Important Dates and Reminders

Hello, Giraffe Families!

Here is a list of important dates for our fun-filled (yet very busy!) end of our school year:

May 1st: Haven Puppet Show- Members of HAVEN will be coming to SMS to speak with all second graders about personal body safety

May 9th- Wellness Walk: We will have an all-school wellness walk up Gifford Farm Road at 1:30 pm. While we'll be walking with our 5th grade reading buddies, you're welcome to join us as well! Just meet us at the front of the school in the bus loop around 1:25.

May 11th- Bike to School Day: Students can walk, bike, scooter, skateboard, or roller blade to school! Want to avoid riding on a busy road? Families are welcome to park at Stratham Hill Park and ride the trails from there! Please be sure to return the permission slip if your child is planning on participating (it makes dismissal time much easier!)

May 11th- PTO Parent's Night Out/Spring Social: This Vegas Night themed event is one to be remembered! Held at the Portsmouth Harbor Events & Conference Center, join fellow SMS parents for an evening of food, dance music, and casino games! Tickets can be purchased here.

May 16th: Sidewalk Shelebration- Giraffes will be publishing their poems "Where The Sidewalk Ends" and we will also debut our Class Poetry Book! Family and Friends are welcome to join us, more information will be coming home after vacation!

May 17th- MakerFest and Art Show: Everyone is welcome to join us for our annual MakerFest and Art Show in the Cafeteria from 3:30-6:30 pm. Projects can be brought in that morning by students or can be dropped off by parents after 1:30 pm. The MakerFest and Art Show will run through Friday morning.

May 23rd- Early Release Day: students will be dismissed at 12:50 pm.

June 1st- PTO 1-2-3 Fun Run: Teachers, parents, and students are welcome to run or walk 1,2, or 3 miles around SMS and Stratham Hill Park at 5:00 pm. Following the run, there will be a BBQ, Dunk Tank, Snow Cones, and a Dance Party!

June 4th: Grand Luncheon- Grandparents, Parents, Role Models, and Friends are welcome to join us for a special lunch at SMS! More information will be coming home soon.

June 5th: Great Bay Field Trip- all second grade will head to Great Bay Discovery Center on Depot Road. We will depart school at 9 am, bring snack to the center, picnic lunch when we return to school at 12 pm

June 6th: School Performance of Plant Play- We will have our Dress Rehearsal at SMS at 2 pm as we perform for our fellow SMS Wolves. Students should bring their costumes to school that day to change into--The Giraffes will be the "Pollinators", who can wear red, yellow, or orange shirts with black bottoms (seeds will wear all black)

June 7th: Parent Performance of Plant Play, 6:30 pm- Students should be dropped off to their classrooms between 6:00 and 6:15 so they can get ready before our big show! All family and friends are welcome to come to our performance

June 8th: Field Day- Please be sure to have your child bring a complete change of clothes and a towel so they don't need to miss out on any of the fun! Volunteer slips will be coming home soon, please contact Ms. Locke or Ms. Batchelder for more info

June 14th: 2nd/4th Grade End of Year Celebration at Stratham Hill Park, 9:30 am-2:00 pm- All family and friends are welcome to join us for some end of the year fun at the park!

June 18th- Last Day of School!

More information about these events will be shared as it becomes available. Here's to a wonderful end to our school year!

Reminders for February

Hello, Giraffe Families! February may be our shortest month, but it will certainly keep us busy! Here are a few important dates to keep in mind for the next few weeks leading up to our February Vacation (Feb 26-March 2)

• Our 100th Day Letter Project is due back to school on Monday, February 5th. Thank you to those of you who have already sent in your letters, they look amazing!
• Wednesday, February 7th is an Early Release Day, and students will be dismissed from school at 12:50. It is also our 100th Day of School! 
• Friday, February 9th is going to be our 2R Character Soiree! We have been learning a lot about the importance of taking a closer look at the characters in our stories and on 2/9, we will become them! Each of your children has chosen a character from one of their books that they will impersonate next Friday. Your child is welcome to dress the part of their character but it is certainly not required. They've been practicing asking and answering questions as their characters with their reading partners, and we are excited to make these stories come to life and hold a party to celebrate our learning :) 
• From February 9th-vacation, our classroom is going to be following the Winter Olympics in Pyeong Chang!  Many classrooms at SMS are representing and following countries that are participating in the games, and our classroom is going to be representing Germany! We will be decorating our door to represent our country and we will also represent them in our Opening Ceremonies on Friday, Feb. 9th :)  
• Our Valentines Celebration will be held on Wednesday, February 14th from 2:15-2:45. All family and friends are welcome to join us as we exchange cards and recite poems! I will be sending home a list of names of the students and teachers we have in our classroom. If your child wishes to make/write cards, I only ask that they make a card for all the students in our classroom. It is totally fine if they only make cards for their students, and they certainly do not need to make them for all the teachers we see each day, but I will list the names of all the teachers we work with in case they'd like to include them as well! 

