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. I am thankful each and everyday to work with the amazing children and families of SMS!
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| All coming together, "Thanksgiving-style", to enjoy our snacks! |
Highlights from our week:
*Reading: Last Friday, the amazing readers of 2H celebrated all the hard work of their nonfiction unit by hosting an "Expert Museum"! Our fifth grade reading buddies were among our visitors and they we SO impressed (as was I!) by the amount of knowledge these second graders knew. They were able to share three main ideas, use picture examples across multiple sources to bring their information to life, and answer many questions at the end! They were, as one Owl put it, just like "real-life museum talkers"!
After the break, we'll make a switch back to fiction as we explore characters and their stories.
*Writing: We also had a lot to celebrate during our Writer's Workshop this week, as each Owl sent a nonfiction "expert book" off to the publishers. These amazing nonfiction books, focused on a topic in which the student was already an expert on. While these books required no additional research, each Owl had to work hard at incorporating important nonfiction features (which included a table of contents, bold words, headings, detailed diagrams, and a glossary!). We had a brief chance to celebrate these amazing books on Tuesday, but we've decided to add them to our classroom library for the upcoming week to give all a chance to be enjoyed in more depth.
*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. On the Tuesday before our holiday break, we celebrated all the learning we've done about our wonderful town by turning each of the second grade classrooms into an important part of our community. Thank you for your help in sending in those lovable stuffed animals as we transformed our classroom into the SPCA. The other classrooms became the Stratham Police Station, the Bank, and the Post Office! We had a BLAST visiting each exciting room.
In setting up our classroom to represent the SPCA, we grouped animals by type and staged their visiting spaces. Each animal came equipped with some information cards to help interest potential adopters!
Each second grader had an opportunity to visit our animal shelter and "adopt" an animal of their choosing!
What a fun time we had!
Thank you for ALL your help in sending in pictures for our community book---our 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! After the break, we will begin using the app Chatterpix Kids to bring our book pages to life! We hope to finish this great project soon and get our book shipped off to the "publisher" next week!
All in all it is a great ending to our Community unit! We will begin to explore ways to give back to our community throughout the rest of our school year.
*SMS Book Fair: The Scholastic Book Fair will be visiting SMS next week! This is a great opportunity to buy gifts for friends and families for the holidays. The profits made from the fair go directly into SMS classrooms and into our library. While the Owls will have the opportunity to go shopping that week as a class, anyone is welcome to come at any time during our shopping hours, which are listed here:
Monday, 11/27 - 8:30-4:00
Tuesday, 11/28 - 8:30-4:00 (*The 2H Class Shopping Time is at 2:15 on this day)
Wednesday, 11/29 - 8:30-6:30
Thursday, 11/30 - 8:30-4:00
Friday, 12/1 - 8:30-11:00
The Book Fair is looking for volunteers to help with packing up the fair on Dec. 1st from 11:00-2:30. If you can help at the fair, please click here to sign up.
Wishing all of the 2H families a very Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy the extended break :)
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Questions to promote "School Talk":
-What was your favorite animal you met during our Wildlife Encounters presentation? (additional blog post coming soon!)
-What is happening in our new read aloud The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane?
-What did our classroom turn into for our "Community Day?" What other places did you visit in the other second grade classrooms?
-What were some of the nonfiction expert books you read that were written by your classmates?
-What is something you learned about at our Expert Museum?
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Important Dates:
-Wednesday, Nov. 22nd - Friday, Nov. 24th: No School, Happy Thanksgiving!
-Tuesday, Nov. 28th, 2:15 PM: SMS Book Fair Shopping Date (feel free to join us in the library if you'd like!)
-Saturday, Dec. 2nd, 8:30-10:00 AM: PTO Pancake Breakfast
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