Park Specialists' Newsletter
Second Grade Edition - First Trimester
First Trimester Recap
From Park's Art Instructor - Mrs. Ovadje
What’s happening in Mrs. Ovadje’s art room??
This year in art, the students are learning about different kinds of art from “Around the World”. We have created:
Passports
Indian Elephants
Sugar Skulls for Dia de los Muertos
Spider Webs
Primary Pumpkins by mixing 2 primary colors together, and
Buffalo Hide Paintings for Native American Heritage Month
Coming up next…. CLAY! Stay tuned for more information…
Photo: Color mixing and painting our “buffalo hide” stories for Native American Heritage Month.
From Park's Librarian - Mrs. Hanneman
New this Year
Our Library/Tech Time rotations are a little different this year. Instead of rotating each color cycle, we will be staying with the same schedule for a unit and then switching. For example, two red days of TechTime and then two red days of Library. Or, six blue days of Library followed by six blue days of TechTime. As such, not all second grade students have been in Library instruction for some of these units at the time of this publication. Yet by the end of December, all students will have participated in these lessons.
Book Read-Alouds
One of our favorite activities this trimester was reading some great books: Biblioburro, Wild about Books; Daredevil: The Daring Life of Betty Skelton; Blackout, Rabbit’s Snow Dance, and Thank You Sarah, the Woman who saved Thanksgiving.
Learning in the Library:
Second grade began the year by learning about netiquette and other digital citizenship skills, courtesy of NetzSmartz. This site is created for kids and helps them navigate the often daunting world of the Internet. Students got to hear from Clicky about and being web smart! Curious to know more? Click here!
In addition, we found the new online library catalog Destiny Quest very exciting as students can see what books the library has in its collection, and has the ability To access Destiny Quest, visit destiny.Isd423.org/. Select Park Elementary. Login. Username: first and last name (no space)0. Password: TigersXXXX (X=lunch number)
Thank you for encouraging the children you know and love to read -- it's an important lifelong skill!
Check out Park’s FREE e-books. Works on any internet connected device: http://www.tbcjr.com/ (longer books for advanced readers) Username: park423. Password: login
http://www.tumblebooks.com/library/ (Grades K-3rd grade)
Students can listen to books while following along with the text at a variety of levels.
Check it out!
You’re invited to the Park Elementary Book Fair!
When: During Winter Conferences—2/13 and 2/14. Times TBD
Where: Park Elementary Foyer
From Park's Technology Integration Instructor - Mr. Durheim
The TechTime/Library rotation has changed a little for the 2019-2020 school year. Instead of rotating between the two classes every color rotation, classes will visit the same class for 5 or 6 color cycles and then rotate for an equivalent number of cycles. That means some classes have met many times and some have only met a few times so far. Please visit the NEW TechTime website to learn more about specific activities, websites, and learning goals. The site is continually updated as we progress through units
UP NEXT: During the next rotation, students will continue learning about coding and participate in the Hour of Code with students around the world.
Keep up with what’s happening at Park by viewing our multimedia Daily Announcements. During the third trimester, second graders will have the opportunity to create our Daily Announcements. All of the videos are available on Park’s website.
Keyboarding
We are in our third year of keyboarding as a part of the specialist rotation schedule. The program is self-paced and students progress at their own speed. Classes meet for 30 minutes every four school days.
We are continuing to use a program called Typing Quest. This program teaches students to type on a computer keyboard and builds their skills so they can more efficiently use a computer. Students began with TypeTastic! games which help students to learn where keys are located on the keyboard and also develop fine-motor mousing skills. Next, students move on to Keyboarding Kickstart, Typing Quest Jr., or Typing Quest.
Some Typing Quest lessons and games are available free to home users at typingquest.com/personal. Many other typing games are available online for extra practice outside of school. You may find several on the Park Elementary “For Students” webpage. DanceMatTyping is a favorite of many students.
From Park's Phy Ed Educators - Mrs. Hahn & Mrs. Juergensen
Mrs. Hahn and Mrs. Juergensen are having a great start to the school year. New to Park, but not new to our district is Mrs. Juergensen. She taught 7 years at West Elementary before moving to Park this year.
A typical day in the Physical Education class begins with a fitness warm-up activity. These activities vary from cardiovascular, muscular strength/endurance, and/or flexibility. The purpose of these activities is to increase the students’ awareness and level of fitness. After the warm-up, students have a lesson that focuses on the skills that will help them to be successful in the games in a unit. The students will then participate in an age – appropriate game using the skill(s) practiced in that lesson.
Units covered first trimester:
*Soccer skills
*Football skills
*Fitness tests
*Table Ball and Gaga Ball
*Volleyball
*Bowling
With the coming of snow and the need for boots, please help your child to remember to bring his/her tennis shoes on phy-ed days.
