Publishing Party!

Picture slideshow I was very disappointed to miss our class Publishing Party this week, but was so happy to hear what a wonderful job all our second grade authors did sharing their stories.  They should feel very proud of their hard work and accomplishments!  A huge thank you to Miss Claire for working her usual magic by stepping in to make sure this special event still took place!  Enjoy the slide show of your amazing children reading their very own masterpieces and have a wonderful vacation!

Valentine's Day and a Publishing Party!

Olivia shared her Discovery Table about origami this week.  She did a fantastic job teaching us about the history of origami and sharing some examples of origami she made.  Everyone had a terrific time creating origami this week at this hands on Discovery Table.  Great job, Olivia!

We had a terrific Valentine's Day party on Tuesday.  We had snacks and juice and spent some time looking through our Valentines.  When we were finished we had a little time to play a short game.

We also celebrated Mohamed and Sophia's birthdays this week.  Mohamed brought in cupcakes and Sophia and her mother showed us some fun pictures and shared Rice Krispie treats.

We were sad to say good-bye to our friend Mohamed on Thursday.  He will be greatly missed, but we are happy and excited for his family to be moving into a home in Burlington.  Mohamed will be attending the Champlain School.

We look forward to our FEED volunteers coming in this Tuesday to help us cut vegetables for the Stone Soup taste test on Wednesday.  A big thank you to them in advance for helping to set up this great experience for our class.

We have been working hard on our Narrative Unit during Literacy.  Everyone is very busy writing and illustrating their stories during Writers Workshop.  We will be finishing them up next week and enjoying a publishing party on Thursday morning.  Please join us at 9:30 on Thursday, February 23rd to celebrate your child's writing accomplishments!

Please be sure to visit the team webpage and sign up for March conferences.  They will be taking place the week of March 12 after school on Monday through Thursday.

Have a great weekend!

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100th Day of School and Hands On Nature

Whew! What a crazy week this has been! On Monday Ben from Mrs. Nakleh's class presented his Discovery Table about magnets.  Tuesday was Vermont Writes Day and our school did a seven minute school wide write about what we saw on the way to school.  Wednesday we celebrated Gracie's birthday and spent the day doing 100th day activities for the 100th day of school!  We had a visit from "Zero the Hero" who, shall we say,  looked a little different this year.  Hmmmm......
Wednesday was also Hands On Nature day.  This month's lesson was about galls.  We learned what a gall is and learned about different types of galls.  The larvae of flies, gnats and wasps live in galls until they develop into an adult.  When they are ready to emerge from the gull, they dig a pathway to get out.  They spend 50 weeks in the gall and only 2 weeks outside the gall before they die!  Ask your child what they learned about galls?
Just a few reminders about our schedule next week.  Monday will be Book Fair preview day, Wednesday will be our purchase day.  Valentine bags are made so your child may bring in their Valentines on either Monday or Tuesday.

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Spring Conference Dates Change and the Camera Memory Chip was Found By Henry!

Dear Parents, There has been a miscommunication around the time frame for offering spring conferences.  We can now offer them closer to the closing of the second trimester (March).  I would like to change the week of conferences from April 9th to the week of March 12th.  I feel this is a more meaningful time which will provide a great opportunity to celebrate your child's progress and provide ample time to implement next steps in their program. Please check the conference sign up wiki on the Firefly team page.  The dates have been changed, but I have left the schedule the same.  If the current time you have signed up for does not work, feel free to choose another time/day that works better for you. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause for you. :) Deb

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Pictures of AJ's Discovery Table

100th Day of School!

AJ did a terrific job sharing his Discovery Table about "Alligators" this week.  He showed us the difference between alligators and crocodiles based on their teeth and the shape of their snout.  He talked about alligators' habitat and eating habits.  Great job, AJ!

Our outreach field trip with Shelburne Farms on Monday was lots of fun. We talked about the types of animals we find in Shelburne and Vermont and learned about the kinds of clues animals leave behind that help us track them.  We went outside and found animals tracks, animal fur and animal skat.

This week's Friday Folder includes a class list for Valentine's Day.  We will be only be exchanging valentines with students in our second grade class.  Please make sure everyone in our class is included if your child decides they want to bring valentines in.  We will have a short party with a special snack in the afternoon on the 14th.  Please send me an email if you are able to send in either a snack or a drink for the party.

Wed., February 8th will be our 100th day of school and a Hands On Nature day.  We will spend the day doing all kinds of special activities focused around these events.

We continued our Narrative Unit during literacy this week with a focus on character traits.  Our Fundations learning focused on double vowel syllables "ai" and "ay" and other ways to make the long a sound.  Our math learning has focused on problem solving and place value.

Beginning next week, our math time will look a little different on Tuesdays.  Our second graders will be grouped with Dragonfly's second graders and students will be split into three groups.  Miss Niles will be teaching one group, I will be teaching another group and one of the math support specialists will be teaching the third group.  Our second math support specialist will support one of the three groups, giving us a second teacher to work with those students.  The purpose of this is to create smaller groups to help us better meet the diverse needs of our students. Once again, this will only occur one day a week.

On Monday, February 13th, our class will be visiting the Book Fair to preview books.  We will return to the Book Fair on Wednesday, February 15th to make our purchases.  Please look for more information about this event in this week's Friday Folder.

On Tuesday, February 21st, Holly Whitcomb and some other parents will be visiting our classroom to have children cut vegetables to be used in project FEED's taste test on Wednesday, February 22nd.  FEED will be giving SCS students an opportunity to try "Stone Soup" on that day.  Please email Holly if you would like to help out with this event.

As you can see, February is a busy month here at school!  Please send me an email if you have an questions about any of the events that are taking place.