I'd like to begin by wishing all of you a very happy Thanksgiving. I know I'm really looking forward to having some time to spend with my family - I hope you are too!
Just a few reminders -
Monday, November 30th will be our Spelling Quiz. This will also be the day we have a small farewell party for Sanchi, who is moving to India with her family later on that week. We will miss her terribly, but certainly hope to keep in touch with her as much as possible! I hope for students to be able to have the students pick their new spelling words for the next two weeks on that day as well.
Monday, November 30th is also an early dismissal day.
Tuesday, December 1st and Wednesday, December 2nd I will be out for a training in Baltimore.
If you have the time over the break, please take a moment to explore the Free Rice and Free Poverty links in the "Helpful Links" section of the blog. Both sites provide some great educational quiz games, and have a great mission as well. Something we can all be thankful for :)
Thank you again for all your continued support, please have a safe, happy, and healthy holiday!
:)
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
What a WEEK!
WHOA NELLY! We have had a BUSY one!
Please keep an eye out for pictures that I'll be sending from the Field Trip! The kids had a great time! I hope you all can have a chance to visit New Market on your own - the shop owners really did a great job presenting to the kids. All for free!
David Price (town council member, owner of 12 West Main gallery, the individual who helped me organize this field trip) has been trying to get the sign in New Market to change from advertising antiques, to advertising it's rich history. Channel NBC 25 was in New Market the day we were there - some of us made the news!
New Market Video Clip
Each of the second grade classes are going to be making books of our trips to New Market and Frederick. Two students from each class will be selected to join the second grade teachers to the New Market Town Hall Meeting on Wednesday, December 9th to present these books to the city of New Market and have their picture taken for the Gazette/Frederick News Post. The drawings will be held as follows:
1. Entry forms will be sent home next week.
2. Second grade teachers will collect the entry forms from their students.
3. Students will be selected lottery-style to determine who will be presenting the books.
Coming up next week....
We will be continuing our study of geometry in math - especially working on answering math BCRs. Students have done a really nice job so far - I've seen great improvements already!
We will be continuing our study of short stories as well! Last week we began focusing on the story elements (character, setting, problem, solution). This week we'll be focusing more on the author's message - with a more specific focus on fables. If you have any collections of short stories, fables, fairy tales, folktales, tall tales, myths, etc. that you would like to share we'd love to see them! Please make sure your name is in the book so we can return them!
Spelling this coming week will be with short i/r-controlled i sounds. Short i sounds can be found in words with the "in" prefix - such as independent, infer, interest. R-controlled i, e, and u sounds are very similar - if not identical. Some examples include: dirt, skirt, first, thirsty.
Students will be taking the Comprehension Strategy Assessment (CSA) this week as well. This will be on Thursday morning. The CSA is a computer-based test, the students took it last year, and will take it every year in elementary school. This test is to see their strengths and weaknesses in reading comprehension - testing their ability to identify the main idea of a story, various story elements, and find meanings of words based upon context clues. These are all skills that the students have been working on since Kindergarten - I predict everyone will do fabulously :) The scores take a few weeks to be processed, and will be provided to you as soon as possible!
Where The Wild Things Are - is showing tomorrow at the Westview Cinemas at 1:30. Let's plan to meet in the lobby around 1:15. See you then!
In my never-ending habit of collecting odd things for the classroom...I was wondering if you could also keep your eye out for The Kids Post in the Washington Post? I have started to collect them myself - I really like it - and it's usually a bit of a step up from the Mini-Pages too! It's always nice to have multiple copies of things, so if any of you are willing to donate those to the classroom, that would be greatly appreciated as well!
Also, we are starting to run a little low on glue sticks and pencils - any contribution would be much appreciated!
Report Cards came home today! In BIG, SHINY, NEW envelopes! Please sign the envelope in the bottom of the box for the first marking period and return it as soon as possible. The report card is yours to keep. Please do not seal the envelope, as we will be using this envelope througout the school year. Thank you!
Finally, I hope you and your families have a great weekend! Thank you so much for all your help and support!
Please keep an eye out for pictures that I'll be sending from the Field Trip! The kids had a great time! I hope you all can have a chance to visit New Market on your own - the shop owners really did a great job presenting to the kids. All for free!
