With Love and Gratitude

Dear Students and Families~
Thank you all so much for attending our recent Author Share and celebrating your child's successes in writing this year. I am very grateful for your support both in the classroom and at home with words of praise and encouragement as your children took risks, gained confidence and in the end developed a passion for writing. I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to work with your children and I will treasure the memories made this year.

Thank you so much for your words of praise, I felt like a rock star each time I was asked to take a photo with your child. I absolutely L-O-V-E-D the children's responses in the video and I look forward to watching it over and over again whenever I feel blue. Thank you to Mrs. Phillips and Mrs. Shugrue for their masterful surprise. I am very grateful to the many Topsfield families I've had the privilege to work with these nearly thirty years, but I can honestly say there is something special about my group this year. It has been an extraordinary year for me, and I hope for your child as well. I have enjoyed every minute of this year, the giggles, the "aha" moments and even the tears, because it gave me an opportunity to give your child a hug.

Thank you for the gorgeous perennials, they've already found a home in my garden and I look forward to each blossom in the coming weeks. A special thank you to Mrs. Holland for remembering our conversation when I hadn't, and to Mrs. Lull for helping to coordinate such a special surprise with my student's "butterfly thumbprints." I hadn't even realized until the end of the day that my "Little Birdie Schoolhouse" was an actual birdhouse. So from the bottom of my heart, know that your child will always hold a special place in my heart and I will treasure the memories we made together.
With love and gratitude,
Lena Madden

SPRING MAY HAVE SPRUNG...BUT OUR WORK IS NOT YET DONE

Reading is contagious in our classroom as you can see from the number of students who have signed up for Book Talks this week. After your child reads a book ask them to consider signing up to present a short 1-3 minute Book Talk or Book Commercial. Students have been well prepared for their "talks"and have received amazing glows and just a few suggestive grows.

Here are a few comments from this week's presenters.

Timmy wants us to remember that Lost Treasure of the Emerald Eye has many funny parts and he recommends this book to anyone who likes fantasy books. It was funny when Geronimo fell overboard the ship and when he returned Trap jumped up and down on his stomach and yelled, 

"HE'S ALIVE...HE'S ALIVE!"

Vincenzo wants us to remember in the book, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck that Roderick threw Greg's goldfish out the window, he's a mean brother! Vincenzo recommends this book because it is funny.

MacLean wants us to remember that in her book, Who Was Alexander Graham Bell? that AGB invented a metal detector and had a chance to locate the bullet in President Garfield. Unfortunately his machine failed because the bed was made of metal and Bell's machine didn't work properly.

Dante wants us to remember that Junie B. Jones hides herself well in small crevices, like when she hid in a tight shelf because she didn't want to get on the bus. So read Junie B. Jones and the Smelly Bus.

Ben wants us to remember that Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days is really funny, especially when Sweetie, the dog jumped in Greg's bed. Ben recommends this realistic fiction story to anyone who's looking for a book with a sense of humor.

Emma shared a biography Who Was Albert Einstein? and wants us to know that he went to high school when he was only 10 years old. Emma recommends this book to anyone who wants to learn why Albert Einstein was so famous.

Look at our our upcoming Book Talks next week.

Under the Sea

We have become expert marine biologists and researched the most interesting facts about our ocean animals. Listen carefully so you can learn about the amazing adaptations that allow these ocean creatures to survive in their habitats.

Please click on the arrow below to see and hear all we have learned.

Reading Buddies

The children earned a special reward in class after demonstrating GRIT to show their best work! This month we have emphasized the importance of  "TEAMWORK" by demonstrating Random Acts of Kindness to one another. It made sense to celebrate with one of our favorite activities, so we had a READ-IN.

Sharing books with our 1st Grade Reading Buddies in Ms. Sideri's Class was a blast.

The Whimpy Kid series has become a favorite in our classroom and Ciaran & Timmy take turns reading to Axel.

Charlie and Madelyn share a giggle while reading "The Fox in the Dark."

