Kael

Kael was our other mystery reader on Friday. He read the book Alligator Baby. He read with excellent expression and the kids thought his book was really funny...they were laughing out loud!! Thanks for reading to us Kael -- you did a super job!!

Hunter

Hunter was one of our mystery readers on Friday. He read the book Wheels and did a super job!! Keep up the good work Hunter!

Mega party volunteers

We have our Mega Party on Wednesday, December 22nd from 12:30-1:50. We have the party with the other 2nd grade sections and all of the 3rd grade sections.

If anyone is interested in volunteering to help us watch kids during that time please contact me. It's helpful to have other adults work at the stations and to help students so the teachers can walk around the gym taking pictures and watching all of the students. If you are able to volunteer please let me know. Thank you in advance for your help!!!

Games

With the recent cold weather we have had several indoor recesses. I have noticed that my games are quite old and are looking a bit worn. So...I didn't know if anyone had any games laying around their houses that weren't really being used and are still in decent shape. It you have anything like that I would gladly take donations!! If you happen to get shopping and see any new games that are reasonable I would gladly accept those as well :)

2nd Trip to the Nursing Homes

We went to the nursing homes again today to deliver our Christmas presents, sing songs, and read to the residents. Everyone did a fabulous job!! I split our class into 2 groups again and one went with me and the other group went with Deb. I took pictures of the students that were in my group.

Thanks to everyone who bought presents for the residents. I appreciate it and the nursing homes appreciate it as well!!!

Libby

Libby read Never Babysit the Hippopotamuses and did an excellent job. She must have practiced a lot because she was very fluent and used good expression. Great job Libby!!

Taree Jo

Some of your children may have mentioned that Taree Jo moved away...this is true. She and her family moved up near Minneapolis to be closer to her mom's family. She moved right before Thanksgiving break and we never got to really say good-bye to her because her mom was also quite sick at the time. A lot of students are really sad that they did not get to say goodbye to her.

On a sad note, you may have also heard that Kim, Taree Jo's mom passed away last Friday. She had been battling cancer for quite a while. We had a class meeting today and discussed what it feels like to lose someone close. I shared a book with the students and I explained that it's OK to be sad and even cry when someone passes away. Students did quite well with this and they knew it would be OK to have special memories and pictures of a lost family member or friend. I did have some students that were upset and sad that Taree Jo's mom had passed away.

I talked with Terry, Taree Jo's dad today and he said they are having a celebration of life for Kim. It will be this Saturday, December 11th, at The Oaks restaurant in Decorah. The celebration ceremony starts at 1:30 and Terry said that will last about an hour. Following the ceremony will be time to visit with the family. Terry said anyone from Taree's Jo's class is welcome to come and see Taree Jo.

Brrrrrrr!!!

Welcome to winter!!! I guess winter decided it needed to arrive with a bang this year!! Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately for recesses. Proper clothes need to include snowpants, boots, a warm coat, hat, mittens, etc. I still have kids coming to school without boots and/or snowpants. Unless the temperature is -0 we will always go out for recess.

Also, our building is usually cold in the winter so it's a good idea to keep an extra sweatshirt or long sleeve shirt at school. Finallly, it might be a good idea to send extra clothes to school in case their others get wet: socks, gloves, pants.

Thanks for your help and support!!

Jenna

Jenna was our mystery reader on Friday. She did a great job!! I have decided to do 2 mystery readers each week from now on. Good luck readers!

Pilgrim Play

Today we performed a pilgrim play for Mrs. Cuvelier's class. It was called A Native American Welcome. They did a super job considering we only practiced it about 4 times!! Here are some pictures our the cast members and also the performance. Enjoy!!

I hope everyone has a fun and relaxing Thanksgiving!

Whole Class

Pilgrims

Indians

Click Clack Moo

On Monday, November 30, K-2 students are going to UNI to see the play Click Clack Moo. We will be leaving Crestwood Elementary propmptly at 9:30 and be returning at 3:15. Please make a note of this and make sure your child is to school by that time!

Once we arrive in Cedar Falls we will go to the UNI dome to eat our sack lunches. Sack lunches will be provided by the school so please do not send any food/drink to school with your child that day. We are also providing a snack for the ride back to school.

