Wrapping up a great year

It's hard to believe ten months have gone by. We spent a lot of time reflecting on the year as we reread family letters in our Friday Notebooks, perused the pages of our memory books and realized our progress from the reader response journals and the portfolios from kindergarten and first grade!

It was a busy June!

After receiving letters back from our third grade buddies, we were excited to meet them. At Russell Street we toured the school, had lunch and recess with our buddies and hung out in the awesome outdoor classroom!

We had fun with math and science outside with our bottle flipping challenge and second grade scavenger hunt.

We said good-bye to our Kindergarten buddies by making a summer bucket list together then enjoying some Popsicles.

The second ice-cream social was a big hit!

Among all the fun and laughter there have been a few tears too as it can be hard to say good-bye. Henry and I have loved this class and we will miss each and every member. xoxo

Love, Mrs. Holm

 

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Learning about our world

Culture and geography are part of our social studies curriculum but we explore these themes in other subject areas too.

Our reading series, Journeys, offers many cultural connections. This was a project tied in with a story titled, A Goat in the Rug.

Our world landmark research project is always a student favorite. This year's 3D models were very creative!

Our geometry lessons helped when it came time to construct the models.

 

The Dog Who Dug for Dinosaurs story led us into fossil research. Do you know where the best fossil hunting sites in the US are? These are some fossil imprints we made.

 

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Learning inside and out

FIELD TRIPS

STEM FIELD TRIP to Roller Kingdom.

We learned about friction and the elements that impact its force and speed. We worked in groups to disassemble and reassemble part of a skate, then tried out the lessons about force and speed on the rink!

NEW ENGLAND AQUARIUM

This trip invited us into the underwater habitats of tide pools, coral reefs, rivers, lakes and oceans.

The penguin exhibit was one of our favorites. Earlier in the year we studied penguins and made our own rookery.

OUTDOOR CLASSROOM DAY

 

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What's your superpower?

What makes a hero? Strength? A cape? X-ray vision?

We read Dex the Heart of a Hero and came up with our own list of heroic traits. Students made the powerful point that a hero helps everyone, not just his friends.

Our discussions, stories and activities helped us to define heroic traits as those you often can't see on the outside but rather what's on the inside that counts.

A touching video about spreading kindness inspired our superpowers.

https://youtu.be/nwAYpLVyeFU

We've just started writing stories about our heroic adventures.

Thanks to the generosity of the Cultural Council, the LEA and our PTA, we've enjoyed the talents of some amazing performers.

A magician shared the power of communication and how to connect with others without using words.

We welcomed back storyteller, Ms. Lovett to break down the elements of creating and telling stories. Ask your child about FRED!

We tried our hand (or fingers) at puppet shows after Ms. Lovett's visit.

Collecting and graphing data is the name of the game in math. Here we are surveying classmates.

We're excited to have Miss Lavallee, a senior at LHS, working with our class on Thursday afternoons.

Ask your child how to play KNOCK OFF THE CLOCK.

Our most recent COMMUNITY MEETING coincided with pajama day! As we sat comfortably listening to Mrs. Kane and Kid President talk about RESPECT, we learned of a fun project to support students at Russell Street School during MCAS testing.

The Power of Words.

In the story The Signmaker's Assistant, Norman saw how important signs were. He watched as people read them and followed their directives. We put in our very best effort to color these inspirational signs with the hopes that people will read them and feel inspired by their positive messages.

Make today a great day!

 

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Exploring characters, math tools

Recognize these people?

Our biography units is one of my favorites. While practicing the reading skills of reading for information, making connections, sequencing events and providing supporting evidence from the text, students are learning about amazing individuals.

These biographies reveal true stories about the power of perseverance, often in the presence of adversity.

It was exciting to hear "Betsy Ross" wonder aloud if she might have known "George Washington". "Nancy Kerrigan" and "Michelle Kwan" we're excited to learn they were friends in real life.

I heard many "me too" connections when students shared about their famous person's family life and struggles or successes in school.

Reading about HELEN KELLER opened our biography unit. Thanks to our generous PTA, we were able to welcome Sheryl Faye back to Shaker Lane to present her portrayal of Helen Keller.

Ask your student who this service dog is!

 

 

 

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Play, Mark, Celebrate!

WOW...what a week! We started out with Global Play Day. This initiative began in 2015 with over 177,000 registered students partipating. The event promotes unplugged, unstructured play in schools. This year, over 385,000 students from 58 nations participated.

Pokemon battles and trips to the veterinary hospital and salon were some of the popular activities in our class.

Tuesday marked the 100th Day of School.

Students were welcomed into the second grade hallway through a 100 portal!

Some children dressed up like 100 year olds!! We all enjoyed exploring the number 100 in different ways throughout the day. Ask your child about the story, How to Babysit a Grandpa.

Wednesday welcomed Valentine's Day! This day reminds us to let our family and friends know how special they are. We made cards for our families and our Book Buddies. Later in the day we opened Valentines from classmates.

Amidst all this excitement, we continue to read our biographies and work on our reports and timelines. We're focusing on character traits and finding supporting evidence in the text. Everyone seems excited to bring in their posters on Friday!

 

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STEAM DAY

Full STEAM ahead!

Second Grade held their first full STEAM day.

The CHALLENGE was to build a raft that would float, hold a small tiger figure (Shakey), and support him in an upright position while waves shook the raft.

Teams were tasked to work together to plan, design, construct, test and resign if necessary.

Parent volunteers, students from the middle school, Dr. Klenchy, Mrs. Kane and even Shakey himself were on hand to offer advice and encouragement!

The STEAM teams documented their efforts by taking pictures on an iPad and creating PicCollages using an app. Everyone uploaded their collage to their Google Drive to keep a copy. Be sure to check out your child's collage in his/her drive account!

 

 

 

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