Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Poetry Picnic

We hope you can join us on Thursday at 10:30 for our Poetry Picnic.  We have been busy studying different types of poems and can't wait to share them!

Here is what is on the menu for our Poetry Picnic:

First Course
Acrostics
Similes
Metaphors
Cinquains
Bio Poems
Color Poems

Second Course
Partner Poetry Reading

Third Course
Poetry Scavenger Hunt

We hope to see everyone on Thursday!







Monday, May 13, 2013

Readers' Theater

As we finished up our unit on fables, fairy tales, and role playing, we enjoyed performing some Readers' Theater.  We used some of Aesop's Fables to practice our reading fluency.  The kids practiced their lines and then gave an informal performance for the class.

Here are some pictures from our informal performance:


Click here to learn more about Readers' Theater.

Thank you!!

Thank you to everyone who made my Teacher Appreciation Week so special.  I enjoyed the little surprises that they gave me each morning.  The affirmations, pictures, writing, flowers and treats were very thoughtful and kind.  The kids were just as excited as I was to read all of them each morning.  I am very lucky to have a chance to work with your amazing children every day.  Thank you for all of your support!

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Last Book Order of the Year

Be on the look out for the last book order of the year, coming home tomorrow.  Now is a great time to stock up on books for summer reading!



PLEASE USE CLASS CODE DXR8L IF YOU ARE ORDERING ON LINE.

Monday, May 6, 2013

Field Trip - Thursday, May 9

We will go on a field trip this Thursday to the middle school to watch the dress rehearsal for the play, The Little Mermaid.  We will leave HES at 12:00 and return at 2:00.  We will have a normal lunch that day (buy or bring from home as you normally would) except we will eat a little earlier at 11:30.

PLEASE SEND BACK THE PERMISSION SLIPS BY WEDNESDAY, MAY 8.

There is no cost for the trip, and we do not need chaperones for this one.


Famous Americans Show

The show was a huge success!  The children did a wonderful job singing their songs and saying their lines.  Thank you for all your help with the costumes, they all looked fantastic.  A special thank you goes out to Mrs. Goodison and Mrs. Hoddinott for helping with the costumes and getting ready for the performance.

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Art Show

Mr. Granucci needs help.  If you are available the morning of Monday, May 6, and can come in to help hang the art show, please contact Mr. Granucci.  There is also a form in the school newsletter that will go home today that you can fill out and send in indicating that you are available.  I  look forward to my first HES Art Show!

Famous Americans Presentation

We had our dress rehearsal yesterday for our Famous Americans Presentation.  The kids all did a wonderful job, and are ready for the big show this Friday.  We look forward to seeing you on Friday at 1:45 in the all purpose room.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Costume for Famous American Program


We are working hard on our “Famous Americans Program.”  We need your help creating simple costumes for your child.  We would like your child to dress like the person he or she will be talking about.  Below are some ideas.
·         Those who are doing Thomas Edison could dress like an inventor/scientist with a white coat and/or glasses.  They could hold a replica of something that Edison invented.
·         Those who are doing Sally Ride could dress in dark blue pants and shirts.  We have astronaut patches that they can pin to their shirts.
·         Those who are doing Amelia Earhart could wear goggles and brown pants and shirts.  We have hats that the children can borrow that look like a pilot hat.
·         Those who are doing George Washington Carver could dress like a scientist with a white coat and maybe a bow tie.  They could also hold a replica of something he invented (please no real peanuts or peanut butter).

THESE ARE ONLY SUGGESTIONS – PLEASE FEEL FREE TO COME UP WITH YOUR OWN IDEA FOR YOUR COSTUME.  Please have your children bring in their costumes in a marked bag with their names on it by Monday, April 29.  Putting your child’s name on each piece of clothing would be helpful also.  We will do a dress rehearsal on Tuesday, April 30th for the school.
If you have any questions, please contact me at school or my cell phone (860-343-7919).  Thanks again for all your help.  It is greatly appreciated.

IF YOU  HAVE AN IDEA ABOUT A COSTUME THAT YOU WANT TO SHARE WITH THE CLASS, PLEASE POST IT BELOW!

Fairy Tales Needed

We are looking for some fairy tales that can be shared with the class.  Please send in one or two of your favorites that we can borrow for a couple of weeks.  Write your name on the inside cover or on a post it note inside the book so that we can keep track of all the books.  Thank you for your help!!

Monday, April 8, 2013

Praying Mantis Eggs

Thank you Mrs. Wytas for our praying mantis eggs.  We know we have a long wait (4-6 weeks), but we are very excited to see the hundreds of babies that will hatch sometime in May. 

Here is a link to National Geographic Kids and some information about our new class members.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

PTO Raffle Basket

Who wouldn't enjoy a day at the spa???  That is the theme for our basket - Day at the Spa.  We are starting to get some really great items - thank you for all who have donated already!  If you still plan to donate to our basket, please send in some spa items.  So far we have different lotions, nailpolishes, soaps, scrubs, and a beautiful hand-made towel/wrap.  I get relaxed everytime I look at our box!

