Read Across America Week!!

What a fun, fantastical week we had!!

    In culmination of our month long tribute to Dr. Seuss, SMS went out in style celebrating Read Across America Week! I think it's safe to say, our Owl class loves reading just as much as Dr. Seuss himself!!

    On Monday, our week started off with Fox in Socks Day! After reading the tongue-twisting story, students spent the morning showing off their own fun socks, designing a new sock, and practicing alliteration with crazy sentences!

     In the afternoon, after a special guest reading by Lily's dad of Bartholomew and the Oobleck, it was time to explore some science and discover, "Just what is Oobleck?" This messy experiment required a LOT of exploring!

     Is Ooblek a liquid or a solid? Turns out, it can be both! To make your own Oobleck mixture at home, mix 2 cups cornstarch with 1 cup water (food coloring is optional!).
    On Tuesday, we celebrated Cat in the Hat Day by reading the classic story and sporting our favorite (or wackiest!) hats.

     While wearing our own hats was fun, we paid tribute to the iconic Cat's hat, by creating torn paper construction hats in preparation to wear on Friday for our "Drop Everything and Read" Celebration.

          On Wednesday, kids came into the class and found things were quite wacky! 

     First, we read the lesser known Dr. Seuss book (the use of his Theo LeSieg pen name threw us off!) Wacky Wednesday. Then, they set off to locate all the wacky things they found around the classroom---boy were there some strange things they came across!

    Thursday was Theodore Geisel Day (Dr. Seuss' real name!) and students came to school dressed as a favorite book character! We saw several Dr. Seuss favorites, such as the Cat in the Hat, Thing 1, and Max from How the Grinch Stole Christmas, as well as many contemporary favorites like the Zombie Goldfish, Harry Potter, and Goldilocks! The fun just never stops!

Look! Fly Guy flew into our picture!!

    Earlier in the week, after hearing Mr. Goldsmith read some Fox in Sock tongue twisters over the annoucements, 2AA decided to challenge him to read the even twistier book Oh, Say Can You Say! Today, they were completely blown away by Mr. Goldsmith, I mean Big Anthony's, reading! Bravo!!

    As if that wasn't enough, after lunch we had another special guest arrive! During our read aloud, Fancy Nancy herself popped in and read us one of her favorite stories! What a treat!

    While we were sad to see it end, we ended our great week with a wonderful, curl up and read day. Sporting their comfy clothes, students snuggled up with pillows and stuffed animal friends for a day full of reading. 

Thank you Dr. Seuss for all your wonderful stories! You have instilled a love for reading in each and everyone of us!!

SMS is Celebrating "Read Across America" Week!!

     Starting tomorrow, we are excited to be ending our month long celebration of Dr. Seuss with a final hurrah! SMS will honor Dr. Suess and his love of reading by dedicating each day of the week to a different Dr. Seuss theme. Students are encouraged to dress up as they participate in many literacy activities throughout the week. It's going to be great! Check out the theme schedule below:

Monday, 3/23-Fox in Socks Day: wear crazy socks and show them off!

Tuesday, 3/24-Cat in the Hat Day: wear your favorite hat!

Wednesday, 3/25-Wacky Wednesday: wear mismatch clothing!

Thursday, 3/26-Theodore Geisel Day: dress up as your favorite book character!

Friday, 3/27-Curl Up and Read Day: bring a pillow/stuffed animal and curl up for our school-wide Drop Everything and Read Event!

     This week will be a great chance for students to rack up their Iditaread miles and hopefully bring everyone across the finish line in Nome!

Congratulations to all these readers who have read their way to Nome!

You can do it! Keep it up, mushers!!

Happy Read Across America Week!

A St. Patrick's Day Surprise!

On Tuesday, our little Owls were in for quite a surprise when they arrived at school!