David Price (town council member, owner of 12 West Main gallery, the individual who helped me organize this field trip) has been trying to get the sign in New Market to change from advertising antiques, to advertising it's rich history. Channel NBC 25 was in New Market the day we were there - some of us made the news!
New Market Video Clip
Each of the second grade classes are going to be making books of our trips to New Market and Frederick. Two students from each class will be selected to join the second grade teachers to the New Market Town Hall Meeting on Wednesday, December 9th to present these books to the city of New Market and have their picture taken for the Gazette/Frederick News Post. The drawings will be held as follows:
1. Entry forms will be sent home next week.
2. Second grade teachers will collect the entry forms from their students.
3. Students will be selected lottery-style to determine who will be presenting the books.
Coming up next week....
We will be continuing our study of geometry in math - especially working on answering math BCRs. Students have done a really nice job so far - I've seen great improvements already!
We will be continuing our study of short stories as well! Last week we began focusing on the story elements (character, setting, problem, solution). This week we'll be focusing more on the author's message - with a more specific focus on fables. If you have any collections of short stories, fables, fairy tales, folktales, tall tales, myths, etc. that you would like to share we'd love to see them! Please make sure your name is in the book so we can return them!
Spelling this coming week will be with short i/r-controlled i sounds. Short i sounds can be found in words with the "in" prefix - such as independent, infer, interest. R-controlled i, e, and u sounds are very similar - if not identical. Some examples include: dirt, skirt, first, thirsty.
Students will be taking the Comprehension Strategy Assessment (CSA) this week as well. This will be on Thursday morning. The CSA is a computer-based test, the students took it last year, and will take it every year in elementary school. This test is to see their strengths and weaknesses in reading comprehension - testing their ability to identify the main idea of a story, various story elements, and find meanings of words based upon context clues. These are all skills that the students have been working on since Kindergarten - I predict everyone will do fabulously :) The scores take a few weeks to be processed, and will be provided to you as soon as possible!
Where The Wild Things Are - is showing tomorrow at the Westview Cinemas at 1:30. Let's plan to meet in the lobby around 1:15. See you then!
In my never-ending habit of collecting odd things for the classroom...I was wondering if you could also keep your eye out for The Kids Post in the Washington Post? I have started to collect them myself - I really like it - and it's usually a bit of a step up from the Mini-Pages too! It's always nice to have multiple copies of things, so if any of you are willing to donate those to the classroom, that would be greatly appreciated as well!
Also, we are starting to run a little low on glue sticks and pencils - any contribution would be much appreciated!
Report Cards came home today! In BIG, SHINY, NEW envelopes! Please sign the envelope in the bottom of the box for the first marking period and return it as soon as possible. The report card is yours to keep. Please do not seal the envelope, as we will be using this envelope througout the school year. Thank you!
Finally, I hope you and your families have a great weekend! Thank you so much for all your help and support!
Holy 100 Soaring WIth Pride Stickers, Batman!
....Actually, I believe we're technically at 102! All the same, WOW! Awesome job! Please be sure to ask your son/daughter how we've earned them - they have SO much to be proud of!
In celebration, the students voted - we will be having "Stuffed Animal, Cupcake Day" in honor of our great behavior!
The students had so much fun decorating the muffins at the Fall Festival that they wanted to do that again! I'll be brining in some vanilla cupcakes and whatever cake decorating items I have. If you have any cake-decorating stuffs at home that you wouldn't mind donating to our cause we'd really appreciate it!
The students may bring in ONE quiet, stuffed-animal friend to school today as well.
Congratulations again! Great job!
In celebration, the students voted - we will be having "Stuffed Animal, Cupcake Day" in honor of our great behavior!
The students had so much fun decorating the muffins at the Fall Festival that they wanted to do that again! I'll be brining in some vanilla cupcakes and whatever cake decorating items I have. If you have any cake-decorating stuffs at home that you wouldn't mind donating to our cause we'd really appreciate it!
The students may bring in ONE quiet, stuffed-animal friend to school today as well.
Congratulations again! Great job!
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Sweet November!
I'd like to begin by saying (rather belated, I apologize) thank you to all the parents and students for making our Fall Festival such a huge success! I think the students had a GREAT time! Their pumpkin charts are hanging in the hallway now - and I've received many complements on the work they did! Thank you all so much - and I hope you had a great Hallween!
