Friday, September 28, 2012

Peek At The Week

It was so great to meet all of you last night. I had a nice time and I hope you did too!
We had another busy week. Here is a snapshot of what we did.

In Math, we learned two new tens games called Make Ten and Tens Go Fish. These games are meant to help the students with their tens combinations. This is something your child can play with you at home. Ask your child how to play. They liked playing!

In Literacy, we wrote verb poems that describe us. They used great details and are hanging above their lockers, so I hope you got a chance to see them.  We also learned about awesome adjectives by doing a fun puzzle activity with a partner. 
      We completed Frog and Toad are Friends too. We listened to the author Arnold Lobel read the last three stories. The students worked on maps, designed bathing suits for Toad, wrote an ad to sell their special bathing suit, and we learned the 5 parts of a friendly letter. They wrote really sweet letters to me about how much they love second grade so far! They were very touching.

In Science, we continued to learn about amphibians.  Miss P came in to review some facts and we watched our American Toads eat crickets with their sticky tongues. It was very cool! The students named our toads Tom and Jerry. *Check out the fun photos to see some shots of them.
We also learned about the life cycle of a frog and the  5 Burlington amphibians. We made a life cycle wheel and a little booklet.
*The students will be having their test next Wed. October 3rd. Please help them study their facts.

I hope you have an excellent weekend despite the rain. It is a great time to snuggle up with a blanket and a book. :)

-Mrs. Farrand

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Peek at the Week

We have had a great week! I can't believe how fast September is moving!

In Literacy, we have started reading Frog and Toad are Friends. We discussed what it means to be a good friend and we enjoyed reading "Spring" and "The Story" in the book so far. The students really enjoy them! We also have been learning about nouns and verbs. We used puzzles with a partner to find nouns and verbs. It was really fun!

In Math, we used magnifying glasses to examine real coins and talk about the values of each coin.
We learned how to play Collect 25 cents with a partner too. We also worked on counting by having "Pocket Day" and we wrote numbers on counting strips.

In Science, we have been continuing to learn about amphibians. We read about frogs and toads and did a fun Venn Diagram activity to compare them. We also received some special toads from the Science Center. It was very exciting!

In Social Studies, we learned about schools from the past in the United States and how they differ from the schools today. We even learned about how one school in South Korea uses a robot to teach students english. That was very interesting.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and I look forward to meeting you all on Thursday night 9/27.

Mrs. Farrand :)

My Super Students and Me



Friday, September 7, 2012

Four Days Flew By!

We have had a great start to the new school year!! All of the students are working so hard and I am really proud of their effort. We are learning and practicing the routines in the classroom. We also brainstormed our classroom rules and signed our names to agree to follow them.
 
I love reading stories and I am so happy that my students love listening to stories too! One of my favorite books is Odd Velvet. After reading, we had a terrific talk about what it means to treat other people and not judge them before truly getting to know them. We also discussed how we are each valuable, special, and unique. We drew pictures and used different adjectives to describe ourselves. Each child did a nice job!
 
Please look for your child's Backpack Folder today. All of the office documents along with some of our first week's papers can be found inside.
Please return the bright orange blog permission slip by Friday, September 14th.
 
I look forward to meeting many of you at our Open House in a few weeks. Until then, feel free to enter your email at the right of the blog for updates from our classroom blog sent directly to your email.
 
 
Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Farrand :)


Tuesday, September 4, 2012

First Day of School!


Welcome back to a brand new school year! I am so excited to be starting my fifth year teaching second grade. We had a wonderful first day getting to know each other. We met as a whole school in the cafe and talked about our Memorial School Promise and Expectations. We will be discussing and practicing expectations this week as we prepare our learning environment in our classroom. We read the book First Day Jitters and talked about how we felt today. Most of us were very excited!!

Also, Backpack Folders went home today with important paperwork. Please fill out all the forms and return them as soon as possible. On the white form, please make check to make sure everything is correct and make changes if necessary. Thank you for your help in completing the forms.

It is going to be a great year!

Mrs. Farrand :)