The STEM Tower

On Friday we completed a STEM activity in groups of 4 and one group of 5. We each got 40 connectors to build our towers. As engineers we had to make a plan.  Then we needed to build a base by working together.  If Mrs. Weaver caught us working together nicely she gave us more connectors.  After 15 minutes Mrs. Weaver said stop and then she measures our structures.  The highest structure was from the purple table and they had one that was 23 centimeters tall. It was lots of fun building our towers.  We hope to build it again.  Enjoy our video of our STEM activity.

Lilly Heads to Disney for Halloween

Our friend Lilly went on an adventure to Disney for Halloween.  We are excited to hear how her trip is going.

Hi Mrs. Weaver
I have been so busy doing all kinds of fun stuff with my family. We are at my grand-pa Jacks and Nana's in Leesburg Florida. We were at Disney first. I went on tower of terror at Hollywood studios and loved it. I will see you soon. Miss you
Lilly
  

                  

                      

     Lilly with her favorite characters from Frozen.          Lilly and her brother with Mini Mouse.


Mrs. Weaver,

We had fun at Disney and we went to a festival and I got my first henna tattoo with my mom.
I had so much fun!
Lilly

Cool Tattoos

I am so glad Lilly and her family were able to take this family vacation and discover Disney World. Family time is always meaningful and priceless.  Our children grow up so fast its nice to watch them grow and discover the world around them.  But a little silly time in Disney I am sure was had by the Gula Family.  Glad it was a wonderful trip and I will be excited to hear all about it when Lilly returns.  

Pledge to Read

On October 21st we joined millions of people  for the world's largest shared reading experience. Everyone read the book "Bunny Cake" by Rosemarry Wells. Since we have been working on cause and effect I decided to use this book for some extra practice. Then since the children just finished our solids, liquids, and gas unit I decided a perfect cake would be a bunny jello jiggler cake. With lots of whip cream we all enjoyed a yummy piece of bunny.

Adventures in the garden

On Friday, we spent some time in the school garden getting it ready for winter.  I was so inspired I decided to spend some time in my own gardens and get them also ready for winter.  The children were definitely dirty and full of earth.  They enjoyed pulling up weeds, old plants, and adding new dirt to the raised beds.

                  
                Digging up weeds                                          More digging!!


                      
                     I have the best helpers.                           Owen working with first graders.
                                                                                           What a great leader.

Where is the Word is our friend Sarah?

Sarah and her family took a trip to Disney and are sharing their experiences with us.  We will follow Sarah's adventures.  I have never gone to Disney or Florida so I am enjoying this trip through my student's eyes.

Dear Mrs. Weaver and Friends:

On Monday Pike's Dad picked us up at 4:00 in the morning and took us to the airport. I went on my first plane ride. It was fun but it hurt my ears when we landed. We went to Downtown Disney and went shopping. We ate dinner at Planet Hollywood and got cups that light up. I love my bedroom here! It is pink and purple and has a big pink bed and princesses everywhere. It is fun to swim in the big pool and go on the waterslide. I'm having fun!

Love,

Sarah

Dear Mrs. Weaver and Friends:

On Tuesday we went to Disney World. I went on Splash Mountain. It had a big drop at the end. I went on Big Thunder Mountain. I didn't like it. It went too fast! I met Belle. She is pretty! I did not go on Space Mountain! We saw fireworks and parades. It was fun! We stayed at Disney world until midnight.

Love,
Sarah

Dear Mrs. Weaver and Friend,

On Wednesday,  we took the day off. We went out for lunch and swam in the pool for hours. I went on a big waterslide. It was a twenty foot drop and shoots you out at the end. I dunked my Dad. My Dad calls me sharkbait. We had a relaxing afternoon.

Love,
Sarah

Dear Mrs. Weaver and Friends:

On Thursday, we went to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure. I saw Harry Potter and took a ride through the castle and played Quidditch with him. It was a ride. It was a little scary. There were spiders and dragons and scary ghosts. It felt like we were going really fast but we were really only moving a little. I saw how wands pick wizards and I tried butter beer. It was a really sweet soda drink and I didn't really like it. I went on an adventure with Spiderman it felt real and scary but it wasn't real. It was awesome! We went to Jurassic Park and saw the dinosaurs. It was really a log flume ride and I got really wet! We had a good day!

