Field Trip to Gloucester Maritime Museum

We had an awesome trip to the Gloucester Maritime Museum! We were so fortunate to have beautiful weather to explore the touch tanks, whale and fisheries exhibits, and eat lunch in the park. Here are some fun pictures from our trip!

Tour guide Amanda teaches us about skates in the touch tank aquarium.

Students examine a whale skeleton with Mrs. McInnis.

Drew creates his fish print.

Students use microscopes to magnify plankton in the lab.

NOAA Marine Life Visits Steward!

Over the past couple of months I have worked closely with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the team at the Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office in Gloucester (where Mr. Ford works) to coordinate a fun program to bring to the second graders at Steward School. This morning, students had the opportunity to explore more about ocean life and visit five hands-on stations.

Edith Carson, NOAA biologist, introduces her team and today's activities. Behind Mrs. Carson is an inflatable life-sized right whale calf.

Students were extremely engaged by the interactive stations that focused on the different life cycles, habitats, and adaptations of familiar and unfamiliar ocean creatures. 

Here are some snapshots from our fun morning:

Students experimented using their sense of smell at the Sturgeon Station. Sturgeon use their sense of smell to locate and return to their old spawning ground each year.

In the next station, children got to listen to whales and dolphins communicate through echolocation. Students then played a game and guessed which ocean creature they heard. They each received a fun whale and porpoise pamphlet to take home as well!

At the turtle station, students learned about the difference between land and sea turtles. Did you know they have different ways to use their protective shell to defend themselves? Ask your child about it! The children also learned that turtles only use their mouths to eat. They practiced pinching different food items with different kinds of pinchers, just like the different turtles use their unique mouths to eat different foods. Students practiced acting as loggerheads, leatherbacks and Kemp's ridley turtles using different instruments. Turtles have many unique adaptations!

After our visit early this week by Mrs. McInnis, students could easy tell the scientist at the whale station all about toothed and baleen whales! They each got to experiment eating like a toothed and baleen whale using different tools. Ask your child which they thought was easier!

 In the last station, students got to touch some fish that are local to our area in the northwest Atlantic. We learned about the anatomy of popular fish such as haddock and bluefish, and how special features on their body are used for protection! Students then got to see a fish dissection! Mr. Gilbert took out the ear bone (otolith) of a flounder and showed the kids how scientists use this to collect information on the age of each fish.

We loved having NOAA visit us this year! They brought incredible artifacts and hands-on experiments to help teach the children about the ocean life that lives in their area. Each student came home today with a number of fun bookmarks, stickers, and activities to show you at home! We look forward to learning more on our field trip next week to Gloucester!

Teacher Appreciation Day

Thank you to my wonderful students and parents for the kind notes, flowers, and beautiful thumbprint art after yesterday's Teacher Appreciation afternoon. I truly feel blessed to have found a home in Topsfield this year and feel very supported by the community. I look forward to many more fun-filled years at Steward! Thank you for thinking of me!

Love,

Mrs. Ford

Whale Mobile Visit

Yesterday your second graders participated in the amazing Whale Mobile program presented by whale expert and Topsfield resident, Cynde McInnis! The children had a chance to walk through a life-sized inflatable whale named Nile, and listen to whale sounds all while learning about the migratory paths, whale anatomy, and feeding patterns of whales who frequent the Massachusetts area. They also learned how different whales are identified and studied. Be sure to ask your child about his/her favorite whale fact they learned today!

This opportunity is in conjunction with our second grade field trip to the Gloucester Maritime Museum next Thursday, May 12th. Field trip permission slips went home yesterday with your child. This program was funded by your generous contributions to TESTPO. Thank you for helping to support our curriculum and bring these fun programs to Steward!

Mrs. McInnis currently works on a whale watching boat out of Gloucester.

The students loved going inside 'Nile' and learning about the anatomy of a whale.

Mrs. McInnis touches on ways we can help save sea life from pollution - a great connection to Earth Week!

Celebrating Earth Week!

These colorful projects really brighten up the room during this rainy week!

During Reader’s Workshop last week students have had a blast combining their love of reading non-fiction and Earth Day with multiple hands-on projects! We read multiple non-fiction picture books, including Earth Day- Hooray! We each created our own “protect the planet pledge” of how we can help reduce, reuse and recycle both at home and at school. We transformed the information we discussed into a fun 3-d Earth Week mobile! Throughout the week we also made coffee filter Earths and Earth Week celebration hats! We culminated the week with an all school assembly to celebrate Earth Day and Arbor Day on Friday morning and in the afternoon.

Here are some pictures from our fun week! I hope you and your family had the opportunity to visit Topsfield's Earth Day celebration last Friday!

Students assemble outside around our new school tree to celebrate Arbor Day. Ms. Swanson led us in a song.

Michael and Annalisa work hard to create their 3D Earth Week mobiles!

Emily and Olivia paint their coffee filter Earths.

Everyone got up and danced to the music at our Earth Week assembly on Friday!

Change is Simple

The Change is Simple program came back to visit Room 210 last week! They discussed the importance of trees to animals and plants, and explained the delicate balance between trees and humans. 

We need trees on Earth for more than just paper, we need them for oxygen! Students practiced this exchange between trees and people:

Students act as budding trees.

Students act as trees and humans to show the exchange between oxygen and carbon dioxide.

Our class broke off into two groups. In the first station we learned the difference between coniferous (spiky spruce, hemlock) versus deciduous (oak, sugar maple) trees. We explored each type by comparing and contrasting their leaves. 

In the second station, children created their own homemade paper made from water and recycled shreds of paper. They loved the process, and were very engaged by the tools and procedure! 

Maggie and Quinn use their hands to press the pulp onto the screen.

Rider and Nico use tools to press the pulp.

Students describe the pulp using words like 'squishy' and 'chunky'.

We had to be patient and let the paper dry for over 24 hours!

Check out our Twitter feed next week for a 'final product' picture of what we did with our homemade paper!

Learning about D.A.S.H.!

Throughout the past three weeks we have been fortunate enough to have parent volunteers come into the classroom and teach us about D.A.S.H.- Disability Awareness Starts Here! In Grade 2, the curriculum focuses on teaching the children about the disability of blindness. In our classroom I did some pre-teaching of this concept through our famous people study. We studied Helen Keller and Louis Braille, as well as explored the Braille system.

Here are some photos and captions from our weekly D.A.S.H. activities:

Week 1:

Parent Volunteers teach us about the eye and how it works.

Lee looks through a spoon to see what it would be like to have a visual impairment.

Lucien, Nico and Will look through wax paper to experience a visual impairment.

Students participated in a 'grab bag' activity blindfolded and practiced using other senses.

Week 2:

Mrs. Doumas helps Mark and Rider use their sense of touch to pour water.

Olivia and Sage do a guided walk.

Drew helps Quinn find utensils and eat jello using the clock.

Week 3: 

Students use stylus pens to write their full name in Braille.

Mrs. Dalton helps Drew write his initials on a Braille typewriter.

Gabriele does a blind walk in the hallway using a cane. Rider acts as a roadblock.

Students were able to play adaptive games and even read Braille menus from popular restaurants!

We were so fortunate to have this program in our classroom! Thank you to all the parent volunteers who took time out of their busy schedules to help these activities run smoothly! We look forward to our guest speaker next week!