We will bring movies to watch on the bus so please do not send any mp3 players or other toys to school with your child.

Thanks!!

Pilgrims

The past week we've been talking a lot about Pilgrims. We learned that the pilgrims left from England on September 6th and it took 65 days to get to America. They rode on the Mayflower and there were 102 passengers. Those passengers stayed on the 'tween decks. There wasn't a lot of space and they had to limit what they brought along on the boat. We've also been discussing the differences between life as a pilgrim child and life today. What a difference!!!

Today students worked with a partner and explored pilgrims on the computer. They loved it!! It's just amazing to me how much there is out there on the Internet. Students were SO into learning about pilgrims for about 45 minutes this afternoon. They were reading, laughing, and calling me over to tell me exciting facts they learned . Simply amazing!!! Ask them what they learned. Here is the site and pictures from today: Pilgrim webquest.

Taree Jo

Taree Jo was our 2nd mystery reader and she did a super job!! Even though it's a short week we will still have a mystery reader. He/she will read on Wednesday.

Random Info

How about that fog?? I sure wasn't expecting that this morning. I sure am getting a lot accomplished at school this morning though:)

Just a quick reminder to have your child continue reading for book-it minutes. November's reading goal is 220 minutes. I hope your child is getting close or has already met that goal. Continue to record the minutes and have your child return the calendar at the VERY end of the month. With Thanksgiving quickly upon us, I know that everyone will be busy. If you are traveling, please encourage your child to bring some books along on the trip. I will send a new calendar home on December 1st.

I am also sending home book orders tonight. There are a lot of great books to choose from. Remember...books make excellent gifts!!! If you would like to order a book for a gift please let me know. That way I won't send the book home with your child when it comes in!! The book orders will be due next Wednesday, November 25th.

The ice cream sundae party will next next Wednesday. Thank you for practicing with your child at home. They've really improved!!! If your child has earned the sundae please continue to practice.

Our snack supply is running low. If you wouldn't mind, please send a box of crackers to school with your child. You child and their tummy thank you!!

1st Mystery Reader

Our first mystery reader was.....Donavyn!!! He did a super job reading and the kids gave him lots of compliments. Great job Donavyn!

Sharing

Next week students have an assigned sharing topic. I have asked each student to bring in their favorite book. This can be a favorite book from when they were a baby or a favorite book now. I want them to share why it is so important to them and what special memories they have about the book. They could also share their favorite part of the book.

Funraiser Delivery

A blue note is coming home today regarding the fundraiser. Thank you to everyone who participated our fundraiser this year!!! We continue to have great success with this year after year. Your selling allows the school to fill our "piggy bank" which allows our students to go on field trips and to participate in fun activities throughout the school year. Great job!!

As the note states we earned our mega party again...yea!!! We will have it on Tuesday, December 22nd. Limo rides will also be on that day. Winners of those have not yet been announced -- I will let you know more about that when I get that information. Thanks again for all your hard work!

Parent-Teacher Conferences

THANK YOU to everyone who attended conferences!! I appreciated everyone taking time out of your busy lives to meet with me. I enjoyed meeting with all of you and I had great discussions with all of you! If you ever have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me. I truly enjoy working with your child and look forward to what we'll do together the rest of this school year!!

Mystery Readers

In order to improve our reading even more, we've started something new in 2A...Mystery Readers!! Each Friday, I will assign a new mystery reader. Only that student and I will know who the reader is. The reader will bring home a book in a manilla envelope. Please have your child read the book each night. For the first time you may want to read the book to your child. This way he/she can hear your expression!! Have your child read with expression and a strong voice. Practicing each night will improve fluency and accuracy as well.

On Friday the book needs to come back to school. After the 10:00 recess I will give clues to the class and they will try and guess the reader. Then...your child will read the book to the class!!!

It is important that your child practices each night. I do not want them to stumble on words or not know the story on Friday.

Thanks for helping with this!

Math sites

I showed the kids 2 websites that have math games today. They LOVED them and I told them I would put the sites on the blog. Here they are....

Funbrain arcade
Funschool

Ice Cream Sundaes

I continue to be impressed with the results of our ice cream sundae incentive. The students are really learning their math fact!! I can tell they have been working hard on these at home because they certainly know their facts better during our math time. Please continue to practice the facts with your each each night, as time allows. Also, don't forget to practice the facts your child has checked off. This will still be a good review.

