Second Graders you all deserve a bow,
We thus declare a holiday-
It starts exactly now,
Because you’ve done so splendidly
In ever sort of way,
This day forever shall be known,
As Diffendoofer Day!

Diffendoofer Day! from Stefanie Pitzer on Vimeo.
(make sure to click the full screen optionto the right of HD)

What a wonderful day in second grade land today.  Mrs. Pitzer and Mrs. Zarko were inspired by the book Hooray for Diffendoofer Day by: Dr. Seuss, Jack Prelutsky and Lane Smith, so much that they recreated the day.  The book is all about a school (Diffendoofer School) that is different-er then the rest.  They study things such as smelling, laughing and yelling.  One day they have to take a special test and they are worried they won’t pass because they are different.  If they don’t pass they will have to go to dreary Flobbertown.  You do not want to go to Flobbertown because everyone there does everything the same.  However, once the test is passed out they see that they were taught how to think and they pass with flying colors. They have a celebration with pizza, milk and cake.  They then decide to have a special holiday to celebrate their success!

Our Diffendoofer Day began at morning meeting where Mrs. Ellis, er Mrs. Lowe, introduced the school to some crazy second grade teachers. Then it was off to study the same subjects they study at Diffendoofer School:

1.)      Yelling: Mrs. Pitzer’s mom came in and students learned about sound.  They learned how to make noise that was loud and quiet.  They got to use instruments and their voices to be noise making machines.

2.)       Laughing: Students read and laughed at so many Laffy Taffy jokes.  Then they picked their favorite one to illustrate and write about.

3.)      Listening: Students had to listen carefully to Halloween noises and try to write down as many sounds as they heard as well as draw a picture of the images they created in their minds.

4.)      Tying Knots: In this subject, there were bins filled with; twine, string, shoelaces, fabric, craft loops, yarn and curling ribbon.  The goal was to try to see what tied the best and the worst while making creation out of knots.  We could even wear our creation all day!

5.)      Noodle Poodles: Spaghetti noodles, spirals, shells, fettuccine, elbow macaroni and more were available for us to make a poodle out of noodles.  We then got to name our poodle and write something fun about it that we wanted other people to know.

6.)      Smelling: *sniff* *sniff* we tested our smelling skills by sniffing 8 different smells.  We had to try to figure out what the smell was and describe the smell using juicy adjectives.  We then picked the best and worst smells.  Some of the smells included: grape Kool-Aid, onion, vinegar, pumpkin, popcorn, chocolate and cinnamon.

Next it was time for science class by making robotic rats out of soup cans and spray painted foam balls.  We got to decorate our rat however we wanted adding pipe cleaners, washers, bolts, buttons, googley eyes and sticky foam pieces. It was so fun to create our robotic masterpiece.

After science, we created our very own No Flobbertown Test.  Each group had to come up with questions where we could find the answers in the room.  Once the tests were created, we switched papers and tried to answer as many questions correctly as possible.  WE ALL PASSED! No Flobbertown for us.

Time for lunch! Thanks to Double A’s Restaurant, the entire second grade got to eat pizza! YUMMY!

Finally our day ended with some mathematics fun.  We traveled through the following math centers:

1.)      Math Bingo: We played bingo for prizes but we had to find a problem that matched the number given.  We had to really think and practice important skills such as fact families and fact fluency.

2.)      Math Games: There were so many games to choose from: Rush Hour, Noodlers, Logic Links, Tanagrams, and tricky puzzles.  It was neat to see that math can be in board games too!

3.)      EGGO Math: In order to practice our regrouping skills, students raced to 1,000 by using an egg carton to shake items in hopes they land on numbers.  These numbers were then added together

4.)      Candy Corn Math: First our estimation skills were put to the test by trying to figure out how many candy corns fit in the jar. (571 pieces!) Then we used candy corns to measure objects and we also tried to see how many color combinations we could come up with for a candy corn.

To top it off Mr. Morrow hoisted elephants in the air just like the PE teacher did in the book! It is so great to be a ROYAL and have the staff join in on the fun of Diffendoofer Day.  We also could not have had a day like this without Mrs. Zarko & Mrs. Pitzer’s moms, parent volunteers and donations of all kinds. Thank you to all who contributed to making this a day to remember!

Here’s to a wonderful day filled with so many activities that allowed us to think AND have fun! Please feel free to share your favorite part of the day in the comment section.