End of the Year Fun

Our end-of-the-year countdown has begun and we have had a BLAST each day enjoying activities that match the letter of the day.  We also have been on two field trips! Want to see some of what we've been up to?

 

C is for Camping Day

 We turned the classroom into a campground, complete with 6 different campgrounds.  Each area had a different activity, and students rotated through each activity during the day.  We used our writing time o write about how to make s'mores.

 

 

F is for Flashlight Day

We combined flashlight fun with learning about fireflies! Did you know that each type of firefly has their own special pattern of flashes? Not only did we take time to read with the lights out, but we learned facts about fireflies, created our own firefly patterns and turned off all the hallways lights to make things even darker!

 

 

I is for Ice Cream Day

I'm sure you heard already - we made our own ice cream right in the classroom! Students combined half-and-half, sugar and vanilla, then shook it up in a bag with ice and salt.  Soon it turned to delicious ice cream! We used our experience to kick off our how-to writing - and of course, we ate the ice cream afterwards!

 

 

Field Trip #1: High School Mayfest

 

We took a quick trip to the high school to see the annual Mayfest Arts Festival.  The gym was filled with art of all kinds - sculptures, paintings, photography and more!  It was fun to get to see what the high school students had created - and to think about how our second graders will be doing that, too!

 



 

Field Trip #2: Children's Science Museum

 



Our trip to the Children's Science Museum was the perfect day! Students observed animals, saw turtles and lizards of all kinds, tested their thinking with a puzzle room, met Conny the Whale and even dissected a flower.

 

The last three weeks of school promise to be just as busy as these past weeks have been! Although summer is coming, we're still hard at work in school - but taking time to enjoy some fun, as well!

What's Coming Up?

Hi everyone! With only 24 more school days to go, our days at LES are getting busy!  This post will let you know a little about some of the important events and activities coming up in our classroom.

1.  ABC Countdown

Our countdown started on Thursday - one letter each day and a fun activity to go with that letter.  Thursday was Art Day and we did some "sculpting" with playdough and drawing and creating at the end of the day.  Friday was "Beach Blankets" and we did most of our work sitting on the floor on our blankets.

With days like Camping Day, Electronics Day, Watermelon Day and King and Queen Day on the schedule, we can look forward to a fun end of the year!  Here's our ABC Countdown calendar.  You can click (HERE) to download.








2. Mayfest
  On Wed. May 20, students in grades 1-4 will be traveling to the high school for their annual Mayfest.  We will tour the gym and look at a variety of different pieces of artwork created by our own high school students.  There will be sculptures, drawings, paintings and more. Be sure to ask your child which piece was his or her favorite!

3. Field Trip

The day after Memorial Day (Tues. May 27), second graders in Ms. Gamache's and Mrs. Orga's classes will visit the Children's Science Museum in West Hartford. With a new exhibit on puzzles, an animal room, interactive activities, a classroom program on plants - and of course Cone the Whale! - the day will be filled with fun and learning.  You can click (HERE) to visit the Science Center's site and learn more.



4. Field Day
Always a great day, this year's LES Field Day will be held on June 10.  It will be a day filled with movement, water and fun! Please contact Mrs. Halbardier if you'd like to help out.

5. Spirit Week
Here's a sneak peek at what we'll be doing to wrap up the year at LES - more info coming soon!
Monday June 15 - Extra recess
Tuesday June 16 - Movie Day
Wed. June 17 - Husky Hero/Superhero Day
Thurs. June 18 - Stuffed animal day
Fri. June 19 (last day!) - Fun Friday with music and dancing

Classroom Update!

I absolutely cannot believe it is May already!  We have been busy these past few weeks with so many different topics.  Here’s a peek into our latest classroom fun!
April is National Poetry month and we took this opportunity to learn about a variety of poetic techniques, such as figurative language, similes, alliteration and more.  We read many different types of poems and looked at how the author used mental images and descriptive words and phrases to draw in the reader. We also used what we learned to create our own poems.

 Our math time has been focused on a completely different topic than the number sense and place vale that has been our focus so much this year.  We learned about 2D (plane) and 3D (solid) shapes – using descriptive vocabulary  like edges faces, vertices, and the names of shapes such as quadrilateral and parallelogram.  By far our favorite activity centered around this chart and this bulletin board display we created for the hallway

Verbs have been our focus for grammar lately.  We like to create our own personal anchor charts to use as we study specific skills.

And finally, we just finished up our reading unit on folktales.  We read these three tales and read versions of each from different culture.

Then we compared and contrasted story elements, themes and story structures.  The Anansi stories were definitely our favorite!

With only 7 weeks left of school, we'll be turning our thoughts to plants and gardens, telling time and reviewing everything we have learned.  Our days will continue to be busy, busy, busy!