I have decided on a final date for the reward party. The last day for students to test is Wednesday, November 25th. We will have our party on that day!! This is the final day before Thanksgiving vacation. So...your child has 3 more weeks to get all of his/her facts checked off with me.

Good luck and happy adding!!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

We had a SUPER and fun party today. The students were in groups and they got to carve a pumpkin along with a parent volunteer....thanks parents!!!!! Along with carving, students had to guess how much their pumpkin weighed and how many seeds were inside it. Then they had to find out how much it really weighed and how many seeds were actually in it. It was easy to check the weight....not as easy to count seeds. Some of the pumpkins had A LOT of seeds!!! At least the students were counting:) Here are a bunch of pics from the party. Enjoy!

"Book-It" and Conferences

Wow!! What a busy and exciting week! The student sure were fired about about Halloween! I hope everyone is safe and has fun tomorrow. Don't eat too much candy!!!

Today a blue calendar went home. This is our new reading incentive. In the past, you might remember we've done Book-It. Well, Pizza Hut wasn't able to do it this year so we found a new reading incentive. Reading must go on!!! Please have your child read each night, or as often as possible. Record those minutes on the calendar. If your child brings home books from me, Mrs. Surface, or Mrs. Foster those reading minutes can go onto the calendar. At the end of the month sign the calendar and return it to school with your child. If your child meets the reading goal for the month he/she will earn a free slice of pizza from Casey's. If your child returns EVERY month's calendar and meets all the reading goals I will give those students a pizza party for lunch!!!!! I will be sending home reading calendars home through March. Happy reading!

Another reminder...parent-teacher conferences are next week. I cannot wait to meet with each of you! Report cards were sent home on Thursday so I will discuss those with you as well as your child's results from MAPs testing and DIBELS. If you are unable to make your conferences time, please let me know or let the school know. Hopefully everyone can stay healthy we we are able to meet next Tuesday and Thursday.

Nursing Homes

We went to the nursing homes today and the kids were super!! I took half of the class and Deb took the other half. While there we sang Halloween songs to them and read stories. It looked like the residents enjoyed our visit and I know the 2nd graders had a fun time as well. They really liked wearing their costumes as well!!!

Here is a slideshow of the students before we left for the nursing homes. I also took a few pictures of students reading to the residents. I didn't get everyone since I was only with half the class. Enjoy!!

Angelina's birthday

Today was a good day! Today was Angelina's birthday. We had music and we learned a new song. We sang really fast. We had really fun inside recesses. Puzzles are awesome! Everything is fun during indoor recess. We built two ramps out of legos. We also made our own lego guys. It was buddy test today. We tried really hard to get 6 out of 6. We did really good!! If we would get them all right we would get an M & M. The Smartboard is fun!! It helps us get smart because we learn on it. We do DOL on it now and our math test was on it too. We played a new game called Punctuation Campground.

What would you do if you had a Smartboard?

Posted by 2A students.

Check for Understanding

We have been practicing a lot with the reading strategy Check for Understanding. The strategy requires students to check what they have read frequently throughout the story. Often times when students read they do not realize they're' not remembering the story. Then they get to the end and can't remember what it was about! Often times, students are too concerned about saying all the words accurately that they forgot to take the time to think about what they're reading. Check for Understanding allows students to stop frequently and to ask 2 important questions: Who? and What?

How can you help your child with this strategy at home?
1. When reading to your child, stop periodically and say, “Let’s see if we remember what I just read. Think about who the story was about and what happened.” Do this 3 or 4 times throughout the story.

2. When reading to your child, stop and have them practice checking for understanding by saying, “I heard you say…”

3. Ask your child the following questions:
• Who did you just read about?
• What just happened?
• Was your brain talking to you while you read?
• Do you understand what was read?
• What do you do if you don’t remember?

Thank you for your continued support at home!

