Nov. 9th News

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Ms. Arnold’s Classroom News (11/9/14)

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What We've Been Up To:

Happy November!

*Bat Day: On Wednesday we culminated our animal science unit with a day devoted to BATS! Our bat experts were sent off to complete various bat activities in each of the second grade classrooms. For their first mission, they went next door to Mrs. Atherton's room to use unifex cubes to measure and compare macrobats and microbats. Following this math activity, 2AA headed to Mrs. Caporello's room to learn more facts about bats while completing a bat puzzle. After a quick snack break, they headed to the Dragon classroom with Mrs. Leonardto play a game comparing macro and micro bats. Next, they traveled to Ms. Riley's room to complete a beautiful art project of bats in the night. Students chose to illustrate their bats either at dawn, dusk, or in the black of night (all times when bats are active!) and were taught a crayon-resist art technique. Check out their beautiful art!

 Finally, it was time to head back to our classroom. In our class, we explored the way in which bats navigate: using echolocation! Working in teams of three, each student took the role of the bat, the insect, and the spotter. With their eyes closed, and under careful watch of the spotter, the bat began making their echo call and waited to hear their prey echo back. Then the hunt was on!

 We ended our activity with a fun song courtesy of "Batney Ears"!

                   
 With bat day complete, our next unit will launch us into science inquiry as we explore "What Scientists Do!
*Parent Conferences: A big thank you to all those who made it out to parent conferences over the past two weeks. The home-school connection is such a vital piece of a child’s education. I am committed to keeping you involved as we work together for the remainder of the school year. 
*Book Orders: November Scholastic Book Orders were sent home last week and are due Wednesday, Nov. 12th. If you’re interested in buying any books as holiday gifts, you can order online and send me an email letting me know to keep the books until we can work out a time for you to pick them up—just let me know! You can also send a paper order and check in an envelope if you prefer ordering that way. I will send home one more book order before the holiday (Scholastic is pretty good about getting books delivered quickly!).  
*Math: As we make our way through Unit 3, we continue to practice our addition and subtraction facts. We have been working hard on the relationship between addition and subtraction and building fact families (when you know one math fact, you really know four!). We have learned some fun games, such as Addition Top-It, Subtraction Top-It, and the class favorite: Salute!

Fun times playing Salute! 

 To continue the math learning at home, these IXL skills mirror the lessons being taught in class:
      -E.13: Complete the addition sentence: 1 digit
      -F.1: Review - subtract one-digit numbers - up to 10
      -L.1: Add and subtract numbers up to 20
      -K.3: Fact Families
*Literacy: In writer's workshop, our class has been working extremely hard to finish up their Keven Henkes-inspired stories as we complete our "Authors as Mentors" unit. First, their written pieces were sent off to the publisher to be typed, then they carefully added their illustrations, and finally they water-colored their covers (just like our mentor author!). We will celebrate these amazing pieces next week and jump right into our realistic fiction unit. During reader's workshop, we were lucky enough to have Mrs. Fitzgerald (SMS Reading Specialist) join as we begin looking carefully at how we can talk about books. She got us started by setting norms for "Accountable Talk". More to come on this next week!

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Coming Up:

- No School (Teacher In-Service Day): Monday, Nov. 10th

- No School (Veteran's Day): Tuesday, Nov. 11th

-Scholastic Book Orders Due: Wednesday, Nov. 12th

-PTO Spaghetti Dinner and BINGO: Friday, Nov. 14th, 6:00pm

November Related Arts Schedule:

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
2	3 Music	4 PE	5 Art	6 PE	7 Early Release	8
9	10 NO SCHOOL	11 NO SCHOOL	12 Library	13 Music	14 PE	15
16	17 Art	18 PE	19 STEM	20 Library	21 Music	22
23	24 PE	25 Art	26 NO SCHOOL	27 NO SCHOOL	28 NO SCHOOL	29

Holey Pumpkin Day!

On Thursday, we celebrated Halloween with a very special "Holey Pumpkin Day!"

Adjective Pumpkins decorated our classroom!