The children read for about forty-five minutes and were all so engaged in their books that you could hear a pin drop. They then shared their books with one another. Many students had signed up to give a "Book Talk" or Book Commercial and it wasn't long before children were trading books to read them on their own

Charlotte took the opportunity to share what she's learned about ocean animals with Rosalie.

Ben is proud to share his book with his Reading Buddy, Will.

 Our love for reading has become contagious and I couldn't be prouder of my students for taking risks in their reading by trying different genres and more challenging text.

Katie and Belle took turns reading to  Emma from Ms. Siders's class.

At the end of the day we invited our First Grade Buddies from Ms. Sideri's class and read a picture book to one another. We felt like leaders in our classroom and at the end the day we were surprised by our "Mystery Reader, Mr. Zamagni who read a book about Babe Ruth. All in all we had a wonderful day of reading fascinating books to ourselves, to our Reading Buddies and had several books read to us. If only we could spend every week with a scheduled Read-In??

Kristina was very proud to read to her brother, JJ in our classroom bathtub.

Our Marble Jar is Full!

Dear Families~

The children have filled the Marble Jar and have earned a special classroom reward, This Friday, June 3rd we will be hosting a READ-IN and PAJAMA DAY. Your children may choose to wear their pjs/bathrobes/slippers to school or comfortable clothing would also be just fine. Please remember to send your child's sneakers since we have gym that afternoon. 

We have invited our first grade Reading Buddies to join us and are looking forward to sharing  a picture book or two with our reading friends. Your children are encouraged to bring several books from home, an extra snack (NO NUTS please) and drink to school so that we'll have enough energy and enthusiasm to sustain us. Please do not send stuffed animals, blankets or pillows.

Thank you so much for supporting our life-long love for learning,

Mrs. Madden

A Perfect Day in Gloucester

The children were totally engaged during our recent field trip to the Gloucester Maritime and Whale Museum. They were fascinated by the skeletons of whales and dolphins, learned how to identify whales by the patterns displayed on their fluke tails, enjoyed humming to snails to encourage them to come out of their shells, watched the skates submerge under the sand to hide and camouflage themselves, created fish prints and looked through microscopes to identify animal (zooplankton) and plant (phytoplankton) plankton.

The weather was absolutely perfect for our picnic lunch at the park and your children were respectful learners and listeners. I am so thankful to the parent chaperones for their support and supervision to ensure we had a safe and engaging experience, Mr. Campagna, Mrs. de Buy Wenniger, Mrs. Palazzolo, and Mrs. Zamagni thank you for spending the day with us to ensure a memorable hands-on experience.

Take a peek below and see some of the highlights of our fabulous day in Gloucester!

Feeling Blessed

Teacher Appreciation Week

Each time I enter my room I'm reminded of the support and love of my students and their families.

Dear Families~

Teacher Appreciation Week will be forever seared in my mind and it will always remind me of the generous and considerate Acts of Kindness I received throughout the week. I am so appreciative for the thoughtful gifts, but most importantly the gift of working with your children during my final year of teaching in Topsfield. My classroom is adorned with gorgeous bouquets of colorful flowers, fragrant herbs and toiletries, letters, books and cards written by my talented students and their families, gorgeous note cards and intricate coloring books ready to be artfully completed (as long as I stay in the lines,) a quilting project ready for the making and a class gift that I promise I will enjoy as soon as I make an appointment and can trade my shoes for sandals.  Each gift was a lovely surprise and just reminds me how lucky I am to work with such an amazing group of students and their supportive families.

 A very special thank you to my room mothers, Cathy Phillips and Carey Shugrue as they supervised my students so that I could participate in a school wide Teacher Appreciation event that Mrs. Costa designed and coordinated with the help of so many supportive families. Thank you Mrs. Gustafson, I saw you hiding in the background helping wherever it was needed. Steward School is a very special place and I know how lucky I am to be a part of this supportive community. 