Punctuation Campground

Today we worked a bit more on punctuation. The best part was that we got to use the Smartboard. I found a website game that gave sentences. We needed to add the punctuation. The students LOVED it. Here is the site: punctuation campground

Smartboard

We have our Smartboard!! The students were SO excited to see it working this morning. I am going to do my best to use it as much as possible when I teach. We used it some today but I am still learning about it. I told my students I will do my best to use it when I can but they must bear with me!! Each student had the chance to choose their pen type today and write on the board. They loved it!! They did learn though that it's really different than writing on a regular whiteboard or chalkboard. I guess we'll all have to learn how to use it. More to come later on the Smartrboard...

Halloween Events!!!

Next week is Halloween...hurray!!! The students are starting to get really excited! Next Wednesday we will be going to the rest homes to read and sing songs to the residents. First and second grade teachers have decided to allow students to wear their costumes to the rest homes. If your child wishes to participate, have him/her bring the costume to school in a bag. Do NOT wear it to school. We will put them on right before we leave. Please do not send make-up, masks, or any type of weapon. Thanks!

We will have our classroom Halloween party next Friday in the afternoon. We will be carving pumpkins and having a special snack. Thank you to my 3 parent volunteers!! I really appreciate your help!

Writing

We have been able to have a great writing block three times a week! The kids really love this time of the day. For the last couple of weeks we have been discussing the writing process: prewriting, drafting, sharing, editing, and publishing. They learned that while sharing, good partners will give the writer positive comments and ask them good questions so the writer can improve their writing. The students record 2 questions on post-its so the writer will remember to add those detailws during the editing stage.

We have also been focusing a LOT of time on capitals and end marks. I can honestly say I think all my students know all about the 3 sentence stoppers. They know how to use them, when to use them, and how to change their voices when they see them. Hopefully they are reading this way at home also!!! We've also been discussing capitals and the difference between common and proper nouns. Give them a quiz at home and see how they do:)

Now that the students understand all of the writing process steps, we will FINALLY continue to focus on the "ideas" and "conventions" traits of writing. I want the students to practice writing about all types of ideas and to understand that they don't have to include every single details into their writing. A good writer will write a lot about a little!

Super Friday!

Today was a good day! Today was awesome because math was fun! We learned something new in math. We learned about function machines or in and out boxes. We learned a new song in music! It is called "Winter in America". We learned that Friday is a proper noun. We always have to capitalize proper nouns! The day was awesome! Recess was really fun because we got to play and have fresh air. Today we didn't talk a lot. Today we got a marble!

Parents, 2A students ask, "What would you do if you were in 2nd grade?"
Posted by 2A students

Ice Cream Sundaes

Wow!! It's amazing what an ice cream incentive can do to a 2nd grader!! I am very impressed with how well 2A students are learning their addition facts. I have found time to test students about 3-4 times a week. Almost everyone has passed the "easier" facts: 0's, 1's, and 10's. They are quickly learning that the other ones are a bit harder. Please make sure that your child is practicing each "family" at least 2-3 nights at home before coming to school to get tested on them. If students use their fingers or are stuck on a fact I will tell them to go home and practice some more before testing.

Thanks for practicing with your child and keep encourage them!!

Fall Fitness Day

Despite the cold temperatures, students had a blast at the Fall Fitness Day. We started walking on Friday around 8:45 at the softball field. We walked around that once and moved onto the baseball field. I continue to walk while all my students RAN around the field two times! Next was the practice field and then only the track. The track was definitely the favorite. All the classes were together there and they were able to walk/run together. Following our Fall Fitness activities we moved into the grandstands for the pep assembly. Students got pumped up for the big game and liked watching and cheering along with the cheerleaders.

This Wednesday

I just wanted to send out a quick reminder that there are 2 things due this Wednesday. The first is the fundraiser packet. If your child has been selling, EVERYTHING is due back this Wednesday. Please make sure that all the money and order form(s) are in the envelope. You and your child need to decide on prizes as well. You can seal the envelope and send it to school with your child. All of the sales will be delivered on Monday, November 16th. Please mark that on your calendar so you can pick everything up!!

Also, the fire station coloring contest is due this Wednesday as well. If your child wants to participate, (s)he needs to choose a page to color and return it to school by this Wednesday. The page does not need to be from the packet that went home on Friday. I have not heard anything about the pancake supper. Once I find out details I will pass those along as well.

Thanks and have a super week!!