Moving on - it's NOVEMBER!!!!!! Can you believe it? We have LOTS of AWESOME upcoming events!
Beginning with our Field Trip on Wednesday, November 11, 2009
The entire second grade will be traveling to the historical areas of both Frederick and New Market for walking tours. This field trip will help our students to apply what they've been learning in Social Studies to some real world situations! We've been learning about communities - different types (urban, rural, suburban), and how they compare between past and present. The students will also be able to apply some map skills.
We will be able to compare and contrast the two walking tours. We will make predictions before, and then review those predictions afterwards and see what else we can add!
Please remember to have your students:
1. Eat breakfast in morning - we'll be burning lots of energy today!
2. Bring a bag lunch - prefereably in a paper bag/grocery bag that can be thrown away after lunch. This will help to eliminate any excess "stuffs" to carry around.
3. Please be sure to dress appropriately for the weather - the current prediction is sunny with highs in the upper 50s. (Gorgeous! With a light jacket!)
4. Please be sure to wear comfortable shoes with socks- LOTS of walking and standing!
5. Review safety and courtesy rules when out in public - staying with the group, asking an adult to use the restroom/get a drink. using pleases and thank-yous, etc.
Thank you very much to the parents who offered to chaperone! We are limited to two chaperones per class - so we had to draw names to pick the two we would have for each class. There will be other opportunities for chaperoning field trips in the future, so if you weren't chosen this time, you will be in the future! Thank you again for your help and support!
Veterans' Day is also on November 11th
Sent home on Friday was a white, half sheet of paper asking for information about veterans you may have in your family! This information is also going to be used by our upper grades in reports that they are doing on Veterans. If you are able to, I encourage you to please send in what you can! Thank you!
November 14th WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE!
The movie times for the 14th haven't yet been posted on the website for the Regal Cinemas at Westview. If the times are the same next week as they are for today, there is a 2:15 showing. I'll keep an eye on the website, should there be any changes.
November 17th as a part of American Education Week, we'll be having a guest author/illustrator visit UES! John Steven Gurney has illustrated many books - including the A-Z Mystery Series - and has a new book out as well! I've added a few links to the blog about him - check it out!
Academically Speaking...
This week in math we will be starting our geometry unit! This will take us to Thanksgiving! Be on the lookout for homework assignments relating to the topic.
We're also starting our Short Stories unit in Language Arts. This begins with a review of story elements, then moves on to reading different examples (including tall tales, fairy tales, and fables), to the students writing their own!
Spelling - we are studying long i! The spelling quiz will be this Friday, November 13th.
Thank you again for all your support! Have a great weekend!
:)
Moving on - it's NOVEMBER!!!!!! Can you believe it? We have LOTS of AWESOME upcoming events!
Beginning with our Field Trip on Wednesday, November 11, 2009
The entire second grade will be traveling to the historical areas of both Frederick and New Market for walking tours. This field trip will help our students to apply what they've been learning in Social Studies to some real world situations! We've been learning about communities - different types (urban, rural, suburban), and how they compare between past and present. The students will also be able to apply some map skills.
We will be able to compare and contrast the two walking tours. We will make predictions before, and then review those predictions afterwards and see what else we can add!
Please remember to have your students:
1. Eat breakfast in morning - we'll be burning lots of energy today!
2. Bring a bag lunch - prefereably in a paper bag/grocery bag that can be thrown away after lunch. This will help to eliminate any excess "stuffs" to carry around.
3. Please be sure to dress appropriately for the weather - the current prediction is sunny with highs in the upper 50s. (Gorgeous! With a light jacket!)
4. Please be sure to wear comfortable shoes with socks- LOTS of walking and standing!
5. Review safety and courtesy rules when out in public - staying with the group, asking an adult to use the restroom/get a drink. using pleases and thank-yous, etc.
Thank you very much to the parents who offered to chaperone! We are limited to two chaperones per class - so we had to draw names to pick the two we would have for each class. There will be other opportunities for chaperoning field trips in the future, so if you weren't chosen this time, you will be in the future! Thank you again for your help and support!