With love and gratitude,

Lena Madden

Happy Mother's Day Mom

Thank You Mom for ALL you do to help me grow.

Nile the Humpback Whale Visits Steward School

Thank you TESPTO for bringing Nile the Humpback Whale to Steward School today. We have been studying ocean animals for a few weeks and have nearly completed our research reports and animal habitat dioramas. We are excited to be traveling to the Gloucester Maritime Museum next week to learn more about how ocean animals live in their habitat and the adaptations that help them survive.

It was exciting to watch Nile inflate before our very eyes and see how big a real humpback whale is in the ocean waters here in Massachusetts. Stepping inside Nile's body was cool and it was an amazing opportunity to learn.  Stay tuned as we are in the process of sharing all we learned today!

Thank you Mrs. McInniss for teaching us so much about how to tell whales apart from one another, how they breathe, what they eat and how they communicate with one another. Thank you for reminding us to use fewer plastics and to be especially careful about disposing plastics properly so ocean animals don't accidentally get caught in the plastic rings or eat plastic grocery bags.

Polar Animals

Chatting with Polar Animals  After reading and uncovering many facts about the adaptations, habitat and the life cycle of our polar animals we are ready to share just a snip-it. Please be sure to read our research reports to learn so much more. It was fascinating to explore how these amazing animals from the Arctic and Antarctic can survive in harsh conditions using their specials adaptations.
Did you know that a walrus uses its front tusks to pull its massive body out of the frigid waters? 
Did you know that an Arctic Wolf will hunt in packs to help isolate a smaller caribou, and then share it with the pack?
Please click on the arrow below so we can share all we've learned from our science research.

January, February, March 2016

Working Hard

OPEN HOUSE

Here's a preview of some of the memories and work your children have completed recently.  Please join us for our Open House 
Thursday, March 10th from 7:00-7:45 in Room 207
More surprises to follow....

Please Don't Melt

The children rehearsed their lyrics and solidified their learning about Arctic foxes. Thank you Ms. Swanson for such a memorable performance and connecting the arts to our science curriculum.

Why can't we be friends? 

Why can't we be friends? 

Why can't we be friends?

We hunt, we gather and we scavenge meat. 

In the winter ... left over seals we'll eat. 

Why can't we be friends? 

Why can't we be friends? 

Why can't we be friends?

Look at the lessons or morals we've uncovered from our reading.

Valentine's Day was so memorable this year.

Thank you Mrs. Shugrue for your crafty activity.

Can you think of 100 number sentences that equal 100?

Camouflage

After studying animal adaptations during our polar unit, we spent some time in class testing the importance of camouflage. The children worked in groups to test their hypothesis that some "fabric butterflies" would be easy or difficult to locate. We imagined how it might be difficult for certain butterflies who didn't use camouflage to hide from their predators. Each group of students had ten seconds to pick up as many butterflies as they could find.  Many of the butterflies were "hidden" in their environment and couldn't easily be seen. 

Mila was able to locate the black and floral butterflies easily, but the white ones were tricky.

Belle is having difficulty finding the black butterflies.

Acting as predators, each group of students had ten seconds to find as many butterflies as possible. This science investigation helped the children solidify the importance of an animal's adaptation to its survival.

Ben easily can find the black and white butterflies, but what about the floral ones?

Practicing our metric measurement techniques was so much fun.

Writing Persuasively

We've worked hard to write persuasive letters and essays. Using our OREO graphic organizer helped us write clear opinions and supported them with reasons and details. The children wrote several essays and letters and have become very persuasive. We're looking forward to sharing our work with you at our Open House,

Can I Bring My Woolly Mammoth to School?

"Everyone knows that blue indigo is overused...."

Welcome to our class Dante.

Super Tuesday

We start every day with The Pledge of Allegiance, but today was especially poignant given it was the start of a very special day in our classroom, Super Tuesday. All second graders were invited to join us and place their vote for the person who they felt would be the best candidate for the President of the United States.