Fire Station Visit

Well...it was another successful fire station visit!!! Students got a tour of the station and they learned about all the different fire trucks. They sure had a lot of super questions to ask the fireman about the trucks. Next we went into the station "classroom" and reviewed fire safety rules. Please also discuss these at your house. Just a reminder that each home should have a fire escape plan and meeting place in case there is ever a fire there. Our last rotation was by far the FAVORITE for the students. As in years past, each student got to spray me with the fire hose. It's so funny to me that students think it is hilarious to spray me with the fire house. They are so sure they are getting me wet...good think I get to wear the fireman gear:)

Calling All Pumpkin Carvers!

I am searching for volunteers who would like to help at our Halloween party. I need pumpkin carvers:) The party is on Friday, October 30th from 1:00-2:00. If you are able to help, please send a note with your child and I will get back to you. I already have 1 volunteer and I need 3 more.

Also, in the past I have bought 4 pumpkins for students to carve during our party. However, if you would like to donate a pumpkin to the classroom that would be wonderful!!! Once again, please contact me.

Thanks in advance for your support and help!!

Homecoming Week Madness!!

Wow...what a crazy week we are having!! As you know this week is homecoming week so we've been having dress up days each day. Monday was jersey day/favorite team day and I must say we had a LOT of Minnesota Vikings fans in our room, including myself. Your child might have told you, but last night Nick and I were at the game. What an experience...Packer/Viking fans are CRAZY!! It was a ton of fun and I'm glad I had the chance to go to the game. Today was pink day and we had a lot of cancer supporters in our classroom...thanks!

Wednesday is going to be a chaotic day! First it is hat day so if your child wants he/she may wear a hat in school. In the morning we have an assembly in our gym about "Strength Training". I'm excited and curious to see what we will learn and to see how it ties into our Character Counts curriculum. After lunch we go to the fire station. This week is Fire Prevention Week and 2nd graders get the opportunity to walk to the fire station and take a tour. Please make sure you child is dressed appropriately.

Thursday is athletic clothes day (sweatshirts, running pants, etc...). The reason for athletic clothes is because Thursday is also our 1st Fall Fitness Day. The goal is to encourage kids to be more active. We are going to be paired up with another classroom and also a HS teacher and we will be walking/exercising at different stations. We will be walking from 2:20 until about 3:00. The theme for this is "Keep a positive attitude! Keep your bodies moving! Have fun!" I am very excited for this and think it's a very good idea to encourage a healthy lifestyle for children. Please be sure your child wears tennis shoes on Thursday.

Friday is the BIG day!! We have a 3 hour early out so students and families can attend the parade that starts at 2:30. In the morning we will have a pep assembly at the HS stadium. The jr. high cheerleaders will lead up in cheers and activities to get us pumped up for the big game.

Go Cadets!!

Daily 5

Now that we have 31 days of school under our belts I can honestly say that we have really gotten into a routine. For me, the best part of the day is the morning!! I just love our morning meetings and Daily 5 and after some feedback from my students I think they feel the same way. We made a wordle today all about the Daily 5. Evidently they think it's pretty COOL and AWESOME!! We can consistently Read to Self and Read to Someone for 20 minutes. They love to do their Word Work and have been doing really well on their Buddy Tests each Friday. I think it's because they want a treat if they get them all correct:) I have also added Listen to Reading. Students are able to choose 3 books and listen to them. Next week I will add the final component: Work on Writing. I'm hoping this will go just as smoothly as the others.

Between each Daily 5 session I've starting doing Daily CAFE lessons. Ask your child what CAFE stands for (hopefully you will find out)!! It stands for Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expanded Vocabulary. These short lessons introduce or review strategies that will help your child become an even better reader. As the year progresses, I hope to have each student set reading goals for themselves. They will need to decide which of the CAFE components they need to work on. I will meet with them individually and help them with this goal.

Since we've gotten into a good morning routine, I've finally begun pulling Guided Reading groups. Just as before, students are grouped by their reading levels. We read a guided reading book together and discuss various skills that are found in the book.

I have already seen excellent things happening during our mornings. I can honestly say, 2A students LOVE reading during this time and they are excited. It's unbelievable!!! Please continue to encourage your child to read and thank you for reading with them at home:)

BRRRRR!

