ECHO Science Center

We had a great field trip to the ECHO Science Center today!!  We were able to touch starfish, watch a movie on how Lake Champlain was formed, dig for fossils, look at turtles, sturgeon, and frogs, and climb a shipwreck!  We also had a special presentation entitled "Wetland Wonders" which taught us all about the various marine life that live in the wetlands that feed into the Lake. We also talked about how wetlands help communities!  Here are some photos from our adventures today!

 

Math Workshop!

Our math workshop model is finally up and running! We start each math lesson with a 30 minute whole group lesson.  We review yesterday's skill and then I introduce our new learning material.  After our whole group lesson and practice, the kids rotate through 2 stations a day.  Each station lasts for 15 minutes.  One station is meeting with me to review the days lesson and practice any number skills that need strengthening like place value, counting money, or telling time.  Another station is independent practice where each child has a folder full of independent math work that they can practice such as simple addition, subtraction, and skip counting.  The third station is technology where the students use an iPad or chrome book to play a math game or use Dreambox. The last station is the hands-on station where students play a math game that reinforces the skills we have been working on. We've worked really hard on setting up classroom expectations so that the students understand what their objective is at each station.  Here are some pictures from our math stations in action!

Here is our math station board. It tells what the activity is for each station as well as what the daily rotation is.

 

Here are some students hard at work at my desk.

Here is some students playing "Boo Bump" for the Hands-On station.

 

For technology, the students were playing a Math Bingo app that worked on addition, subtraction, money, and place value.

Here are some students working on their independent math folders. They each get to chose the worksheet that they would like to complete.

September Reading Challenge!

Today was the day to wrap up our September reading challenge!  Everyone who brought in a completed reading homework assignment earned a snazzy pair of sunglasses!  The kids were super excited so we decided to take some pictures!

Reading Time!

We have been workingvery hard to build up our second grade reading stamina! We've talked a lot about how to pick  "Good Fit" books that we understand and can hold our interest!  We are already able to silent read for 20 minutes!  Our goal is to be able to read for 30 minutes and I feel confident that we will get there soon! Here are some photographs of us reading around the room!

Constitution Day

Wednesday, September 17th,  was Constitution Day! We learned all about the Constitution, which is an important document that lists the rules for our Country.  We had a whole school assembly and Mrs. Howard's class taught us some facts about the Constitution. We also celebrated the 200th anniversary of the "Star Spangled Banner".  Here are some photos from our assembly.

Harvesting Carrots!

Last year, the first grade classes planted carrot seeds in the field next to school.  Today we harvested the super huge carrots! Everyone had an opportunity to use their muscles to pull a carrot out of the ground! When we were done, we donated the carrots to the Colchester Food Shelf.  Everyone was really excited to see the finished product from their hard work last spring and the Food Shelf was very greatful for the donation!  A special thank you goes out to Mrs. Perkins for organizing and taking care of this project from start to finish!!!  Here are some photographs from our morning!

Loren Long's Visit

We had a great visit from Loren Long today! He is the author and illustrator of the famous and fun "Otis" books. Loren shared his brand new story "Otis and the Scarecrow". He talked about his writing process, where he gets his ideas from, and how he creates his illustrations. The students were enthralled and they were a very respectful audience.  He mentioned a website called otisthetractor.com and there are numerous games and interviews for students to watch.  Here are some photos from our afternoon!