Happy Birthday, Julius | Morning Message at Assembly | St. Nicholas Day with Noah's Father

Julius' birthday falls on our winter break.  We were lucky enough to celebrate an early birthday with he and his parents!  We hope that you have an outstanding birthday, Julius!

We also had two 2A friends share our Morning Message in Assembly today.  Dominic and Julia talked to the Lower School about "colorful food choices."  Our class ALL raised their hands for eating a fruit or a vegetable during lunch this week, drinking water or milk at every lunch and making good, colorful snack choices after school.  We are encouraging healthy choices at our lunch table with the Spot Light Program which talks about variety and moderation.

We have been lucky enough to have some of our Firework Families share their family traditions with us this year.  Noah's father was in to share about their German Heritage and St. Nicholas Day!  We really enjoyed his visit to our classroom -- and the German chocolate treats that he brought for us!

Making it Snow with PK

Yesterday we met with our Pre-K buddies to create glittery snowflakes that will be displayed in our classroom.  Our Fireworks look forward to meeting with their Pre-K buddies every month.

Snowflakes with Pre-K - slideshow

Native American Culminating Event

The day before we left for Thanksgiving break, we spent the day making "deer hide," creating chants, learning common Native American language and reading and reciting Native American stories.  We finished up the day by eating Native American food (thanks to our parents) and we hiked through the snow to collect items to make our Native American dioramas.

NA Day - slideshow

Below are some of the dioramas from the second grade hallway.  If you have the opportunity, stop by and take a look!

NA Day 2 - slideshow

Thank you to all who volunteered to help make the day such a success!  It is a favorite in the second grade.

Mystery Reader: Grace's Mother

Grace's mother came in and acted as our "Mystery Reader."  Grace was so excited to help her mother read one of her favorite books about an adorable dog name Boo.  Click here to find more information about this book! 

Kids 4 Kids

To our 2A Families: 

You deserve a BIG thank you!  We had an overwhelming amount of help during Kids 4 Kids! Our students LOVED helping out our family, and they had an awesome time wrapping the gifts.  The family will have a wonderful holiday -- and they have all of you to thank for it.  

Read-In

Last month, we had our first Read-In.  

Our second graders enjoyed a day full of reading their favorite books.  We also read as a group and spent a long time reading with friends.  This significantly added to their monthly reading minutes!

Read In 1 - slideshows

Star of the Week: Ria | Happy Birthday, Rocco!

We have been very busy in 2A! 

Before Thanksgiving break, Ria was our fantastic Star of the Week! 

We also celebrated Rocco's birthday with Thanksgiving treats and a reading from his mother!  

We hope you had a happy birthday, Rocco!

PreK Colors with 2A

We had a nice visit with our PreK buddies.  The PreK friends are in the middle of a unit about colors. Our 2A Fireworks helped the PreK fill in words and create pictures to represent the color.

They are hanging in the PreK hallway for all to see!

PK Coloring - slideshows

Halloween Stories

The Fireworks told scary and creative Halloween stories!  We picked out spooky words to make pop in our writing, and we published them during Writer's Workshop!  The stories were told with expression and your child really enjoyed writing the Halloween story.  

Enjoy our FrIghTenInG slideshow!

Halloween Stories - slideshows

Diwali: the Festival of Lights

The Fireworks enjoyed having Ria's mother in to share about Diwali: the Festival of Lights!  We learned why they celebrate, how they celebrate and had the opportunity to taste some of the delicious treats that are made during the celebration.  

Ria's mother sharing about the traditions that come with Diwali.

She had a PowerPoint presentation so we could follow along!

The Fireworks were SO interested in Diwali and all she had to share!

Ria's mother talked about how the traditions all began!
We were impressed with all of the information our class knew about the Festival of Lights!

Thank you so much for sharing with us!

A BIG thank you to Ria and her mother for sharing their traditions with us!  We had so much fun learning with you and we hope that you had a wonderful, family-filled Diwali celebration!

Campfire Stories

Last week our librarians set up an warm campfire and told us creative campfire stories!  We had an fantastic time with our Pre-K buddies thanks to our teachers and parent volunteers.

Campfire - slideshow

It was a great opportunity to bond with our Pre-K friends.  The second graders helped make delicious s'mores.  It was a chilly fall day so we also had hot chocolate.  It made for such a fun morning!  We hope you enjoy our pictures from the campfire!

Happy Birthday, Nick!

We enjoyed celebrating Nick's birthday with his mother on Friday!  She read us a Halloween themed book.

Happy birthday, Nick!

Mystery Reader: Ria's Mother

Ria's mother came in today and surprised us as our Mystery Reader!  She read us a favorite, Don't Be Scared, Piglet and Roo by Barbara Gaines Winkelman.  More information about the book can be found by clicking here.

Star of the Week: Maria

We had an awesome time learning about our third star of the week, Maria!

She read us Baghead by an author who visited earlier this month, Jarrett J. Krosoczka!

