Magical Adventures Ahead!

New Website

2010-09-29T14:01:00.000-07:00

I am working on a new website through Shutterfly that would be private. I would be able to post a lot more information, sign-up sheets, etc. Stay tuned! It might be ready and working by the end of today!

My Favorite Blog

2010-09-29T13:58:00.000-07:00

My favorite blog is http://www.houstononthecheap.com/. This blog has tons and tons of fun, free/cheap ideas for the family and for adults, too. I have been able to attend lots of free events (with free food and goodie bags!!!) thanks to this website! I wanted to share this find with you all!

Spelling

2010-09-29T13:55:00.001-07:00

This is a great website to help your child practice their spelling words. Drag "magnetic" tiles to make words! Try using the th, wh, and ch to help your child remember the patterns in their spelling words.

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Games/mag/spelling.html

Continents

2010-09-22T14:03:00.000-07:00

Use these websites to learn your seven continents!

http://www.softschools.com/social_studies/continents/map.jsp

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/games/geographygames/geospy/

Planet Research Projects

2010-09-08T14:16:00.000-07:00

We are learning how to do research about the planets using the Big Six method! The photos give you and idea about how we go about finding out and organizing our information. All the work will be done in class but if your child wants to learn more you can look at the following website which has lots of child-friendly information:

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/planets/index.shtml

Each pocket is for a separate question that is to be answered by doing research. After the student finds the answer to the question, they jot their answer down on an index card and put it in the pockets. When all the pockets are filled they know that it is time to start writing their paper.

Back to School Party and Fundraiser

2010-09-08T13:46:00.000-07:00

Second grade will be hosting a back to school party and fundraiser at Chucky Cheese on Thursday, September 23, 2010! Enjoy a family evening while you get to know your child's teachers and classmates! Your child will receive a coupon for 10 free tokens on the day of the event and Chucky will be visiting the school to personally invite you all!

Date: 09/23/2010 (Thursday)
Time: 3:00PM - 9:00 PM

4432 North Freeway

Houston, Tx 77024

Phone: (713)695-5377

First Science Experiment!

2010-08-31T15:05:00.000-07:00

We learned how to OBSERVE and RECORD as we watched Gobstoppers slowly dissolve in water. The candy made a beautiful design that the students then copied into their science journals.

Explorer Bags

2010-08-31T15:02:00.000-07:00

The whole class enjoyed sharing their explorer bags and we learned that we all have a lot in common!

Online Resources

2010-08-20T14:23:00.000-07:00

I have updated the Spelling City website. Go to www.spellingcity.com and search for a teacher (Oporto). After you click on the link, you will be taken to my homepage. This week's spelling list is already posted!

Also, try to visit www.pearsonsuccessnet.com username is your child's name (try just first name and if that doesn't work try both the first and last name together) and the password is....password. I am just trying to keep it simple!

Thanks to all you parents who came to visit our classroom today! I enjoyed meeting each and every one of you!

The Adventure Begins!

2010-08-20T08:13:00.000-07:00

Grab your binoculars and get ready for an exciting adventure in Ms. Oporto's second grade class! I am so thrilled to be starting a new school year! See you on Monday!!

Winners of Camp Write A Lot!

2010-02-26T08:44:00.001-08:00

The Legendary Wolfmen won 1st place in the team challenge for Camp Write A Lot. They wrote lots of great stories, took many practice tests, and won races! We are so proud of all of our writers!!

Camp Write A Lot 2010

2010-02-19T09:01:00.000-08:00

Camp Write A lot 2010

When: Monday – Friday
Where: Here at Camp Love!!

Why? To motivate and prepare our students to conquer the TAKS writing test on March 3, 2010.

This will be a week filled with writing, team challenges, and exciting surprises along the way!

Monday: Decorating tote bags, team challenges and a practice TAKS test.

Tuesday: Necklaces, writing, and more team challenges!

Wednesday: S’mores and Revising

Thursday: Reading Scary stories around the campfire (don’t forget to bring your flashlight!!).

Friday: More writing and Team Awards presented!

