Thank you so much for being a part of our special day! I was so surprised, and so touched that the students were able to be a part of this! I will never forget this day :) The video of the event is at the bottom of this post - enjoy!
Today was the official last day of the second quarter! The students have been working very hard on making sure they have all their work done by today. Report cards will be sent home on February 2nd. (Happy Groundhog Day!)
First of all, congratulations on earning over 175 Soaring With Pride Stickers! The students celebrated this morning with a some free time in the gym. Students were able to play basketball, catch, and do some gymnastics on the tumbling mats! I think this was by far their best celebratory idea thus far!
Secondly, congratulations to the entire class for achieving 100% accuracy on the mid-year DIBELS assessment!
Math
We have finished up our Data Collection unit! The students were able to interpret and create bar graphs, scaled pictographs, and tally tables. They conducted surveys of their classmates and displayed their findings using "Create a Graph" software. Finally, we were even able to dabble into stem and leaf plots! The links for "Create a Graph" and the Stem and Leaf Plotter are available on the "Helpful Links" section of the blog - enjoy! They're lotso fun! :)
After the break, we will be beginning our unit on multiplication! A great way to practice facts is to use flash cards or go online to Multiplication.com (also available in the "Helpful Links" section)
Language Arts/Science
We have finished up our Science Texts Unit and Observing the Sky Units! The field trip to the ESSL was a HUGE hit! They have planetarium shows almost every Tuesday evening - I highly recommend it! The students behaved greatly and learned SO much while they were there.
Our next Language Arts unit will be on Poetry - and I am SOOOO excited! Students will be able to read and write poetry, as well as identify elements of poetry such as personification, onomatopoeia, alliteration, and rhyme. If you have any poetry anthologies at home that you would be willing to share with us, we'd love to have them! Please be sure to put yours, or your child's name in the book. Thank you!
Social Studies
We will be switching back to Social Studies in the third quarter. This unit is actually still a mystery to us, as we will be receiving it at our training on one of the teacher work days! I will let you know what it is just as soon as I do!
Handwriting
We will be beginning cursive! At the beginning of each week your child will receive a handwriting practice packet. This packet will be due at the end of the week. I am going to be sending home a cursive reference sheet to keep at home as well. Thank you!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Friday, January 15, 2010
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Happy Almost New Year!
Thank you all so much for the AWESOME card! It's adorable, I love it!
I hope all of you have had a wonderful extended winter break so far! My surgery went well and I plan to be returning to school on Monday, January 4th!
Enjoy the rest of the break, and have a very happy New Year!
I hope all of you have had a wonderful extended winter break so far! My surgery went well and I plan to be returning to school on Monday, January 4th!
Enjoy the rest of the break, and have a very happy New Year!
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Oh the weather outside is frightful...
...but our class is SO delightful! Applause to our second graders for doing a WONDERFUL job earning Soaring With Pride Stickers - compliments in the hallway, excellent behavior in the cafeteria, as well as following directions during specials. Way to go kiddos! :)
I would also like to applaud our second graders for all their hard work and great behavior during math. We have been focusing on area, perimeter, measurement to the nearest inch and half inch, converting inches to feet, feet to yards, and yards to miles. We will continue this focus until the break, and then move onto data collection in the New Year! Data collection includes reading, interpreting, and creating bar graphs, pictographs, and tally tables, conducting surveys, and analyzing probability.
Our last spelling quiz of 2009 will be on Tuesday, December 22. This spelling exploration has been on short o and r-controlled o words. Our next spelling exploration will be on words with the long u spelling pattern. (cute, flute, suit, route, etc.)
We've begun our science unit! We will be observing the sky - observing moon phases, learning about the comparative sizes of Earth to the moon, and to the sun, as well as learning about constellations! The students are supposed to keep a log of the moon phases on a pink calendar (which should be in the back cover pocket of their Home/School folders) the website for the moon phases has been added to the "Helpful Links" section of the blog. The students are supposed to try to see the moon if they can - I understand that bedtimes and weather conditions often get in the way of this - but if at all possible, do try to record what they actually see outside, as opposed to on the computer screen. This is provided as a back-up plan :) Thank you!
Due Monday, December 21st - the Holiday Booklet. Students are to choose at least five symbols of a holiday that your family enjoys. This could be a holiday that occurs in December - such as Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa - or a holiday that you celebrate another time of year - such as Thanksgiving, Diwali, Ramadan, etc. Make a holiday booklet. Illustrate and write to share how your family enjoys these holidays. Create a cover and write a title. Students need to be prepared to share their booklets with the class. The goal is to learn of the different traditions we have in our class! Students are encouraged to use different art materials and to be creative - can't wait to see the final projects!
Tuesday, December 22nd - we will be having a little Winter Celebration. Parents are welcome to come! We'll begin around 9:30 - just some snacks and crafts and wintery fun! Hope you can make it - please be sure to sign in at the front office if you are able to join us. Thank you!
Wednesday, December 23rd - the students will have a substitute teacher as I am having my knee surgery. The students have been asking more questions about what exactly is going to be happening - I have explained that I have some fragments in my knee, and the doctor is going to go in and clean them out! I can't wait to have it OVER and DONE with!!
Please drive safely and enjoy the snow! BRRRRRRRR!
I would also like to applaud our second graders for all their hard work and great behavior during math. We have been focusing on area, perimeter, measurement to the nearest inch and half inch, converting inches to feet, feet to yards, and yards to miles. We will continue this focus until the break, and then move onto data collection in the New Year! Data collection includes reading, interpreting, and creating bar graphs, pictographs, and tally tables, conducting surveys, and analyzing probability.
Our last spelling quiz of 2009 will be on Tuesday, December 22. This spelling exploration has been on short o and r-controlled o words. Our next spelling exploration will be on words with the long u spelling pattern. (cute, flute, suit, route, etc.)
We've begun our science unit! We will be observing the sky - observing moon phases, learning about the comparative sizes of Earth to the moon, and to the sun, as well as learning about constellations! The students are supposed to keep a log of the moon phases on a pink calendar (which should be in the back cover pocket of their Home/School folders) the website for the moon phases has been added to the "Helpful Links" section of the blog. The students are supposed to try to see the moon if they can - I understand that bedtimes and weather conditions often get in the way of this - but if at all possible, do try to record what they actually see outside, as opposed to on the computer screen. This is provided as a back-up plan :) Thank you!
Due Monday, December 21st - the Holiday Booklet. Students are to choose at least five symbols of a holiday that your family enjoys. This could be a holiday that occurs in December - such as Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa - or a holiday that you celebrate another time of year - such as Thanksgiving, Diwali, Ramadan, etc. Make a holiday booklet. Illustrate and write to share how your family enjoys these holidays. Create a cover and write a title. Students need to be prepared to share their booklets with the class. The goal is to learn of the different traditions we have in our class! Students are encouraged to use different art materials and to be creative - can't wait to see the final projects!
Tuesday, December 22nd - we will be having a little Winter Celebration. Parents are welcome to come! We'll begin around 9:30 - just some snacks and crafts and wintery fun! Hope you can make it - please be sure to sign in at the front office if you are able to join us. Thank you!
Wednesday, December 23rd - the students will have a substitute teacher as I am having my knee surgery. The students have been asking more questions about what exactly is going to be happening - I have explained that I have some fragments in my knee, and the doctor is going to go in and clean them out! I can't wait to have it OVER and DONE with!!
Please drive safely and enjoy the snow! BRRRRRRRR!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving!!
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!
:)
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!
:)
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!
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