Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Wildlife Encounters!!

Yesterday, the entire second grade was treated to a very special treat! Krista Butts, of Wildlife Encounters, brought with her several animal friends that each contribute to our Earth's substrate. 

The first animal Krista introduced us to was Monster, the ARGENTINIAN BLACK & WHITE TEGU. Native to South America, this male has a bone-crushing jaw (although we quickly learned Monster was just a big cuddle-bug!). As tegus have this incredibly powerful jaw, they are able to eat mollusks with the shell and all! The shell is filled with nutrients, so when their meal comes out the other end, all those nutrients are given right to the soil. 
Monster kept sticking his tongue out---his way of smelling us!
After being rescued by Wildlife Encounters, Monster is very appreciative of his new, spoiled lifestyle.
 After learning about Monster, Krista brought out Butch, a MADAGASCAR GROUND BOA CONSTRICTOR. This type of constrictor dwells in the ground. They make extremely long, but small in diameter, tunnels which allows water, bugs, and worms to travel deep down into the soil. Krista also taught us the snakes have a very small brain. That means they act only out of instinct (they'd have to with only a 7 minute memory!). While snakes are not mean, you should always act as if they're dangerous. She warned us to never put a snake around our neck. I think we can all agree to listen to that warning!
Butch is a feisty little fellow---during the presentation he wrapped his tail through Krista's belt loop!
The 2nd graders celebrating a birthday over Thanksgiving break got to help show how long Butch is. Way to be brave, Michael!!
Once Butch was put back in his cage, Krista brought out a rather vocal friend. Syd, a SALMON CRESTED COCKATOO. Syd has the important job of helping the rain forest grow. Syd is native to the Malacca Islands (near Indonesia). These islands are quickly disappearing as humans have chopped down the trees, causing the soil to wash away. Syd is the only living thing helping the island. By eating seeds, nuts, berries, and plants, and then flying to a new location, he is able to deposit the seeds directly into the ground, allowing trees to regrow on the island. Unfortunately, this beautiful, helpful species, is listed as critically endangered due to loss of habitat. 
Syd ruffled up his feathers for us (we think he was showing off!)
Syd was having SO much fun at SMS, he didn't want to go back in his cage!
Even though Syd did not want to return to his cage (who can blame him!), the show had to go on. Krista placed him in the corner and brought out the next animal: Daffy, a FLEMISH GIANT RABBIT. This big boy looked huge (23 pounds to be exact!), so it was hard to believe he is less than a year old! He is a member of the largest breed of bunnies in the world. Rabbits dig, aerate, and compost the soil. They "plant" their babies in the soil to protect them while the mother goes in search of food. She covers the hole with leaves and grass. Krista warned, if we see leaves rustling in the spring time, leave it alone! There are probably baby animals waiting for their mother to return. 
Up next was the fastest of the group. Second graders were asked to be very quiet, as this animal gets quite nervous. Nibbles, the PATAGONIA CAVY, is the third largest rodent in the world. He's in the guinea pig family and looks like a guinea pig with legs! This animal rears its young in burrows deep within the soil. They're constantly giving back to the soil as they raise their young! Nibbles is a herbivore and Krista taught us a clever way to help identify herbivores vs. carnivores or omnivores: "Eyes on the side, this animal likes to hide; eyes on the front, this animal likes to hunt." With eyes on the side, the Patagonia Cavy likes to stay hidden and munch on plants and leaves.
Krista kept Nibbles on a leash---he can run up to 45mph if he gets loose!
This handsome boy is about 3 years old.
Following the fastest of the bunch, our last animal visitor was the slowest of the group. Rex, the SULCATA TORTOISE, is extremely important to our soil ecosystem. They are one of only a few species of animals that can excavate burrows thanks to their specialized claws. Rex, in one night, could dig a hole deep enough to allow three teachers to stand on each others shoulders! Whoa! 

After learning all of this fascinating information, Krista allowed students to use a "two-finger touch" to pet the tegu, tortois, boa constrictor, and rabbit. So fun!
I was in charge of holding this 26 pound chubby bunny!

Thank you Wildlife Encounters for bringing our earth science unit to an exciting conclusion!!

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Nov. 22nd News


********************************************************************************************************************
Mrs. Healey’s Classroom News (11/22/15)
********************************************************************************************************************
What We’ve Been Up To: This time of year is always such a nice time to slow down and reflect on all that we have in our lives to be thankful for. These second graders quickly realized just how much they truly were thankful for!
Turkeys? No turkeys here...
 
*Community: SMS second graders continue to learn about their amazing community. We've discussed in detail the different types of communities they are a part of (from their global community, to their local town, and of course--our classroom!) and how to be a citizen of a community. After launching this unit several weeks ago, we've directed most of our attention onto our town community. 
Each Owl added a cutout of their home to bring their home community into our classroom!
We're very lucky to be a part of such an involved community. Second graders were surprised by several town community members who visited SMS to talk about their role in the community! Chief Scippa from the Stratham Police Department came on Tuesday and talked about how he works to help keep the community safe.
Later in the week, Mr. & Mrs. Goodrich came in to talk about Stratham history. Mr. Goodrich has had five generations of his family live in Stratham. He talked about a lot of changes he's seen happen! He went to school in a one-room schoolhouse (Stratham had four one-room schoolhouses, 3 of which are stilling standing!) It was interesting learning about how different school was back then (no, the second graders learned, they did not have computers!).
Mr. Goodrich brought lots of interesting artifacts with him to share.
In between our wonderful guest speakers, the Owls worked hard on creating a page for our community book. Thank you for ALL your help in sending in pictures---the book is coming out fantastically! Each child was extremely connected to this project and had so much fun creating the illustration as well as writing a blurb telling about their favorite place in Stratham!
While our book is off to the "Pitcher Publishing Press", enjoying taking a sneak peak! We look forward to reading the published version next week!!
 