Geometric Terms

2010-02-17T09:42:00.002-08:00

http://mrsdell.org/geometry/vocabulary.html

Geometric

2010-02-17T09:42:00.001-08:00

http://mrsdell.org/geometry/vocabulary.html

Geometry Matching Game

2010-02-17T09:36:00.000-08:00

Make sure you know your geometric terms?? Can't remember what a ray is?? Play this game and you will become a geometric expert!!

http://www.aplusmath.com/cgi-bin/Games/geopicture

Congruent

2010-02-17T09:28:00.000-08:00

Congruent figures have the same size and shape. Try this activity to help you to remember!!!

http://www.learner.org/courses/teachingmath/grades3_5/session_02/section_02_b.html

Science Games

2010-01-15T06:24:00.001-08:00

http://www.engagingscience.org/games/onlinegames/games.html

Geography Review

2010-01-15T06:13:00.001-08:00

http://funschool.kaboose.com/globe-rider/games/game_my_world.html

Winter Holidays

2009-12-04T05:53:00.000-08:00

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/holidays/

Thanksgiving

2009-11-24T07:41:00.001-08:00

http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/

It's Freezing....Somewhere....

2009-11-04T17:47:00.000-08:00

We are tracking the temperature in Fairbanks, Alaska along with the temperature here in Houston to compare. Today it was 12 degrees in Fairbanks and 76 in Houston! Some of the kids couldn't believe that it could actually get so cold! I promised a picture of warm water freezing mid-air and turning into snow! (This picture was taken in Antarctica.)

Natural Resources

2009-11-04T17:31:00.000-08:00

We are learning about natural resources in science. We have taken on two big projects. First, we have made a commitment to recycle all paper in our classroom. We are also working on presenting a Power Point presentation to other classes to encourage them to recycle.

Several of my students have been very proactive and have started to recycle at home. Remember that you can call 311 to request a recycling bin.

Our second project is composting! Our school owns a compost tumbler. We are collecting garden and kitchen waste from our homes and from the cafeteria to add to the tumbler. It's already filling up!! We plan to add the compost to our school garden!!

Museum of Natural Sciences

2009-11-04T12:46:00.001-08:00

Our field trip to the Museum of Natural Sciences was a success! We started with an experiment on DISSOLVING and then moved on to the planetarium. Then we broke up into small groups. I was with the group that learned about African animals from the Sahara. You can see the boys holding a real cheetah hide! Other students learned about dinosaurs and MUMMIES! Several kids got to see a real AZTEC mummy!!! The docents told me afterwards that they were very impressed by my students' knowledge and the quality of questions they asked. I felt so proud!!Lots of hands-on experiences and great memories!

Eerie Monster Stories

2009-10-23T14:22:00.001-07:00

The kids finished publishing their monster stories today. I will try to post some to the blog next week.

Next week our prompt will be, "Write about a time you were scared..." .

Ding Dong

2009-10-23T14:11:00.000-07:00

Wow!! I had no idea that our unit on Electricity would end with a bang...or rather...a ding dong!!! While I was gathering materials for an experiment on electromagnets I found some doorbell kits in the science lab. In a matter of minutes the kiddos had managed to connect the doorbell. Then several had the brilliant idea of installing the doorbell on our classroom door! And it doesn't end there....they then installed another doorbell on Ms. Vasquez's door. So next time you come to visit room 34 don't forget to ring the bell first!!!

Amazing work, kids!!!

Historical Fiction

2009-10-23T14:02:00.000-07:00

http://www.opencourtresources.com/ocr/grade4/index.html

This week we start our unit on Historical Fiction. Check out the above link to get a headstart on the vocabulary words you need to know for our first story, Sarah, Plain and Tall.

Back to School Bash

2009-10-23T13:59:00.000-07:00

Ulises, Maria, and Jacqueline made us proud! They played their recorders like pros on a big stage in front of a BIG audience!!! I'll post pictures soon!!!

Fact and Opinion

2009-10-23T13:57:00.001-07:00

http://www.teachingandlearningresources.co.uk/factoropinion.shtml

Try this little quiz! I think you will do great (but that is my OPINION!!!)

Electrical Circuits

2009-10-13T14:04:00.000-07:00

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/8_9/circuits_conductors.shtml
Today we finished our Pathfinders Experiment to learn about complete and incomplete circuits. Go to the above link to do a virtual experiment!

The following is a great website to review everything we have learned so far in Science about circuits:
http://www.andythelwell.com/blobz/

Another Character Poem by Maria

2009-10-12T12:27:00.001-07:00

The Girl Who Loved The Wind
She means Danina
She means dainty,beautiful,and kind
She is the number 10
She is like a banana
She is relative to her father
Who does escape from her house and father
Who has a cape that she rides on
Who fears that she is going to be in the house with out freedom
Who wants freedom
Resident of her house

Symbolic Butterflies

2009-10-08T18:56:00.001-07:00

Our butterflies are designed and ready to be sent to Mexico for the winter! We'll see you in the spring!!