"I pledge allegiance to the United States..."

We learned that in order to vote you have to be eighteen years old and registered in the town you live in, but today we wanted our voices heard and practiced strong citizenship skills by casting our own votes. We discussed the two major parties within our government, the Democratic and Republican parties and how one candidate from each party will compete in November, hoping to become the 45th President of the United States.

Every vote counts, and we are all smiles as we proudly cast our votes.

Kristina cast her vote in our "mock" class election.

Thank you families for supporting our classroom event by inviting your child to join you in the voting booth today or by watching the election results alongside your child.  We are excited to see if our classroom results match those of the Massachusetts voters.

Katie, Dante, Thomas and Nolan tally the results to determine the winner at Steward School.

Here are the results according to Steward School's 95 second graders:

Hillary Clinton 39 

Bernie Sanders 23

Ben Carson 2

Ted Cruz 4

John Kasich 2

Mario Rubio 16

Donald Trump 9

We'll have to see what the final results will be after the polls close tonight.

We used our mental math strategies to determine the votes for each of the seven candidates.

According to our results Hillary Clinton is the winner.

Penguins, Penguins, and More Penguins!

Thank you TESPTO for inviting Dyan DeNapoli, or as we like to call her "The Penguin Lady" to our school yesterday. We learned so many new facts about penguins and have already started our newest research project on animals that live in the Southern Hemisphere.

What did you find to be the MOST interesting fact you learned about penguins?

Did you know that penguins have kneecaps?

Created with Padlet

Gavin and Katie demonstrate the wing span of an albatross, which is 12 1/2 feet long...AMAZING!

Don't Let Me Melt

Olivia, Addison, Madelyn and Ella are all smiles and feel proud of their hard work.

Yesterday we had an opportunity to share all we've uncovered in our polar bear research with our friends in Mrs. Ford's class. The students in both classes demonstrated strong comprehension by answering questions and shared learned information about the Arctic's largest predator, the polar bear. The emphasis on habitat, life cycle and adaptations were the main research topics and students in both classes became research experts in all three areas.

Drew, Michael and Quinn worked hard on their polar bear projects and are enjoying the opportunity to share their learning.

Now that our research projects have been completed and we have learned how to locate, interpret and categorize information we are ready to choose a different polar animal from either the Arctic or Antarctic and complete our next research report and project. We will be using the Chatterpix app to "chat" or share important information on our next science report ...  so stay tuned to be informed.

Katie demonstrates her polar bear's adaptation with friends.

Remember to send your child to school on Monday wearing white (or any light colored clothing) for their portrayal as an Arctic fox for our second grade concert, Please Don't Melt Me. 
Since our polar bear projects have been completed and to make room in our classroom it would be wonderful if you could stop by after Monday's concert to ensure a safe ride home.

Ciaran and Will collaborate about the Arctic and all they learned.

January News

Writer's Workshop  We have very strong opinions... We recently began our newest unit on Opinion Writing and the children have embraced it with wonderful enthusiasm using their writer's voice. We have been working hard to state our opinions clearly using a variety of strong openers, As a matter of fact the students wrote letters trying to persuade me not to give them homework one night, and I was amazed to "hear" their writer's voices and the language used to get my attention...that they indeed had something important to tell me.They won me over, and needless to say, no one had homework that night...well done boys and girls. 

We know it's important to get the reader's attention with an opening that's going to grab your attention, so we've been practicing hard to use a variety of persuasive openings to make it P-E-R-F-E-C-T-L-Y clear. 

We'll continue to work on the components of opinion writing while focusing on several key reasons to help support our opinions, using linking words and phrases (such as, therefore, because, and,  to...), and most importantly restating our opinions to close our writing with a strong feeling. The children are quickly mastering these skills and are becoming quite proficient at the act of persuasion... so be prepared.

  

We used the O-R-E-O graphic organizer to help us brainstorm our ideas. It was so much more fun singing the RAP song and eating our OREO cookies at the same time.

As you can see Ciaran's opinion about cancelling homework is very clear.

Writing Poetry: I Know a Winter Day...
We have continued to write our seasonal poems using descriptive language, while focusing on using similes, alliterations, personification and perhaps even an onomatopoeia. The student's poems are hanging proudly in our classroom with a personalized photo to demonstrate their favorite line. Using the Green Screen we  acted out our favorite poetic sentence and found a perfect background for each student to help their poetry come alive.

A-C-T-I-O-N

Watching the freezing and feathery snowflakes falling from the paper white sky.

Hiking the gigantic snowy mountains as the sun says hello.

Fables and Folktales:
We started a new unit on Reader's Workshop focusing on fables and folktales. The children have read stories from around the world which we are tracking on our large classroom map. We've identified the story elements of a fable and folktale and are able to identify the similarities and differences between the two. The children have been working hard in their reading groups to track their thinking and identify the elements using a graphic organizer. They have become pros in identifying the main character(s), setting, trickster, fool, personification, the conflict or problem and the lesson or moral of their story. Soon we will be writing and acting out our own fables, so stay tuned.

Math Workshop: Writing our Own Multiplication Stories

After learning our multiplication facts for 2, 5, and 10's tables we used what we had learned and wrote our own Multiplication Stories, Whether you are multiplying the stripes on hockey jerseys or the number of strings on violins we have proven we know our facts. The children learned that multiplication is repeated addition and that multiplication and division are related operations, we like to think of them as "cousins" in our family. The children have played many new games, such as Snowball 100, Number Sticks, Oops and Pizza Bump during our Math Workshop to help solidify their multiplication and related division facts. It's always helpful to practice these facts for a few minutes each night/week to help maintain mastery of all your children have learned.                     We have just begun a unit on the Metric System and are looking forward to a significant snowfall so we can get into our snow gear and measure the depth of snow around the playground using meter sticks.

Science Research: Polar Bear Dioramas

Did you know that polar bears have bellybuttons, they can wait up to 4 hours at a seal's breathing hole ready to pounce on its prey and that a polar bear can smell a seal over 20 miles away? We uncovered so many fascinating facts about our polar bears from reading books, watching National Geographic videos, and participating in a LIVE  Podcast where five educators spoke to us from their snow buggy in the frigid Arctic while polar bears roamed in the background. Our reports are nearly completed, as we focused on uncovering facts about a polar bear's habitat, adaptations that help them survive and their life cycle.

Thank you so much for the wonderful supplies that were donated to help our children create an Arctic habitat for their polar bear research project. The children were eager to get started and were totally engaged as they created their own polar bear dioramas using the information they learned as well as a bit of their imagination. The children even chose to work on their projects during indoor recess because they were so excited. 

Ella learned that mother polar bears dig a den to keep her 2-3 cubs safe from the frigid  cold as well as predators.

Ben's polar bear plans to wait a bit for a seal to pop up for air at its breathing hole.

Emma's polar bear is sneaking up on a seal, with its well padded paws he moves silently toward its prey.

Change is Simple: Pollinators
We can make a difference and we learned how and why it is so important to take care of bees.  Recently we were visited by Change is Simple, a program based in Beverly to help teach students the importance of taking care of our environment and its impact on our lives,  Can you believe there are over 20,000 varieties of bees, luckily we focused on five that live nearby: the honey bee, bumble bee, squash bee, carpenter bee and the sweat bee. Each one helps to pollinate certain flowers and foods that we enjoy...without their help we wouldn't be able to enjoy strawberries, corn and tomatoes. We learned that insecticides confuse the bees and they can't see the plants they need to pollinate.
Change is simple, don't harm bees and protect our delicious food.

Emma, Belle and Katie are "Busy Bees" and are ready to pollinate their favorite plants, but insecticides (bubble wrap)  have affected their vision...will they be successful?

We need to protect our bees so we can eat all these delicious foods!