Phases of the Moon Posters

After observing the night sky last week, my students were so excited to share what they learned!  I decided to make this set of "Phases of the Moon" posters to encourage my students to use the correct vocabulary when describing the night sky.  I plan on posting these in my room and also copying them 4 to a page for students to keep in their science notebooks.  Get this freebie here! 

Night Sky

As we finished up our unit on weather last week, part of my students' homework was to observe the night sky.  I typed up a quick parent letter and a recording sheet for students to record the date and time, the temperature, a picture of the moon and space for them to write observations.  Each morning, students were SO excited to share what they saw in the night sky!  We read several nonfiction books about the moon and constellations and those little second graders ate up every bit of it!  Some parents even found apps on their smart phones that point out constellations.  On Friday I told them they wouldn't have to look at the moon for homework anymore, but that they should keep watching how the moon changes.  I couldn't believe my ears when I heard several students saying, "Aww, Ms. Lemmon, can't you put more sheets in my homework folder?  I love looking at the night sky!"  I was such a proud teacher of my inquisitive learners!  

Get your copy of the Night Sky Observation Set here!  The set includes a parent letter, a one-page recording sheet and a printable booklet for students.  I'll be making copies of the booklet on Monday to send home with my students!

Art Museum Field Trip

Today my class took a field trip to the Art Museum!  Last week we spent the last 10 minutes of our literacy block to practice viewing and discussing art.  This was a great way to incorporate our Speaking and Listening goals while preparing for our trip!  I used several "Multiple Intelligence" viewing strategies from a colleague of mine, as well as the sentence starters "I see..." "I think..." and "I wonder..."

While at the museum students participated in several activities based on our first quarter unit on weather.  I was SO impressed with the students' discussion and how they incorporated what we have learned about weather into their conversation!  Students really enjoyed sketching their favorite weather painting while at the museum.  I'll keep these to share with parents during our Student-Led Conferences in November.  

When we got back to school, we viewed a few more pieces of art and discussed how the artist used colors to show the weather.  Students created their own weather painting and chose colors to match the weather.  This was a wonderful trip and a great way to increase my students' visual literacy while integrating science standards.

Candy Corn Fact Families

Last week my second graders were learning how addition relates to subtraction.  I cut out candy corn templates and wrote 2 addends and a sum on each section.  The students quickly discovered the 4 equations you can write from this "fact family."  By repeating this activity, students really started to understand the commutative property of addition and how to subtract the addends from the sum.  Get your free Candy Corn Fact Families recording sheet here.  Enjoy!