Our class had a “Module 3 Celebration” today to celebrate the completion of the third module, Civil Rights Heroes, in our English Language Arts program, Wit & Wisdom.  The students have gained so much knowledge during this module. Today, they displayed and shared their beautiful work from throughout the Module 3 with Miss Duval’s first grade class. The students shared their Response Journal, Knowledge Journal, Vocabulary Journal, and Fluency Journal with our guests. They also shared their “proud work” from throughout the year and their research project. Your child is bringing home their beautiful work today to share with you.  Please read and look through it all with your child seeing as they have worked SO hard on it all over the past few months! You can celebrate their hard work and new knowledge at home, too! 

In this science lesson, the students investigated which kinds of birds are likely to visit a bird feeder based on what they eat. In the activity, Design a Bird Feeder, the students first drew their own bird feeder design to attract a specific type of bird. Then, they built a prototype of their bird feeder using the available materials.  You may visit this link to learn more.  We have some very creative inventors!

Here’s something fun you can do together with your child at home: try looking for birds around your neighborhood! Consider downloading the free bird app “Merlin” (http://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/) for your smartphone, so you and your child can easily identify any bird you find!

Our class will visit the Book Fair on Tuesday.  All books are buy one, get one free!

Join us as we celebrate Sean Ward and Julie Caterino!

Our class was filled with excitement this morning with the arrival of a package from Amazon.  I am SO excited to announce that my book, The Baseball Boy, is officially self published and available on Amazon! This story is about my son, John, dunking the The Rude Clown at the fair when he was only 6 years old.  I started writing this book in my classroom seven years ago as I taught my second graders how to write a personal narrative. A few years after initially “finishing” the story in my classroom, I revisited and revised it multiple times. Then, when I decided to self publish it in October of 2024, I had our librarian, Mrs. Mechachonis, read it to my class.  Through hearing her read it to my students and watching their reaction, I was able to revise the book further.  I believe it is important for my students to know that everyone is an author and has a story to tell.  This book is illustrated with photographs that I took at the Topsfield Fair over the years, including images of my children at different ages. I started writing this book seven years ago and began the publishing process six months ago. It’s been a long process and I’m thrilled to announce that it’s here! I enjoyed seeing my published book for the first time with my students in the classroom where the book was born. 

Second graders had a great day of learning and fun at Peabody Mill Environmental Center.  We enjoyed an educational hike during which we explored a porcupine and beaver habit.  Then, the students attended an Animal Adaptation class.  They learned about how animals adapt to different seasons and nature.  Be sure to ask your child to explain what they learned from the different stations about animal adaptions.  Our class also enjoyed a picnic lunch and an exploration of the pond.  The students explored the pond and took things out of the pond so that our class could examine them more closely.  Our class used what we found in the pond to determine that the pond has healthy, clean water.  Be sure to ask you child about what they found and saw at the pond.  Please visit this link to view the many photos of our field trip.

Our class is learning about measurement.  You can support your child at home by giving them the opportunity to measure household items using inches and centimeters as the unit of measurement.  Help show your child how measurement is a part of our daily lives.

Next week will be Spirit Week.  How is it possible that we only have one more week before vacation?  Time flies when you are having fun learning!

Some of our students were very excited to see that they made the SAU News Roundup.  Keep an eye on Weare in the World to see if this is included in the local news.

Student names have been cropped out as I do not include student names on my blog.

The students enjoyed spending time with the chick’s today.  A big thank you to the parent who made it possible!