Mrs. Reese's Second Grade Class

We started our new year under eight inches of snow. What a perfect setting to begin our Frosty Reader activities. Motivated to put our measurement skills into action, stretch our language art abilities, and show off our artistic creativity, a collaborative project began. We are proud to show you the results of our collaboration with Mrs. Weber’s class in North Canton, Ohio.

Our class and Mrs. Weber's first grade class created snow creatures out of snow dough. We wrote stories to go with our creatures. Mrs. Silverman sent pictures of our creatures by e-mail to Mrs. Weber's class. After seeing our pictures our partner class wrote stories to go with them. Their technology integration specialist, Mrs. Knox, e-mailed them to us. Boy, were we surprised! We will be sending Mrs. Weber's class the stories that we wrote about their creatures. This was such an exciting activity! We're pleased to showcase some of the stories.

We made the snow dough and creatures with Mrs. Sorrano, our wonderful, talented, art teacher.

Christmas Snake
By Robert in Mrs. Reese's Class

It is Sunday, Christmas day. I was in my front yard. My brother said, "Let’s make a snowman." I said, "How about a snowsnake?" Together we built a snake. Suddenly I saw its head move. It was alive. We had so much fun together. We had a snowball fight. We went ice-skating in the pond. Finally Louis and I had to go home. We said goodbye. We said, "See you next Christmas." It was the best Christmas I ever had.

Warren’s Story for Robert’s snow dough sculpture
Warren is in Mrs. Weber's Class

Slither
Slither lives in Michigan.
It eats other animals.
It likes to drink Pepsi.
He does a back flip and a front flip.

robert.jpg (9126 bytes)

Beware Pirates
By Luke in Mrs. Reese's Class

Today I was at the park. I made a snow shark. It had two little sparkles for eyes. Then it came to life. He showed me how to catch fish. He let me ride his bike. Then we played dodge a fish. Soon we were in danger. Pirates were attacking us. They shot canons. We shot fish. A storm came. The lightning hit the water and shook their boat. They sunk. My shark brought me back to shore. I let him go.

Tyler’s story for Luke’s picture
Tyler is in Mrs. Weber's Class

Walrus Paul Stoltz
He has four legs, one fin, five teeth, two eyes.
The fin looks like a mountain.
He likes to sleep.
He has two Christmas eyes.

luke2.jpg (15921 bytes)

Little Cottontail
By Kaitlyn in Mrs. Reese's Class

I was in my yard and wanted to make a snow animal. It was Saturday. The snow just had started. I made a bunny. I just finished making it when I thought I saw its little cottontail move. I looked again. It did not move! We played at the school and then we went back home. He said that he was hungry. I gave him a carrot and some water. Then he left and hopped into the woods.

Hannah’s story for Kaitlyn’s picture
Hannah is in Mrs. Weber's Class

Cutie
Cutie likes to eat ham sandwiches and stuff.
He has wings and pink ears.
He has 5 eyes.

kaitlyn2.jpg (10193 bytes)

In addition to writing stories about Mrs. Weber's creatures we illustrated them in Kid Pix.
Here is a sample of one of our computer drawings. This was our first experience with Kid Pix and it won't be our last. We had so much fun!

kidpix2.jpg (21159 bytes)

Mrs. Reese's class wrote stories to go with snow creatures from Mrs. Weber's class.

A Toad Named Lumpy Grumpy
by Connor in Mrs. Reese's Class

Once I went to Ohio with my friend. He wanted to build a snowman. I suggested that we make a snow animal. We made a snow toad. It had 155 lumps on its back. We made an igloo in the forest so the toad could live in it. When I woke up I thought of a name for the toad. I called it Lumpy-Grumpy. When I went to the igloo, Lumpy Grumpy was on top. I made a snowball and then I heard a ribbit, ribbit. I threw the snowball up in the air and it hit me on the head. Winter was over. Lumpy Grumpy leaped back to Winter Wonderland.

Artist: Michaela
in Mrs. Weber's Class

michaela.jpg (17427 bytes)

Dragos
by Danielle D. in Mrs. Reese's Class

It was a cold and freezing night. I went outside to play in the new snow. I saw a snow dragon in my yard. It had a red necklace. It had sharp teeth and angry eyes. When I turned around I heard a big roar. It was my dragon. I said, "Do you want to sled on my hill?" My dragon said, "Sure". My dragon was a girl. We were in my front yard. I named my snow animal Dragos. Tiffany came over. She was surprised. We all played together. I asked Mom if we could have a sleepover. Our house is cold so Dragos felt good. We watched El Dorado, had a little snack and went to sleep.

Artist: Warren
in Mrs. Weber's Class

warren.jpg (18717 bytes)

PBS thought that our collaboration with students in North Canton, Ohio was so exciting that they decided to come to our school and video all the activities we did with Frosty Readers 2001. They will be making an educational documentary so teachers and students around the country will find out how wonderful and worthwhile collaborative Internet projects are!

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New York State Learning Standards

Snow Creature Stories: English Language Arts
Standard 2: As speakers and writers, students will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language for self-expression and artistic creation.

Kid Pix Computer Graphics: Mathematics, Science, and Technology
Standard 2: Students will access, generate, process and transfer information using appropriate technologies.

Snow Dough Mixture: Mathematics, Science, and Technology
Standard 3: Students will understand mathematics and become mathematically confident by applying mathematics in real-world settings. (snow dough measurement)

Snow Dough Sculptures: The Arts
Standard 1: Students will actively engage in the processes that constitute creation and performance in the arts