Happy Halloween!

Brookside WON this year!

We didn’t let a rainy day spoil our Halloween celebration! The students were greeted by the Brookside faculty and staff dressed up as Disney characters.

The second grade and Mrs. Mullins are having a cheery day!

Thank you to all the families who donated treats for our party. Special thanks to Maddox and his mom for the awesome treat bags!  After celebrating in our classroom, we joined the rest of the school for the Halloween Parade in the cafeteria! What a fun way to end the month of October!

We love Mystery Science!!!

In October, we worked on a Science animal biodiversity unit. Some of our favorite lessons were with Mystery Science.  After watching the Mystery Science video lesson, the students sorted animal cards by their traits or characteristics. Here are some photos of the students working with a partner on a hands-on lesson Science lesson.
We also watched a Mystery Science video in which the students learned that different frogs make different sounds. We listened to the sounds of two different habitats and tried to identify the frogs that made the sounds. But the big surprise for the students was when Mrs. Riordan brought in a frog she found so we could observe an actual living frog! There was a rich discussion over whether it was a frog or a toad. After observing the frog, Mrs. Riordan released it back into its habitat.


We wrapped up the animal unit by watching a Mystery Science video on birds and then we did a hands-on STEM activity where the students designed and created their own bird feeders. They needed to take into account what type of bird they wanted to attract and how to create a bird feeder that would work to attract that type of bird. I was so pleased that the students really were engaged in this hands-on activity!

October Visits from Zero the Hero and our September Lunch Bunch!

We started October with another visit from Zero the Hero. 

Zero challenged us to estimate the number of candy pumpkins in this jar!

We used statistics (median, mode and range) to examine our estimation data!

Congratulations to these C8 students who earned a spot in the September Lunch Bunch with their exemplary behavior and responsibility for the entire month.

Another visit from Zero on September 16th! This time the students had to estimate the number of “eyeballs” in the jar. After we shared our estimates we were able to share the treat in the BOO bag….Halloween Oreos!

Zero visited one more time on October 30th! This time he gave us a different challenge! We had to roll two dice, make the largest number we can with those digits and then add and subtract 10 FOUR times! When we completed the challenge, we each got a clementine dressed up like a jack-o-lantern!

100 + Days of Second Grade – Part 1

I want to share with you all the wonderful things we have been experiencing together in our first one hundred days of second grade.  We ended October with our Halloween Party and school-wide Halloween Parade. Unfortunately it was so busy, I didn’t get any photos of the students in their Halloween costumes but here is a photo of the watching a Halloween DVD waiting for dismissal after the parade.

Zero the Hero even got into the Halloween spirit by bringing clementines with “Jack-o-lantern” faces as a reward for solving his math challenge.

On November 9th, we finally got to go on our field trip to the Boston Museum of Science.

We arrived just in time to see the live animal show.

The live animal wasn’t just any snake. It was a python!

After the show, we were able to go to the stage and touch real snake skin.

We got to see and learn about  dinosaurs and lots of other interesting things!

Mrs. Riordan and C8 students in front of a giant T-Rex model.

State Rep. Garry was one of our chaperones. Here she and some of the students standing in front of an actual stegosaur fossil.

Davian and Jacob explore electricity!

Some of our C8 girls learning that a seesaw is more than just playground fun…learning about force, motion and simple machines.

Investigating a model of a one room schoolhouse.

C8 students learn about heat and energy.

The students had fun climbing inside this model of the waterways and found a statue of a river otter!

Thank you to all our chaperones!

The students got to be paleontologists themselves back in the classroom. They were given dirt from a dig site, magnifying glasses and identification charts to help them find fossils.

Quinton using the chart to identify the fossil he found.

Jayden identifies his fossil as Gabriella looks on.

Here are some more photos of students searching for fossils. Thank you to Ms. Allore and Mr. Santee for supervising our paleontologists during this hands-on science exploration.

Boston Museum of Science Field Trip

After a long bus ride, we arrived just in time to attend a live animal show about how some animals mimic other animals. The live animals were a snake and an owl. Some of the students stayed after the show to see them up close and to ask questions.

Learning about how these two snakes look alike but are very different.

Another example of animal mimicry.

Then we went to the dinosaur exhibit and took some group photos!

Our class in front of an actual triceratops from Hell Creek, Montana. This is the same place that Mrs. Riordan, Mrs. Porcello and Mrs. Cooke went to DIG School to learn about paleontology and to dig for fossils.

How many students’ hands can fit in a T-Rex footprint?

Our class beneath the T-Rex!

Looking up at Mrs. Riordan taking the photo from above!

After breaking for lunch, we got to explore the museum to see many other exciting exhibits.

Maria balancing weights!

Checking out some info on this screen!

Learning the science of centrifugal force and having fun!

Swinging on the moon!

This playground gets the whole body involved while they are learning about science!

Science is AMAZING!

Arianna enjoying this hands on experience!

Miranda enjoyed balancing the weights too!

Thank you to Mrs. Anello, Mrs. Brandvold, Mrs. Cowan, Mrs. Horvath and Ms. Silva for being fantastic chaperones on this field trip! Special thanks to Mrs. Brandvold for taking many of these wonderful photos.

 

The Chromebooks Are Here!

C8 Students Learning with Technology!

The students on the Celtics table are working hard.

Today the students were excited to be able to use the new chromebooks to practice their math skills with a program called Prodigy. This video game based math program assesses the students and then provides practice that is individualized for each student. This highly motivating program is free for classroom use and kept the students engaged. We are fortunate that we now have these chromebooks available for this and other programs like Vocabulary/SpellingCity, Epic books, Xtramath, and more. Special thanks for Mrs. Bowie, the district’s technology integration specialist, for troubleshooting some problems we initially had with accessing the chromebooks. In the words of one of our second graders, “She is the best!”

Check out these students on the Red Sox table.

Students on the Patriots table helped each other signing in to the program.

The students on the Bruins table didn’t want to stop!

September Lunch Bunch!

 

The September Lunch Bunch!

Elizabeth, Haylee, Kaylee, Miranda, Logan and Carter

Each month I try to hold a special lunch with the teacher called the “Lunch Bunch”. The students who get invited to the monthly lunch bunch have displayed exemplary behavior and responsibility that month. This is documented by the behavior/responsibility charts. If a child gets all stickers or has only clipped down one time that month (because everyone is entitled to a bad day), they will be a part of that month’s lunch bunch. Additionally, if they didn’t clip down even once, they earn a “paw”.  The September lunch bunch enjoyed a picnic lunch in the courtyard….until a yellow jacket decided to join us. (We moved indoors at that point!)  Congratulations to the September lunch bunch and I hope that in October I have even more!