A big thank you for all your help in making “Help Forky Slam Dunk the Junk” activity a big success! It was great to see how much trash students picked up at Park Elementary and in our community. Thank you to all that sent in pictures as well. The bulletin board is looking awesome!
Tips for Raising Heart-Healthy, Active Children:
The American Heart Association recommends kids 6-17 years old should get at least 60 minutes per day of moderate- to vigorous- intensity of physical activity a day.
Go to the grocery store together. Learn more about reading nutrition labels and make it fun for your child. Staples in your kitchen should be 100 percent whole wheat or grains, low-fat dairy products, poultry, fish and nuts.
When your child gets home from school, give him healthy snack options such as whole grain crackers and string cheese, hummus dip and vegetables, Greek yogurt with apple slices, nuts and dried fruit.
From Park's Music Teachers - Mrs. Hoeft & Ms. Newton
Second grade is a time to have fun with music as we work toward the
development of our music skills. We continue to explore the use of the
singing voice and are working to increase our ability to control it.
Movement, instruments, and games are incorporated into our songs on a
regular basis.
We are learning to read music notation using Solfege syllables (Do,
Re, and Mi), which students were introduced to in first grade. Students hear
and echo the pattern first, accompanied by hand signs for each pitch. We
have also begun to learn how to read patterns and songs on the music staff.
Additionally, we are working on rhythmic activities designed to strengthen
the ability to feel and respond to the steady beat and different meters. We
have reviewed songs, rhymes, and rhythm patterns using quarter notes
(“ta”), eighth notes (“ti-ti”), and quarter rest (“silence”) which students were
introduced to in first grade. Students have been working hard on their aural
skills and rhythmic dictation skills; being able to hear a 4 beat pattern and
then say it back or write it down using the correct notation.
One of our dances this trimester was a folk dance from Sweden titled
Fjaskern (Hurry, Scurry). It focused on large motor skills, moving to the
beat, and responding to changing tempos. It was a lot of fun! We found
Sweden on the map and wondered if children there were dancing the same
dance.
We have a full set of Orff instruments, including xylophones,
metallophones, and glockenspiels in each room, allowing every child to
participate on an individual instrument as we play songs together as a group.
We have reviewed mallet skills, steps, leaps, repeats, and direction in
melodies as we have played on these instruments. Little Puppy, Little Kitty,
and the storybook Mortimer are favorites to play on these instruments.
Songs we have sung this trimester include: Apples and Bananas, Bow
Wow Wow, Aikendrum, Little Puppy, Little Kitty, The Acorn Song, Autumn
Leaves, Stirring the Brew, Frog in the Meadow, Five Little Pumpkins, Closet
Key, Hot Cross Buns, and Jump Frog Jump. (see the picture of Mrs.
Neubarth’s class singing Aikendrum and playing on their “ladles.”)
From Park's STEM Specialist - Mrs. McDowell
Throughout all of the STEM projects students are continually following the Engineering Design Process to ask questions, plan, create, make observations and improve their designs along the way. Check out what your child/student has been up to these last couple of months in STEM!
Catapults! 2nd Grade STEM students finished their 1st official STEM project in early October! This project encouraged them to design and build a catapult that could launch a piece of candy corn at a target that stood 10 feet away. In order to better understand how catapults work, 2nd graders were engaged in a series of self-discovery lessons where they learned more about levers, fulcrums, force, and motion. Students then followed the Engineering Design Process to ask questions, plan, create, make observations and improve their catapults along the way.
Airplanes! Following their catapult project, 2nd graders worked on another project that involved force and motion. They created paper airplanes that could hold a set amount of cargo (aka washers.) We had groups that built airplanes that could hold as many as 10 small washers and still be flown in a straight line over a distance of 9+ feet! In order to get a better understanding of how paper airplanes work, students tested several paper airplane designs and discussed why certain ones flew better than others and what the best design would be for their project. We also discussed different forces (gravity, lift, drag and thrust) and their role in getting the airplane to fly properly. We ended this project with a Final Flight day in which students got to showcase their paper airplanes to their class, and discuss the differences of each and why some planes worked better than others.
Friction Ramps! Most recently, they have started another unit involving force, but this time of a different kind; friction. So far, students have discovered and discussed what friction is and how it plays such a vital role in our lives; without it we wouldn’t even be able to walk, bike or drive anywhere. They have been challenged to create a ramp that can slow down the speed of a washer, which is opposite of how most students are used to thinking…typically challenges are looking for the fastest speeds/times. Using a tissue box for support and a cardboard piece for the ramp; students will be taping, poking holes, crunching and folding several items to create friction and slow down the speed of their washer as they send it down.
Park Elementary School
Email: dan.olberg@isd423.org
Website: isd423.org/park-elementary/
Location: 100 Glen Street Southwest, Hutchinson, MN, United States
Phone: (320) 587-2837
Twitter: @parkelem