Back to School 2016!

Hi Fuller Meadow Families,

Welcome back! It's hard to believe that summer vacation has come to an end and that a new school year has officially begun. We had a great first two days and I can't wait to continue our fantastic year together. The students are already working so hard and they were so excited to come in and check out their new learning environment. I've included the photos and collages below to give you a glimpse into the classroom and we hope that you enjoy seeing our new space. Please be sure to 'Bookmark' our blog, sign up to 'Follow Us' by e-mail and check back often for updates as the school year continues. Thanks so much for reading- have a wonderful 4-day weekend! : )

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Animal Adaptations

Happy Summer 2-F Families! I'm so sorry for the delay in getting this Animal Adaptations post up and shared with you. During our last month of the school year, students in 2-F worked diligently on learning various animal adaptations, sketching/sculpting/painting their own animals with adaptations from clay, as well as creating their very own non-fiction Book Creator project to conclude the unit.

Please be sure to check out our collages and Book Creator projects below. I hope you are all having a fabulous start to the summer, I miss you already! : )

2-F Animal Adaptations Book Creator Projects

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STEM Challenge: 'Big Smelly Bear' Back Scratchers

So what's a big smelly bear to do when he has an itch on his back and no one is willing to help him scratch it?! Enlist the help of the 2-F STEM student engineers to make him his very own back scratcher, of course! ; )

After reading the book, Big Smelly Bear by Britta Teckentrup, students were given the challenge to build a back scratcher that could help this lovable, but stinky bear whenever he has an itch. Our 2-F engineers had their choice of materials and worked in pairs to create these functional and helpful tools. They even got to try them out on one another (and their teachers!) to make sure that it was durable enough to stand up to the itchiness level of a bear! 

Another job well done and fabulous STEM afternoon in 2-F! : )

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Painted Lady Butterflies

Our beautiful Painted Lady butterflies have officially emerged and have been spotted flying around our Fuller Meadow school community. Here in 2nd grade, we are especially proud of these lovely creatures, as we played a huge role in fostering their transformation and providing diligent care as they worked through their life-cycle.

Since their arrival as tiny caterpillars, we fed them, observed them carefully, watched them transform, gave them sugar water and orange slices, and patiently waited for them to emerge from their chrysalises as adult butterflies. The entire process spanned a couple of weeks, but the students lovingly cared for and checked in on them each and every day. The joy on their faces as we released them from the net was simply the best! : )

*In addition to learning about the stages of the butterfly (egg, larva, pupa, adult) the students also expanded their knowledge learning all about what takes place throughout each phase. Be sure to ask your child to share what they've learned with you- they are very proud of how hard they worked throughout the entire unit. We are also in the process of completing our fabulous Lifecycle of the Butterfly poetry books, where students wrote different poems for each stage and created a crayon resist/watercolor illustration for each page. I could not be more proud of ALL their hard work- way to go my awesome (almost!) 3rd graders!

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D.A.S.H. - Disability Awareness Starts Here

Over the past month, 2nd grade students have participated in the D.A.S.H. Program (Disability Awareness Starts Here) and have learned all about visual impairments and blindness. During the individual lessons, students learned about macular degeneration, tunnel vision, optic nerves, and the different parts of the eye. We also got to experience firsthand what it might feel like to be visually impaired by completing activities and scenarios while blindfolded.

We concluded a wonderful session of the D.A.S.H. Program this morning by welcoming our guest speaker, Mr. Andrew LaPointe. Mr. LaPointe is a lifelong resident of Salem who lost his eyesight over 30 years ago due to glaucoma. This year marked Mr. LaPointe's 18th visit to Fuller Meadow as part of the D.A.S.H. Program. We are so grateful to Mr. LaPointe for sharing his experience with us and we learned so much throughout the entire visit. We even got to meet and pet his service dog, Shubert. Thank you Mr. LaPointe and Shubert! : )

Another huge thank you to Mrs. Fishman and all of the wonderful parent-teachers and volunteers for bringing in such a tremendous program for our 2nd grade students.