Veterans' Day is also on November 11th
Sent home on Friday was a white, half sheet of paper asking for information about veterans you may have in your family! This information is also going to be used by our upper grades in reports that they are doing on Veterans. If you are able to, I encourage you to please send in what you can! Thank you!
November 14th WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE!
The movie times for the 14th haven't yet been posted on the website for the Regal Cinemas at Westview. If the times are the same next week as they are for today, there is a 2:15 showing. I'll keep an eye on the website, should there be any changes.
November 17th as a part of American Education Week, we'll be having a guest author/illustrator visit UES! John Steven Gurney has illustrated many books - including the A-Z Mystery Series - and has a new book out as well! I've added a few links to the blog about him - check it out!
Academically Speaking...
This week in math we will be starting our geometry unit! This will take us to Thanksgiving! Be on the lookout for homework assignments relating to the topic.
We're also starting our Short Stories unit in Language Arts. This begins with a review of story elements, then moves on to reading different examples (including tall tales, fairy tales, and fables), to the students writing their own!
Spelling - we are studying long i! The spelling quiz will be this Friday, November 13th.
Thank you again for all your support! Have a great weekend!
:)
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Way to go Kiddos!!! :)
We earned our next 25 Soaring With Pride stickers!! Pajama Day tomorrow (Friday, 10/23)! Yay!!! Please remember to wear appropriate shoes! I'm so proud of us! The next 25 stickers will put us at 100 SOARING WITH PRIDE stickers - whoooo hoooo! Happy Friday! :)
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Thank You!
I'd like to say thank you for a successful conference week! I really appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedules to meet with me. I know our time was brief, but I feel that it was very worthwhile.
We will be taking some time this week to focus a little on multilplication and division. This will be a review for some, and something new for others. The goal is to get everyone on the same page, so that when we start basic facts practice again, there's a stronger understanding of the concepts involved.
The math practice pages that are coming home are all due on Friday. There is also a mulitiplication table coming home. Please have your son/daughter either keep this in their home/school folder, or someplace safe at home to use as a resource. Thank you!
Science Fair information was sent home yesterday!! This is not a required event for second graders, but I strongly encourage participation! (Partially because Science is awesome, partially because I'm on the Science Committee!! :-P ) Science fair participation is required for 4th and 5th graders - I highly reccommend getting some practice in before hand!
Spelling words are coming home today! We will be studying short e and r-controlled e for the next two weeks. I'm going to schedule the spelling quiz on THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29TH so as not to conflict with our Fall Festival Day (which is also a half day).
Speaking of the Fall Festival Day...
Our Fall Festival will be on Friday, October 30th. It will be a blast! We are going to have multiple activities arranged around pumpkins, leaves, apples, scarecrows - all things autumnal!
The event will begin at 9:00 A.M and end at 10:45 A.M. If you would like to volunteer, please email me by Wednesday, October 28th to let me know. Please include whether or not you plan to stay for all or part of the time.
Students will be going to lunch directly from the festival. In an effort speed along the process, I ask that you send in a lunch with your child. This will help to eliminate some of the rushing around that can happen on days like these :)
Please send in $2.00 with your child by Wednesday, October 28th to cover the cost of food, supplies, and other goodies. Please be sure to have your child's name attached to this money somehow (envelope, Post-it, etc.). Thank you very much!
Finally, please remember that costumes are not allowed this year. No costumes of anysort. Second grade will be having a special day later on in the year when we can dress up like our favorite community member. Please, no costumes this year.
Additionally...
Please be sure to check out the polls along the right hand side of the blog...
Thank you for your response about Where the Wild Things Are! I'm really excited about this one too! Maurice Sendak is another favorite author of mine - I plan to incorporate an author study about Mr. Sendak before we go see the movie. Let's plan to go on Saturday, November 14th - early afternoon. I checked showtimes today, and they weren't quite available yet. I'll let you know as we get closer! Hope to see you there! I hope to be able to see the $8.00 version this time - not the $11! Yikes! I'm sorry about that!
Mrs. Wagner very kindly sent me the link for the cheapy theater off of rt. 40 - but they arent' going to have the movie until after the new year :( I'll definitely keep this place in mind for the future! Thank you! :)
Knee Status
Thank you all very much for your kind words and concern about my knee, I really appreciate it! I met with the surgeon on Monday, and he doesn't have any openings until December. So, I signed up for the week of December 21st. I'll find out for sure by the end of the week if that's when I'll be out. This will force me to get my shopping done on time! :)
Have a great week everyone! As always, should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to send me an email!
