A new favourite book

Georgia K brought in this fabulously funny book:

We loved this page:

We decided to write a suitable menu for the occasion.

Bella

Lauren

Other revolting ideas were:

Nellie-worm jelly

Haley- crab mudcake with wild green chocolate berries

Ashley- live frog and fly salad

Georgia K- moth burgers and cat fur soup

Patrick- snake pudding and snail stew

Your wish is my command

In Year 2 I would like to... work a lot!

Joel

The best things in Mrs Wilson's class

Joel: my friends
Bella: toys, the nice kids and people
Ashley: tadpoles, toys, books and friends to play with.
Yeju: reading books, doing Sound Waves and doing making.
Georgia S: the Beanie Kids, taddies, books, everything
Jake: the gem pegs
Jordie: tadpoles, books and working
Sean: Deltora Books, Hex Bugs and laptops
Dylan: computers, frogs and friends
Liam: tadpoles, books, spray, computer, toys and her. (Cathy and Stuart- bet you're also wondering who 'her' is?)

Luke: the books, the Hex Bugs, the kind people and the aircons. ( I love the aircons too! )
Mackenzie: the tadpoles, the Beanie Bears and the gem chart.
Amber: I like the chapter books and the compliment fish bowl.

For the uninitiated, this is a Hex Bug:

Going to Year 2 by...

Nellie

Under questions and worries, Nellie has written, "Are you going to be mean soon?"


The Year 2s have been filling in this form. It took us a long time. At the end of the year we are going to fill in the identical form except 'Year 2' will be replaced with 'Year 3'. We will then be able to see how our writing skills have developed over the year. We anticipate that the form will take a lot less time to complete!

Look at what a good looking bunch of children you have:

Nellie

Dylan

Sean

Jordan

Jake

Luke

Georgia S

Haley

Joel

Liam

Yeju

William

Amber

Mackenzie

What if tadpoles could talk?

We used de Bono's hats to ponder the question 'What if our tadpoles could talk?'

http://pics4learning.com/

Liam said they would say," Mrs Wilson, Liam is working!"

Nellie thought if tadpoles could talk we could then make friends with them.

Jake wondered if they would help us with our work.

Bella thought they would tell us if we were making a poor choice.

Georgia S said they'd talk to the Beanie Kids in our classroom. 

Ashley said they would say,"Please can you set me free!"

Lauren said they would say,"Mrs Wilson we want some food!"

Georgia K added that they would be able to tell us exactly what they wanted to eat.

Patrick thought that talking tadpoles would make especially good pets but also thought they may dob (tell tales) on students.

Yeju said they would enjoy talking to each other and may even say,"Mrs Wilson, I want to do some work!"

Jordan said they would say, "Oh, I like this person!"

Sean said they would say, "Can we eat those cupcakes?"
Amber: said they would let us know if there was a fire, if they wanted to be our friends, if they wanted a chat and if they needed fresh water.
Mackenzie thought it would be amazing and they could ask us to let them go to the creek.

Thinking skills challenge

One of our favourite groups during rotations is the Thinking Skills Challenge. We're working on building up the skills we will need in the future such as the ability to solve problems, think creatively and critically, analyse information and share ideas.

We did some brainstorming Using a Venn Diagram to compare people and gorillas and then quickly jotted down our ideas.

Yeju

We noted these similarities: they live in families, they have a similar body to us, they play with their babies like we do and they eat fruit.

Georgia K 

The differences include: all wild gorillas live in a jungle in central Africa, they are mostly vegetarian but we eat meat, fruit and vegetables, they walk on all four limbs but we only have 2 feet and ...they don't have to go to school!

Wordle

Team 2A used these:

At this site:

We discussed the meaning of strengths including 'sporting', 'energetic', 'creative' and 'friendly'. All the cards were then handed to students after nominations from their classmates. The year 2s were generous and kind with their compliments and each child was given a couple of cards and many compliments which left them smiling. 

The Team then celebrated their strengths by creating a Wordle at www.wordle.net. 

Fishing for compliments

We are revising trading up 10 ones for 1 ten.

For every compliment that Team 2A receives from an adult other than me, they put a little fish in the bowl.
1 compliment = 1 little fish
10 little fish trade up to 1 large fish.

Yay us!

They've arrived

It's true, we are now the delighted custodians of 10 laptops and computers in 2A.

Amethyst, Diamonds and Sapphires

We’ve been admiring the covers of the Deltora Quest series. In the series, the characters Lief and Jasmine set out to gain magical gems by dodging trouble and avoiding temptation. Similarly, the year 2s are on a quest to gain sparkly gems which they put on their pegs… 

And this is what they look like by mid-year...

Our other class visitors

Our gorgeous baby Tree Frogs and Pobblebonks have been returned to the creek. For the Mum who is just a tiny bit scared of frogs, this photo of an escapee is just for you.

One of our reading strategies is Skippy the Frog.

We also practised following instructions by making origami frogs.

We will miss our little amphibious friends.

Head Lice

We've been reading Doctor Dog for a reason...there are visitors in the hair of class members. (Just as there are in many Queensland year2 classes!)

According to information from the following site http://www.health.vic.gov.au/headlice/faq.htm:

Is it true that head lice only like clean hair?
No. Head lice are not selective. They don't care if hair is long, short, blonde, brown, washed this morning or last week. As long as they are warm, and have blood to drink, then they are content.

What treatment kills 100% of head lice or eggs?
There is no single treatment that kills 100% of head lice or eggs. Whichever treatment you choose it can take time and persistence to get rid of head lice. 

How does the conditioner and comb method work?
It’s a very cheap and effective way of finding head lice. Hair conditioner does not kill lice, but it does stun them for about 20 minutes, meaning they do not move around, and it is difficult for them to hang on. This gives you time to comb through the hair with a lice comb.

Why do you have to treat again in seven days' time?
Head lice eggs take 6-7 days to hatch. And when you treat, it’s easy to miss an egg or two. By treating again in seven days, you are aiming to kill and comb out any lice that have since hatched from eggs, which were missed.

What should I wash or treat at home?
As head lice only live for a short time off the head, the only extra cleaning needed is to wash the pillowslip on the hot cycle or place in clothes dryer. Head lice combs can be cleaned in water hotter than 60 degrees.

A New Year

Welcome to Team 2A's blog!

This has been an exciting four weeks! Many students had the same teacher for two years which meant a big change at the start of 2011. Team 2A has now got used to new routines and new faces and they're off to a flying start.

For the busy parents who haven't had an opportunity to pop in, enjoy this welcome to Team 2A via a few class photos: