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.