Fiction, Folk Tales, and Fairy Tales

We are taking a break from non fiction to study folk tales and fairy tales.  We will study character traits and feelings, and analyze the multiple perspectives in the stories to discover the morals or lesson learned by the characters.  We will also compare similar stories from diverse cultures.  Our class has already read Cinderella and Yeh Shen (Chinese version of Cinderella).  We enjoyed discussing the stories with our blog buddies in Mrs. Glidden's class.  We focused on comparing how the two stories are the same and how they are different.
 

Math Update

Centimeters, inches, feet, meters, yards - we will use them all!  Our new math unit is on measuring and graphing.  We are learning about the different units of measurements and how to decide which unit is the best one to use when measuring an object.  The kids really enjoy the hands on activities that have them moving around and measuring different object in the room. 

Some activities to try at home:
  • Have your child come up with a list of things that they would measure for each unit of measurement listed above.
  • Practice measuring different object in the house using a ruler (I have extra rulers if you would like to borrow one).
  • Make a scavenger hunt.  Have your child look for something that is a specific measurement.  Example:  Look for something that is 6 cm long, something that is 9 inches long, something that is 2 feet wide, etc.

**Try to have your child estimate the measurement before they measure.**

Here are some books about measurment:
The King's Foot
Twelve Snails to one Lizard
How Big is a Foot?
Measuring Penny

HES Loves to Read Month

The official HES Loves to Read Month is over, but we all continue to enjoy reading every day.  I want to thank our guest readers, Mrs. Thompson, Mrs. Wytas, and Mr. Doyle, for coming in and sharing some of their favorite stories with us.  The children loved having visitors in the room and enjoyed hearing a wide variety of books.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

We had our first Guest Reader!!

Thank you Mrs. Thompson for being our first guest reader!  
The children enjoyed listening to some favorite snowy day stories.  

If you would like to come in and share a story with the class, 
please let me know what day works for you!

HES LOVES TO READ!!


Tuesday, March 5, 2013

What makes a good Story Retell?

Today we talked about the characteristics of a good story retell.  We brainstormed a list of important parts of a story that the students felt should be included in their retelling of a story.  Here is a retell of our lesson:

Characters:  The fabulous students in room 15.

Setting:  On the carpet in Room 15 at HES before lunch time.

Problem:  Mrs. McKenzie noticed that the fabulous students are leaving out parts of the story when they do a retell.

Kickoff:  We talked about why we need to have a good retell.  A good retell shows that the reader understands what they have read.  While reading, active readers go over the parts of the story in their head to help them understand and remember what they are reading.

Beginning:  First, we looked at cards that showed the important parts of the story The Wizard of Oz and discussed why each part was important to the story.

Middle:  Next, we read the story Big Al (one of Mrs. McKenzie's top 10 favorite books) and talked with our partners to identify the important parts of the story that should be included in the retell.

End:  Finally, we made a "yellow brick road" out of our retell cards and had volunteers walk the yellow brick road while they retold the story.

Solution:  The fabulous students in room 15 know all the important parts of a story to include in a retell and will practice with the books that they read.

Feeling:  We are excited to practice retelling other stories.  We will also connect what we know about retells when we write our own stories.

Waking the "yellow brick road" to a good retell.
Give it a try at home - Have your child retell the important parts of the text when they are done reading. 

Friday, March 1, 2013

HES Loves to Read!!!

We kicked off HES Loves to Read month today!  The theme this year is "BEE a reader . . . Buzz about  a book" Your child brought home a bee honeycomb sheet to track the minutes read.  The goal is for each student to read at least 1,000 minutes.  Color in each part of the honeycomb for each 10 minutes read.  Once your child reaches 1,000 minutes they will get a certificate to hang up at school - and get started on the next 1,000 minutes!!

Next week is guest reader week.  We have one parent signed up for Monday already and are looking for more for the rest of the week.  Let me know if you are interested in coming in!

Happy Reading!

Family Math Friday

Thank you to all of the families that were able to make it to Family Math Friday this morning.  We had a lot of fun showing our families some of the games that we play during math.  I hope you can make it to the next Family Read or Family Math day!








Thursday, February 28, 2013

And the Oscar Goes To.....

Room 15!!  Check out our movie that we made about polygons.  We looked at the art of Rob Gonsalves and searched for different polygons.  We practiced speaking our lines until we were ready for recording.  The kids needed to identify a polygon and then explain how they knew what it was. 

Happy Viewing!

Monday, February 25, 2013

CALLING ALL READERS!!!

Next week is the first week of HES Loves to Read Month!  To get the month started off right, I am looking for guest readers to come in and read to our class next week.  You can bring in one of your favorites, or I will pick a book for you.  Just let me know what day works best for you (end of the day is usually better for our schedule) and we will pick out a time that works.  The kids LOVE to have guests come in, especially guests who share the love of reading!

