The Great Turkey Takeover

This week, I had the opportunity to work with our 2nd grade students and staff as we dove into the three-hour "Great Turkey Takeover," a festive and engaging unit that covered essential academic skills while celebrating the spirit of the holiday. We started in the cafeteria as a whole grade for an introduction to the day.

The highlight was a thrilling STEM challenge: students worked collaboratively to design and engineer protective structures on the farm, using critical thinking and problem-solving to ensure Tom the Turkey would be safe from an upcoming storm.

The students also practiced real-world financial literacy with "Turkey Math," tackling budgeting and money counting as they "shopped" for Thanksgiving feast items. Tying everything together, the students demonstrated true appreciation through a dedicated gratitude practice, crafting personalized thank you notes to show our deep thanks for the hard work of our school staff, including our custodians, office team, nurse, and curriculum coordinators.

2nd Graders at Fuller Meadow are "Stuck in a Snow Globe"

In Ms. St. Pierre's 2nd-grade classroom, we used the amazing green screen technology by Do Ink to bring our "Stuck in a Snow Globe" writing assignment to life. The students stood in front of the green screen, and with the magic of technology, they appeared inside a snowy wonderland, setting the stage for their creative narratives. As the young authors shared part of their imaginative stories, the green screen allowed them to visually showcase the problem their characters faced—being stuck in a snow globe. The technology added an exciting and interactive element to their presentations, capturing the attention of both the students and their peers. With the help of Do Ink's green screen, our 2nd graders not only highlighted the challenges their characters encountered but also presented solutions. This technology enhanced their storytelling experience and made the writing assignment a memorable and engaging activity.

Innovation and Design in 2nd Grade

I had the opportunity to collaborate on a project with our ELA/Social Studies Curriculum Coordinator, Melissa Bettencourt and second grade teachers Kristen LeVangie and Stacey Begin to plan an “Innovation and Design” project in 2nd Grade Social Studies.  The title of the project is “Mississippi River Flotilla Project”.

Second graders learn world and United States history, geography, economics, and government by studying more about who Americans are and where they came from. They explore their own family’s history and learn about distinctive achievements, customs, events, places, or landmarks from long ago and from around the world. The chief purpose of the grade 2 curriculum is to help students understand that American citizenship embraces all kinds of people, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, and national origin. American students come from all countries and continents in the world. A history and social science curriculum should help students acquire a common understanding of American history, its political principles, and its system of government in order to prepare them for responsible participation in our schools and civic life.

Assignment to students -

To build a transportation barge that will carry cargo on the Mississippi River. 

You are an engineer that works for a company that makes copper pans. The company makes the copper pans in Minnesota then ships them by barge down the Mississippi to New Orleans, LA where they are loaded onto a ship and shipped to China to be sold. The company wants to be able to put a lot of Copper pans on a barge at the same time. 

Your challenge is going to build a barge that will carry the most copper pans down the flowing Mississippi River without sinking or getting stuck.

Brainstorming and Designing

Students worked in groups to brainstorm different ideas for the design of their boat.  

Building the Boat

Students worked in groups to design and build their  boat.  They stayed within their budget when buying supplies.

Testing the Structure

Each boat was tested by travelling down the “Mississippi River” (in a metal gutter) carrying pennies that represents copper pans. 

Final Videos

Presenting to the Middleton School Committee

Eight students from Mrs. LeVangie's and Mrs. Begin's class had the opportunity to share their experience from this project.  Our superintendent Scott Morrison asked them several questions about the boat building experience.  They had some great answers.

Using Book Creator in 2nd Grade

Second graders have been very busy learning about the life cycle of the Painted Lady Butterfly.  In Mrs. Kennedy's class, her students used the iPad to take pictures of each stage that their butterflies went through.  Not only did they take pictures of each stage, they created poems, drawings, and a scrapbook to chronicle the event.  On a beautiful, sunny day, the students released their butterflies in our courtyard.  They were so excited to watch them fly to freedom.

After the butterflies were released, the students created their own storybook using the iPad app, "Book Creator".  They learned how to use the tools and imported many of their own pictures to portray the life cycle of the Painted Lady Butterfly.

Each video has been organized in the program, "Blendspace".  Simply click on the circle in each block to watch the video.





Click below to read and listen to the entire class book:

Total class butterfly book from Dierdre Baker on Vimeo.



In Mrs. Frey's class, students created a book using "Book Creator" to show Animal Adaptations.

