Social Studies

Presidential speeches were given by each of the students, as we are learning about the presidents of the past and the election coming up in November!

Book Orders

Book orders!  Our class was able to receive free books for our classroom because we had parents order books online!  Every time you order online (or by paper) we receive points so we can "purchase" books for our classroom, too!!  When you order online, you also receive a $5 free book of your choice!

To order online go to www.scholastic.com/bookclubs  

Use our one-time class activation code to register: LB6PH

Time for Math! {Estimating and Rounding}

Estimate the number of seeds in the pumpkin.  Round your answer to the nearest ten. 

What will be the fastest way to count the seeds?  By ones? Twos? Fives?

Put everyone's rounded estimate in numerical order.

Maggie, Sam, Jake, Rylie

Jayden and Mallory

Drew and Gabe

Apparently, ALL pumpkins have about 500 seeds in them, regardless of the size of the pumpkin.  

We counted 518!!

Quilts

Today we had a special guest, Deenie Schuhert, come talk to us about quilts.  We learned about the history of quilts during Social Studies.  A special quilt we learned about was a friendship quilt, which was very popular during the Pioneer time period.

Spirit Lake Inidians quilt!  Very cool and unique quilts!

Our friendship quilt!  Look what we can do when we all chip in!

Bucket Filler

Connor was our Bucket Filler last week!  This young man always has a smile on his face and knows how to cheer a person up.  He is a great listener and is always giving his best effort.  Thanks for being a great example, Connor!

Apple Butter Recipe

Last Friday during our one-room school house "graduation" ceremony, we had cornbread with homemade apple butter.  The apple butter was made by my mom.  Several students requested the recipe so here it is! :)

CROCKPOT APPLE BUTTER

Apples, peeled, cored & finely chopped ¼ tsp. cloves

4 c. sugar (or less)   ¼ tsp. salt

4 tsp. cinnamon 2 ½ quart crockpot

Fill crockpot heaping full of finely chopped apples.  Lid may not fit at start, but apples shrink as cooked.  Mix sugar (sweet apples require less sugar), cinnamon, cloves, and salt and drizzle over the apples.  Cook covered on high 1 hour, then lower heat and cook all day until thick and dark in color, approximately 10-12 hours.  Stir occasionally.  

Put mixture in a blender in small batches and blend until desired consistency (this doesn’t take long, maybe 30 seconds).  Either put in small jars, cool, and freeze; or, reheat mixture to boiling on stove, turn off heat, and put in clean, hot jars and process in hot water bath for 10 minutes.