Second graders were treated to author Nicola Davies this week.  She read her story "One Tiny Turtle".  The entire second grade then created their own story about a pack of wolves.  Nicola shared strategies in being selective about "word choice" and she helped us to use our senses when developing writing pieces.  
Many thanks to the Stratton PTO for organizing this enrichment activity for us.

Our second graders shared their personal narrative (small moment) stories with their 5th grade buddies today.  The fifth graders were wonderful listeners and they event wrote notes to their second grade buddies sharing compliments about the stories.  This was a wonderful experience for both classes today! Bravo to our Stratton students!

The second grade has been brainstorming ways to show responsibility at school.  Today the whole second grade did a playground clean-up.  Not only did they do a wonderful job, but they also had a great time in the sunshine!

The rainy day boxes have sure come in handy this week!  
However...rain, rain, go away!

Today our second graders met with our 5th grade buddies.  We used our 5 senses to begin writing fall poems.

The students used the book "Owl Moon" by Jane Yolen to find examples of "craft moves". Examples included; sound words, repetition, alliteration and personification.

Today we had members of the Arlington Fire Department join us at Stratton.  We were reminded to check our smoke detectors twice a year.  It is crucial to set up an evacuation plan and a  family meeting area in case of an emergency.  Keep in mind the meeting spot should NOT be in your backyard, or in a home, or across the street.  The firemen also told us that most pets will follow us out of our homes in case of smoke/fire and the fire department staff will help rescue other animals left behind.  The children were reminded that they should know their phone numbers and home addresses-this is especially important if they need to call 911.
We appreciate the education from our local fire department.

Today the children practiced their subtraction fluency by playing a game called Subtraction Bags.  During each turn, the children put in a given number of cubes into their bags.  Without looking, they then reached into their bags and picked out a random number of cubes. Based on the number of cubes they took from their bags the children had to determine how many cubes were left in the bag.  

Stratton's second graders are taking part in a symbolic migration project.  Each student in our grade decorated a life-sized monarch paper butterfly.  Our paper butterflies have been sent to Mexico along with thousands of other students' butterflies.  During the spring (when monarch butterflies return north, we will be sent other students' butterflies as part of the "Journey North" project.  This is an exciting way to learn about other geographic locations and to make connections to our butterfly unit in the spring. Please visit the Journey North website for more information on this cool project!

Take a look below at our life-sized monarch paper butterflies and the other creative-"freestyle" butterflies we made for the folder used to transport our project.

Listen and view "Two of Everything" by Lily Toy Hong.  We read this story in math last week.  This story has inspired us to write our own doubling problems.

Each day two students lead our phonics drill with the whole class.

Throughout the day I received compliments from teachers on how wonderful the children were being while I was taking care of my son. Way to go! Nolan was able to leave the hospital this afternoon and is resting well.

My youngest son is in the hospital with asthma issues. I will not be in school on Monday. I will be checking my email during the day. If there are changes in afternoon pick-ups, please either send in a note to the substitute or call Marie Fischer at the office.

Thank you,

Julie Barth

The children used cubes to show ways of comparing numbers when solving story problems.  We also played some games to help practice finding sums.  

During our writing sessions this week, we worked on using sensory words. In partners the children used shells to describe in detail.  We looked at the shells as scientists and shared our observations with descriptive vocabulary.  The children then went back to their stories and added descriptive language to their personal narrative stories.