Important Dates for The End of The Year

Hello, Families!

We have lots of upcoming dates for the end of our school year, so please mark your calendars for these special upcoming events:

May 11th- Wellness Walk:The walk will begin at 1:30 pm. Both students and community members will walk from the school, to the intersection of Gifford Farm Road and Long Hill Road, and back to the school (the road will be closed off to traffic during the walk for safety). If you wish to join us, we will meet in the bus loop at 1:25 pm prior to our walk

May 13th- PTO Spring Fundraiser:  A great night out for parents at the Portsmouth Harbor Events and Conference Center from 7-11 pm with music, dinner, and a live and silent auction! Purchase tickets online through the Family Directory for $30 or purchase for $35 at the door

May 14th- SMS Student Garden Build Day and Celebration: Sign up to help build the garden Saturday morning from 8:30 am -12:30 pm. We will celebrate the garden and reveal the name that afternoon from 3-5 pm

May 18th- Early Release Day: students will be dismissed at 12:50 pm. We will also visit our national parks this day!

May 19th- MakerFest and Art Show: Everyone is welcome to join us for our second annual MakerFest and our first EVER Art Show in the Cafeteria from 3:30-6:30 pm. Projects can be brought in that morning by students or can be dropped off by parents after 1:30 pm. The MakerFest and Art Show will run through Friday morning.

May 24th- Sidewalk Shel-ebration! Families are welcome to join us at 12:45 pm as we head outside (weather permitting) to publish our poems on the sidewalk. We will also be reciting a few of our poems from our class poetry book as well as a poem by Shel Silverstein.

June 1st and 2nd- Pirate Play: Students will put on the dress rehearsal of our play during the school day on June 1st and will perform our play for families on June 2nd starting at 6:30 pm in the cafeteria. Boys will be wearing black t-shirts, girls will wear white, and all students will wear jean shorts, pants, or skirts. All the giraffes will be decked out in blue bandanas!

June 3rd-  Volunteer Appreciation Day: Join us at 8 am for breakfast in the library and at 8:45 in the gym for a whole school meeting so we can show you how much we appreciate all that you do for our school! The 123 Fun Run will also be that afternoon starting at 5:30 pm!

June 6th- Grand Luncheon: Grandparents and friends of SMS students are invited to join us for our annual Grand Luncheon. Second Grade Lunch will be from 11:40-12:15 and recess will be from 12:15-12:45. Grandparents are welcome to join us prior to lunch in our classroom at 11:25 for a special poem and to read with their grandchildren. 

June 7th- Field Trip to Great Bay Discovery Center: we will be going on our annual field trip to Great Bay Discovery Center. We will arrive at Great Bay at 9:00 am to spend the morning there. We as we ask chaperons to meet us at the Discovery Center on Depot Rd. (NOTE: 2R will be going with 2H that day-- 2D, 2S and 2A will go on Friday, June 10th)

June 9th- Field Day: bring your sneakers, because June 9th will be field day! Please bring a change of clothes with you, as we will have some water games and we will also be outside, rain or shine. This year's theme is Color Wars, and second grade's color is RED! So, wear as much red clothing as possible!

June 15th- End of Year Picnic at Stratham Hill Park: All second grade classrooms will be hiking through the trails from SMS to Stratham Hill Park for an end-of-the-year picnic. Families and Friends are welcome to join us! We will arrive at the park around 10:00 am and we will leave at 1:30 pm. Families are welcome to join us for any of that time!

June 17th- Last Day of School: It has been discovered that the cause of ocean levels rising is not due to global warming, but rather to the fact that the school year must come to an end for Ms. Riley. While it is bittersweet to see these amazing children off to third grade, I am so proud of the growth they've made, and I'm also hoping they might come back for a visit from time to time in the years to come :) In the meantime, we will enjoy all the fun we have in store for these last few weeks of second grade!

