Scary Song

Scary Songs- 12 Days of Halloween

Have a Great Summer :)

I will miss you all! I look forward to seeing you as 3rd graders in the fall!!!

PBL at SciWorks

We recently visited SciWorks (thanks to CERTL) to "test" our hypothesis from our recent PBL lesson titled, "Time to Ride." The students had to develop a plan for all the students to get an equal amount of time on the racetrack. There were 22 kids and 5 bikes. The students voted on the best plan and that was Shyniya, Lucas, and Bradley's group that decided that there will be 4 rounds of 5 bikers and 1 round of 2 bikers and they will each get 6 minutes, which equaled a total of 30 minutes. They had a blast and the plan worked perfectly!! I am very proud of all my students for working together.

Check out the pictures from our trip :)

"All A Flutter"

Wednesday, May 19th the 2nd graders from Kimmel Farm visited the All A Flutter butterfly farm in High Point, NC. We enjoyed seeing first hand each stage of the Monarch Butterfly's life cycle.

Question for my class. What did you enjoy most about the field trip and what is something new that you learned?

Check out the pictures from our trip :)

Problem Based Learning

Last week our 2nd graders participated in a kaleidoscope of Problem Based Learning focused on different animal lifecycles. The following PBL's were conducted: Creepy, Crawly, Caterpillars (Mrs.Cherry), Stages of Metamorphosis (Mrs. Dezarn) Love Those Ladybugs (Mrs.Ellington), Who’s Making That Noise? (Mrs. Fala), The Duck and the Butterfly (Mrs. Yarbrough). It was a great opportunity for the students to participate in several authentic learning scenarios, as well as for the teachers to practice their skills they received this year through their training with CERTL.

"Problem Based Learning (PBL) is a learning/teaching methodology based on the principle of using problems as a starting point for the acquisition of new knowledge and a learning/teaching methodology designed to create learning through experience and the reinforcement of existing knowledge."

Problem Based Learning Cases from CERTL - The Center of Research, Teaching and Learning. Wake Forest University Health Sciences. 9 Apr. 2009 http://www.certl.org/ .

Question for all 2nd graders at Kimmel Farm. "Did you enjoy the PBL kaleidoscope last week and what did you learn from this experience?"

All Good Things Must Come to an End...

My class has been blessed to receive extra help in the classroom by an amazing group of young women. On top of a demanding academic schedule at Wake Forest and being active members of the Delta Zeta Sorority, these ladies have donated their time every week tutoring in our classroom. The relationships and bonds my students have created with these undergrads have been amazing to watch. My favorite thing about Tuesday morning is watching my students enter the classroom with smiles spread ear to ear eagerly awaiting their afternoon tutorial session. There is no greater gift to me as the teacher than to see my students excited to learn. I want to thank Sarah, Sophie, Jackie, Padgett, Ashton, and Lauren for volunteering their time, patience, and knowledge to our classroom. You all will be dearly missed and good luck with all your future endeavors. Maybe (hopefully) we will see some of you at Kimmel Farm again next year.

I would like my students to add additional comments below about their experience with our Wake Forest Volunteers.

Earth Day- April 22nd

We learned about Earth Day and how it came to be in the United States and why it is important to celebrate. Why do you think we have Earth Day and what do you plan to do to help the Earth?

Glog on the Blog

Throw out your posterboard, crayons, glue, and markers kids-- there's a new way to showcase your work. A glog is a digital poster that you can add links, sounds, animations, and so much more that I have not even learned about yet.

Here is the link to the glog two of our reading groups created last week about the elements of nonfiction.
http://ellingtonkf.edu.glogster.com/nonfiction/

Check out some really cool examples of glogs created by teachers and students at edu.gloster.com!

We will be learning more about glogs this year and you will even be able to create your own after our Science life cycle unit in May.



Here is the link to the glog two of our reading groups created last week about the elements of nonfiction.
http://ellingtonkf.edu.glogster.com/nonfiction/

Holy Cows!!

As I was teaching math Thursday morning, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. I saw about 6 cows come up over the hill into our bus parking lot. It was a sight to be seen and so was the excitment in my students. They were amazed to see cows right outside our classroom window. The cows made their way to the back of the school and luckily ended up in our fenced in playground area. Of course there were frantic teachers (me included) running outside to capture this miraculous moment with digital cameras and flip videos. This was the most exciting teachable moment I have ever witnessed. Needless to say, the rest of the day was all about COWS!! Now we know why our school was named "KIMMEL FARM!!!"

Community Service Project

Dear Students,
Why do you think helping people in our community is important?

Love,
Mrs. Ellington

Kimmel Town

Temperature

After our study of temperature, weather, and thermometers, answer the following question in your own words. "What is temperature"

"Sweet" Field Trip

On Tuesday, February 9th we visited and toured Mrs. Hanes' Cookie Factory. We observed cookies being made and packaged, but best of all we got to try every flavor! Tell me what you learned at the cookie factory and why you enjoyed this trip.

Happy New Year!!

I hope everyone had a restful and enjoyable holiday break. We discussed in class how many people make New Year's Resolutions. Many of my students wanted to created lists and lists of things they'd like to change or try harder to achieve. We then had a conversation about how sometimes it is better to set one or two goals so you don't become overwhelmed and give up altogether. My New Year's Resolution this year is to begin recycling at home. My husband and I already started and it's amazing how little trash we actually have because the bulk of our trash is recyclable. What is your New Year's Resolution for 2010?