Comment below (click on No Comment to get started), or email me at dmckenzie@rsd17.org to set up a time.  I look forward to hearing from you.

Dr. Seuss Day - March 1

This Friday is not only the kick off of HES Loves To Read Month, but it is also Dr. Seuss Day!  Help us celebrate by having your child wear red, black, and white to school.  We will have a kick-off assembly where we will learn about the theme and the different activities associated with HES Loves to Read Month.  Stay tuned for more information about all the fun events and activities coming our way!




Friday, February 15, 2013

Kangaroos, Scorpions, Skinks, Oh My!

We had a special visit today from some interesting Australian animals.  The kids loved learning about a snake necked turtle, sugar glider, bearded dragon, carpet python (appropriately named Julius Squeezer), blue tongued skink and a scorpion.  The highlight of the assembly was the two-year-old red kangaroo.  He put on quite a show hopping around the gym with the handler hanging on tight to his tail.  Check out some of the links (click on the animal name in blue above) to learn more about these amazing animals.

Boys and Girls:  Which animal was your favorite?  Why did you like it? What was an interesting fact you learned from the assembly?  Post your answers below in the comment section!

Here are some pictures from our assembly:

Bearded Dragon

Carpet Python

Red Kangaroo

Sugar Glider



Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Thank you Mrs. Thompson!

We had a great time today learning about the stages of matter with Mrs. Thompson.  The kids enjoyed acting like molecules and pretending to be a solid, liquid, and gas.  The fun continued with a demonstration of how a gas fills a container (dry ice placed in a water bottle with a balloon over the top of the bottle).  We finished off making goop (cornstarch and water).  Is it a liquid or solid?  Ask your child to explain what makes goop change from liquid form to solid form.










Tuesday, February 12, 2013

See You Tomorrow!

Wow - I can't believe we only have three days this week and then another week off!  It will be a very busy three days.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) is the 100th day of school finally.  Please have your child bring in their 100 collection if they haven't done so already.

Thursday is Valentine's Day.  Please have your child bring in the affirmations that they have been working on.  We will have a small celebration in the afternoon and pass out the affirmations and any cards that are brought in. Don't forget to send in your parent letter too!

I hope that everyone survived the snow.  Even though the kids had a blast playing in the snow, it will be nice to get back on a normal schedule!

Grace (pink thing in the snow) and Jake having some fun.


Thursday, February 7, 2013

Triangle? Quadrilateral? Pentagon? Hexagon?


Ask your child to tell you about triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, and hexagons. We learned about the number of sides and angles each has. Today in math we sorted shapes and played different shape games.


Your Kids Are Bloggers Too!

Second graders blogging???  Yes, they are!  We visited the computer lab today to post our first blogs on Kid Blog.  We will post and comment back and forth with Mrs. Glidden's second grade class from a school in West Hartford.  Today's post was an "All About Me" post where the kids shared an interesting fact, something they are good at, and what they like to do after school.  We are waiting for Mrs. Glidden's class to comment on our posts and share their information with us. 



Sunday, February 3, 2013

Math Games

Here are some links to online math games.

http://www.nebo.edu/resources/math/pages/fastfacts/fastfacts.htm
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/7-games-practicing-math-facts
http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/lessonplans/grmagam.htm
http://everydaymath.uchicago.edu/about/understanding-em/games/addition-top-it.html
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/everyday-mathematics-addition/id413312885?mt=8
What are some of your child's favorites to play at home?

Readers' Workshop

The students continue to read books from different series.  Nate the Great, Cam Jansen, Junie B. Jones, Magic Tree House, and A-Z Mysteries are some of our favorites so far. While reading fiction books the reader will often come across something that they want to learn more about.  We have been paying attention to these things while reading our series books.  I am reading the Eve of the Emperor Penguin to the class.  For homework last week the kids researched Emperor Penguins.  This week we will take our facts and compile them into a class chart.  We will reference this chart while we read aloud The Eve  of the Emperor Penguin to see how the author, Mary Pope Osborne, uses this information.  Does she use the facts correctly or stray a little?

New math unit on Shapes

We will start a new unit on Shapes this week.  We will recognize and draw triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, and hexagons.  The focus will be on identifying the shapes by the number of sides and angles.  In this unit we will also learn to partition circles and rectangles into two, three, or four equal shares, describe the shares using the words halves, thirds, half of, a third of, etc., and describe the whole as two halves, three thirds, four fourths.

Some questions we will answer during this unit are:
1.  How are geometric shapes classified?
2.  What atributes are important in defining a category of shapes?
3.  What are equal shares?  Why must they be equal?

Here is an Animoto I will show the kids to introduce the shapes in isolation and in the real world.

Welcome to our blog!

I am very excited to get a classroom blog started! This is my first try at a blog, so I will be experimenting and learning as I go.  The purpose of this blog is to share ideas and to keep you updated with what is going on in room 15.  I would love your comments, suggestions, and feedback so please post comments when you can.  Happy Blogging!