Your Weight on Other Worlds

2009-10-08T14:31:00.000-07:00

http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/weight/

Do you remember the difference between mass and weight??? Does your weight or mass change if you travel to another planet? Check out this website and find out!

How much did you weigh on Mars? The moon???

Favorite Reading Strategies Website

2009-10-08T14:20:00.000-07:00

http://reading.ecb.org/

Go to this website and click on the Kid's Section. This website has fun activities to teach you all those strategies you need to know to be a super reader.

Teachers, this site has lesson plans and colorful posters to print out!

Character Poems

2009-10-08T14:00:00.000-07:00

Danina

She means dainty, beautiful, and gentle

She is the number 22

She is like fire red

Danina is a friend of the wind

Who does ride on a cape

Who has a great house

Who fears of a dull life

Who wants freedom

Resident of a house overlooking a beach

By Helayna

KIS

2009-10-07T16:23:00.000-07:00

We are learning the important skill of inferencing. We use the KIS strategy to help us think through difficult comprehension questions.

K- Look and Underline Key Word
I - Infer
S-Support your inference with what you know from real life. Write a sentence next to your answer explaining your choice with a real world example.

So, remember, if an answer is not right in front of our eyes we have to KIS it!!

Listen to this song to remember how to infer!!

http://reading.ecb.org/downloads/in_Inferring.mp3

Folktales

2009-10-07T16:04:00.000-07:00

For the next 3 weeks we will be reading folktales. We read a wonderful story called The Girl Who Loved the Wind and wrote a character poem about one of the characters. I will post the poems soon! To listen to this story go to :

http://www.homeworkproductions.com/Programs/DB1B7F46-DD8F-482F-96E9-821A28424C96.html

You can get some advice on how to write your own folktale by a real author here:

http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/mff/folktalewshop_index.htm

Writing

2009-10-06T20:49:00.000-07:00

http://www.empoweringwriters.com/ is a wonderful resource for teaching writing.

We are learning how to add elaborative detail to our writing. Click below for a great list of sound words!

http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson104/sounds.pdf

We also need transition words:

http://jc-schools.net/write/transition.htm

This is also a great article on revising using the Explosion (adding action, description, feeling):
http://www.learner.org/workshops/middlewriting/images/pdf/W8ReadWriters.pdf

Self-discipline

2009-10-06T20:30:00.000-07:00

Our powerful word for the month is self-discipline. Discipline means making yourself do what's right, fair and necessary even when you don't feel like it. Studies show that discipline is twice as important in predicting academic success as intelligence. Let's work hard this month on controlling our mind, body and actions!! Let's be like the wise old owl:

A wise old owl sat in a tree

The more he saw, the less he spoke;

The less he spoke, the more he heard;

Why aren't we all like that wise old bird?

Visit Dr. Robyn's blog for more informaton on discipline and other powerful parenting advice.

http://drrobyn.wordpress.com/

Virtual Science Fair Projects

2009-10-06T20:23:00.000-07:00

This is a great website for teaching and learning about the scientific process. I used the site to teach the students about constants and variables and how to record data.

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/sciencefaircentral

Aztecs

2009-10-06T20:18:00.001-07:00

In Texas History we learned about some of the indigenous groups that lived in Texas and Central and South America. I had an opportunity to visit the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza in January and here is a picture to prove it!

Monarch Butterfly

2009-10-06T19:29:00.000-07:00

Fall!!! One of my favorite fall lessons is about the Monarch butterfly who makes its yearly migration to Michoacan, Mexico right about now.

Since our class is participating in the reading of The Very Hungry Caterpillar on Thursday, I decided to make this a butterflied themed week! http://www.readfortherecord.org/

On Thursday we will be making symbolic paper butterflies that will "fly" to Mexico for the winter and return in the spring all thanks to www.learner.org/jnorth/sm/index.html.

Verb-a-Pillar

2009-10-06T19:25:00.000-07:00

On Monday we made a Verb-a-pillar out of pipe cleaners who can DO anything to learn about action verbs. The kids took Verb-a-pillar home with them and then wrote a journal entry about everything that Verbie did.

On Tuesday we fed Verbie a leaf full of helping verbs - is, was, were, has, have, had and will.

I usually make a Verb-man to teach verbs, but since this week we are studying about the Monarch butterfly I decided to change things up!

Clay Boats

2009-10-06T19:20:00.001-07:00

Today we tested our clay boats to see which one would hold the most cargo. The winning boat held 43 grams!!! We learned about BUOYANCY!

Check out http://www.brainpop.com/ to watch a video on buoyancy!!