Pajama Day on Thursday!

We have been working hard on rewarding good behavior! Each time I notice someone being kind, thoughtful, respectful, and industrious, they earn the class a "warm fuzzy".  After we earn 100 warm fuzzies, we earn a special celebration! Well, I'm pleased to announce that after a week and a half,  we have earned our first 100 warm fuzzies! Woo Hoo! To celebrate, the students have decided that they would like a pajama day on Thursday, Dec. 22nd. Students can wear comfortable clothes or warm winter jammies that are appropriate for going outside. They are also invited to bring a small stuffed animal to school that day.  The stuffed animal needs to be small enough to fit in their backpack and not be a distraction (no lights, noises, toys etc...) We will spend our last school day of 2016 comfortable and cozy!

Gingerbread Houses

Today we made gingerbread houses out of bakery boxes! The students had a lot of fun and their creations were adorable!  Each student received a bag of candy to eat and use as inspiration as they worked on their masterpiece! Here are just a few photos from our afternoon!

ECHO Field Trip

Oh My Goodness! I thought I posted these pictures before Thanksgiving break!  I'm so sorry! We had a fabulous field trip! Here are some pictures from our adventure.

Tissue Boxes for the Library

Hi Families!

Here is a quick request from Ms. Hebert, our librarian.

Calling All Tissue Boxes!

The UMS library is in need of MANY empty rectangular tissue boxes to use as shelf blocks.  These will be placed behind smaller books on shelves to prevent them from being pushed back too far for children to easily reach.  Please consider sending in your empty boxes with your students-- we could use as many as 50!  Thank you in advance for any help you can provide!

Narrative Writing

In writing, we have been working on narratives. (2.W.3)  A narrative is a story about an event in your life.  We are learning to add details and feelings with a reaction. For example, "I was so excited when I saw the first snowflake fall from the sky that I jumped up and down and clapped my hands!   We will learn how to wrap up our stories with interesting endings this week. 

UMS November Conferences!

I just wanted to let you know that UMS conference sign-ups go “live’ on Monday, October 31, 2016 at 8:30 a.m.  You can go to the UMS website and click on “Useful Links” and conference sign-ups are under the section entitled “Other Resources”.  Conferences will be held on Monday, November 21^st from 11:00 a.m.- 7:00 p.m. and Tuesday, November 22^nd from 8:00 a.m. – noon.  Please remember that each child gets one 20 minute time slot, so please plan accordingly! I look forward to seeing you and talking about your child’s growth!!!  Have a fabulous weekend!

Fire Safety

October is Fire Safety month and today Colchester firefighters came to UMS to teach us about ways to be safe. We talked about how to call the fire department, what to do if we have a fire in our house,  setting a meeting place outside your house to meet your family, and if you get a spark or flame on your clothes, you need to stop, drop, cover your face, and roll.   The kids had so many amazing questions! They loved seeing the firefighters all dressed up in all of their gear.

Balance and Motion

Our Science unit this trimester is Balance and Motion. We've talked about how to make an object balance and that there should be equal weight on both sides to make an object stable.  We"ve done a few experiments where we added counterweights to an object to make it balance. Some of our new vocabulary words are counterweight, balance, gravity, and stable. Here are some pictures from our hands on time.

UMS Book Fair

Next week, October 17-Oct.20, Ms. Hebert is hosting the UMS Scholastic Book Fair in the library.  Kids will preview the book fair on Monday and have the opportunity to buy on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  You can send money in with your child or you are welcome to come in with them. There are also a few evenings that you can come and purchase books.  Here is a link for the scholastic book fair.

http://www.scholastic.com/bf/unionmemorialschool

Reading Workshop - Character Analysis

In reading workshop we are working on story elements.  We have been discussing the main character of a book. (RL 2.3), their outside appearance, as well as what is inside the character (their thoughts, feelings, attitudes, and behaviors).  We read the book Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes and made a chart of Chrysanthemum's appearance.  We then read Lily's Purple Plastic Purse and Owen also by Kevin Henkes and we discussed the main character's traits on the inside. For example, we discussed that Lily is spunky, she loves fashion, she adores her teacher Mr. Slinger, she sometimes doesn't follow rules, and she can have a bad temper, but she always apologizes for her mistakes,  We are learning that characters have inside and outside traits, and if we pay attention to these traits, it will help us understand the story better!

Carrot Harvest

In the spring of first grade, students planted carrot seeds.  Yesterday, the second graders got to pick the carrots! After we picked them , we donated them to the Colchester Food Shelf next door. The students were so excited to see the fruits of their labor! Here are some pictures of our adventures!

OPEN HOUSE: 

Our fall open house will be held on Thursday, October 6 from 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM. This is an opportunity for the students and their families to come and see some of the wonderful learning that’s been happening since the start of the year. This is a very informal event and I look forward to seeing you!  We always have a great turnout at nightly events, so parking is usually an issue. Claussen’s allows us to use their parking lot in the evening to help ease the demand. Also, we will be running a shuttle from Creek Farm Plaza. The shuttle will run continuously from 6:15 PM until 7:45 PM. Please park near Partner Tire as to not take spaces for the businesses that are still open at this time.

Friendship and Community

We have been working hard on creating a caring and friendly classroom environmen over the last few weeks.  We've read LOTS of great books, completed some fun group,activities, and we've even done a few experiments! We've talked a lot about the power of our words and the ability we all have to help each other.  Here are some photos from our fun!

Reading Stations

We've been practicing some of our reading stations this week. We've worked on handwriting, silent reading, short vowels and rhyming, as well as logging into Google Chrome and signing into Raz-Kids.  We worked hard on quiet quick transitions between groups and staying focused and increasing our "work stamina"' at each station.  We will certainly start to work on harder second grade skills, start reading groups, and the kids will even start their own blog! We've had a great week so far!

Bus Safety with Mrs. McCleary

Mrs. McCleary came in today to teach us about how to ride the bus safely. She went over the parts of the bus as well as certain safety features like the emergency exits, the crossing bar, the flashing stop sign, the multiple lights on the back of the bus, and the safety rear view mirrors.  We then took a walking tour around the bus to actually point out the safety features and then we rode to Creek Farm Plaza and back so we could practice sitting with our backs against the seat, our legs in, and quiet voices.    Here are some photographs of her presentation!

Getting Ready.....

I've been busy getting our classroom ready for a fabulous new year! I've labeled cubbies and book boxes, the art supplies and pencils are organized, and our book nook is ready for reading! I'm

putting the finishing touches all around so

that our classroom feels like home! We will spend a lot of time together this year so I want everyone to work hard, learn lots of new things, cheer each other on, and try our best.  Here are some pictures of our classroom. I look forward to seeing everyone in Room 9 on Tuesday, August 30th, from
8:00 - 9:00 a.m. for our informal Open House. The first full day of second grade is Wednesday, August 31st!  YEAH!!

Another Year Done

We had a fabulous year and I will truly miss this class! Each student has such a kind and caring heart. We've worked hard and learned a lot! Here is a picture of my crew "graduating" to third grade.  Have a fabulous summer and please come back and visit!

                                                                       Summer swag!