Sunday, April 20, 2014

Congratulations!

           Massachusetts Science Poetry Contest

                          

        Dr. George Ladd of Boston College has announced that four of The Happy Little Hurleys have had a poem selected as a winner in the Massachusetts Science Poetry Contest.
                              Kiira Maloney - first place
                              Logan Sande - first place
                              Sarah Whitconb - second place
                              Ayan Nayak - third place
Congratulations to Kiira, Logan, Sarah. and Ayan!
         Ninety-five schools submitted over 900 entries. Four winners in the K - 8 contest were Happy Little Hurleys. Go Hurleys! The students have certainly developed a love of poetry this year. They have all grown as readers and writers. I couldn't be more proud all all 27 poets in our room!

Sunday, April 13, 2014

WANTED - Fact Mastery


                                              


         Congratulations to all the Happy Little Hurleys who have mastered their basic addition and subtraction facts! Both the Massachusetts Curriculum Standards and the National Common Core suggest mastery of addition facts at the end of grade one and subtraction at the completion of grade two. We have worked with many strategies and methods to help the students master this important part of the curriculum. Efficient, accurate, fact recall is essential to solving the more complex. multi-step computation that was introduced this year. Students should solve basic facts in three seconds each - 100 facts in five minutes.  Our next Math units will involve introduce multiplication. However; mastery of multiplication and division is suggested at the completion of grade three.

April Vacation Next Week

                                        Don't Forget!

                                   

           April vacation is next week. Enjoy your time with family and friends. Be safe. Rest up for our final weeks together. There is still a lot to learn and much fun to be had when you return!    : )   Continue to practice your math facts and to read every day. Just because you are not in room three for the week doesn't mean you should stop learning.
                                    The more you read, the more you grow.
                                    The more you grow, the smarter you get.

WELCOME RYAN!


                                  

             The Happy Little Hurleys would like to welcome the newest member of our class. Welcome Ryan Dagnese! Ryan moved to Shrewsbury from Oxford. We are excited to have Ryan and his brother as part of the Coolidge community.

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Early Release

REMINDER: April 15th - Early Release at 12:15

                                 

          Tuesday, April 15th is scheduled as an early release day. Students will be dismissed at 12:15. After lunch on the go teachers will meet with Math expert and author Greg Tang to discuss mathematical thinking. The professional development time will be coupled with a monthly faculty meeting allowing teachers fours hours for professional development with this engaging speaker.

Biography Projects Underway

                                             

           April is biography month in the second grades at Coolidge. The Happy Little Hurleys selected biographies at media last month and eagerly devoured the books on our chosen subjects. Sticky notes were used to track our thinking and record important facts. Students then decided which notes answered the six essential questions: who? what? when? where? why? and how?. The sticky notes were transferred into biography organizers and the research was used to complete informative pillars. Drafts were composed, then revised and edited. Students are now working to publish a final copy of their research. Presentations will be the next step in this project based learning activity. Students will share the life and times of their selected character with their classmates via an oral presentation in the first person, a poster, or video.  We are anxious to share our discoveries and to learn more about the subjects chosen by our classmates.