Love,
Sarah

Dear Mrs. Weaver and Friends:

On Friday, we went to SeaWorld. We saw a dolphin show. It was so cool! There were divers that jumped from way up high into the water and they put their feet on the dolphins' noses and the dolphins pushed them through the water. It was a story about a girl and she swam with the dolphins and other divers did too. I saw Shamu and Baby Shamu. Shamu is a huge killer whale. Baby Shamu is a lot smaller. They can jump way out of the water. I really liked the show. I went on a carousel twice. My brother and I climbed way up high on ropes. I didn't like that because I was up way too high but I had to climb down. We visited penguins in Antarctica. It wasn't really Antarctica but it was cold! We made a picture with our handprints and Dad's handprint was a shark, Mary's was a dolphin, mine was penguins, Kolbe's was an orca and Mom's was a sea turtle. My sister Ali was a baby sea turtle. We had a great day!

Love,
Sarah

Twas the night before school and all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.  Well maybe  I was stirring thinking about my new students and hoping my last year students would remember what I taught them and have a great first day.  I was up earlier than I had intended so I spent some time drinking my cup of coffee and reading my last book on my summer list.  When at last it was time for the children to get up, breakfast to be on the table, and lunches packed.  Where, oh, where did my summer vacation go?  And finally it is that time and my students are eagerly entering the room and have no idea what to do.  This is the moment I do believe all teachers wish they had looped with their previous years class.  The new children quickly learned where things went and what to do.  Morning Meeting was a great time to learn about who my children are and what their attention span is at this time.  Soon after lunch, because most of August we were in an Arctic chill, now that we are in school it is 95 degrees in our classroom.  The day ended and I received many hugs and saw wonderful Facebook posts describing the wonderful day their child had in second grade.  So onto planning and preparing for day two which would just so happen to be the second day of second grade which we all know is the BEST!!  However it was then that I realized it was going to be even hotter on day two.  Quick to thought I looked through my freezer to be deeply disapointed all the freeze pops were gone.  I guess they went during summer vacation.  Plan two was to get on Facebook at persuade one of my moms to send in freeze pops.  Yes it is day two and I am already calling in favors!!  Don't judge me!!  I wasn't able to shop since I was in my PJ's before 6:30pm.  Might I remind you it was 95 in my classroom and I was dripping wet.

Second Day of Second Grade

Today started off very well in the Weaver household as my husband and I prepared nice healthy lunches for our two children.  It was perfect and we were done in no time.  Teamwork!!  I took that thought all the way to my classroom.  The kids knew where to put their backpacks, began working on the Morning Meeting Door, and were ready to go over their answers.  Morning Meeting was great and we played Hot and Cold with a new stuffed husky that was a gift from one of my new students.  We found out how to choose the perfect rock, found our own personal special rock, and then wrote a paragraph about our special rock. Soon after lunch we were all dripping wet again from the heat but I have something cool and refreshing planned for science.  We are learning about solids, liquids, and gas so we began with ice cubes.  All we needed to do was put it in our hands and we had liquid almost immediately.  The children were making wonderful puddles all over the tables.  I had one student that was blowing on his ice to watch it melt.  We did need to heat water up in the microwave to create the gas.  Then it was time for freeze pops and watermelon provided by my amazing moms that I do believe felt sorry for us.  The children were all refreshed and ready to learn about bucket filling soon after snack.  We sang the song "I'm a Bucket Filler" to get ready for music. One more day and our first week is in the books as a wonderful first week of school.

       

         

                    

IPad in our classroom

Our iPad has arrived and just in time to work on a short research project and learn how to confirm information through valid sources. The children are researching via google chrome, using Reading Rainbow, and documenting our field trip to the Capital Center for the Arts.

Researching during ELA class

Donors Choose

Our class is trying to raise funds through Donors Choose for a class iPad. For the next four days the money we raise will be doubled with the code "inspire". Use this code in the promo code area and the amount you donate is doubled. We can make this happen with the help of you. Go to our link on this blog for our donors choose project. Thank you for your help.
Our link is www.donorschoose.org/mrs.weaverhuskies

After six days of our project being on Donors Choose we have raised $645.00.  We still need help raising the last $341.00 so that we can use our IPad in fun, educational, stimulating, activities after vacation.  If you haven't had a chance, please go on to the donors choose website and be sure to use the promo code INSPIRE so that your donation is matched by our matching donor funds.