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Reader's Theater: The Elves and The Shoemaker

As part of our Fables and Folktales genre study, 2-F students recently put on a wonderful Reader's Theater production of The Elves and The Shoemaker. Parts included the narrator, the shoemaker, the wife, the customer, the lady and gentleman, and last but certainly not least, the elves! Our students did an absolutely incredible job and I couldn't be more proud! Please check out our group performances below.

Thanks so much for stopping by to visit our blog! : )


Reader's Theater from Emily Frey on Vimeo.

Reader's Theater from Emily Frey on Vimeo.

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Museum of Science: Animal Adaptations

Have you ever heard of a Prehensile Tailed Skink? If not, don't worry, you are not alone! Before attending the fascinating Museum of Science Boston in-school field trip, I hadn't heard of one either. A couple of weeks back, we were fortunate enough to welcome the Museum of Science to Fuller Meadow for a special Animal Adaptations presentation which featured educator/presenter, Hannah, along with three unique animals, a Prehensile Tailed Skink, a Pygmy Hedgehog, and an Eastern Tiger Salamander. 

We learned SO much about these special animals, as well as information on their unique habitats and adaptations. We were able to get up close and personal with these fabulous animals and we hope they enjoyed their visit to our school just as much as we enjoyed hosting them! A very special THANK YOU to our wonderful PTO for bringing in such an engaging and exciting program. : ) 

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STEM Challenge: Protecting The Peeps

It was another fabulous STEM Thursday in 2-F! Today's student challenge?! Create a safety raft/device that would protect our beloved Peeps as they cross the pond (and by pond, we mean the huge tub of water set up in our classroom : ) This awesome challenge combined many different learning topics such as floating, sinking, and density, but also highlighted our most recent math topic- MONEY!

The students were given a strict budget of $5.00 per group and had to visit the STEM Store to purchase the materials they would need to construct their project. According to the students, the store owner/operator (ME- Mrs. Frey!) had some pretty high prices and was VERY strict with the no returns or exchanges policy. ; )

One of the very best parts of this challenge was getting to work once again with the incredible Mrs. Baker to create an iMovie trailer that captured all of the fun. The students said it perfectly, "It's not really STEM unless Mrs. Baker is here with us!" and I couldn't agree more! : )

Thank you so much for stopping by to visit our blog and be sure to check out our iMovie trailer below. Stay tuned for our next STEM adventure...


Protecting The Peeps from Emily Frey on Vimeo.

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We Are Lucky!

This week, in honor of St. Patrick's Day, we talked all about luck and what it means to be lucky. While discussing this fun topic, we wrote a personal narrative piece describing a time that we felt super lucky! We then used the green screen to share these special memories. Check out our awesome 'We Are Lucky' video below. : )

We Are Lucky! from Emily Frey on Vimeo.

Second Grade Common Core Standards:
W.2.3 Writes narratives to recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events, in which they include details, transition words, and a sense of closure.
W.2.5 With guidance and support, focuses on a topic and strengthens writing as needed by revising and editing.

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Happy (belated) Birthday, Dr. Seuss & Read Across America Day!

We definitely had quite a bit to celebrate in 2-F last week! March 2nd marked both Dr. Seuss' birthday, as well as National Read Across America Day. Our special activities included listening to a live webinar in Mrs. Kennedy's class (hosted by famous children's author/illustrator, Peter H. Reynolds) and partnering up with our Kindergarten buddies in Mrs. Murphy's class to read our favorite Dr. Seuss books. We had an awesome day celebrating our love of reading while honoring one of our favorite authors. : )

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March Madness: Tournament of Books

Here in 2-F, we are ready to dive into the month of March by kicking off our March Madness: Tournament of Books! Similar to the college basketball brackets, our book bracket will eliminate books each week until there is just one book left standing as the 2016 Book of the Year. 

Fuller Meadow teachers and students in Kindergarten through Grade Two will vote each week based on the book match-ups and weekly ballots will be collected and tallied. Based on the results, the winning books will advance to the next round and will move across the hallway bracket display. New ballots will be created and the process will repeat itself each week during the month of March. We are really looking forward to hosting this exciting school-wide reading initiative!

