Hummingbird

This little guy has been coming to my feeder every day, even in the snow.

Sledding

What a vacation it has been. The snow is finally melting and life is getting back to normal. It was fun while it lasted!

Real Snow Today!

I hope you are enjoying the snow!

Snow!

Today we arrive to find bitter cold temps in the 20s and two inches of snow!

Snowflake Bentley

We learned about Snowflake Bentley, a scientist who spent his life studying snowflakes.

Dominic

Our read aloud is Dominic, by William Steig. After defeating the Doomsday Gang, Dominic moves on with his treasure.

Snowflakes!

Today we learned to make paper snowflakes.

Willy Wonka Is Mad!

Egads...we've lost Augustus Gloop down the Chocolate River. Violet Beauregarde has blown up like a giant blueberry. Now Veruca Salt's entire family has been attacked by 100 squirrels and sent to the furnace! What next?

Anansi the Spider

We learned about Anansi, the trickster spider of West African folklore. We read two Anansi stories. The first, Anansi the Spider, told of Anansi and his six children. The second, Anansi and the Talking Melon, showed Anansi as the trickster that he is, fooling many animals by making a melon 'talk'.

Read-in!

Here is a letter typed by five members of our class about Friday's upcoming read-in. SA, our fastest word processor, typed this herself.

Dear parents,

On 11-21-08 we are having a read-in at school. Your child needs to bring lots of books! We are going to read all morning.

OPTIONAL
• sleeping bag or a blanket
• snacks
• pillows
• stuffed animals

Friday Highlights

"Today is popcorn day!" CX
"There was a dog who owned a person." JS
"I'm getting close to doing an ollie on my skateboard." MO
"I went to the Fall Festival at my sister's school." SA
"On Tuesday I had a sleepover." AC
"Today I bought Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules at the book fair." AB
"On Saturday I went to see Madagascar 2." PP
"Yesterday my cousins came over." OR
"Tomorrow is Saturday! Yay!" TR
"I'm going to have a sleepover." PN
"I saw Willy Wonka." MC
"I know a cat called Cookie." EV
"I'm going to a sleepover birhday party at my friend's house tomorrow." AE
"I got two Bakugan this week." JA
"I got new ski equipment." HG
"I went to beautiful West Seattle last weekend." BC
"The book fair ended today." NA
"My dog and I played dog." AM
"We are learning about science and math in class." ME
"Today I am going to have a play date." AR

Today we got to meet AB's 'babushka'! She's in town from Texas.

Paper Football

On Thursday at school Mr. Coulter showed us how to make a paper football. First Mr. Coulter called on MO (that is me) to come up and play a little round. Here is how you play. First you have to make a paper football. Next, you are ready to go. Last you have to do rock, paper, scissors to decide who gets the football first. Then you are ready to go! You have to slide the paper football over to the other person. If it goes over the edge then it is a kick-off. You can put the paper football any way. The other person does this (drawing of a goalpost) and then the person kicks it. That is all you need to know about paper football.

Writing Prompts

Today we wrote about things we've learned to do. Topics included learning how to ski, how to train a dog, how to use Microsoft Word, and how to ride a bike. CB started with a great opening sentence:

"One day my dad decided it was time for me to get off training wheels."

Chess

In chess today we learned how the knight moves and played a game using knights and pawns.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Today we started a new read aloud, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roald Dahl. According to student 'ME', "It's a classic."

A Book!

By CX

One day I bought a new book. The book tells about a fox finding some things to eat. He found a rabbit, a chick, a bird, and an eagle. The book is so good. Maybe you can read it.

My New Shoes

By AM

On I think Sunday I got new shoes. They have things that look like teeth on their tips. They have red shoelaces. They are Nikes. They have a red Nike swoosh. I think my shoes are cool.

Oil Slick!

A Metro bus leaked oil in front of Lakeview this afternoon causing buses to be re-routed and the streets to be sanded!

Election Results

Our class voted today on several issues using our home-made ballot box. Dogs won a resounding victory over cats. Carrots beat broccoli in a close race. Surprisingly, apples won in a landslide over bananas.

Barack Obama defeated John McCain 16 to 7 in our class election.

The Zoo, by HG

I went to the zoo on Sunday with my sister and my dad. I saw a jaguar. He was sad. I could tell because his face looked sad. Every time I go to the zoo he is in the same place. Even though he was sad he was so pretty.

Half Magic

We read the final chapter in the 1954 classic Half Magic, by Edward Eager. It was an excellent book. We're going to miss Jane, Mark, Katharine and Martha...Carrie the cat too.

Election Day Fever

We elected three class ballot counters today. Tomorrow they will be the official vote-counters in our class election.

Janet Wong

Janet Wong Came to Our School!
By Mr. Coulter’s Class

Janet Wong came to our school today to talk about her books. First we went to the gym. She told us that when we write it’s best sometimes to write first and add pictures at the end. Her books were so cool. She called people up to perform a short poem about noodles. She said it was her most popular poem. She had a bag full of cool things. Inside were things that reminded her of her poems, including a potato, a turtle, a lion, a grasshopper, salt, a baby’s shoe, and chopsticks. We had fun seeing Janet Wong.

In our class before the reading, we heard the story Apple Pie 4th of July.

Word

In writing we learned how to use a Microsoft Word template for writing. Soon we'll use it to publish our writing.

Monday

Should I tell the kids about the blog?



Strange But True

On the way home from school on Thursday Mr. Coulter was surprised to see several goats eating their way through blackberry bushes on the University of Washington campus. He also saw two alligators in Frosh Pond. He swears he is not making this up.

Halloween Party

What a great party! Thanks to all of the parents that helped out. Halloween costumes for kids in our class this year will include: a ghost, Tom Brady with a broken leg, Minnie Mouse, an angel, a cheeseburger, Indiana Jones, an astronaut, a witch, a vampire, and Harry Potter.

Halloween Party

Tomorrow is our big Halloween party.

October 29

Today in science we analyzed our vials of clay filled with water. We learned that clay is slippery when wet. We used the scientific method to answer the question, "What happens to clay when we mix it with water."

In writing we shared our science writing. Impressive use of sequence words and topic sentences!

Welcome!

Welcome to our classroom blog! Here we hope to tell the story of our second grade class. Mr. Coulter will do most of the writing at first, but the hope is that students will contribute more and more writing as the year goes by.