The Day I Lost my Voice

As the day went on, and I taught more and more lessons, I found it was getting harder and harder to talk. By the time the kids came back from recess I was left with barely any voice left. I made quick changes to how I was going to review for our math test but I couldn't figure out how to read to the class. I could skip this but we are going to watch Charlotte's Web soon so we really need to finish this book. I looked around the room and found a helper student who was more than willing and capable to step in and read to the class.  I am now sitting on the couch drinking my lemon tea resting my voice. I really hope it returns by tomorrow.

Reese Reading to the Class

Messages to Mason

While Mason was away winning the overall gold medal at USASA's Nationals we made a movie for him. We are all proud of his highest level of dedication and achievement. Great job Mason and we can't wait to see you next week.

                                         

                                                                                                      National Champion

                                                                                               Mason 2014

Mason's adventures

Day 5

My day was UNBELIEVABLE and wicked FUN. I had 18 competitors in my group. My event that I had was Slopestyle. The course was really fun and awesome. My first was good but then my second run I laid the smack down and went bigger then I ever had. Slopestyle is a judged event. It has two parts first you are judged on rails and features. The second part is jumps. The judges look at amplitude and style.My first run was a 56 my second score was a 77.67. We thought that I got third place but I got silver!!!  The kid that beat me by 2 points his name was Kade Martin. 

                                                  Day 6

Today I had boardercross and it was fun. I was second in time trials. Cooper Provencher beat me by fractions. I won my heat by a long shot. In my semi final I went down right at the finish and got third. I had to get second to advance into the finals. I got fifth because I had to go through the consolation round.  I was very sad and mad. However, I know in my heart I should have been in the finals and on the podium. That's Boardercross for you the fast guy does not always win. I am still happy to have gotten 5th.   My new friend Copper Provencher won the race and he is from Vermont. I have beat him before.

                                                    Day 7

Today, I had Slalom. It was a good day. We think I got third but it is not official until we go to awards later today. I had one really good run and one run I fell on. I feel really bad for my brother, Tyler. He should have been on the podium today too. He fell and missed a gate. He had to hike and get back around one of the gates. He kicked but on his second run! I will let you know tomorrow where I placed.

My class is the best and thanks for all the support!!!! See you all soon....... Mason

Special Birthday

I would like to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Mrs. Dzujna.  She is a wonderful colleague and I love working with her this year.  She is very dedicated to her work, the children, and our community of Franklin, NH.  I hope she had a fabulous day and that the children all spend some time wishing her a happy birthday tomorrow.  I will see you all on Wednesday.

Mason's Journal Entry

Mason's third day:
Today was the BEST day of snowboarding I have ever had!!!  I woke up to another eight inches of snow and the back bowls got 12 to 18 inches of snow.  The back bowls are considered back country!  The name of the bowls are Copper Bowls  They are never groomed and you ride steep terrain.  The elevation in the bowls are 12,441 feet.  They have old chair lifts and T-bars that take  you to the top of the bowls.  Today I jumped into a bowl which means I jumped a cornice.  A cornice is a drop off a ledge into a bowl.  Some people call it a face wall.  It was five feet high.  When I jumped into it I felt like a pro snowboarder!!

The BEST part of my day was getting to take a CAT ride!  A CAT ride is when you get to ride to the top of a mountain where no chair lift can go.  It is as backcountry as it gets!  The CAT is the machine that is used to groom trails.  It seats about 10-12 people.  It took us 15 minutes to get to the top of the cat ride and then we had to kike 15 minutes to the top of Tucker Mountain.  I was very scared but felt like I was on top of the world!!  The snow was so deep that I got stuck five times.  My dad had to help me a couple times.  At the end of the run I was soooo tired that my legs felt like red jello!!

I have never snowboarded like that in my life!!  After I ate lunch I went to Woodward and jumped into the foam pits.  I got my competition bib and my number is 1553.  Tomorrow, I have practice on all of my events.  We also have a parade and opening ceremonies tomorrow.  Have a good weekend.