 


*Science: It goes without saying, science ROCKED this week!! Exploring the question, "What's inside a rock?", the owls quickly realized there was only one way to find out....

It was a lot of work, but a ton of fun. They put the hammer to it, and were in for quite a surprise! Each rock contained a unique geode!! These scientists quickly went to work carefully examining their treasures and drawing detailed drawings in the science notebooks.


We'll be ending our earth science unit this week. As a culminating activity, Derek Small, from Wildlife Encounters, will be coming to present to SMS second graders this Tuesday morning. Derek will be bringing some animal friends along to talk about the animals who use soil and rocks to burrow and create habitats. It's going to be an epic finale to our science unit!!
********************************************************************************************************************
Wishing all of the 2H families a very Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy the extended break :)


********************************************************************************************************************
Coming Up:
-NO SCHOOL-Thanksgiving Break: Wednesday, Nov. 25 - Friday, Nov. 27th
-SMS Book Fair Preview Date: Monday, Nov. 30th, 10:50 AM
-SMS Book Fair Shopping Date: Friday, Dec. 4th, 9:20 AM
-PTO Pancake Breakfast: Saturday, Dec. 5th, 8:30am-10:00am

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Nov. 15th News


********************************************************************************************************************
Mrs. Healey’s Classroom News (11/15/15)
********************************************************************************************************************
What We’ve Been Up To:
It may have been short, but our week sure was productive! Thanks for all of your help with our "Turkey in Disguise" homework. It's funny, I sent home 17 turkeys, and didn't get one back ;-) I think it's safe to say, these "turkeys" will stay safe this Thanksgiving!
Turkeys? No turkeys here...
*Math: 2H continues to build a solid understanding of the relationship between addition and subtraction. We've done continued work with fact families, number stories, and finding missing addends, while also building addition and subtraction strategies. We'll be wrapping up this unit this week, and begin Unit 4: Place Value & Measurement, after the holiday break. 
Fact Family Turkey made with Mrs. Forest
Fact Family Turkey made with Mrs. Forest

*Reading: The owls have been having more fun than ever during their reader's workshop. As we're in our last stages of our nonfiction reading unit, they have grown enormously with their ability to sustain reading, pull out important information, talk about their learning, and, most recently, compare information across texts. This is a lot of work for second graders---thank goodness it's engaging and fun!! Early last week, the "book fairy" delivered a "topic baggie" to each Owl. In it, there were 2-5 sources about a topic of their choice. They had so much fun digging in and learning even more as they read each text! It was some of the best reading work I've seen all year!  Check them out!

 
Once they began gathering information, they met with their reading partner and then were put into "rug clubs" to grow their conversations. We practiced using some sentence stems to help move the conversation deeper. 
All of this hard work, is gearing them up for our nonfiction reading celebration in which they will use their new learning to teach others what they know! We'll be working on that during this upcoming week. Be sure to ask your child about their topic and some of things they have learned.
In addition, their weekly reading homework this week involves reading a nonfiction text. This text does not need to be related to the topic they're studying in class (but it can!). Students are more than welcome to borrow a text from the classroom to complete this assignment (some already took me up on this offer!). Please let me know if you'd like me to send a book home with your child. 
*Global Read Aloud: We wrapped up our Global Read Aloud this week! What fun we've had studying author, Amy Krouse Rosenthal. Her books are clever, silly, and include great messages. Ask your child what their favorite story has been. To end our project, we wrote letters to Ms. Rosenthal, which we'll send out next week. We'll keep our fingers crossed for a response! [The owls were thrilled to see that we did get some author interaction already: Amy Krouse Rosenthal liked one of our tweets!)
*Community Project: On Friday, you received a notice asking for a black & white photo of a place in Stratham. Our owls enjoyed studying Mo Willems' book Knuffle Bunny and seeing how he incorporated photos of his hometown. They are anxious to begin crafting our own story using photos from our community. Please have photos emailed by Wednesday so we can begin this work. Stuck? Take a look a Ms. Riley's blog post for inspiration! We thank her for sharing this great project idea with us!
Picture of Mo Willems' work in Knuffle Bunny
Barker's Farm Stand in Stratham
As we continue our study of community, second graders have several community guest speakers joining us over the next two weeks. It'll be fun to see how each plays a role in our wonderful community!
*Recess: Students go outside for recess everyday unless it is raining or dangerously cold. Please be sure your child has appropriate clothing to stay warm. As always, please make sure all clothing has your child’s name in it so we can help keep things from getting lost.
************************************************************************
Coming Up:
-Early Release/Parent Conferences: Wednesday, Nov. 18th
-Community Photo Due: Wednesday, Nov. 18th
-"Dress as you'll be Day" (dress for your future career): Wednesday, Nov. 18th
-Report Card Envelopes sent home: Friday, Nov. 20th