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Farewell Second Grade

Congratulations to our second graders on finishing the school year! It was a bittersweet last few weeks of school and we soaked up our joyful time together before summer break. The students reflected on their growth academically, socially and emotionally since the school year started. It’s hard to believe that that was ten months ago! As cliche as it sounds, time does fly when you are having fun.

 

The kids spent thoughtful time looking back at work and sharing how they have changed as readers, writers, scientists, mathematicians, artists – the list goes on and on! They revisited their hopes and dreams from the first week of school. Many of them were surprised to see how much progress they made since September, especially in writing as they reread their dated written pieces. Here are some of the comments they shared after comparing work from then until now:

 

I noticed that I put capitals in the wrong place but now I know where they go.

 

At the beginning of the year I didn’t know how to show as much detail in my writing but now I’ve gotten a lot better.

 

I remember how hard writing was for me and now it’s so much easier!

 

Wow, I am writing so much more than I did.

 

My periods were humongous!

 

I noticed in the beginning of the year I used almost no punctuation and now there is punctuation everywhere like periods and commas and even exclamation points.

 

Some words I can’t read from the beginning of the year because of spelling mistakes. I know how to spell those words now though.

 

Woah – the words were so close and right next to each other so it is hard to read.

 

 I noticed that some of my words did not have vowels in the middle and that made it hard to read.

 

Second graders have finished their musical year learning a bit about jazz ensembles, learning Louis Prima’s song “Sing, Sing, Sing” and playing with scat singing. For their final day of music, they chose to offer each other performances, play some xylophone and revisit a jazzy New Orlean’s street performance, as well as some of Benjamin Britten’s The Young Person’s guide to the orchestra. Have a wonderful, musical summer everyone!

 

We are so proud of our second graders all the way around. Have a fabulous summer break wherever your travels take you. Don’t forget to stay in touch!

STEAM with Sammi

I can’t believe it is the end of the school year! I have had the best time getting the know the 2nd graders this year as their STEAM teacher. This was a new class for Senesh and I could not imagine a better group to start this class with. Your students are creative, passionate, curious, and driven. They consistently stepped up to the plate as engineers and artists. 

 

We finished up the year last week by making super-strong bubbles and experimented with different designs of pipe-cleaner bubble wands. I promised I would share the bubble recipe with you all so you could make these are home, so here you are:

  • 6 cups of water

  • 1 cup of light corn syrup

  • 2 cups of Joy dishwashing liquid (1⅓ cups if it is Joy Ultra)

As I told the students, these bubbles get even stronger if they sit around for a day or two. You can also experiment with different amounts of dish-soap and with adding a little granulated sugar to your bubble mixture! 

 

I hope you all have an amazing summer filled with lots of outdoor and family time. If you are ever in need of a family activity, building something is always a good idea! You don’t need any fancy materials to get creative and be an engineer.

 

I can’t wait to see everyone back here in September when I get the honor of teaching them three times a week for science and technology classes.

 

With Love,

Sammi