2010-2011

Welcome to the school year 2010-2011! Our second graders last year are now third graders. Wow!

McKenzie second grade and Mrs. Walker have new blogs for 2010-2011. We would love for you to check them out and leave comments.

2nd Grade Rocks!

Mrs. Walker Wonders

SPECIAL GUEST

This week we had a SPECIAL GUEST visit our second grade classes. My daughter, Sarah, is a Texas Longhorn. She got to go to Ghana, Africa last year and India this year. She spoke to our second graders about the two countries.

Read our Second Grade Adventures to find out about her visit. Here are some pictures.

Patiently waiting...

"Hi."

"Hello."

Sarah showed us pictures and the flag from Ghana.

We saw her airplane tickets.

The Taj Mahal is made of marble.

It sparkles in the sunlight.

Sarah showed us her passport with the stamps from India and Ghana.

We found both countries on the globe.

She brought some clothes.

We modeled a skirt from Ghana.

We also modeled how women in India

wear a scarf on their head.

Sarah looked really silly in her heavy Indian coat.

Bye, Sarah. Thank you and come back again.

DIAMANTE

A DIAMANTE poem is a poem in the shape of a ♢. DIAMANTE poems not have to rhyme, but each line has a specific type of word like adjectives and -ing verbs about the topic.

Here is a DIAMANTE example:

Flowers

by Mrs. Walker

Rose,

Bright, Fragrant,

Growing, Sticking, Living,

They are found in my backyard-

Living, Covering, Growing,

Small, Shady,

Begonia

Visit this website to learn more about DIAMANTE poems.

Read some of our DIAMANTE poems here.

Happy Mother's Day!!

To all mothers and grandmothers... Happy Mother's Day!

Mothers hold their children's hands for a short while, but their hearts forever. ~Author Unknown

AIR is the Word of the Week

In science we are learning about air pressure. Students connected two syringes with a plastic tube. The air inside was trapped. As the students pushed the plunger on the syringe the air was moved. We learned that air pressure is when air is pressed or squeezed. Sometimes the air pressure was so strong the plunger flew out one end making a loud popping noise. Some students “wrestled” with the syringes, trying to push the plunger out while their partner tried to push the other plunger in.

Here are some samples of what students wrote in their science journals:

Nadia:
You have to take the plunger out and let air go in the other syringe and pop the air out. You can wrestle with it.

Raeanna:
When you are air wrestling you have to get a lot of air in the syringe and you need to have someone wrestling you.

Jarod:
It is hard when two people are pushing the plunger. It is hard to push the end. It pops. The pressure builds up fast.

Belen:
When I am air wrestling I have to get a lot of air in the syringe. I have to put a lot of air if I want to pop the tube off the syringe.

Brendan:
You can’t push the other side in when you air wrestle because of air pressure.

Victor:
When I put pressure it pops out. The air is inside the syringe.

Sebastian:
If you push both sides it will be hard because the air is pushing.

Ivan:
I push one end. I found out that if you have enough air you can pop the other end.

Jadian:
When we both pushed the plunger it was hard. When I pushed the plunger it came out and air came out and in.

Lexani:
I pushed the gray thing and the other one popped. We got to wrestle with the things too. It had a lot of air in it. It did not have anywhere else to go so it popped out.

Joseph:
I know that air can fight. First you try to push air into two tubes at the same time. The air will just get stronger and stronger. But if you let go of the end of the tube it will pop.

Sara:
If I push too much air into a syringe it will pop out. If I have two syringes I find a partner and see who is stronger.

Angie:
When you try to push in the plunger pops! The pressure pushes the plunger out.

Rina:
When the air pushes down the syringe it pops.