May 5th News

Welcome back!! Coming off the vacation week, the Owls settled right back into their 2H routine! With only 35 days left (now 30!), we got right to work!

As hopefully you have heard, our Donor's Choose project was fully-funded and we've received our wonderful new technology materials!! We enjoyed using our new supplies this week and made sure to take the time to thank our VERY generous donors who made this all possible! (Thanks to another very generous donation from the McClellan family, and many other inquiries about donations, we will begin planning another project next week!  We can't wait! Stay tuned!)

Students creating their own math videos using our brand new iPad staging stand!

 Our new iPad cases are bright, durable, and easy for kids to independently store and charge!

Highlights from our week:

*Garden: This week's beautiful sunshine gave us a great reason to take our learning outside! After selecting cool weather crops, we mapped out available garden bed space and then got busy planting away! Ask your child about the seed they selected!

While outside, we took the time to stop & smell the [tulips] (AND collect dandelions AND find four-leaf clovers!)

*Science: As our in-class plants continue to grow (or not grow depending on their variable!), we spent the week looking more closely at pollination. Our young scientists also began partaking in their latest engineering challenge. Using a unit called The Best of Bugs: Designing Hand Pollinators, the Owls heard about the story Mariana Becomes a Butterfly. In this story, the main character has a plant that is not being pollinated. In attempt to solve this problem, the character then designs a hand pollinator so she can pollinate the plant, thus helping the plant reproduce. Working in partnerships, our second graders experimented with different materials to find out which ones picked up the most "pollen" AND dropped off the most "pollen". Using their results, this upcoming week, they will be challenged to design their own hand pollinators. Good luck, Engineers!

*Writing: Our poets continue exploring the genre of poetry. This week, we published our first poem to help turn our Owl tree in to a "Poet-tree" !!

Later in the week we experimented with haiku. After drafting a few more poems, the Owls will then pick which poem they'd like to publish in our classroom anthology. It's an exciting decision to make!

 

In addition, we have been working on our fluency by reading poetry (and to inspire our writing!) We've focused a lot of our energy on a class favorite poet: Shel Silverstein! Last week, your Owl took home information regarding our "Shel-ebration!". Each student selected a poem they are working hard to memorize. We will be practicing a lot in class as well, but please remind them to practice each night at home. Thank you for your help! Our celebration will be held on Friday, May 18th, at 2:15. We'd love to have you join us if you're available!

*Scholastic Book Order: May book orders were sent home last week. As always, Scholastic's full catalog is available online. Orders are due Monday, May 7th.

Have a wonderful weekend!

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Questions to promote "School Talk":

-What seed did you plant in the garden? Who else planted seeds in your "seed square"?

-Explain Mariana's problem in the science story Mariana Becomes a Butterfly.

-Which materials worked well for picking up pollen AND dropping off pollen? Were you surprised by any of your results? What material will you select next week when you design your own hand pollinator?

-What's happening in our new read aloud, Appleblossom the Possum?

-What is a haiku?

-Which Shel Silverstein poem did you select for the Shel-ebration? How is practicing going?

-What did you start working on in music this week?

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Coming Up (Lots, and lots and lots of things!):

-Wellness Walk: Wednesday, May 9, 1:30pm (Feel free to meet us in the bus loop at 1:25 and join us on the walk! We also plan to join our 5L buddies!)

-Bike to School Day: Friday, May 11th

-PTO Spring Social: Friday, May 11th, 7pm

-SMS Maker Fest & Spring Art Show: Thursday, May 17th, 5:30 pm (*This is a change from the previous "Important Dates" email)

-Sidewalk "Shel-ebration!": Friday, May 18th, 2:15pm

-Early Release: Wednesday, May 23rd

-Memorial Day, No School: Monday, May 28th

-PTO 1-2-3 Fun Run: Friday, June 1, 5:30pm

-Grand Luncheon: Monday, June 4th

-Great Bay Field Trip: Tuesday, June 5th.

-Musical Dress Rehearsal: Wednesday, June 6th (school performance)

-Plant Musical: Thursday, June 7th, 6:30pm

-Field Day: Friday, June 8th

-Stratham Hill Park End of Year Grade 2 Picnic: Thursday, June 14th
-Last Day of School: Monday, June 18th