Click the picture below to read the entire class book:

Google Hangout from Fuller Meadow to Howe Manning

Mrs. Kennedy's class at Fuller Meadow School got to "Hangout" today with Mrs. Hobey's class at Howe Manning with the help of Google Hangouts.

Students in both classes had fun today trying to guess a three-digit number.  By asking Yes or No questions of each other, students could hone in on the "Mystery" number that each class chose.

The first and essential part of any video connections is to be respectful and use good manners when addressing each other.  Students introduced themselves by their first name, asked their question, then when it was time to answer, they were attentive and respectful.

Here's a peek at our lesson today...

Massachusetts and Common Core Standards for Math

2.NBT.A.1 Understand that the three digits of a three-digit number represent amounts of hundreds, tens, and ones; e.g., 706 equals 7 hundreds, 0 tens, and 6 ones. 

SL.2.1 Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 2 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.

Celebrating "Read Across America Day" in 2nd Grade

In every classroom at Fuller Meadow School, students celebrated "Read Across America Day".  In 2nd grade classes teamed together to watch live streaming video on Discovery Education.  Students discussed what inspires you to write, what the elements of a story are, and how you can become a better reader.

Here is the description:

"#CelebrateWithDE and join FableVision and Discovery Education for a live read aloud of the book Going Places from award-winning authors and illustrators Peter H. and Paul A. Reynolds. Live streaming from the FableVision Studios we will go behind-the-scenes as they reveal their newest projects, share their creative process, and answer student questions."

Essential Questions asked during the broadcast and answered by the students after were:

Where do writers and artists get their ideas?

What inspires people to write and make art?

How does collaboration expand the creative process?

How is creativity part of everyday life?

Thanksgiving at Fuller Meadow

"Why you don't want to eat me for Thanksgiving." 

Students at Fuller Meadow School have had turkeys on the brain.  When you walk down the hallways, you see turkeys that are in disguise, mathematical turkeys, poetic turkeys, and turkeys in tutus.  I had the opportunity to help some of these turkeys TALK.  In Kindergarten and 2nd Grade, students have been working on a very important project.  Students worked with their family on designing a turkey that you won't want to eat, then they wrote about the turkey in the first person. In 1st grade, students worked on alliteration as well as improving their writing skills as they told what their turkey would do if he came to visit the student's home.  

2nd Grade Project

Letter to 2nd Grade families about the Turkey Project.

To enhance the writing lesson and work on their speaking and presentation skills, we used the app 'Chatterpix' and 'iMovie' to make each turkey come to life.  To start, Kindergarten and 2nd grade students created their picture with their family and wrote a few sentences explaining why they shouldn't be 'eaten' for Thanksgiving.  In 1st grade, students made their turkeys at school.  Then, Mrs. Baker used Chatterpix to record the student's voice.  After the recording session, students reflected on the process.

Check out these Turkey Project videos

2nd Grade:

Mrs. Begin's 2nd Grade Class

Mrs. Kennedy's 2nd Grade Class

Mrs. Kennedy's Reader's Theater

Mrs. Kennedy's Class is Thankful for...

Mrs. Ochoa's 2nd Grade Class

Ms. Simonelli's 2nd Grade Class

Mrs. Vickerman's 2nd Grade Class

1st Grade:

Mrs. Anderson's Class Makes Butter

Mrs. Fuller's 1st Grade Class

Mrs. Fuller's Class gives a "Cranberry Challenge"

Mrs. Thomson's Kindergarten Class

Kindergarten

Mrs. Scharffenberg's 1st Grade Class

Mrs. Baker works in Scharffenberg's Class

Students reflected on the process of making their class video.

The Massachusetts Common Core Standards describe the integration of technology into lessons as "New technologies have broadened and expanded the role that speaking and listening play in acquiring and sharing knowledge and have tightened their link to other forms of communication. Digital texts confront students with the potential for continually updated content and dynamically changing combinations of words, graphics, images, hyperlinks, and embedded video and audio."

Common Core Standard for Grade K: SL. K.5 Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions as desired to provide additional detail.  Make strategic use of digital media and visual displays of data to express information and enhance understanding of presentations.

Common Core Standard for Grade 1: SL. 1.5 Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions when appropriate to clarify ideas, thoughts, and feelings.  Make strategic use of digital media and visual displays of data to express information and enhance understanding of presentations.

Common Core Standard for Grade 2:  SL. 2.5 for Language Arts states, " Students will Create audio recordings of stories or poems; add drawings or other visual displays to stories or recounts of experiences when appropriate to clarify ideas, thoughts, and feelings."