Mackenzie's Meeting, TJ's Math Meeting, and Karen Brings Malawi to 2W and 4B!!

I don't think we could have packed any more into our Monday! Wow! Let's begin with Mackenzie's morning meeting... Rockin' Robin, koosh greeting and clothespin game (tricky... blended right in with Adan's shirt)!!
We worked on our new spelling principle, long a vowel sound (when your mouth "smiles" and a says it's name)! We picked new words and wrote them neatly onto our homework packets! The gold star reminds us that neatness counts, and we really showed off some neat spelling words on our spelling cards AND our homework! Well done second grade!
In writing workshop we talked about more "great ways to begin a story". Last time we talked about starting a story with a question, and today, we tried starting with some dialogue! You can really grab a reader's attention with a great beginning, and that's exactly what Mary did in her story today! Though, you might have to be of the "feline persuasion" to understand the dialogue in her story, because her cat "Snickers" did all the talking!! Way to experiment with your writing, Mary! That was a great beginning, and a nice story (you can thank Snickers later...hee hee)!!
After writing we had an AWESOME meeting with Karen Hardy (Ms. Worthley's friend from Educate Malawi, check the link on the right hand side of the blog) and she picked up our letters to be delivered to Malawi! Karen shared some of her own stories, letters, and photos from Malawi as well and we all took a few moments to appreciate and understand how fortunate we are to live in such a wealthy country where we have so much opportunity and access to education! The work they do is truly inspiring, and we are grateful to be part of their global outreach work! Our deepest thanks to Karen, for bringing the pen pal project to Sunderland, and connecting us to our new Malawi friends in such a meaningful way! Can't wait to see what Abraham brings back from his trip to Malawi!!
Our afternoon was equally engaging! TJ had his first math meeting, and then we continued our learning about place value. We switched from unifix cubes to base 10 blocks (very cool), and built numbers! We stretched our thinking by comparing tens and ones (2 tens, and 8 ones...) and reasoned through some tricky problems with gloves, pairs, and 65 fingers!! Well done second graders! Not sure I've ever seen so many students tackle (seriously, like a LINEBACKER) that glove problem the way you all did today! Wow! Nice work!
We ended the day with more responsible research with Ms. Kidder in computers. When ever you wonder about something, or want to learn more, you can research a topic with Ms. Kidder on the computer! Nice! Great Monday everyone! Looking forward to another great day tomorrow!

Ethan and Adan Run Meetings and Mackenzies V.I.P!

Greetings! Ethan kicked off our Friday with an eye opening morning meeting! We sang Oh Susanah, koosh greeting, and played the clothespin game with our teeny tiny clothespin! Well done Ethan! After Buddy Test we wrote in our dialogue journals and caught up on work board while readers met with Ms. Worthley!
After lunch we were captivated by the next few chapters of James and the Giant Peach! That Earthworm finally had reason to worry as he was used as bait to capture the seagulls, who were then used to lift the enormous peach out of the shark infested water! Wow!
Adan started us off with an excellent math meeting (as was the case all week), well done Adan! In math we worked on P.O.W! with a story problem using 3 variables! Olivia R. shared her strategy to solve the problem after everyone had completed their work. Nice to see the different ideas each student used to show their thinking! Well done! Olivia D. showed us a counting game she and her sister made up at home with pumpkins and a homemade die! Cool Olivia!
Our day finally ended with a lively V.I.P. presentation by Mackenzie! We really got an inside look into our friend as she shared family photos, special collections, and her beloved (and kind of spunky) baby hamster! Nicely done Mackenzie! Great Friday!

Veterans Day... Remember!

Charlie's Awesome Meeting....and Honoring our Veterans!

Wow!! What a day! It all started with Charlie's morning meeting! He woke us up with Rockin Robin, and kept us captive all the way through until we played Alibi (indeed, still, our new favorite game)! We had a quick snack and got ready for our walking field trip to the Sunderland Town Hall for our Veterans Memorial Celebration! We were impressed by our guests, military personnel from Westover Air Force Base (where Ms. Worthley's brother works flying C-5s) and veterans from foreign wars who joined them! We witnessed a very touching tribute... amazing singing by our own 5th and 6th grade chorus, but also by one of Deerfield's veterans himself, as he sung God Bless America (and yes, pass the tissues, seriously)!
We heard our own friend, Luke Parsons share his brothers thoughts about serving and love of country, and Mr. Merritt's thoughts as well. We listened to history about respecting and folding the flag, and how the "military salute" originated. What a full, busy morning! We adjourned back to SES with a little help crossing streets by Sunderland's "finest", and were escorted back by the very military officers we left at the Town Hall (how'd they do that so quick??). All our Military guests joined us in classrooms to talk about the work they do and how they serve, many even joined us for lunch! What an exciting morning! Well done Sunderland!
Though many were "pooped" after lunch, we began talking about place value and used our smart board to talk about tens, ones, and write and compare numbers and value! Well done second grade! Very exciting day!
Enjoy your Thursday off, think about our veterans, and see you bright and early on Friday!
BOO RAH!

Lannashia's Morning Meeting and that's One Tiny Clothespin!!

Lannashia started our Tuesday off with Oh Susannah, which we, of course, changed into Oh Lannashia, followed by the clothespin game.... with the tiniest clothespin you've EVER SEEN!!! Just check out Mary's pony tail if you don't believe me!! We practiced vocabulary by using our spelling words in "second grade" spelling sentences, and boy... did we knock it out of the park! Well done second grade! Clever, meaningful, neat, and challenging! Now that's one productive writing workshop!
We reviewed ordinal numbers (first, second, third...) and vocabulary practice, and stretched our thinking and reasoning with some challenging questions during math today!
We ended our afternoon reading and talking about what it means to be a veteran. Do any of us have "veteran's" in our family? Friends talked about what it means to serve our country, and about the walking field trip we'll take to the Sunderland Town Hall tomorrow morning to celebrate and remember. Be prepared! Wear comfortable shoes, coats and hats... this is one special little field trip that connects our students with "citizenship" and "community" in ways that are quite meaningful! Oh... and if you're able, feel free to join us! We leave at 9:30 and will be back by 11:00.