Second Grade Rocks! 🌈

We are off to a great start in second grade! Everyone is enjoying our fun activities and our lively, enriching classroom community. 💗

Each year, our beloved science teacher, Ms. Svedlund, led a special holiday project for our second-grade students. She compiled a list of residents from the Casa Dorinda retirement community and each resident also included a little blurb about themselves, such as “likes movies,” “plays bocce ball,” and “enjoys gardening.” This way, our second graders could include personalized messages that were specific to each resident. The students took so much time and care with their cards and were very proud of their efforts. We were later told that when the cards were distributed at a Casa Dorinda holiday party, joy and cheer lit up the faces of our new friends!

The second grade enjoyed an up close and personal tour of Canzelle Alpaca Farm in Carpinteria to support the science and social studies curriculum. Students ventured through many gorgeous pastures and they learned interesting facts about feeding and caring for the alpacas as well as other animals on the farm including llamas and a water buffalo. Highlights included meeting a four-day-old baby cria and picnicking on the deck of the barn overlooking the ocean and Channel Islands. What a perfect way to kick off our animal research studies!

The second grade had a blast at the Family Festival and Fun Run! Go Owls! 💙🦉

The second grade enjoyed our first field trip of the year to Art From Scrap and we were thrilled to have Mrs. Guay, our amazingly talented art teacher, join us on the adventure! We were greeted at the entrance by Veronica, our wonderful Explore Ecology chaperone and tour guide, as well as Scrappy, the store mascot pup. We learned all about renewable and non-renewable resources and how to best reduce, reuse, and recycle them in our daily lives. After the presentation, and some fun stretches and brain breaks, we ventured to the crafting area where students were encouraged to use any and all materials to create whatever their hearts desired. Among the unique treasures, second graders crafted wind chimes, dolls, hats, jewelry, decor, models, and even a back scratcher!

Welcome to Second Grade!

On the 100th Day of School, we had lots to celebrate! It is pretty awesome to realize how we have become 100 days wiser in the second grade. 💯

Our travels during social studies took us to Asia during the months of January and February. Second graders enjoyed many exciting activities as we learned all about the Lunar New Year. In art class, students created terracotta clay warriors and tiger paintings. In music, they sang traditional songs. We even welcomed Ms. Shao, from the Santa Barbara Chinese School, who played games with us over Zoom that taught us more about the Lunar Zodiac animals. Additionally, Mrs. Vance’s friend Sandy joined us as a mystery guest reader and shared a cute story about the Lunar New Year celebrations. In class, they made calligraphy new year banners, worked with tangram puzzles, crafted red paper lanterns, and even built their own models of the Great Wall of China using mini Jenga blocks and moss. At the end of our studies, we put all of the Great Wall projects together and celebrated with delicious Chinese food and red envelopes for good luck in the coming year!

Click here to download and view a video of our Year of the Tiger paintings!

Click here to download and view a video of our red lanterns and calligraphy banners!

Happy Valentine’s Day! Check out these adorable My Favorite Things activities. Second graders also had fun creating Owl Always Love you cards for their families, designing puzzling heart messages for their friends, and writing the sweetest compliments for their classmates in special keepsake books!  Love is “owl” you need!🦉