The Luckiest Dog In The World!

By Cate S.

Once upon time, there was a dog who lived in a pound. The dog’s name was Audrey. But, even though she lived in a pound she had a good life. One day she escaped from the pound. She decided she didn’t like the food. Years past and now Audrey was 12 years old and she found a home that was nice and cozy with someone she trusted. Then one day Audrey figured out the mom was really the girl that kept her in the pound! Audrey was glad that she was with her mom. She was glad she had a family.

Second Grade Fun

By Leyla S.

Each second grade class does different things and learns by different methods. Ms. Sherrill class gets to show off their best work outside the classroom door, literally! They have a bulletin board just outside their door. The topic currently is “America’s Next Top Student”. Each student has their own slip of paper that says, “My name is,” their name, “and I am America’s Next Top Student.” Under these nameplates they have the best work that they have done as homework or in class. Some of these things are: outstanding papers, neat cursive writing, great math, Open Court tests, or perfect vocabulary papers.

Mrs. Merz’s class made Mother’s day pictures. They ripped pieces of paper and glued them down on another piece of paper. They were not allowed to use scissors. Some people made colorful flowers or hearts. The ripped paper gave the pictures nice texture. (See photo for example.)

Ms. Johnson’s class made “Celebrate Earth” pictures. They were beautiful drawings of the earth. Some kids made pictures of the mountains, sunsets, rainbows, and the woods. Everybody’s drawing turned out great and looked awesome.

Students in Ms. Holt’s classroom made flowers from construction paper. The center was a drawing of their face, the petals were cut out hand prints and the leaves were also hand prints. The flowers were all unique.

Keep up the great work second grade!

Second Grade Trip and Research

By Leyla S.

On Thursday, April 15 the second graders went on a field trip to the Field Museum. They saw a number of exhibits while there. Some of them included the mummies, gemstones, Evolving Planet, the T-Rex, Sue, meteorites, and mammoths. Hila, in 2H, said that she learned that amber collects many creatures other than bugs. She also learned that dinosaurs have very sharp teeth and are meat eaters. Suleyman said his favorite part was the gemstones because they were pretty and came in many sizes, shapes, and colors. His favorite gem was the Beryl gemstone and it was aquamarine.

Some second grade classes have also been doing dinosaur research in the library. Before they started their individual research the class did group research on a T-Rex. Kennedy said she learned that when a T-Rex’s eggs fell over, it put them standing back up. [An egg was an oval shape and it sat on the bigger, bottom part.] Desean thought that a T-Rex propped its eggs back up because it had really short arms and it wouldn’t be able to stand up if it was not already on its two feet. Madison told FYI that she learned the T-Rex’s teeth never stopped growing back when they fell out. After the class research the second graders started their own research on other dinosaurs. Jalen in 2M says he is learning about the iguanodon and what it eats. Aarushi is researching the brachiosaurus. She learned that it eats pine trees and other plants and lived in present day Colorado. The second graders had lots of fun on their field trip and are working hard on their research.

The Apollo Theater

By Alex RM

On Thursday, the fourth of March, the second grade went on a trip to the Apollo Theater. They saw “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs.” They said that it was very fun. Some of them thought the costumes were funny, cool, and interesting. They thought the actors were great because they were really good at doing their part. Meenah in Mrs. Merz’s class said that her favorite part was the part with little red riding hood because it was really funny. The reason they saw the play was they were reading fairytales in class. The second graders had a great time. We hope the next second grade will do something as fun as that.

Mrs. Merz's class guest reader, Mr. Jim Madigan, Director of the Oak Park Public Library.

Camouflage

By Leyla S.

The second grade is working on the unit of camouflage. They are reading books on animals that use camouflage in their lives.

In the library, with Ms. Linss, they are working on flipbooks about the animals they researched. The flipbooks are filled with great information about an animal that uses camouflage. They started by making a sloppy copy. These are their rough drafts that they wrote with the notes they took. The subtopics for the flipbooks were: habitat, diet, description, and camouflage. They are working really hard! The kids not only are learning about animals, but they are learning the basic skills of research. One of the things they learned to do is to use Source Cards. Source Cards are used to give credit to the author whose information was used in their paper. Then, Ms. Shearrill, Mrs. Holt, Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Merz or Ms. Linss looked over the sloppy copies for mistakes. The final flipbooks looked great!

Most kids are done and their teachers either let them take them home or put them up around the classroom.

La Flautista

By Leyla, Alex, Jamillah, and Grant

On Thursday, December 11, the second graders performed with the third graders. They sounded beautiful and the instruments were great. The music told a story of a flute that would not play. Each class did a separate song to help tell the story. Mrs. Holt’s class did a “Dormir Ricura,” Mrs. Johnson’s class did “Los Pescaditos,” Mrs. Merz’s second grade did, “Las Hojitas,” and Ms. Shearrill’s class did, “Cielito Lindo.” The story was told in both Spanish and English. Thanks to Senora Poleski and Srta. Hutchinson, the Spanish teachers, the kids were able to pronounce the words properly. So… Great job second grade!!