Today is the first day of September and also the first day of spring!
To celebrate the start of spring we made pretty kites to display in our classroom. We brainstormed lots of spring words and then the students completed their kites by writing an acrostic poem. Acrostic poems have sentences or phrases, each beginning with the letters of the main word. Our word was spring.
Last week Miss Jordan went to a conference about teaching reading to Grade Two students. She learnt about lots of different things and one idea she really liked was independent reading.
2KJ have now started doing independent reading at school. It is a time for students to spend time quietly reading a book of their choice for about 20 minutes. We record how much we read each day and when we finish a book we have to give it a rating out of five stars. Independent reading is great because it is reading for fun!
We read chapter books during independent reading. Some of the popular book choices are Rainbow Magic, Beast Quest, Flat Stanley, Girlz Rock, Boyz Rule and Zac Power.
Today everyone in Grade Two visited the Melbourne Museum to learn more about our topic of dinosaurs.
It took 1.5 hours to get to the museum by bus.
When we arrived we had snack and then spent half an hour looking at the Dinosaur Walk exhibit. We learnt a lot! We liked seeing all the skeletons and fossils. Some of the dinosaur skeletons were enormous! It was very interesting reading all of the information and watching little video clips about what the planet was like in the age of the dinosaurs.
After that we got to look at all the other exhibits like the Human Body, Aboriginal, Melbourne, Bugs Alive, Science and Marine exhibits and we also saw the rainforest.
One of our favourite things to see at the museum was the famous race horse, Phar Lap. We watched a video about Phar Lap and learnt that he won the Melbourne Cup 80 years ago.
We had a great day exploring the Melbourne Museum! Thanks to our helpers Miss Brasier, Fiona and Leschelle!
Look at us learning and exploring at the Melbourne Museum…
What did you like most about the Melbourne Museum?
Students in 2KJ have been enjoying learning about time for the past two weeks. Knowing how to tell the time is a very important part of life. We need to know what the time is so we know when things are going to happen!
We have focussed on learning about:
* Analogue clocks
* Digital clocks
* O’clock, half past, quarter to and quarter past times
*Some students have also been learning about five minute intervals in time
* What happens at certain times of the day
There are lots of great time activities to play on the interactive whiteboard at school. You can play them on your computers at home by clicking on each image below.
We start school at 9.00am (nine o’clock) and finish school at 3.30pm (half past three).
Leave a comment: What times of the day do you do certain activities?
Today an entertainer called Tony Barber visited Leopold Primary School. He performed a show called Write Ideas. This show was all about using yourimagination!Tony showed us different characters he has made included and how these characters have helped him to write stories. We had lots of fun singing and laughing with Tony!
Everyone in 2KJ really loved today’s science experiment!
Miss Brasier showed us what happens when you mix a Mentos lolly with a bottle of Coke.
The effect was amazing! Check out our video for the explosive results of this experiment…
So now you can see that when you drop a Mentos into a bottle of Coke, it erupts out of the top of the bottle like a fountain!
So, why does this happen?It is a physical change. There are lots of tiny little air pockets (like little holes) on the surface of the mentos. The gas in the Coke ( which is called carbon dioxide) is attracted to the little holes on the Mentos. All of the gas rushes to the Mentos and pushes the Coke out of the bottle.
We had the same result with normal and Diet Coke.
Tip: If you do this experiment at home, you could drill a hole in the top of the lid of the Coke bottle for a bigger eruption. And make sure you do it outside!
This week in Reading Groups students have been using Google Docs on the computers. “Doc” is short for the word “document”. Google Docs is a free service from Google which allows more than one person to collaborate (work together) on the same document. People from all over the world can join in on the same document if they have the link. This is a great way to work with someone who is not in the same room, town or even country!
Miss Jordan helped the students in 2KJ and 2KM to answer some dinosaur questions using Google Docs and an information website about the Cretaceous Period. Students had to read each question and find the answer by looking at the information website. They then typed the answer into the Google Doc. Then everyone can see the answers!
Yesterday the students in the Ungu and Cokelat groups worked on the Google Doc. Click on the image below to see their answers.
Today the Merah Muda and Putih groups worked on the Google Doc. Take a look!
Did both groups get the same answers?
Here is the website the students used to find all of the answers…
Everyone who has used Google Docs this week really enjoyed the experience! Check out the photos below…
During the past two weeks Miss Jordan has been looking for students to begin their own blogs! She was looking for students who are fantastic bloggers and regularly comment on the 2KJ blog.
There have been two students who have shown outstanding committment to our class blog over the whole year and yesterday Miss Jordan helped them begin their own blogs. Congratulations to these two students who now have blogs…
There is a lot to learn about blogging and the girls are working very hard with Miss Jordan to learn everything they can!
Every Monday morning students in 2KJ enjoy writing about their weekend during Journal Writing time. Journal writing is a recount. A recount is when you are describing events that have happened. You need to make sure you include all of the important information so your readers understand what happened.
In 2KJ we often discuss how to be great writers. We agree that good writers always:
* Make sure their writing makes sense.
* Use their very best handwriting.
* Remember to use correct punctuation.
* Use word lists or dictionaries to help spell tricky words.
* Read over their work to fix up any mistakes.
Here are Max and Dylan reading out their Journal Writing from today’s lesson…
What is your favourite thing to do on the weekend?
Last week we thought of some very interesting dinosaur questions and today Jenni came in to work on her day off to answer them for us on Skype. We learnt so much and we are so grateful that Jenni gave us such wonderful answers!
Check out the manuscript Miss Jordan typed while the students spoke with Jenni. If there are technical problems and the document does not appear below, try again later. Tip: you can print it out to read it properly.
Alternatively, click the link below to download the transcript.
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