If your family would like a blank copy of the bracket to complete at home, please be sure to send me an e-mail or note and I am more than happy to send one home in your child's blue folder. Thank you so much for stopping by to visit and read our blog. HAPPY MARCH MADNESS! : )

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Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to all of our wonderful 2-F families! I am so grateful to be surrounded by such amazing children every day and this teachers heart is definitely very full. I hope you all have a great Valentine's Day, as well as a restful and enjoyable February vacation. Please click on the link below to watch our special Valentine's Day video. : )

Happy Valentine's Day! Love, 2-F : )

I also want to extend a huge THANK YOU to our fabulous Valentine's Day Party Room Parents, Ms. Gibeau (Madison's mom), Mrs. Karas (Danny's mom) and Mrs. Clapp (Elise's mom) for making our class party so special. Ms. Gibeau did an amazing job capturing so many fun times from our celebration (please see the photos below : )

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Writer's Workshop: Peer Editing

This afternoon we were able to dedicate a portion of Writer's Workshop to Peer Editing. During this time, the students had an opportunity to work with a fellow classmate on their persuasive writing draft. While we have been working all year long on the editing and revising writing stage, we really got a chance to look closely and talk about what it means to be a great peer editor. : )

I was so impressed by how well they worked together, not only to make the necessary edits (see the symbols in the photo below : ) but also by how helpful they were with their comments, questions, and suggestions. They definitely took this new role (and their red pens!) very seriously and in turn I saw some of the best editing I've seen all year. I couldn't be more proud of our incredible writers...keep up the great work!

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STEM Challenge: Egg Drop

Our fabulous 2-F STEM students were at it again this afternoon with our latest challenge, The Egg Drop. Just as its name suggests, our students were in fact dropping real eggs onto the classroom floor, from 150 centimeters (1 1/2 meters) high! However, unlike my initial demonstration where I simply picked up an egg and dropped it on the ground (see the photo below : ) our rock-star engineers were able to design their own contraption to get their egg safely to the ground.

Side note: *I LOVE that we were able to incorporate our newest math lesson material on metric measurement into this challenge!*

This challenge was absolutely amazing and the students did an incredible job - I don't think I've ever seen such sheer excitement and engagement. A HUGE thank you to Mrs. Baker for capturing so many special moments from today's challenge on video! Please be sure to check it out below. Thanks so much for visiting our blog! : )

 

2-F Egg Drop Challenge from Emily Frey on Vimeo.

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Reader's Workshop and Animal Fantasy Dioramas

Our superstar students were very busy this week during Reader's Workshop. The beginning of the week was dedicated to one of our favorite books, Jan Brett's The Mitten. After reading this story, we created our own mitten craft to use while practicing the skill of retelling. In the spirit of full disclosure, I did have to glance once (or twice!) back in the book to remember the correct order of the animals as they climbed into the mitten. {Mole, Rabbit, Hedgehog, Owl, Badger, Fox, Bear, Mouse....SNEEZE!} *Ask your child if they can retell you the entire story at home! : )

Later in the week, we transitioned to learning all about reading dialogue. We worked on how to identify when someone in the story is talking, how good readers read dialogue and how it helps us to better understand what is happening. The students did a great job demonstrating their new skills by marking up a copy of the classic Frog and Toad story, Spring. Not only did they apply everything they learned from the mini-lessons, but they also read with tremendous expression, which helped us to really differentiate which character was talking and when.

Awesome job by our rock-star readers! We will conclude our Animal Fantasy genre study at the end of next week and will be diving right into our next unit of Fables and Folktales. : )

Before you go...please be sure to check out the pictures of our Animal Fantasy dioramas. The students did a fabulous job bringing their creative ideas to life. Each student chose their own animal, the animal fantasy setting they wanted to create (a human dwelling, an animal habitat, or an animal habitat with human furnishings) and the text bubble of what their character was saying. I was completely blown away by the level of creativity and imagination demonstrated by my students- the end results are incredible! : )

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Thank you for a great season, Patriots!

While the end result of the AFC Championship game wasn't exactly what we were hoping for, we are grateful to have gotten to cheer on an awesome team throughout the entire season. Way to go Patriots, we are so proud of how much you accomplished this season! We'll be back next year! : )

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STEM Challenge: Tallest Cup Tower

Thursday afternoons are quickly becoming a class favorite in 2-F and for good reason! While we love and enjoy all of our learning time together, the past couple of Thursdays have been extra special, as we have gotten to combine our awesome class meeting/wellness lessons with STEM challenges. This past week's challenge: the Tallest Cup Tower, which consisted of working in groups to build the tallest tower we could using 75 plastic cups.

