UMS In The Eyes of Second Graders Part 2

Here is the second installment!  I asked 5 new friends to take a picture of their favorite spot in UMS!  Enjoy!

Madison C.



The writing center is Madison's favorite place at UMS!  She said, "I love to draw

pictures and write stories.  I usually write about dogs."

Bridget F.

Bridget said, "The library is my favorite place at UMS because I get to pick awesome books.

Franklin is one of my favorite series!"

Adem B.

Adem thought for a moment and responded, "The gym is my favorite space at UMS.

I like it because Mr. T. sets up stations and we can play tag.  P.E. is so much fun!"

Megan S.

Megan had to really pause for a moment and then decided that she didn't have just ONE

favorite place.  She said, "I don't have a favorite place, there are lots of places that I like. 
The art room is fun because  I really enjoy art. It gives me something to do if I am mad

or need time to myself.  My parents also think I am pretty good at it."  (Since there was a

class in the art/music room, Megan took a picture of the mural in the hallway)

Carlton P.

Carlton's favorite place at UMS is any computer lab! Carlton said, "My favorite thing to do

at UMS is to have computer time.  I like computer time because I like breaks.  My favorite game to

play is called Wooden Path."



Second Grade Switcharoo!

This week the second grades are switching around!  In an effort to teach more and assess less, Mrs. Howard, Mrs. Thibault, and I have decided to move things around!  Today, Mrs. Thibault spent the day quietly assessing her students one by one. While she was busy testing in her classroom, half of her kiddos came to our room for the day!  Everyone was very excited for our new friends to join us!  We had a great day full of reading, math games, and lots of learning!  Tuesday and Wednesday will be our normal boring routine but on Thursday will we switch things up again! This time Mrs. Howard is going to spend the day testing while we get half of her kiddos.  I have more fun activites planned for everyone.  Friday is my day to test so I will split my kiddos in half. One group will go to Mrs. Howard's for the day and the other half will spend the day with Mrs. Thibault!  This will hopefully help us finish our reading assessments by next week!  The kids had a blast today and we are all excited for Thursday!  If you have any questions, please email me at marshallc@csdvt.org .

UMS In The Eyes of Second Graders

In my hopes of becoming more technologically savvy, I have started to teach the students how to take pictures with my digital camera.  Now, you can probably also hear most of them say, "Mrs. Marshall, I already KNOW how to use a digital camera!"  Everyone was very sweet to indulge my teaching anyway. 

That being said, each child will have a chance in the next few weeks to take a picture of their favorite spot at UMS and tell me a few words about it.  Everyone is very excited for this project and I think it is a great way to end our year!!  Remember, I love comments so feel free to leave one!

Kevin C.

 Kevin's favorite spot is the book nook in our classroom.  He says, "It is lots of fun to read in

there. Math books are my favorite kind of books to read."

Jerry C.

 Jerry thought for a moment and said, "I like the rug area in our classroom the best. 

I sit there every day and I always have fun when I am sitting with my friends."

Griffin P.

Griffin could immediately tell me that his favorite spot in UMS was the library. 

"I love the library because there are lots of interesting books on animals. I like to read."

Grace B.

 Grace was very excited to take a picture of the book nook in our classroom.

She said, "I love the book nook the best because I LOVE to read!  There are so many

interesting books in there!  Mallory on the Move is one of my favorite books this year."

Ellie B.

Ellie was also quick to respond that the library was her favorite spot at UMS. 

"I love the library. It is my favorite place at UMS. I love to read and Mrs. Flanagan

has great books in the library.  I have read a lot of them!"

Suggestions

I am still looking for any suggestions or ideas of things you would like me to include on our classroom blog!  Your input is so valuable to me!  You can write your ideas right on this blog on the comment section or you can email them to me at marshallc@csdvt.org .  Thanks for your help!i

Red Clover Author Visits UMS

Jason Chin, the author of the Red Clover nominated book Redwoods, visited our school on Friday, April 29th.  The students had the opportunity to spend an hour with Mr. Chin and listen about how he created his book. He shared the story of how he came up with the idea of writing about the redwood forests while he was riding on a subway.  He then showed us many pictures of his researching trip to the west coast. The students had an opportunity to ask questions and then Mr. Chin did some impromptu art for everyone. He is an amazing artist! Here are some pictures from his visit.   (A note of thanks to Mrs. Flanagan for organizing this amazing opportunity.)

All the second graders are listening to Mr. Chin describe his drawing idea.

Mr Chin started the sentence "I stepped off the subway and landed in ____."  With lots of help, Mr. Chin settled on China.  He used our friend Ben B. as his model for the little boy in the picture. Does the little boy look like Ben?

The picture is a work in progress and Mr. Chin has had a lot  of help from the students about things you might see in China such as the Great Wall of China, a dragon, a monkey, and a panda bear.  Good team work second grade friends!

The drawing is almost done! Mr. Chin is putting on the finishing touches. Can you see all of the students' suggestions in the illustrations?

What a wonderful audience!!

UMS School Musical

We are blessed to have Ms. Mutz as our music teacher. She worked with all the students at UMS to present tthe musical The Bear Went Over The Mountain just before April break. The kids worked super hard and had a great time. Here are a few photos that I managed to take during the craziness just before our performance!!  Look at how cute everyone looks!