CHANGE 4 CRANES
Please make sure you child returns his/her Change 4 Cranes by Friday. You can send it in earlier if your child is finished fundraising. Keep emaiing Ms. Harrison any photos you may have taken. We love seeing the creativity and enthusiasm your children have put into this project and we hope to share some photos with Operation Migration. We are going to begin sorting and counting all the coins and paper bills starting next Monday. Ms. Harrison will take the total to the bank over Winter Break and have a money order made out to Operation Migration. Then we'll compare the official total to our estimate. Thanks for supporting this wonderful project!
WHOOPING CRANES
It was an exciting week for the cranes. On Thursday morning, we were able to watch them flying live on the Flight Cam as the children arrived.. The cranes flew for 2 hours and 22 minutes and were able to skip a stopover site. They are now in Tennessee waiting for the winds to die down so they can fly again. The crane have flown a total of 574 miles with 711 to go before they reach their winter home in Florida.
FLY AWAY HOME
Each year as we wrap up our whooping crane study, we like to watch the movie Fly Away Home. Our plan is to watch it over the next two weeks in small increments. This movie is roughly inspired by the life of Bill Lishman, a co-founder of Operation Migration. As the Operation Migration website describes,
Please make sure you child returns his/her Change 4 Cranes by Friday. You can send it in earlier if your child is finished fundraising. Keep emaiing Ms. Harrison any photos you may have taken. We love seeing the creativity and enthusiasm your children have put into this project and we hope to share some photos with Operation Migration. We are going to begin sorting and counting all the coins and paper bills starting next Monday. Ms. Harrison will take the total to the bank over Winter Break and have a money order made out to Operation Migration. Then we'll compare the official total to our estimate. Thanks for supporting this wonderful project!
WHOOPING CRANES
It was an exciting week for the cranes. On Thursday morning, we were able to watch them flying live on the Flight Cam as the children arrived.. The cranes flew for 2 hours and 22 minutes and were able to skip a stopover site. They are now in Tennessee waiting for the winds to die down so they can fly again. The crane have flown a total of 574 miles with 711 to go before they reach their winter home in Florida.
FLY AWAY HOME
Each year as we wrap up our whooping crane study, we like to watch the movie Fly Away Home. Our plan is to watch it over the next two weeks in small increments. This movie is roughly inspired by the life of Bill Lishman, a co-founder of Operation Migration. As the Operation Migration website describes,
In 1993 Bill Lishman asked Joe Duff to join him in an attempt to conduct the first ever human-led migration of birds. At the time, Duff was a fellow ultralight pilot and a successful commercial photographer. The two artists-turned-biologists imprinted 18 Canada geese and, in the fall, they used two ultralights to lead them from Purple Hill in Ontario, across Lake Ontario, to the Environment Studies Division of Airlie Center in Warrenton, Virginia. Sixteen of those birds survived the winter and thirteen returned on their own the following spring.
In 1994, Bill and Joe founded Operation Migration. You can read more about their story and the making of Fly Away Home here. Fly Away Home makes such a meaningful connection to our study of the migrating and endangered whooping cranes. We will skip over some sensitive parts (such as a car crash at the beginning of the movie that claims the life of the main character's mother). There are also a couple of mild curse words. Otherwise, it is a lovely family film.You can read a review geared towards parents at Common Sense Media:
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/fly-away-home. Please let me us know as soon as possible if you would prefer that your child not watch this movie. Thank you,
NUTCRACKER BALLET ON FRIDAY
We will be attending the Hyde Park School of Dance's performance of The Nutcracker on Friday, December 11th. The show will run approximately one hour. Parent chaperones include Amy Runjavac-Duda, Jessica Droste Yagan, and Becky Danahey. As of right now, we are scheduled to take a school bus to and from the performance. Second grade teachers are looking into walking if the weather is favorable. We will let you know. For now, chaperones should plan on arriving at the classroom around 9:00-9:15. Thanks.
ELEMENTS PROJECT
Tomorrow after school teachers will meet to hang classroom projects that focus on the four elements: air, earth, water and fire. This is a community project that brings some warmth and color to the Lobby while showcasing student work. Our class created a mobile to represent each of the four elements. We learned that the ancient Greeks believed that everything was made up of the four elements. During our discussion, the children came up with a list of words to describe each element. We considered our five senses and the forms that each elements might take (i.e. flame, spark, rain, snow, wind, clouds, soil, trees, flowers, etc.). Each child chose two elements to paint using watercolors. The Lobby display will be up until March 1st. Stop by to take a look!
MATH
In math, we have been working on solving word problems using bar modeling. Bar models offer a visual way to organize information and it's a problem-solving method that children will use next year and beyond. To help children learn this method in a fun, engaging way, they have been playing a game called Thinking Blocks Jr. and Thinking Blocks on the computer. Thinking Blocks Jr. is also available an an iPad app. Below is a very helpful video explaining bar modeling.
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/fly-away-home. Please let me us know as soon as possible if you would prefer that your child not watch this movie. Thank you,
NUTCRACKER BALLET ON FRIDAY
We will be attending the Hyde Park School of Dance's performance of The Nutcracker on Friday, December 11th. The show will run approximately one hour. Parent chaperones include Amy Runjavac-Duda, Jessica Droste Yagan, and Becky Danahey. As of right now, we are scheduled to take a school bus to and from the performance. Second grade teachers are looking into walking if the weather is favorable. We will let you know. For now, chaperones should plan on arriving at the classroom around 9:00-9:15. Thanks.
ELEMENTS PROJECT
Tomorrow after school teachers will meet to hang classroom projects that focus on the four elements: air, earth, water and fire. This is a community project that brings some warmth and color to the Lobby while showcasing student work. Our class created a mobile to represent each of the four elements. We learned that the ancient Greeks believed that everything was made up of the four elements. During our discussion, the children came up with a list of words to describe each element. We considered our five senses and the forms that each elements might take (i.e. flame, spark, rain, snow, wind, clouds, soil, trees, flowers, etc.). Each child chose two elements to paint using watercolors. The Lobby display will be up until March 1st. Stop by to take a look!
MATH
In math, we have been working on solving word problems using bar modeling. Bar models offer a visual way to organize information and it's a problem-solving method that children will use next year and beyond. To help children learn this method in a fun, engaging way, they have been playing a game called Thinking Blocks Jr. and Thinking Blocks on the computer. Thinking Blocks Jr. is also available an an iPad app. Below is a very helpful video explaining bar modeling.
Another wonderful resource for math games was created by mathematician, parent and author Greg Tang. We have been playing his games Math Limbo and Ten frame Mania on the iPad. Later we will introduce some of his puzzles and other activities. Feel free to explore his site with your favorite second grader.
Have a great week. Don't forget to response to your child's Family Message Journals and return it to school.
Have a great week. Don't forget to response to your child's Family Message Journals and return it to school.