I must say I HATE cold weather!! Unfortunately, I think the cooler temps might be here to stay. Please make sure your child is coming to school in appropriate clothes. It is quite chilly before school and during the 10:00 recess. A jacket or heaver sweatshirt will be appreciated!

Fundraiser

Hopefully you saw the fundraiser packet that came home today with your child. Our fundraiser will go for 2 weeks and your child can start selling today. If you do not want your child to participate in the fundraiser that is OK!! We use the money that in our building to send our kids on field trips, snacks for field trips, etc. There is a prize incentive this year just as before so your child may have been pretty excited about that!! If we increase our sales from last year we will earn our mega party again. Happy selling!!

Cool Friday

We got new books from music today. We got to school and it was raining and it rained almost all day. We were sad because it was raining. We played math games today. We were happy! We had to stay inside for all the recesses except for one:( We got to Read to Someone and Read to Self. We read for 31 minutes during Read to Self!! We got to do Buddy Test. We learned new things. It was a a cool day today but we were sad to play inside.

Written by 2A students

Math Incentive

Today a note is coming ho me regarding a math facts incentive program that the 2nd grade teachers are doing. This is to encourage 2nd graders to practice their math facts at home nightly. As a reward they will earn an ice cream sundae party. This will not take much time out of your busy schedules. Please just spend a few minutes nightly practicing with your child.

Marbles

The marbles are almost gone. Oh I wonder who will win a prize.....

Writing Process

The past few writing blocks your 2A child has been learning abut the writing process. I must say I'm very impressed!! As you know, your child brought in a special object from home. They each shared their special object with the class a couple of weeks ago. Next came the hard part...actually writing about it! We started by learning about the prewriting process. For this stage, each writer begins with a graphic organizer. This helps them organize their thoughts so they're not writing random sentences:) AND yes, your child was able to remember the words prewriting and graphic organizer and then explain them to the class. I must say I was very excited and was dancing and clapping!!

Yesterday they learned the next step in the process: drafting. They needed to take their thoughts from their graphic organizer and write them into sentences on a sheet of paper. I modeled this for them and they helped me write my draft for my story. They were very relieved when I said I wanted them try their best with spelling and that at this stage I wouldn't be picky!!!

Ohhhhh....I'm so proud of my little writers:)

Here is a slide show of some students writing their draft. I was not able to get everyone...sorry. I will take more pictures next time we write and try and add them.

Super Friday!

The day was not chatty! The day was cool. The day was awesome! Today we went out for recess and we didn't talk in line. We did our test on the computer. We did word work with our buddies. We had to buddy test and if we got them all right we got a tootsie roll! It was a good day because lunch was good. We liked the sherbet. We went to music and we listened to songs. We sang songs too. It's closing now and we get to go home.
Written by 2A students

Plantpeddler

We took our first field trip today...hurray!! The students did a fabulous job listening at both Plantpeddler locations! We learned that they sell more than 1 million plants a year from their stores. The students thought that was a lot of plants! We learned they water the plants using a machine called a boom. It can move over the plants and people can even ride on it! We saw a lot of plants and even saw cucumbers growing up a string and tomato plants. Ask your child what else they learned...

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Happy Tuesday!! We started off the day really well. Students have built their stamina for Read to Self to 20 minutes. They also did Read to Someone for 20 minutes this morning. As mentioned, we also added Word Work to our Daily 5 routine. Your child's Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check sheet should be coming home tonight. These are your child's word study words for the week. They will buddy test over these words on Friday.

On a less happy note, I am quite disappointed with 2A's behavior. It is very difficult for me to teach and to do fun things when I have students choosing not to listen and instead are chatting with their neighbors. I have discussed this multiple times with them but things aren't changing. I have also gotten several complaints from the other specials teachers. I realize it's hard to get back into school mode, but after 17 days we really need to get back into the "swing of things". So...parents I was hoping you could help me out. Please discuss with your child about what is expected of them in school. Thanks for your help!

I have seen great things already this school year so let's remember to practice good character!!

Clorox Wipes

I think cold and flu season is here again!!! We seem to have a lot of stuffy noses in here and I have already had several students complaining of colds. I have also had a cold for the past 2 weeks and can't seem to get rid of it!!

