Accelerated Math for Second Graders

This semester a small group of second graders have been given the opportunity to work on "accelerated math packets". This is a voluntary activity and will be completed during free time at school or at home. The students are encouraged to work on the packets by themselves, but they are able to ask their teachers or parents if they have questions because they will encounter material that has not be discussed in class. I also plan to meet weekly (if possible) with the students to present brief lessons and review the problems that they miss.

Skyping with Africa!

When Mrs. Yant's Fourth Grade class read a National Geographic Kids article entitled, "Thirsty Planet" last Fall, who knew that it would lead to a fascinating skype discussion with a St. Mary's alum working on a water filtration system in Africa! Shortly after we read the article, I was talking with Mrs. McElroy about her daughter (Rachel) and her daughter's good friend who is working for 10 months in Africa. We realized that Katie Camille Friedman (St. Mary's graduate from 2006) is studying at an Engineering school in W. Africa and specifically trying to help the surrounding communities use local materials to make funnels that filter out impurities and parasites from the water supplies. We contacted Katie through email and on the day that all of St. Mary's participated in the "Sit for Good" on November 30, 2010 (where we role-played that we were students in Uganda), we brainstormed questions that we wanted to ask Katie after her life and work in Africa. This past week (Thursday, Jan. 13) we were finally able to connect with Katie via Skype (see photos below). It was such a wonderful experience to talk with this exemplary graduate of St. Mary's - she is a terrific role model for us all! We hope to continue our relationship throughout this semester and would like to check in with Katie sometime in May. Thank you to Mrs. Lancaster and Mrs. McElroy for making our Skype session so successful! 

P.S.  Katie recently sent me this link about the
water purification program (Potters for Peace)  - click here for more information.

New Year's Book Club!

The Second Grade Book Club met for the first time in 2011. The girls shared many of their personal favorites and Ansley S. served as a "club photographer" (sorry that I couldn't include all of the pictures!). We discussed the possibility of ordering a book (or two) that we could all read together and thanks to several students for their suggestions (especially Catherine F.!). Enjoy a the attached "Smilebox" with some photos from the meeting: New Year's Book Club

This free digital greeting card customized with Smilebox

Happy New Year!!

I put together the photos from the 2nd grade December book club meeting - click on the picture to view a smilebox of the photos -

Picture slideshow customized with Smilebox

Thanks again to Jessica, McKinely and Ansley S. for all of their help making cookies, posters and assisting with the groups during the meeting. The holiday books were inspiring and it was so much fun to read/sing Ansley's book The Twelve Days of Christmas in Louisiana (I enjoyed it so much I bought myself a copy when we were in Baton Rouge for Christmas!).
I hope that you all have had a happy, healthy, holiday and I look forward to seeing you at school tomorrow and don't forget, we have another book club meeting coming up soon!

More Holiday Activities

Keep checking my delicious account for additional winter activities including Christmas math fun! Winter Delicious Activities

Holiday Wishes (and a total lunar eclipse)!

So much has happened in the past several weeks and now we are all at home (or some other nice place) trying to relax (I hope!).  I want to quickly share some websites on my delicious account regarding holiday fun activities and some information about tonight's lunar eclipse.  Delicious website link.  As reported in AOLnews.com, "As many as 1.5 billion people worldwide will be able to watch when the Earth's shadow creeps across the moon's surface early Tuesday morning, the first time in hundreds of years that a lunar eclipse will fall on the winter solstice."  The article goes on to say that, "Since Year 1, I can only find one previous instance of an eclipse matching the same calendar date as the solstice, and that is 1638 DEC 21," Geoff Chester of the US Naval Observatory said according to NASA. "Fortunately we won't have to wait 372 years for the next one ... that will be on 2094 DEC 21."  Although the eclipse will take about 3 hours and 38 minutes (it begins on Tuesday at 12:33 am CST), NASA recommends that you check it out about 2:17 am CST when the moon should be covered with an amber glow.  The winter solstice marks the beginning of winter and is the shortest day of the year!
P.S.  Stay tuned - I will be posting information about our recent "Sit for Good" and the December book club meeting:)

Time of Sharing

As November ends today I don't want to forget to mention that Tess Joyce and her mother Heidi came to share Tess' journey from China to Tennessee right before the Thanksgiving break.  November is National Adoption Month and November 22 is a day of celebration in Tess' family as "gotcha day", the day Tess became part of her "forever family"!  All of the second grade girls were able to listen to Tess' story and to see the actual clothes she was wearing the day she met her new family.  It was a wonderful story and yet another reason to be thankful that we have such wonderful friends and families at St. Mary's!