D.A.S.H.

This year Mrs. Kennedy's Second Grade Super Stars were very fortunate to be able to participate in the D.A.S.H. Program. D.A.S.H. stands for Disability Awareness Starts Here. In second grade the focus is on visual impairments. The purpose of this program is to create an awareness and sensitivity among children to the needs of people who are disabled. The emphasis is on ABILITIES and what a disabled person can do rather than what they can't do. Through weekly activities, students experienced what it might be like to be visually impaired and the accommodations and modifications that are made so visually impaired people can do many of the same things that they can do. Developing a sense of empathy for people with disabilities is also emphasized. Some of the activities were a grab bag activity, eating at a restaurant, a help walk, cane walk, using aids and devices, and using a brailler machine. The D.A.S.H. Program concludes with a visit from a Mr. LaPoint and his guide dog.  Thank you to all of the volunteers who made this valuable program possible for the second graders.

This video shows some of the activities that the second graders participated in during this program.

Read Across America

Fuller Meadow teachers and students had lots of fun celebrating Read Across America this year. We participated in lots of fun activities to promote the love of reading. This annual nation wide event always takes place around Dr. Seuss' birthday on March 2nd.

Read Across America kick off assembly with some very special visitors.

We decorated our door by sharing our favorite books.

One of our favorite activities was reading our favorite books in our comfy clothes in our comfy reading spots.

We had a Google Hang Out  and read aloud a Dr. Seuss book to some reading buddies in Iowa and they read Green Eggs and Ham to us. 

Mrs. Twiss, Middleton's Town Clerk was our community guest reader. She read William the Curious Night of the Water Lilies to our class.

Our guest author Maryann Cocca-Leffler shared some of her books with us. She taught us about the writing process.

Silly Sock Day

Animal Adaptations

Mrs. Kennedy's Second Grade Super Stars have been doing a lot of research and learning about animal adaptations. They learned the difference between structural and behavioral adaptations. Animals all have different adaptations to help them survive depending on the different habitats of the animal. We had a wonderful in school field trip from the Museum of Science where we got to observe and learn about several live animals. A big thank you to our PTO for funding this field trip for us. Our class also participated in some virtual field trips to learn about some animal adaptations in far away places. Each student researched an animal and then designed a google slide as part of class presentation about Animal Adaptations. 

We observed and learned about a box turtle, bearded dragon, and a porcupine.

Virtual Field Trips to Yellowstone National Park, Komodo Islands, and Mexico. These field trips didn't cost a cent!

Good Bye Winter Hello Spring

According to the calendar spring arrived on March 20th.  Hopefully, the saying March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb will soon start to be true. Mrs. Kennedy's Second Grade Super Stars are using their observation skills and are on the lookout for signs of spring. Please add to the padlet below when you notice a sign of spring. You can also share about your springtime activities.

What's on your plate?

During our Health and Wellness block Mrs. Marshall has been teaching Mrs. Kennedy's Second Grade Super Stars about nutrition and making healthy food choices She taught us what the five food groups are and how there should be choices from each of the food groups on our healthy plates. Today the students made their own healthy plates with foods from all the different food groups. If you would like to share your healthy food choices please add them to the padlet below.

Dr. Seuss Fun!

On Wednesday morning we buddied up for a fun Dr. Seuss math activity with Mrs. Murphy's kindergarteners. The students used a 100 hundred chart to make a mystery picture. Listening and following directions were very important skills needed in order to solve this mystery picture correctly. Second graders had the important job of checking to make sure their kindergarten buddy filled in their paper correctly. Can you tell what our mystery picture was? We also got to visit Miss Van Rhee in kindergarten.  Then we had some fun with Thing One and Thing Two!

Virtual Field Trips

This week as part of our Animal Adaptation science unit  Mrs. Kennedy's Second Grade Super Stars did some virtual traveling. On Monday we traveled to Komodo Island to learn about the Komodo Lizard or Dragon. The host of our virtual field trip, Brandon Hall, shared his adventures while visiting this island.   We got to see this huge lizard up close and live. At the end of the field trip students competed with lots of other classes globally in a Kahoot quiz game.

 On Wednesday we traveled virtually to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming to learn about some adaptations of the animals that live in this national park. We got to ask the Park Ranger lots of questions about the park.

Here are some facts we learned:
 The Komodo Dragon is named after Komodo Island.
Komodo Lizards have fork tongues.
The Komodo Dragon can run 12mph.
The Komodo Dragon is longer than a person.
The Komodo Dragon is the biggest lizard in the world.

Komodo Island

Yellowstone National Park

Here are some facts we learned:

There are more than 20,000 animals like bears, bison, wolves, and elk that live in the park.

There are geysers that are 300 feet tall in Yellowstone National Park.

Grizzly bears have a hump on their backs.

Yellowstone National Park has a volcano in it.

If an animal has eyes on the sides of its head then it hides from its prey.

Black bears eat fish.

A ram's horn can break off if it gets too big.