Mrs. Gonter's 2nd Grade: August 2013

Nutrition Lesson with Mrs. Paye

We had the honor to have Mrs. Paye visit our classroom to teach a lesson on nutrition. I wanted the students to really understand why it is they are only allowed to bring in healthy snacks.

Mrs. Paye is my mom, and also the special person who has greatly contributed her time and funding to our classroom! Because of her we have a listening center (tape & CD) with 4 headphones, books with CDs, our bathroom passes, bulletin board displays, borders, our rug, and tons of classroom resources and supplies. The kids were so excited to meet the person who has given so much to our class! Thank you!

Mammal Blubber

In Science we are learning about the different animal groups. On this day we talked about how polar bears are mammals and what makes them a mammal. We were curious as to how they stayed warm in the freezing water and temperatures. It turns out that polar bears have layers of fat, or "blubber" under their fur.

So we got to see what it would feel like in the Artic without blubber, and with blubber. We stuck our hand in the ice water...AKA the Artic. I asked them how it felt. "Freezing!!!!" "So cold!!" "Ahhh!" were some of the many responses.

Then it was our turn to be the polar bear! We stuck our hand in the "blubber glove," and then into the ice cold water. "Ahh much better!" "Ooh this is warm!" I like this!" the kids said. Our final decision...well besides one or two students...was that we would prefer to be a polar bear and to stay warm if we were in the Artic.

Citizenship Chain

In Social Studies we learned about what it means to be a good citizen and the things we can do to help our community.

*This is part of our Citizenship Chain. We hung it in our classroom as a constant reminder. :)

Let's Get to Know Each Other Activity

In order to break the ice and get to know each other, the students went around the room and had to find people who had "blue eyes," "went out of the state this summer," etc. They then had to sign in that box. When all the boxes were filled in, then they were done and got a prize. It was fun to see them socialize...and be shy... for the first hour. :)