Our Book Buddies

We love having our Book Buddies come to read with us the first Tuesday of every month! Our buddies are from the AP English class and are 11th and 12th graders. Their teacher is Ms. Donatelli.

We get ready for our buddies by choosing our books and thinking about where we want to sit.

There aren't enough buddies to go around so we have to double and triple up. But we still love it!

Each month we get to read with a different buddy from the week before. Until we start all over again!

City Scapes - Art with Mrs. Waugh

This class absolutely loves to draw! I showed them an example of what our winter city scape would look like and they went to work!

How Habitats Can Change

We are learning about animals and their habitats. We have been talking about what kinds of things can change or affect a habitat and what that means for the animals. This class constantly impresses me with their creativity and enthusiasm for showing me what they know! What's even more cool than them regurgitating the information that I have given them is that they often take those ideas and come up with their own scenarios! A teacher's dream! Take a look at their amazing pictures.

What happens when there is too much algae...

What happens when there's a forest fire...

What happens when a there is a flood...

What happens when there is over-fishing...

What happens when the coral reef is polluted...

What happens when there's a forest fire in the mountains...

Another flood scenario

And more flooding

Armor of God!

In November, we started our study about the Armor of God. This has been a tradition in my second grade class for many years.

Once we have gained understanding of the meaning and symbolism of each piece of the armor, the students undertake the project of making a tin can soldier complete with all his armor.

This project involves paint, glue, tape, paper, etc.! The kids love it. After getting the basic instructions, they are welcome to embellish their soldiers as they wish. some like to add hair, pouches for their swords, designs on their shields, etc.

While waiting for our Helmets of Salvation to dry, we worked on Christmas trees to decorate our classroom door.

The students have memorized Ephesians 6: 14 - 18. We "put on" our armor each morning right after we say the pledges to the American flag, the Christian flag, and the Bible.

...and here are our soldiers for God!

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. And pray, in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Ephesians 6: 14 - 18

Field Trip: Kennebunk Animal Shelter

Today, we visited the Animal Welfare Society to deliver our collected donations and the dog treats we wrapped. When we first arrived, our tour guide, Garrett, made sure we knew the rules about how to behave around the animals.

First stop...the lobby, where we saw small animals like kittens, birds, hamsters, and guinea pigs.

Next, we visited the dog kennels. Boy, were they happy to see us and get their treat!

 Then we got to visit in the cat rooms. We were happy to snuggle and pet these cuties!

There was a lot of purring and giggles!

It was hard to leave these little sweeties! But we had work to do before we headed back to school.

We got to help make "enrichment" treats. Our guide called them puzzle boxes. We smeared peanut butter on the inside of empty cracker boxes and cardboard tubes then filled them with treats. We sealed them up so the workers could pass them out to the dogs later. These puzzles boxes help to entertain the dogs so they aren't too bored while they are waiting for their "forever families" to come and adopt them.

The tour guide's dog, Dougie, enjoyed licking the peanut butter off our hands!

Thank you Kennebunk AWS for allowing us to come for a visit and help out!

Thanksgiving Class Party

 We had a fun game of Thanksgiving Bingo!

 Then we got busy making our rubber glove turkeys!

These were stuffed with cheerios and fruit loops, then we added eyes, a beak, feet, and a gobbler!

...and our finished product! So cute! Thanks to Mrs. Vocal and Mrs. Collins.

Pumpkin Life Cycle Activity

 Welcome to Mrs. Waugh's pumpkin patch! Since we learned about the life cycle of a pumpkin on our field trip last week, we decided to compliment our learning with this activity.

On one side of the vine you will see the words describing the sequence of the life cycle and on the other side is the matching picture.