Math lesson with Lori Silvas

We had the pleasure of having Lori Silvas, a math specialist from Stowe, come to our classroom today and teach a math lesson. She talked about finding compliments of 5 and 10 using a ten frame card.  We also worked hard at explaining our thinking out loud. This can be a challenging skill and the kids soon realized that Lori didn't accept, "I just know."  Kids really had to explain the relationship between numbers and how they manipulated numbers to find an answer.  We played a fun game called "Shut The Box" using ten frame cards, but you can also play with a regular deck of cards.  All you need are numbers 1-9 and two dice. Ask your child how to play! They had a lot of fun!  

Fire Safety Month

October is Fire Safety month and we were really lucky to have Colchester Firefighters visit our classroom today.  We talked about many fire safety tips.  Some examples are:

     - stop, drop, cover your face, and roll if a piece of your clothing catches on fire

     - if you are in or near a fire, feel surfaces with the back of your hand and crawl along the floor

     - have a meeting place (like a neighbors tree, or your mailbox) with your family if you need to 

        leave your house in a hurry

     - we saw a fireman get all dressed up in his fire gear and he showed us how he crawls through

       a house looking for people.  Call out loudly when you hear someone.

     - we were even able to look at a fire truck and sit inside it!

We had a fantastic visit and we learned a lot!!  Here are some photos from our presentation.

Burnham Library Field Trip

We are walking to the Burnham Library on Thursday, October 24th after lunch recess.  The weather is starting to change so please make sure that your is dressed appropriately with a jacket, shoes that can get wet, an umbrella (if you have one that is child friendly), mittens or a hat if necessary, and their library card (although the Burnham Librarians can look it up in their computer)   This is a great field trip and we are all excited!

UMS Book Fair

This week, Mrs. Flanagan is hosting the Scholastic book fair in the library.  We were able to visit the book fair this morning and "preview" the books.  Everyone made a wish list of 3 books that interested them.  We did talk about how these books are just wishes, not something that parents are guaranteed to buy.

If you are interested in purchasing books, you can stop by the book fair after school tonight (Tuesday, October 22) or tomorrow (Wednesday. October 23) from 6:30-7:30 p.m.  Or you can send money or a check made out to UMS PTO with your child and I'll send them to the book fair during the school day!

Four Winds

We had a great day today learning about ecosystems with Four Winds!  Jenn and Sarai came to Room 9 and we took a close look at how bugs and other insects use leaves!  We watched a puppet show, classified 6 types of ways that insects eat or use leaves with a picture sort, and then we went on a leaf scavenger hunt! We had so much fun!

Balance and Motion

We have started a new science unit about balance and motion.  We learned today that something is balanced if it has equal weight on both sides.  We tried balancing on one foot and we talked about how holding our arms out can help distribute the weight and make balancing easier.  We then tried balancing cardboard "crayfish" on our fingers.  We even added clothespins as counterweights.  Here are some photos from our explorations.

 

Tuberville

The second graders planted potato seeds late last spring (as first graders) and we harvested them today with the help of Mr. Perkins.  Everyone picked three potatoes and then we donated them to the food bank right next door.  Everyone was so appreciative and we had a great time!