So...if you are out and about shopping and would like to purchase a container of Clorox Wipes for our classroom that would be super!!! I would like to get in the habit of sanitizing our desks every couple of days to get rid of germs. Thanks in advance if you are able to help!!

Stamina Update

Read to Self: 14 minutes
Read to Someone: 23 minutes

This week we will begin the 3rd part of Daily 5: Word Work. I will do a posting about this soon.

Keep up the good work 2A students!!!

Video Clips

This past week 2A students watched two short video clips. The first clip they watched was the speech President Obama gave to all students across the US. Due to computer problems we weren't able to watch it live on Tuesday so we watched it Wednesday. I have to say, most students were very good listeners for the entire speech! Afterward, the students and I created a list of all the important things we remembered. They thought of 2 chart pages!! The highlights were to stay in school, be respectful and responsible towards everyone, do homework, and to set goals. After our discussion I had all 2A students set a goal for themselves for the month of September. I hung them on our door as their daily reminder to work hard!

We watched our second video clip on September 11th. At the beginning of the day I had only 1 student who knew why that day was important. So...we had a chat about what had happened 8 years ago and how it affected everyone living in the United States. After watching the clip I read the book September 12th: We Knew Everything Would be Alright. It's a book written by a 1st grade class. They wrote and illustrated how they knew everything would be alright even though the United States was dealing with disaster. Well...after the book and video clip my students had A LOT of questions and comments. We had a super discussion about the day's importance and how it will be a day we will always remember.

Here is the link to the video if you are interested: September 11th video clip

Great Day!!

2A students had a great day today!! We started off the day with our morning meeting and our greeting and group activity each required some actions. What a great way to burn off a little extra energy in the morning:) We have been working really hard on the Read to Someone part of the Daily 5. Today students were FINALLY able to choose their own partners...hurray! The best part is that we built our stamina up to 23 minutes. UNBELIEVABLE!!! Keep up the good work 2A! Since we've been working so hard on Read to Someone it's been difficult to find time to see actually how long they are able to Read to Self. Last week they build their stamina up to 13 1/2 minutes. We've made it there again this week so now we're hoping to go even longer. One of my main struggles is that there is NEVER enough time. We will continue to work on Read to Self and Read to Someone. Next week we will add another part of the Daily 5: Work Work.

Just a friendly reminder...I realize that everyone is very busy but I would like all of my students to be reading at least 15 minutes each night. This is a great habit to get into at a young age. If your child really doesn't feel like reading an adult can read to them. There are many benefits to this as well!! Thanks for your help and your support!

Finally Friday!

Wow! We made it through 2 whole weeks of school!! I feel like we are finally settling into a routine and the students and I are getting out of summer mode. It sure is hard to get back into the swing of things again! Here is an update of some things that have been going on in 2A:

Literacy -- Students have learned about 2 parts of the Daily 5: Read to Self and Read to Someone. During Read to Self students have built their stamina up to 13 1/2 minutes. Way to go:) It is amazing how quiet it is in room during this time. And, what makes me the happiest is when I tell them it's time to practice building stamina, everyone says "yes!!!" Oh happy days! I have also introduced 3 ways to Read to Someone. Hopefully your child has told you about them. They are Check for Understanding; I Read, You Read; and Choral Reading. They are doing a super job with this as well. If I remember correctly they read for 9 1/2 minutes yesterday. Next week they will be able to choose which of those 2 they want to do. I will be doing DIBELS with students during this time.

Writing -- I introduced the writing trait Ideas. Hopefully they came home and sang a song with you the other night. I don't' think they expected to sing during writing time! We will continue to work on this trait for several weeks and I will also be teaching them the Writing Process.

Math -- Students have been reviewing lots of skills in our first math chapter: time, money, addition facts, etc. They are also getting into a routine for math. It's honestly been a bit difficult since we start math right after our lunch recess. It takes a while for them to unwind. We're working on it!!

Science -- All I can say is experiments. We have dug in fruit for seeds, planted fruit seeds, planted grass seeds, and put students celery in red water to learn about the function of the stem. We will continue with experiments, which the students LOVE. I will continue to clean up the messes, which I DON'T love!!