     It seemed as though some small creature (a leprechaun perhaps) visited our classroom and sprinkled the tables with green glitter, green pom poms and delicious, golden sweets!
     In connection with celebrating Dr. Seuss this month, we read the story, Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are (which is quite the tongue twister of a story!). As it was St. Patrick's Day, we crafted sparkling pots of gold to think of what we are lucky for, and what is worth "more to us than gold!" Take a look!

 Hope everyone's St. Patrick's Day was filled with lots of luck & love!!

Mar. 14th News

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Ms. Arnold’s Classroom News (3/14/15)

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What We've Been Up To:

The first four students have read their way across the Iditaread finish line this week! Way to go Gina, Reece, Ryan, & Drew!

*Reading: Our Iditaread is well underway! This past week, every musher has made significant progress on their reading journey towards Nome. I have been extremely impressed with each reader’s motivation in this challenge. Keep it up contestants! We’ve also been having a lot of fun closely following the real Iditarod race as those mushers make their way towards Nome as well. As mentioned above, we had four students make it across the finish line this week, many more nearly reach the halfway point, and a bunch bring up the rear. Just a reminder, students need a parent or teacher signature for each entry and need to turn their reading log in everyday (they have been doing a fantastic job with this!) Please help remind your child of the importance of reading every night. It has been so fun seeing what books are hooking each reader and helping them make it to the finish line. We're knee deep in our series reading unit, which has greatly increased our reading stamina at school. The best part about series? "When you finish one, the fun's just begun!" Ask your child which series they've been reading at school.

*Writing: We wrapped up our persuasive writing unit this week and celebrated our beautiful travel brochures! Each student worked incredibly hard to create an eye-catching brochure. We had a ton of fun celebrating and looking at the brochures in Ms. Riley and Mrs. Atherton's room.
Check out two very different, very persuasive brochure covers:

Looking for a ski trip before we say hello to spring? Check out Waterville Valley Resort or Smuggler's Notch for tons of fun:

We began the planning for our nonfiction expert handbooks this past week and even wrote the "About the Author" page. We'll begin writing our books this upcoming week. 

*Scholastic Book Orders: March Scholastic flyers were sent home last week. Book orders are due on Monday, Mar. 17th. Orders can be placed online at scholastic.com/readingclub using the class code: HXF8D. As always, you are welcome to send in paper orders as well.

*Read Across America Month: This month we are celebrating Dr. Seuss and his love of reading (perfect timing for our Iditaread!). We've been reading lots of Dr. Seuss books, reading & watching biographies of Dr. Seuss' life, and completing some fun activities and crafts along the way! Last week we enjoyed Oh the Places You'll Go and each student was challenged to create road signs of the places they wish to go someday. We also had a little fun turning them into an adorable "Who" using the app Who Me?.

We'll celebrate Dr. Seuss as a whole school the week of Mar. 23rd. More information will be sent home this week.

*Science Magic: I don't know if you've heard, but second graders have been having a BLAST participating in "Science Magic"! Every green day since January, they have been challenged to think like scientists and complete various science experiments. They traveled to each second grade classroom and worked with that teacher to think scientifically. In Mrs. Atherton's room they explored static electricity, in Mrs. Caporello's room they looked at chemical reactions by cleaning pennies, and in Mrs. Leonard's room they experimented with surface tension.

On Thursday, 2AA traveled next door to 2R to complete their last experiment. In this room they explored their heart beat and experimented with how the heart rate speeds up and slows down. Needless to say they were a little tired when they came back to our classroom :)

Way back in the beginning, for their first Science Magic experience, our class worked in our own room to complete the "Walking Water" experiment. Their question: Using two cups and paper towels, can water travel into another cup?

Waiting is the hardest part!

I think something's happening!

Results the next morning:

Conclusion? It worked! Due to capillary action (the same process used in plants), water was able to travel and evenly disburse into the middle cup!

As a second grade team we are working on our next round of Science Magic experiments which will begin on Mar. 24th.

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Coming Up:

- Monday, Mar. 16th: Scholastic Book Orders Due