Thank you all for sending in small pumpkins to make this day possible. The kids had a BLAST!! In the morning, we were joined by our 5H reading buddies. They were a huge help in completing our pumpkin investigation. Students had to draw and describe their pumpkins, estimate and count the number of seeds, compare the weight with seeds to the weight without seeds, and measure the height and circumference of their pumpkin. It was a lot of work, but everyone arrived at some great results!

After lunch, it was time to put the "holey" into Holey Pumpkin Day! After designing their holey pattern, it was off to the drills. A HUGE thank you to Mr. O'Kane, Mr. Forrest, and Mr. Vivenzio for their drilling techniques! We couldn't have done it without you!

Once all were drilled, it was time to celebrate! A big thank you goes out to our fabulous room mom, Lisa Anderson, for organizing our celebration. Another big thank you goes out to all the volunteers who sent in materials (from carving tools and spoons, to glow sticks for their pumpkins, to delicious snacks to eat--and of course for the festive paper goods to enjoy them on!), and to the many adults who were able to join us in our celebration. It was only through your help that any of this was possible. THANK YOU!

 

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!

Wildlife Encounters!

     Last week, the entire second grade was treated to a very special presentation! Derek Small, owner and director of Wildlife Encounters, brought some very unique friends, to meet with our second grade animal experts!
After requiring the audience to recite the "Citizen's of Earth Pledge to the Planet", it was time for the show to begin!

I Pledge Allegiance

to the Web of Life

of which we are each a strand...

and to the planet Earth

on which we stand,

one ecosystem

under the sun,

interdependent,

with diversity and respect for all.

     Our first guest was Fauna, a brown SKUNK. We learned so much about this mammal and cleared up some common skunk stereotypes! We first learned that skunks are crepuscular, which refers to being active during dawn and dusk (as opposed to diurnal or nocturnal). Because of this, on an overcast day, you might spot a skunk during daytime hours. This doesn't mean they have rabies---they're just a little confused! We also learned, that, despite popular belief, trash is not their main diet. They primarily eat insects, which can take a lot of energy and work to hunt and collect. They have to eat a lot of insects to replace the energy, so if they walk by someones trashcan, which happens to have a lot of food scraps in it, then it's too hard to resist! A lot of second graders had questions about the skunk's stinky spray. They were happy to learn that, again, it requires a lot of energy (and is even a bit painful!) so they only spray as a last resort, They can usually get away with just showing "nature's stop sign"!

     After Fauna, Derek introduced us to the largest reptile in NH: the SNAPPING TURTLE. The most distinct feature of this reptile is, of course, it's long neck. Its neck is useful for snatching up food, snapping at approaching predators, and even for flipping itself upright! 

     Up next, was an animal also know as the "whistle pig". Houdini, the WOODCHUCK(also known as a groundhog), was not overly excited to be dragged out on this rainy day. Although in captivity, Houdini's body still begins preparation for hibernation (hence the extra weight he'd packed on!).

      A screech of joy from the owl class greeted Derek's next guest: Aurora, the GREAT HORNED OWL! "I can't believe I'm seeing a real live owl AND I'm in the owl class!" shrieked one excited classmate. Aurora joined the Wildlife Encounters family when she was rescued after being hit by a car. Knowing she'd be unable to take care of herself in the wild, Aurora now lives a full life educating others! Derek  wore special protective gloves so her powerful talons could keep her secure, while also keeping his hands safe.

     The last mammal Derek introduced us to, was Lorena: the OPOSSUM. Lorena was also a rescue, saved by her mother's pouch when they were hit by a car. We learned that opossums are the only marsupials in North America.They also have the most teeth! Coolest fact though? Their tails, similar to a human finger, can grasp onto to objects and, unlike a human finger, are strong enough to hold their entire body!

     The final guest of our special presentation was a HOGNOSE SNAKE. Derek was very excited to let us know that the hognose snake population is finally growing, as these small snakes were often confused for rattlesnakes and were subsequently killed. We also learned how vital snakes are to our ecosystem! If all the snakes were gone, in just 3 years, are population would be cut in half. A good remindrer, that as scary as these creatures may appear, they mean no harm!

Very excited to touch the snake on their way out!

   This fun and extremely informative presentation culminated a major portion of our animal unit. We will focus more specifically on the characteristics of bats and OWLS over the next few weeks.