Prior to building, we had a class meeting where we met on the rug to talk about what expectations we had for ourselves and for our classmates/teammates. Our conversation centered around the idea of 'What a GREAT group/team is'- what it LOOKS like, what it SOUNDS like, what it FEELS like and how we can try to achieve this type of positive group environment. I even demonstrated some of the different ways that group members might talk to each other while working on a challenge (the GOOD and BAD ways-- thank you to Alex R. for being such a great sport even as I was modeling the ways NOT to speak to teammates). I think the kids were definitely a little caught off guard when their lovely teacher actually modeled poor listening, arguing and not respecting other's ideas- which albeit unconventional, worked to perfectly model my point! A huge part of group work is how the members interact with one another and that is ultimately a big reason for eventual success or failure. The students also got to share about past group experiences they've had and the reasons why some groups worked and other didn't. At the end of the day, being a successful group member takes a lot of hard work! : )

Now onto the challenge itself...the tallest cup tower seemed like a pretty simple task, until you actually tried to do it. It was incredible to watch the students work together, come up with a game plan, build the tower, see it fall, regroup and then start again. They were able to witness and experience why it is so important to hear and value the ideas of others, while understanding that very few things are ever accomplished perfectly on the first try. After about twenty minutes of group work, we came back together and I worked to build a tower (using their input) while we all sat in a large circle. The kids shared their observations and while I was the only one actually building, their thoughts, encouragement and positive energy made it feel like we were all working as one. At the very end, they were all just as nervous as I was about how we were going to be able to make our tower stay standing- the last few cups were a huge challenge (HELLO! SUPER NERVOUS TEACHER and SHAKY HANDS!) But as you can see from the photo below we accomplished the task and it even stayed standing until the next morning- how about that for solid construction?!

Thanks so much for reading- stay tuned for our next STEM challenge! : )

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STEM Challenge: Paper Chains

I am SO excited to report that today was our first official 2-F STEM Challenge. The challenge was presented to the students using the poster found in the collage below. In anticipation of our first challenge, we spent time last week talking all about what STEM is, what it stands for (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) and the different types of activities/lessons that we might be experimenting with. We also talked about what expectations we had for ourselves and our peers, how we could work together in a group (if it were a group challenge) and the best ways to make the most out of every STEM minute we have!

Needless to say, after last week's awesome introductory conversation, the students were SO thrilled to be given their first challenge. The Paper Chains challenge was one that I found while researching STEM ideas online and I loved it for several reasons, but primarily because, 1. it wasn't extremely labor intensive, rigorous or intimidating and 2. it lent itself perfectly to natural conversations about how we think and problem solve, as well as how we perceive others and how they may think about the same thing a completely different way. During the challenge we paused to talk about our own problem solving abilities and comfort level with creativity, as well as how to recognize and appreciate the fact that each of us brings our own special set of ideas, feelings and thoughts to a particular group/challenge situation. I overhead one of my students say "I love STEM, we get to think and make stuff, but we also get to see how other kids think too!" *Talk about a teacher's heart being COMPLETELY melted! (Insert once again, 'I LOVE MY JOB!')

When we initially started, there were definitely a couple of students who were a bit hesitant and I could tell they were searching for more guidance and direction- but the best thing I could do (and what I did do : ) was remind them to just have fun, use their creative brain power, envision what they wanted it to look like and to remember that there were tons of different ways to succeed in this challenge. And let me just say, when the initial worries wore off (about 4 minutes in!) they did an absolutely amazing job! Perhaps one of the most impressive parts of the challenge was seeing at the end of the lesson that no two future-engineers had the same chain. Each chain was unique and it highlighted their ability to explore and utilize their creative and critical thinking skills. Seeing them all 'think outside the box' made for one super proud teacher. In the words of my students "I can't wait for our next STEM Challenge!"

*A very special THANK YOU to all of the families who have sent in items from the STEM Supply List! It makes these types of projects/lessons possible- thank you again! : )

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