Classroom+Happenings!

Happy 2012! We are thrilled to be back at school and back in our routine. We spent this week catching up with each other after our two week break. We shared many stories from our holidays and began taking turns sharing the "Telling Toolbox" again. The "Telling Toolbox" will allow us to renew our sense of classroom community and learn some new things about each other.

Ask your child about these things from our week:
 * Where did your Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes go? Were you surprised this is where they went?
 * What things do good writers do? Why is organizing ideas a good thing to do? Why are details important? What are details? What 1 thing did you choose to write about from your holiday break?
 * How do we celebrate the New year in the United States? What special thing is your class making to celebrate the New Year?
 * What did you learn about how other countries celebrate the New Year? How do they celebrate in Greece? In Trinidad and Tobago?
 * What is a resolution? What resolution did squirrel make in "Squirrel's New Year's Resoltion"? What resolution did you make at school? What resolution did you make at home?
 * Tell me about the Jan Brett stories you read this week. What is the same and different about the books "The Hat" and "The Mitten"? What animal does Jan Brett love and put in many of her stories?

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October 13, 2011- 4th Annual Garden and Habitat Day

October 12, 2011- Cooking for our Buddies! Since our buddies made salsa for us we decided as a class that we wanted to make something for them too. We all agreed it should be something with apples since we went to the apple orchard. We all shared ideas of what to make and then we took a vote. Apple turnovers won the vote. Mrs. Barrett helped us make the turnovers and Mrs.S baked them at lunch. When our buddies came out we each had to explain how to make an apple turnover and then we got to taste them. Our buddies and us loved them!

October 11, 2011- SWACO Landfill Field Trip Our class traveled with Mrs. Dunn's class to Grove City to see the SWACO Landfill. We started out in a classroom learning about the landfill with our guide Kristi. She told us about the layers of a landfill and what things are found in the landfill. Ask me about the different layers and what is the most common thing in the landfill. Then we went to the actual landfill and drove through it on our school bus. We saw where the trash is dumped and also smelled it. Ask me about the water truck and tipper (both are really cool).

October 7, 2011- Making applesauce! <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Today Mrs. Mizer and Mr. Abel came in to help us make applesauce. We had to weigh and measure our apple before we actually started making the applesauce. Some of us had large apples and some of us had small apples. Ask me about my apple and making applesauce!



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<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">Chautauqua! <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Today we shared at Chautauqua with our 3rd grade buddies. Our buddies introduced us by telling what makes us smile and what makes them smile. We had a video to show but it didn't work. We watched the video once we got back to our classroom. You can watch it below.

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<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">October 6, 2011- Apple Orchard Fun <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Today we went to Lynd's Fruit Farm with all of our 1st and 2nd grade friends. It was a long bus ride but once we got there we had a great time. Our class had to split into 2 groups. Some of us were with Miss Blake's class and some of us were with Mrs. Dunn's class. We all got a chance to see the packing house and museum, watch a slideshow, drink cider and pick apples

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<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">September 30,2011-Salsa! <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Our 3rd grade buddies picked vegetables from the Barrington garden. They decided to make salsa with them. Our buddies brought the salsa and some chips out to share with us. It was DELICIOUS!



<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">September 23, 2011-Meeting our 3rd grade buddies! <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">We found out who our 3rd grade buddies were today. Mrs. O'brochta's class came out and we each got paired up with one (and sometimes two) buddies. The 3rd graders interviewed us and are going to use that information to make a venn diagram about what have in common with each other.





<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">September 20, 2011- Guidance with Miss Bowden <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">We had our first guidance class of the year with Miss Bowden. She read a book to us and talked about the importance of listening. Ask your 1st or 2nd grader about the difference between hearing and listening. Also ask them what happend to RJ when he wasn't listening well? How did things get better when he was listening carefully? Why is it important for you to listen well at school and home? What activity did you do with a buddy to practice listening? <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">September 19, 2011- Talk Like a Pirate Day <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Captain Book- AKA Mrs. Collier-took us on an adventure to find a hidden treasure. We each made a pirate hat and learned some pirate lingo along the way. We came away with some jewels, sweet treats and the knowledge that Barrington is getting a cart of Ipads to share among the building! Yeah!! <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;"> <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">September 16, 2011- Our First Chautauqua <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Sydney, Caroline, Peter and Jacob gave an update on what we have been seeing in the garden and habitat. We hope to post some garden rules soon and plant some fall things too!

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">September 2011- Another Visit to the Garden and Habitat <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">We went out with clipboards and pencils to sketch things in the garden and habitat and record any words about what we observed. Many of us sketched the sunflower but some of us found other flowers to sketch.



<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">September 2011- Bubble Festival <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">We cullminated our bubble exploration by having a bubble festival. We were able to revisit all the things we did over the first week of school and got to try out body bubbles for the first time.



<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">August 2011- Mrs. Ullum Visits! <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Our new assistant principal Mrs. Ullum came out to get to know us better and read us a book. We learned she is married and has 2 daugthers. Mrs. Ullum read the book "The Sandwich Swap." Be sure to ask your 1st or 2nd grader about this book.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">August 2011- School Nurses Visit <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Our school nurse Mrs. Mead and our new Nurses assistant Miss Kennedy came to visit. They talked with us about being safe at school, what to expect in the nurses office and about how to keep friends with allergies safe. Remember-No sharing lunches!



<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">August 2011- Our first visit to the Garden <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">We noticed lots of fruits and vegetables still growing and a giant sunflower.

<span style="color: #0000ff; display: block; font-family: 'comic sans ms',cursive; font-size: 130%; text-align: left;">August 2011-Bubble Explorations! <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'comic sans ms',cursive; font-size: 120%; text-align: center;">Our class began the year by exploring BUBBLES. First we tried to make bubbles with our hands. We learned that you can make bubbles with your hands, that a dry finger will pop a bubble and a wet finger won't.



<span style="display: block; font-family: 'comic sans ms',cursive; font-size: 120%; text-align: center;">The next day we used a bubble tool to make bubbles. The tool we used was a straw. We figured out how to make a bubble inside of a bubble!





<span style="display: block; font-family: 'comic sans ms',cursive; font-size: 120%; text-align: center;">On the third day we tried out other bubble tools. We started by making our own wands. We tested our wands and lots of other tools too!







<span style="display: block; font-family: 'comic sans ms',cursive; font-size: 120%; text-align: center;">After using lots of different tools to make bubbles we decided to do some art work.