Photos!!

I'm so glad that I got back some of the permission slips to put your children's pictures on our blog.  It makes it so much more interesting to read!!!  If you haven't yet, please send back the form.  

I will try to get a picture of each child who sent back the form on to the blog very soon...I know the kids will be excited to see their pictures!!

Hope everyone is having a great day off! :)

Mapping Unit

A few months back, the kids worked in small groups to create maps of the outside of the school. 

                                                       

                                                     Lolita and Stavrina working on a map of the basketball court.

                                                         Aidan and team decided they needed to do
                                                        do laps of the sprinkler park to decide how
                                                        big to draw that area.

                                                    Keely & Benjamin hard at work!!

                                                       Aidan & Charlotte debating....

                                                        Another group busy at work!

Better late than never!!! 

Wishing we could still do outside activities in short sleeves!!!

Puppets!

Brad came to work with us on the last 2 Mondays.
On his first visit, we learned what a puppet is and how to make a paper puppet.
On his second visit, we learned how to make our puppets come alive and we learned how to put on a puppet show!

Here are a few of the shows...

I am very excited to see Brad's puppet performance tomorrow morning!!

Balancing!

Our science unit is Weighing and Balancing!
We've been very busy experimenting with balancing.
Here are some pictures......

Mikayla building & balancing a mobile

Alex did it too!

                                                                Zac is double balancing!

Wish List

                                 **Room 9's Wish List** 

Bandaids 

Small bathroom size cups (for getting drinks in the classroom...eliminates wasted time walking down to water fountain!)

Cups & Napkins (for passing out snack) 

Lysol disinfecting aerosol spray (for getting rid of whatever germs are floating around Room 9 and getting everyone sick!!) 

Extra Snacks (for our many picky eaters!  Crackers of any type or individually wrapped snacks such as granola bars, goldfish)

Thank you!!! :)  

Happy New Year!!

We've had a busy start to the new year in Room 9! 

We started last Monday morning with Brad from the Puppet Showplace Theater in Brookline.  The kids LOVED making puppets with him!  Today Brad came back and the kids made their puppets come alive!  Their puppets will be sent home soon.

Thank you for your support and help with practicing spelling words at home.  I am so happy with the check-in that we did on Friday!  Everyone did great!!  At the end of the month, we will share our data from this new way of teaching spelling with the other teachers at Thompson.  It's really showing a great improvement  in children by individualizing work to their level.

The kids are sharing their published stories to the class.  It's such a nice time when the kids are able to share their work and hear compliments from other students.  We will start up with Writer's Workshop tomorrow.  The students will begin a new story organizer on a new topic from their homework sheet.

Each child picked a New Year's Resolution to work on at school in 2011.  What thoughtful and accurate ideas our students came up with.  We have some ambitious goals to work on! Look for the second grade bulletin board coming soon.....

In Math, we started a unit on time, timelines, and patterns.  We are working on further looking at the calendar, fact families, and math facts. Today Ms. Ferola read Ms. Rumphius and tomorrow we will create a timeline of her life.  Next week, we will organize a timeline of Martin Luther King's life. 
Thank you for all of the work that you did to help your child fill out the homework sheet last week.  They will pick the most important events to them and then create a timeline of these events.  I can't wait to see the finished products!

I would love to begin to include photos in our blog!  I sent home a note today (on peach paper) in your child's folder asking if you give/do not give permission of photos of your child on our blog.  Please send it back as soon as possible.

I will send out an email tomorrow letting you know about the status of our field trip.... It's looking like it's going to be postponed :(

Happy New Year!
    Nicole

Happy December!

I can't believe it's already December!

I've enjoyed meeting with many of you for conferences already.  I look forward to meeting with the rest of you this week and next.

This morning we started something new.  It's called Think About it.  When the students break a rule, they need to fill out one of these papers.  They are becoming more responsible for their actions.  We are hoping this will hold them accountable for being more respectful and follow the rules more often.  If they need to fill out a paper, a copy will be sent home so that you are aware of their behaviors in the classroom. 

We started our journey around the world on Friday!  Each student got their very own passport.  We took a bus ride to Boston.  We set the chairs up in 2 columns and had a bus snack!  We then went on Google Earth and started at Thompson and zoomed in to South Station.  We looked at some pictures around Boston.  Today we read Tammy Does Boston.  It's a picture book with great illustrations of Boston landmarks.  Next stop:  Logan Airport.  We will continue our adventure around North America!

In Math, we finished our study of geometry and are reviewing fractions.  Most students are quickly remembering what they learned in first grade.  We will be working on equivalent fractions and some projects around symmetry.   We also had our first mix-up math on Friday.  The kids enjoyed working with the other second graders in leveled groups.

In Science, we are continuing to study frogs.  Our tadpoles are growing back legs!  The kids are doing on-going observations of the tadpoles.  

In reading, we will begin working on a character study of Stuart Little.  We are almost done with the Read Aloud.  The kids really enjoy listening to such a great story!

As always, please email me with any questions or concerns.
Thank you,   
   Nicole