A Very Busy End of the Year!

Hello, Families!

I hope you are all enjoying the beginning of your spring vacation. I wanted to make you aware of the many events we have going on when we return from vacation so you can mark them in your calendars. More information for each event has already been sent home or will be sent home, but if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to send me an e-mail!

Week of May 8th- We will be planning out our life-size paintings and costumes for the Wax Museum. A paper will be coming home in everyone's homework packet where you can draw your costume onto a person to give us an idea of what you'd like to wear. We will then trace our bodies and draw on our costumes before painting them the following week.We will also be collecting money to order our How to be A Pirate bandannas so they can be delivered in time for our play at the beginning of June. Bike to School will also be taking place on June 8th!

May 13th, 9:00-10:30 am: We will be painting our life-size character portraits for the wax museum along with Mrs. Caporello's class. I will need 5 volunteers to help us during this process, so if you are available, please send me an e-mail! We would love to have you! We also have an Early Release Day this day, so we will be dismissed at 12:50.

May 14th, after school: We will be holding our first-ever SMS Makerfest! Many students in our class will be making a project to bring in, and it is sure to be fun for the whole family. If you are not able to make it after school, we will be able to check it out in the cafeteria during the following school day.,

May 19th, 9:00-9:45 am- We will be holding our first-ever Fairy Tale Wax Museum! Please join us for this very special event and feel free to bring any friends and family.

May 22nd, 8:10-9:00 am- We will have our annual Volunteer Appreciation breakfast and assembly! Anyone who has volunteered their time, talents, money, or supplies is welcome to join us, we truly appreciate all that you do for our classroom and our school!

June 1st 12:15-1:10 pm- We will have our annual Grandparents Luncheon. Please invite the special people in your life to join us for lunch that day! It is important for all families to know that this is an open invitation for any special family member or friend who plays an important role in your child's life!

June 3rd, 9:00-11:45 am- We will be going on our annual field trip to the Sandy Point Science Center! If anyone would like to chaperon this trip, please send me an email. 

June 5th- We will be holding our annual 1-2-3 Fun Run!

June 9th, 6:30 pm- We will be putting on the second grade play How to be A Pirate for friends and family. Each classroom will be ordering bandannas to wear during the play, so we will be collecting $2 for each child when we return from vacation.

June 11th, 9:00-11:00 am- We will be participating in Field Day. The theme this year will be Un-Bored Games!

June 18th, 12:20-1:20 pm- We will hold our end of the year picnic out on the lawn beside the modular building. Anyone who would like to join us is more than welcome to!

The last day of school is June 19th 

Phew, that was a lot! I will be sure to let you know about further events as they are presented, but hopefully this will help you with planning out the next two months. I cannot believe we are already in the final push for this school year. It has been so wonderful to teach your children, thank you for sharing their light with me :) Enjoy the rest of your vacation!

Best,
Ms. Riley

Snow Day Update!

Snow at SMS on Thursday, February 5th

Our fifth snow day in the last eleven school days, unbelievable! In Stratham, 59.9 inches of snow have fallen in the last two weeks and it looks like more snow is on the way in the week ahead. Punxsutawney Phil's prediction certainly seems pretty accurate! Hopefully this means friends are playing outside in the snow or curled up inside with a good book. Perhaps they are crafting their Valentines for our upcoming celebration.

Because of all of our snow days, our 100th day of school has now been pushed to this Wednesday, February 11th and our last day of school is now Friday, June 19th. Our awesome 100th Day sign is now hanging in the hallway, we can't wait to share it here when we finally reach our 100th Day! (Warning: our sign may cause cravings for snacks and sweets!)

Our Valentine's Day Celebration is still planned to take place this Friday, February 13th from 12:45 to 1:45. This is when we will enjoy some Valentine's Day treats, play some games, and exchange cards. Families are more than welcome to join us! 

Important Dates

This is a quick reminder that tomorrow (9/17) is an early release day. We will be dismissed at 12:50 pm.

We also have Picture Day as well as our Curriculum Night coming up on Thursday (9/18). Tell your young giraffes to bring their best smiles to school! I look forward to seeing all of you Thursday night, I will be in my room sharing information about our second grade curriculum from 6:30-7:30 pm. I can't wait to fill you in on all of the wonderful things we have been/will be doing this year!