Halloween News

Happy Halloween!

Just a Friendly Reminder... 

our Halloween Party is scheduled for 

Friday, October 30th from 2:00-3:00. 

Please send your child's costume with their name on all pieces 

to avoid any lost items. 

 Please save all props for Trick-or-Treating on Saturday.

Parents are welcome to join us during our classroom celebration.

A very special thank you to our Room Mothers and all the families that donated delicious goodies as well as their time to support our children.

Happy Halloween,

Mrs. Madden

Thank You Parents

Dear Parents,

Thank you so much for visiting your child's classroom during our recent Parent Seminar. Although the evening was warm I hope you learned more about the year ahead for your child. It was a pleasure to meet each of you and I am so thankful for those who volunteered their time to help support our classroom events and initiatives. If you were unable to sign up as a Mystery Reader and would still enjoy that opportunity, feel free to send me a message and I'll be happy to respond with available dates. Our Mystery Readers visit most Fridays from 2:30-3:00. I look forward to a year of collaboration and learning.
Thank you for your support,
Lena Madden

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 

Famous Person Celebration

The children have become true experts as they have conducted extensive research on a famous person who has made a difference in the world.  Each student has chosen a person they were interested to learn more about and after several weeks of research we are nearing completion.  We are very proud to be putting together a classroom celebration to show you all we have learned.  Please join us on Wednesday, April 15th at 9:15 in our classroom for an opportunity to learn more about your child's work.

Shhhh... We need a bit of assistance from each family so that we can surprise you with a final project.  Would you kindly help your child to put together a "costume" to help portray their person.  By no means should anyone purchase any items, "dress up clothes" are perfect for our classroom event.  In  most cases Dad's vest or Mom's skirt are perfect items to make our famous person come alive. Please send in your child's costume (in a labeled bag) no later than Wednesday, April 1st for a "secret project."  All items will be returned home and your child will be able to come to school dressed as their famous person on April 15th for our Famous Person Celebration. 

We have coordinated with the fourth grade Proctor teachers so that families

with both second graders and fourth graders will be able to attend both grade-level celebrations on April 15th.  Our Famous Person Celebration will run from 9:15-9:45 approximately, and the Fourth Grade Wax Museum begins at 9:15 and ends at 10:45. I hope this accommodation will put your mind at ease so you can support your children as they share all they have learned.

Thank you as always for your support from home,

Mrs. Madden

 

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

The children recently celebrated Theodore Geisel's birthday with our classroom Read-In. Wearing pajamas and slippers we snuggled in cozy spots around our classroom and read our favorite Dr. Seuss books.  We invited Ms. Sideri's first graders and enjoyed our time together with our new reading buddies.  We are very grateful to my friend and former principal, Mrs. O'Leary for being our Surprise Reader to kick off Dr. Seuss' birthday. My Many Colored Days has fast become a new classroom favorite.  Our classroom door has been decorated with a Dr. Seuss theme and each of the students has written what they hope to become one day. I have no doubt your children will achieve their dreams to solve global warming, become professional sports athletes, marine biologists, veterinarians, and mechanical engineers. Please stop by and read their aspirations.Thank you everyone for supporting our love for reading!

Click on the picture below to watch !

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.

           

Welcome to Our Classroom Ms. Ricard

As you can see the children and I are very excited to welcome Ms. Ricard, a student teacher from Endicott College to our classroom.  Ms. Ricard will be working in our classroom full time through early May and on her first day has already read with the children, acted as a writing coach and assisted the children with their math and science work.  I am thrilled to have such an enthusiastic, flexible and competent educator!  More news to come in the days ahead....

Welcome to our classroom, Ms. Ricard! 

Snow Days

Hi boys and girls,
    W-O-W...can you believe how much snow has fallen in just a few days? I guess our "snow dance"  really worked after all. I hope you are all safe and enjoying these two snow days with your families.  I've been shoveling lots of fluffy snow, but I have to admit I've enjoyed being outside in the fresh air.  My favorite activity was when I went cross country skiing in my backyard.  The snow was deep and  light so it was a bit tricky. Today the sun is shining and it was thrilling to be outside, I was especially  surprised when I saw deer, rabbit and fox tracks along the trails.  I wonder how difficult it must be  for the animals to survive in such a strong blizzard?  I look forward to our next science lesson when  we can discuss animal adaptations, particularly about the animals that live all around us.

   Here are a few photos from my backyard. Please write back to me and tell me what snow activities you've been doing these last few days.  Maybe you could measure how much snow is in your backyard and include it in your letter. Just click on the comment block below and tell me all about your snow adventures. :)

Love and miss you!
Mrs. Madden

Nearly 3 feet or almost 1 meter of snow has fallen in my backyard!

Be sure to wear your snow gear this week, because we will be estimating and measuring the snowfall using our meter sticks. What a perfect way for us to learn about the metric system!

Here I go... I'm ready for cross country skiing in the woods.

Thank goodness the temperature was so cold so the snowfall was light and fluffy...which made it so much easier to shovel.

Can you find the Adirondack chairs?  I bet "white crayon" would be very tired!

There are rabbits that live in the pine trees behind our shed.  I hope they've burrowed down deep and are warm and toasty.  I hope to see fresh rabbit tracks in the snow soon!

Holly Jolly December

Halloween Celebration

Our Halloween Celebration is planned for Friday, October 31st from 10:00-11:00.  Children are invited to bring their Halloween costumes to school, please label all belongings so they can be returned for their Trick-or-Treating adventures later that evening. Please leave any props at home so they will not be accidentally left at school. Thank you in advance to the families who have agreed to donate healthy treats and supplies for our classroom celebration. Parents are welcome to join us if you are available.  A very special thank you to our Room Mother, Mrs. J. for organizing what promises to be a memorable celebration.

Click on the link below to help remind your children to be safe during the Halloween season.

Halloween Safety Tips

 

We are Entomologists!

We began our research skills this year with a focus on insects, as a culminating activity the children wrote a mini-research report, drew their insects and using their first person voice spoke as their insect, and finally recited a poem by Ethel Jacobson, called Insects' World. 

Please click on the image below to hear and watch all we have learned.

Dear Parents and students,
Please click on the "No Comments" button below and share two new facts you learned from our entomologists.  Be sure to click on PUBLISH and leave your first names only!

The children were captivated while they watched and listened to each insect report. 

Cole learned that the horn tail wasp is related to the termite and doesn't sting people.

Mia's  butterfly has left for her long migration to Mexico..."tootles!"