Mrs. Buckmaster's Class

Mrs. Mannino’s second graders need our help. We need to make a scavenger hunt that is exciting to her class and will teach them something. Any ideas?

Watch this video of our class walking/running with our K/1 buddies! Mr. MJ created this commercial to help get our pledges in from the Walk-a-Thon.

Thanks Mr. MJ! You can visit his blog by clicking here!

The treasure is THAT way!!

In social studies, we are studying the European explorers who sailed to the New World from the 1400s to the 1600s.  To get geared up for this unit, we went on an expedition of our own. 

Success!

In the 15th century, explorers used a variety of navigational tools to find their way around the Earth.  Some of these tools included the astrolabe, the chronometer, and the compass.  Today, we still use compasses, but we also have different tools to navigate in the 21st century.  One of these tools is the GPS device.  Thanks to a very generous friend of Mrs. B, we were able to borrow 10 handheld GPS devices to use!

Using our 21st century navigational tools, the kids were sent on an expedition.  Each device was programmed with the coordinates of a secret message hidden somewhere on our campus.  The kids simply had to follow the signal, find the hidden bag, and bring it back to the classroom.  They then had to decode the message inside.  This would tell them the name of the explorer that they would be researching throughout the unit.

Decoding the name of the explorer

The kids had a great time on their expedition!  Once they got their explorer, they wanted to start researching right away!  When the students are done gathering their information, they will develop a presentation to teach the rest of the class (and you, dear readers) all about their explorer.  Stay tuned for some awesome explorer projects!

Here are some pictures from our scavenger hunt!  I’ll announce the winners soon! 

Sara and Naomi taking pictures of the playground

Can you see the triangle? What kind is it?

Acute equilateral triangles and a square

A rhombus on Mrs. B’s sweater

Triangle-shaped magnetic clip

Jonathan Green, Super Snake

We had such an awesome time at recess today!  The kids found lots of different little critters to play with.  The excitement all started when a group of students found a small green snake in the woods!  The little guy was so cute.  His name became Jonathan Green for some reason….  After getting a good look at him, we decided that he should go to the woods behind the soccer fields so he wouldn’t be trampled.  Ansen was brave and carried JG on a stick all the way to safety.

Maria and the Mantis

Then there was shouting from another part of the playground!  Some other kids found a rather large mantis near the Project Fit equipment.  They were so excited because we had some baby mantises in our classroom last year!.  Maria was brave enough to hold him on her elbow while I took a picture.  We looked at our nameless friend (no one named him?  That’s weird!) and Ethan took him to a safe place so he could have a peaceful day.

What IS this thing????

When we were about to go inside, we saw yet another interesting critter!  The thing is, we’re not sure what this thing is!  Does anyone out there know?  We’d love to hear from you!

There’s always something going on in Mrs. Buckmaster’s class!  Check back with us soon for more news!

Ansen shaking hands with his robot Dexter

It seems that our classroom is a popular place to visit these days.  Whether you’re a former student, bearded dragon, or (in this case) a robot, you are welcome to come to C House and hang out with us during Morning Meeting!

Dexter the robot came to school with Ansen today.  Ansen showed that Dexter is not your everyday boring robot.  Dexter likes to play baseball, listen to the Buzz (a local radio station), and does NOT like being called Buster.  Dexter is good at helping Ansen clean his room.  He’s also friendly too; Dexter shook hands with quite a few students this morning.  He’s the perfect gentlemen.

The most impressive thing about Dexter was his ability to answer questions for himself!  Ansen might have helped him out a little, but Dexter answered questions in the first-person point of view and was very articulate…even for a robot.

Who knows what/who will visit Mrs. B’s class next?

Give it a try!

Click here, then click “take this test now” at the top of the page.

Tags: science

Last week, we began our discussion of using sensory images in our writing by exploring our sense of smell. We continued our sensory theme this week, but we are focusing on describing what we hear. After a somewhat animated brainstorming session, our class came up with this.  All I did was type it.

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This was not my day.  I thought I could get away with skipping homework, but my teacher had another idea.  After the fifth day of not doing my homework, she declared that she was going to call my dad.  Maybe he could fix my problem.

After a dreadful bus ride, I went into my house, up to my room, and closed the door.  Dad didn’t get home until 4:05 on Fridays, so I knew that I had 30 agonizing minutes until I was dead meat.  As every second expired, my heart pounded harder and harder.

Then I heard the car.  Dad skidded his black Escalade to a halt in the driveway.  My dog Bear started scratching and whimpering pitifully at the door.  Dad turned off the ignition and violently slammed the door as he got out of the car.  He seemed bloodthirsty.  I could hear his monstrous footsteps stomping toward the door.  The faster the footsteps went, the faster my heart beat.  Dad tried the door but it was locked.  This only made him more furious.  I could hear him struggling to get out his keys as he jingled them with rage.  He turned the knob extremely hard and burst through the solid oak door into the house.  I heard the briefcase slam on the hard wood floor.  My stomach churned in fear as I heard him ferociously stomp up the stairs.  He cracked his knuckles on his way down the hall.  I could hear him breathing quickly as he approached my bedroom.  When he finally got to the door, I heard him grab the knob slowly and angrily.  Then the door creeked open.

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Well, what did you think?  Feel free to leave a comment on this post with suggestions or encouragement.  Look for stories that use this technique on the student blogs at the end of the week (will be titled A5)!

Our first podcast of the year is up!  We have been learning about climate zones in science, and in social studies we’ve been discussing how climate affects people’s way of life.  This group has completed their project on the polar zone:

If you would like to subscribe to our podcast feed in iTunes, please follow this link.  Thanks for watching!