Field Trip to the Gloucester Heritage and Maritime Museum

A very special thank you to TESPTO for fully funding our recent field trip to the Gloucester Heritage and Maritime Museum.  The students were totally engaged in learning about the habitat of  ocean animals and how their adaptations help them to survive in their habitats.  They made fish prints, used microscopes to identify zooplankton, (animal) and phytoplankton (plant), handled a myriad of ocean animals at the touch tank and even saw the skeleton of Inland, the humpback whale. 

Special thanks to our four parent chaperones...the children were beautifully behaved and proved themselves capable marine biologists!

Thank you again for your support.   Click on the arrow below to view a few highlights.      

Dear Students,

Please write three to five sentences describing you favorite part of our recent field trip.  Be sure to use at least 5 spelling words from this week's list.

Have fun,

Mrs. Madden

You Can Make a Difference

After reading our biographies, researching important facts, taking notes, organizing our thoughts, writing timelines, dressing as a famous person and practicing our speeches we are now  PROUD  to share all we have learned. 
 Please click on the image below to view our Famous Person Presentation.   We are very GRATEFUL to Mrs. Klipfel for her support and inspiration! Your knowledge of history will be tested, so listen well!  Famous People from Mrs. Klipfel on Vimeo
Dear boys and girls, I am so very proud of your strong research skills,. There is no doubt you will certainly make a difference in the world, just as the famous person you've studied! Please watch the video and click below to write two to three sentences sharing your favorite or most interesting fact you learned by listening to all of the biography reports. I can't wait to read your responses.  Love, Mrs. Madden

Disability Awareness Starts Here!

The children and I would like to extend a special thank you to the D.A.S.H. volunteers who helped us "visualize" how a person with a visual impairment completes ordinary tasks.  The children participated in several scenarios to understand how a blind person would eat, order food from a restaurant, read and write in Braille, play checkers and even walk with a cane or a sighted guide. We learned that a person with a visual impairment enjoys the same things we do, they just have to learn to do the activity in a different way.
Please click on the icon below to watch a slide show of all we've learned this year.

Dear boys and girls,  I am so proud of how motivated and enthusiastic you were to "visualize" what it might be like to have a visual impairment. Please watch the video and write back to me about your most favorite activity or what was the most surprising or interesting fact you learned.  I can't wait to hear all you learned! Just click on the comments below and share your thinking. Your very proud teacher, Mrs. Madden 

Traveling with Ms. Ricard

 

Hi friends!
We are currently on our way down to North Carolina. It says on our GPS that our whole trip will be a total of 803 miles. We are in New York and just went over the Tappan Zee bridge. The GPS (navigation system) says at this point we have traveled 214 miles so far. So if the total miles we have to travel is 803 miles...how many more miles do we have left to travel?
I look forward to hearing from you all!
From,
Ms. Ricard 

Please write Ms. Ricard your solution by clicking below in the comments box.

Fabulous Fables and Folktales

The children recently read a variety of fables and folktales from different cultures, determined the differences & similarities to one another, made comparisons to similar versions, determined the elements of each, decided on the moral, or lesson and finally worked hard to relate that lesson to their own life.  They were thoroughly engaged, and as a final culminating project we have shown all we have learned through our book reports and the Fantastic Fables and Folktales iMovie below. 

Click here for our movie!

  Please be sure to leave a comment below to share your thoughts about our hard work.  

Personification, or the ability for animals to think, act or speak as humans is an element of both fables and folktales.

We reviewed the important elements of retelling a tale, and remembered it's important to restate the question in your answer.

The children have become experts in determining the differences between fables & folktales.

Working with a reading buddy, students identified the key elements in Stone Soup.

Common Core Standards Addressed in this Unit

RL. 2.1 Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.

RL. 2.2 Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral.

RL. 2. 3. Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.

RL. 2.6. Acknowledge differences in the points of view of characters, including by speaking in a different voice for each character when reading dialogue aloud.

RL. 2. 7. Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.

Corresponding College and Career Readiness (CCR) Anchor Standard 

7. Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

RL. 2. 9. Compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story (e.g., Cinderella stories) by different authors or from different cultures.

Snow Day Challengers

Congratulations to those students who participated in the Snow Day Challenge...your work is insightful, accurate and very creative. Remember learning takes place in the world around you...so always keep your eyes open and use your creative imaginations!   Weather Report from Chris Brady on Vimeo.

Megan and her sister Abby report the weather conditions live from their backyard during a record breaking snowfall in Topsfield.  They both have a future in broadcasting...look out Harvey Leonard!

Gavin wrote a multiplication sentence using food coloring.

Cole & Quinn are relaxing after shoveling snow off their trampoline.

Eliza has perfected her measuring skills using a meter stick.

Extra Credit.... Snow Day Challenge

 Looking for something to do on our FIFTH Snow Day?

Here are some challenging ideas or you can use your imagination and think of your own . 

Email me your photos or videos and I'll post them to our blog .

•  Create your own Valentine's Day cards with drawings or photos from the computer or use lace, ribbon and even glitter. 

• Use a meter stick to measure the amount of snow more than one time today. Write a number sentence in the snow showing the difference between the two measurements.  
• Put food coloring & water in a spray bottle and write a multiplication sentence in the snow.
• Look for animal tracks and try to identify the animal from the chart. 
• Pretend to be a reporter and give us an up-to-date forecast of the weather in Topsfield, Massachusetts.
• Build three snowmen at the following measurements: less than one meter, exactly one meter, more than one meter.     

• Fill a container with snow and measure the height in centimeters...now watch the snow melt. Make a prediction...will the height change? Write a number sentence to show the difference.

           

Family Traditions

Happy Thanksgiving Second Graders!

Please read the question below and double-click on the wall.  Fill in your name (first name ONLY) and then answer the question.  Remember to write in complete sentences, use capital letters and correct punctuation.

Created with Padlet

Common Core Standard Addressed: W.2.6

Writing Production and Distribution of Writing
With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.

Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.