Mason

Mason's fourth day:

I had an unbelievable day that was so AWESOME!  My day started off with a couple runs with my coach, Whitney.  I had a practice for every event that I am doing.  I did practice for giant slalom, slalom, halfpipe, slopestyle and boardercross.  The giant slalom course and slalom course got rutted and rough.  The halfpipe is 18-22 feet tall.  I tink the halfpipe is in the best condition.  I got to meet Chas Guldemod at the top of the slopestyle course.  Chas was really nice and very funny.  The boardercross course was really nice.  The course was fast, fun, and I got to race Tyler.

After riding, we had opening ceremonies.  We had a big parade with all the different series across the country.  We walk through Center Village and each series is introduced one by one.  We did the National Anthem.  the Maine Mountain Series was really loud.

Tomorrow I have my first competition.  I have Giant Slalom and so does my mom and Tyler.  I am very nervous and excited.  See you through the Blog tomorrow.

Mason

Mason's second day of his journey to Nationals

I had an amazing day I woke up to 5 inches of new snow. The snow was awesome and it snowed all day. The snow was heavy, making powder soft and fluffy. The snowboarding was awesome.

I had boardercross practice today. The coarse was fun and fast. The top of the course was the hardest but my favorite. I get to race on it on Tuesday!

Today was a great day of snowboarding. I boarded all day. We took the longest run ever. We went through the woods and the back bowls of Copper Mountain. I had to take a T-bar to the top. Tyler, my friend Aiden, and I got ice cream. When we stopped we were all beat. When we got back to the condo we played with our friends Mike and Emma. We deflated an airbed.

Have a great Friday at school! Mason

Mason's journey to Nationals- Day One

I had an awesome first day.  We woke up at four because we had to get to the airport.  We took a shuttle to the airport.  We sat in the back of the plane and I got a row of seats all to myself.  The four hour flight was good and fun.  I like taking off the best.  We landed in Denver at 9:20 which was 11:20 back in NH.  We are two hours behind you!! The airports were very big.

We rented a big suburban.  It was a long ride to the mountain.  We got 8, 9, or 10 inches of snow last night.  We saw bighorn sheep on the way to the mountain.  I got a new Wes Welker shirt.  I saw the Denver Bronco's stadium.  We went under a three mile tunnel.  

I went to Woodward yesterday.  Woodward is a fun place.  It is a training place for freestyle athletes.  I did a double front flip into the foam pit.  I tried to flip on the trampoline but banged my shoulder. 

We have snowboardcross training today and it will be hard with almost a foot of new snow.  I will tell you all about it tonight.  Have fun today.

Mason

Inspired Children

I was very pleased as a teacher to have two children so inspired from learning about the Iditarod that they completed a home project on their own.  This was not an assignment but something that they both wanted to complete to further their knowledge of their musher and the sleds that the racers use.  Great job Brenin and Eric on your projects.

Four students completed the Iditarod Hunt Challenge last night.  They are Reese, Lilah, Mason, and Libby (who emailed her answer due to being out sick).  Hope your feeling better soon Libby we miss you at school.  Great job finding the answer and good luck with today's question.

Iditarod Hunt Finders

Again today our two winners of the Iditarod Blog Hunt were Libby F. and Reese P.  Great job girls at finding the first four finishers of the 2014 Iditarod.  

Exploring Oobleck

Yesterday in science we explored Dr.Seuss' oobleck.  We were trying to discover, is it really a solid or is is a liquid.  We used our understanding of both properties to make a scientific guess.  After a time of talkative exploration, we explored while listening to me read the story Bartholomew and the Oobleck by Dr. Seuss.

Dr. Seuss Guest Reader Day

We were honored to have Mayor Merrifield come and read to our class today.  He shared one of his favorite stories he enjoyed reading to his own daughters, The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and THE BIG HUNGRY BEAR.  We enjoyed listening to this story and then sharing our YouTube video with him.  We also had a very pleasant treat from Councilor Dzujna.  He brought us very yummy muffins as a treat during snack.  They were all a huge success and the strawberry hidden in some of them was a delightful surprise.  Thank you both for making today an extra special day.

Hidden Iditarod Question: What was the name of Susan Butcher's dog that was injured my the moose attack and later went on to win three consecutive Iditarods?

Iditahunt

We have begun our Iditarod adventures.  We selected our mushers today and began to read a story called Akiak.  The students received their first Iditahunt question.  Each day your child will receive a new question and these answers are due the following day.  Each correct answer will move your child to the next checkpoint.  Who will reach Nome first?

