Pumpkin Art Project

The first step in our project was to use yellow, red and orange paint to paint the pumpkin shape on orange construction paper.  It was interesting to watch the colours mixing and easy since the sides would be cut off anyway, there was no need to stay within the lines.

The next step (which I forgot to take pictures of) was using black and white paper to create a variety of facial features.  Doubling the paper to make 2 matching pieces was a valuable skill to have here.  Giving the students an opportunity to stop and walk around to view their classmates' projects is helpful to spur on new ideas.

The completed pumpkins were put on the hallway wall right above the Grade 2 lockers.  The dark blue wall with the orange pumpkins is a pleasant colour combination - a fact pointed out to me by an observant student!

Plasticine Boats

With our States of Matter unit coming to an end, the students were given a challenge to design a boat from Plasticine that could float and  hold the most pennies. It took trial and error and determination to be successful!

McKenna's boat held 22 pennies so it was declared the winner of the challenge.  Students used the design process (see posters below) and needed to rethink their design after testing it.  They were thinking like scientists!
 

Liquids Experiment

Today the Grade Twos learned how to use eye droppers and then tested how different liquids move.  There was lots of excitement and trying different variables to drive the drop around the racetrack!
What happens if you use 2 drops?  How about if you hold the racetrack straight down?  What happens if you try to blow the liquid?

Something to Crow About!

 Our Art project this week came from a wonderful website called Deep Space Sparkle.  Projects that involve different media and techniques are important and I like it when the project has a place for individuality like this one did.

 Students started by using the water colour paints to create a background for the crow.  Some really liked the way these paints blended and using special Art paper helped with the look.  The paper stayed fairly flat as it dried quickly while students worked on the next part.

 Templates were given to cut out a body and wings from black paper and then a beak and feet from orange.  Googly eyes gave our crows a real cartoon look.











They turned out great - really something to crow about!

Listen to Reading - Old School Style

Our Listen to Reading station during Daily Five time received a throwback this week!  Grade Twos started using cassette tapes that read along to books!  They were so excited to learn how to use the Walkmans and helped each other with troubleshooting as needed.  

Listening to Reading allows the Grade Twos to follow along and hear fluent reading.  The books are short enough to finish them during a 10-15 minute station and then they need to remember to rewind the cassette for the next student.  

If all else fails and they can't get it to work, listening to a story on the IPads on the Raz Kids  is another choice!