Mystery Reader: Julia's Mother

It was an exciting day when our first Mystery Reader came on Monday!  Julia's mother read us Dr. Suess' book, Because a Little Bug Went Ka-Choo.  It was very popular with our second grade class, and you can find more about the book from the link!

Ohio Historical Society Van

We were very excited to have the Ohio Historical Society van visit the second grade classrooms.  We are currently learning about the Native American culture, and we had an opportunity to go to eight hands-on stations.  It included interactive stations such as games, artifacts, homes, food and fur!

Thank you to all our parent volunteers! 

Historical Van - slideshow

Land and Water Features

In Social Studies, we are studying "Map Skills."  We have recently been working on a cumulating project about land and water features.  Our Fireworks created a 3D map using Play-Dough to create themed land formations. 

We are excited to share our finished product with you!

Land and Water Formations - slideshows

Stars of the Week: Molly & Nick

Molly was our first Star of the Week!

Nick was our Star of the Week last week!

The Fireworks loved learning about you, Molly and Nick!

Happy Birthday, Tanner!

For Tanner's birthday, his father was a special visitor and read the Fireworks a book!  We celebrated by eating cookies in the shape of footballs.  Football is Tanner's favorite sport!

We hope you had a great birthday, Tanner!

Morning Greeters at Assembly

Good morning!

"Uno, dos, tres, cuatro...

Come on 2A PARENTS hit the floor.

We are so glad you are here today!

Hurray!  Hurray!  Hurray!"

We had an great time greeting the school during Thursday's Lower School assembly!  Above is our greeting to start the celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month!

Mrs. Mason described our presentation as "AWESOME!"  Mrs. Barren and Mrs. Parker agree!

Enjoy your weekend,

Mrs. Barren and Mrs. Parker

2A Happenings

Mr. Jarrett J. Krosoczka visits Columbus Academy!

A very entertaining author and illustrator, Jarrett J. Krosoczka, visited our school on Wednesday, October 2nd.  We had an awesome time listening to the history of how he became an author and illustrator.

If your child is looking to know more about Mr. Krosoczka, he or she can visit his website at 

www.studiojjk.com

The Columbus Academy Lower School Library also has his books readily available for your child!  A list of his books include (but are not limited to):

Punk Farm
Baghead

Max for President

Good Night, Monkey Boy

Giddy Up, Cowgirl

Lunch Lady Series

We hope that they enjoyed learning about Jarrett J. Krosoczka as much as we did!

--

Your 2A Fireworks may have mentioned that it is Hispanic Heritage Month!  Your child will have the opportunity to participate in Zumba classes at recess during the week to celebrate and then celebrated a lunch with family shares about their heritage and a festive lunch.  They will also be participating in the "Morning Greeting" during assembly tomorrow!  Be sure to ask your child how he or she greeted the school!  All Fireworks had a big part in this activity.

Photos are from Zumba and lunch celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month!

See you soon,

Mrs. Barren & Mrs. Parker

Community Field Trip

On September 20, 2013, the second grade went on a field trip at Columbus Academy.  We met important individuals in the Lower, Middle and Upper schools, and we even met people in special departments such as college counseling and technology!  We reviewed how to properly ask questions to interview each person we met. The second grade also used their note taking skills to help fill in our Community Books.

We had a picnic for lunch with all the second grade classes.  It was a great day.  Here are some fun photos from the day.

Community Field Trip - slideshows

Our Class "Gooney Birds"

We have been reading Lois Lowry's book, Gooney Bird Greene, in class this week.  The book is about an eccentric young girl with a unique sense of style who is quite the elaborate story teller.

Gooney Bird - slideshows

We hope you enjoyed their outfits as much as we did! 

Mrs. Barren and Mrs. Parker

2A and Pre-K Buddies

We had the awesome opportunity to meet out Pre-K buddies last week!  We were able to play on their playground last week, and we introduced the Pre-K students to our playground this week!  It was a very exciting time for our 2A Fireworks!  Be sure to ask them about it.

PreK - slideshow

Happy Birthday, Mikey!

We celebrated our first birthday of the year on Thursday!  Happy birthday, Mikey!

Mikey's mother and sister were special guests in our classroom.  They read our class one of Mikey's favorite books, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett.

We had a great time celebrating with Mikey!

"Me in a Bag"

Our "2A Fireworks" were asked to create "Me in a Bag."  The students were asked to bring in two to three items that were special or represented themselves.  Below you will find a slide show of their "Me in a Bag." 

Me in a Bag - slideshow

We hope you enjoyed learning about our "Fireworks" as much as we did! 

Mystery Reader

Today the Firebolts returned to the classroom from lunch to find a mystery reader at 

the morning meeting carpet!  Jia Jia's brother, Josh, made a special visit to read

 the story, Miss Nelson is Missing, to our class.

Special Friends Day

Thank you to all the special friends of our second graders!  You truly made this day extraordinary with your presence.  Enjoy the photos below...