:)
We will be taking some time this week to focus a little on multilplication and division. This will be a review for some, and something new for others. The goal is to get everyone on the same page, so that when we start basic facts practice again, there's a stronger understanding of the concepts involved.
The math practice pages that are coming home are all due on Friday. There is also a mulitiplication table coming home. Please have your son/daughter either keep this in their home/school folder, or someplace safe at home to use as a resource. Thank you!
Science Fair information was sent home yesterday!! This is not a required event for second graders, but I strongly encourage participation! (Partially because Science is awesome, partially because I'm on the Science Committee!! :-P ) Science fair participation is required for 4th and 5th graders - I highly reccommend getting some practice in before hand!
Spelling words are coming home today! We will be studying short e and r-controlled e for the next two weeks. I'm going to schedule the spelling quiz on THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29TH so as not to conflict with our Fall Festival Day (which is also a half day).
Speaking of the Fall Festival Day...
Our Fall Festival will be on Friday, October 30th. It will be a blast! We are going to have multiple activities arranged around pumpkins, leaves, apples, scarecrows - all things autumnal!
The event will begin at 9:00 A.M and end at 10:45 A.M. If you would like to volunteer, please email me by Wednesday, October 28th to let me know. Please include whether or not you plan to stay for all or part of the time.
Students will be going to lunch directly from the festival. In an effort speed along the process, I ask that you send in a lunch with your child. This will help to eliminate some of the rushing around that can happen on days like these :)
Please send in $2.00 with your child by Wednesday, October 28th to cover the cost of food, supplies, and other goodies. Please be sure to have your child's name attached to this money somehow (envelope, Post-it, etc.). Thank you very much!
Finally, please remember that costumes are not allowed this year. No costumes of anysort. Second grade will be having a special day later on in the year when we can dress up like our favorite community member. Please, no costumes this year.
Additionally...
Please be sure to check out the polls along the right hand side of the blog...
Thank you for your response about Where the Wild Things Are! I'm really excited about this one too! Maurice Sendak is another favorite author of mine - I plan to incorporate an author study about Mr. Sendak before we go see the movie. Let's plan to go on Saturday, November 14th - early afternoon. I checked showtimes today, and they weren't quite available yet. I'll let you know as we get closer! Hope to see you there! I hope to be able to see the $8.00 version this time - not the $11! Yikes! I'm sorry about that!
Mrs. Wagner very kindly sent me the link for the cheapy theater off of rt. 40 - but they arent' going to have the movie until after the new year :( I'll definitely keep this place in mind for the future! Thank you! :)
Knee Status
Thank you all very much for your kind words and concern about my knee, I really appreciate it! I met with the surgeon on Monday, and he doesn't have any openings until December. So, I signed up for the week of December 21st. I'll find out for sure by the end of the week if that's when I'll be out. This will force me to get my shopping done on time! :)
Have a great week everyone! As always, should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to send me an email!
:)
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Conference Confirmations
Hi again! Conference confirmation slips were put in the students' Home/School Folders today. Please return the slip as soon as possible.
Also, for those of you who are able to attend the Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs on Saturday, let's plan to meet inside the theater, by the arcade games and tables, at 11:35. All are welcome to attend, a parent/guardian MUST be in attendance! Thank you!
Also, if you could please send in those toilet paper/paper towel rolls that would be great! I have a few neat Creation Station activities that we're going to do with them. Also, some wire hangers would be great as well. They're great for mobiles, wreaths, and I hang poetry posters on them as well!
Thank you very much! Have a great evening!
Also, for those of you who are able to attend the Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs on Saturday, let's plan to meet inside the theater, by the arcade games and tables, at 11:35. All are welcome to attend, a parent/guardian MUST be in attendance! Thank you!
Also, if you could please send in those toilet paper/paper towel rolls that would be great! I have a few neat Creation Station activities that we're going to do with them. Also, some wire hangers would be great as well. They're great for mobiles, wreaths, and I hang poetry posters on them as well!
Thank you very much! Have a great evening!
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