Who is following the Blog?  What are the dogs wearing on their paws?  How long before a student answers my question?  Time will tell.  

                                                       Enjoy our video from our Olympic Events.

The children worked so hard to learn and compete in their events.  It was what teaching is truly about.  Learning should be fun and children should look forward to coming to school each and every day.  It was impressive to find my students who find spelling a challenge doing very well and wanting me to ask them how to spell Olympics or Russia in Russian.  I even had one beg me to ask him to name the countries that border Russia.  Well it has changed so many times in my life I had to think.  I do believe that with these lessons that the children created life long memories.  I will not be surprised to see some of them in 20 years teaching something similar to their students.  I would say the highlight to my year so far was going out for a good portion of the day and snowshoe with the children and just have fun!!  I would like to thank each and everyone of my students for reminding me that a kid is in all of us no matter what our age is.

Valentine's Day FUN

Since we had a snow day on the real Valentine's Day, we celebrated on Monday.  We gave cards to show how much we enjoy our friends, gave each other tons of sugar with a sprinkle of healthy foods, and went on a scavenger hunt for Valentine Math problems.  The children enjoyed searching for the facts and then working together to solve the problems.  Ball Park estimates can be fun when they are hidden around the room.  Our Olympic event today was cup stacking.  We completed this in gym with our PE teacher.  I thought about using the red solo cups but the actual cup stackers work so much better.  I still need to upload a picture of the winning teams.  With early dismissal today I still haven't gotten everyone in the picture. Hoping for this storm to pass through quickly tonight so that we have a full day of school tomorrow. 

Valentine Fun

Math Challenge

Yesterday we also had our math challenge.  Just as I used the white boards with the spelling bee I did the same for the math challenge.  I began with simple facts and then worked up to adding three digits by three digits with carrying a ten.  They had fun trying to win a medal.  I enjoyed watching them solve several math problems with zero complaints about doing another problem.  

Medal winners for the Math Bee on Monday

                                          

Russian Fact Challenge

Do you know the capital, the money used, the major language spoken, the two mountain ranges, the largest lake, countries that border Russia, or which side of the road Russians drive on?  Well the gold medal winner knows these facts.  The children came into the room this morning and with indoor recess wanted to quiz each other and look up more facts about Russia (just in case I asked a few questions not on the study guide).  Well it turned out I did need to ask additional questions.  The final question was what side of the road do they drive on in Russia.  The answer was the right side just like we do in the United States.  I was so impressed with how much information these little heads  have.  Given the tools they will rise to all occasions.  Great job Team Husky!!!

Extra Long Weekend- SNOW

 

After an unexpected long weekend I am now ready for our last week before vacation.  This weekend I worked on adding new curtains that will hold more of our anchor charts. 

Curtain to hid clutter and showcase anchor charts

 

 

I also made more Olympic medals and organized some of my files.  I think I am ready for the week to come.  More Olympic events tomorrow. 

 



 

100th Day of School

Today students were encouraged to bring in a food item for either the local food pantry or the local animal shelter.  Our goal was 100 items.  The students brought in a total of 113 items to donate to the two places.  With all of the can goods we divided them into thirds and then worked in teams to construct the digits to make 100.  It is amazing how much they can accomplish when working as a TEAM!!

Winter Olympics

 Spelling Bee- Luge Event



GOLD MEDAL WINNERS
 

Another event we had last week was our spelling bee.  I had the children write their words on their white boards and then show their answers at the same time.  Students who spelled the word correctly moved on to the next word and those who missed the word were out of the competition.  I also differentiated the groups based on their spelling groups.  This way the competition was fair and the competitors were competing against those who have similar spelling abilities.  I was so impressed with them cheering each other on and the smiles on their faces when they moved on to the next word.  Great sportsmanship during this event.

Corbin winning the gold with his final two words.
 

Winter Olympics

Winter Olympics 2014

This event is our STEM activity which was the Down hill skiing event.  The children were encouraged to build a 3D model of an Olympic athlete competing in his/her event.  The sculpture had to be covered entirely with tin foil.  They were very creative and added special touches such as the blades of ice skates, blades to sleds, and half pipe.  I was impressed with their creativity and how well they were able to help each other. 

The children are working on their STEM activity.

Carly working on her down hill skier. 

 

                                                      Final STEM Projects