We ended the week with a little fun and games. At the end of the day on Friday we went outside and played Duck, Duck, Goose for a few rounds, They sure chose me to be the Goose a lot!!!

Keep up the good work 2A!!

Mornng Meeting

This year I am starting our day off with a Morning Meeting. So far, the students and I are loving it!! Morning meeting is great way for us to build a community in our classroom and to set a positive tone for the day. There are 4 parts to the Morning Meeting: greeting, group activity, sharing, and morning message. Altogether the meeting will last about twenty to thirty minutes.

These past few weeks we have been working on the greeting and group activity. Greeting allows each child to hear his/her name and to be formally welcomed into the classroom. We’ve done a lot of fun greetings so far! Group activity allows the students to interact with each other and to even laugh a little. They REALLY like this part of the meeting.

But now…it’s time to start sharing!! Let me tell you, the students are very excited about this! I have assigned each student a sharing day. On their assigned day, your child will need to bring something in or tell us something. When the sharer is finished the audience will have a chance to ask good questions or to comment on what they heard. I would like everyone to participate on their sharing day. Some students have already asked to bring in a pet. If your child would like to do this, and it’s OK with you, please send a note to school so we can set up a time that will work.

Marbles

Well..I think the honeymoon is over!! The past few days my kids have been VERY chatty. I have given them several reminders that they need to be respectful in the classroom and in the hallway and we have practiced over and over but it really wasn't working. So I got out my marbles.

Marbles?? Yes marbles. I have a basket of marbles, a jar for 2A, and I jar for Mrs. Brynsaas. If I catch students listening, walking in the hallway, helping others, following directions, etc. they get a marble. However, if I catch them doing something that is not appropriate I get a marble. The race is on...who can get the most marbles.

Once all the marbles have been given out we will count them up to see who has more. If they do, they get a prize. If I have more marbles, I get a prize. Good luck 2A!! Let's work on the chatting so you can earn a prize.

Clay.....and.....Writing

Today students had a rare opportunity to work with clay in our classroom. They each had 3 different colors to work with. I gave them very vague instructions; they had to create something using the clay. They sure had a lot of comments and questions!! I gave them about 10 minutes to create their piece. After that they had to add something, take something away, and make a change to their piece. Next they had give their creation a title. Finally we discussed compliments and how to give a GOOD and meaningful compliment. Students had the opportunity to go around the room and compliment each other's creations.

Some of you might be asking why we did this. Well...I tied it to writing in 2nd grade. I explained that they will be writing A LOT this year. We discussed that good authors are not happy with their first copy. They need to change, add, and take away things from their writing pieces. So, hopefully as my second graders are grumbling at me and saying they don't want to make changes to their writing pieces they will think about their clay project. Hopefully they will remember that all good authors make changes before they publish their final writing piece.

Happy writing 2nd graders!!

Seeds

We started out first unit in science yesterday: plants. Yesterday we discussed the 3 main differences between plants and animals. Today we learned all about seeds. We cut into 8 foods and examined their seeds: cucumber, tomato, squash, lemon, orange, grapefruit, melon, and green pepper. The students pretended they were detectives and they investigated the various seeds. They learned that tomatoes have VERY small seeds. Melons have a LOT of seeds. Oranges, lemons, and grapefruits don't have a lot of seeds. Finally, they learned that if a food has seeds in it, it is a fruit and not a vegetable!! We saved all the seeds for a later project. More to come on seeds and other plant parts...

Friends

Earlier this week I gave each student a puzzle piece. They needed to decorate it with pictures of things they did over their summer break. I collected all the puzzle pieces and on Tuesday they had a chance to put the puzzle together. I told them they would have to use teamwork to put it together and that I would not help them. I set them loose and they did a super job!! They started fitting pieces together almost right away. Everyone was talking and working together which made me really happy. Needless to say, they put all the pieces together within about 5 minutes and discovered they had 7 letters. They unscrambled those letters and knew they needed to spell FRIENDS. One students found the word in our classroom and they quickly organized the letters in the correct order.

They used super teamwork and put the puzzle together very quickly -- I think they set a record. Great job 2A!!!!!

Daily 5

This summer I took a Daily 5 class along with several other teachers in our building. So...we have decided to restructure our literacy program around the routine of the daily 5. So far your child has been learning about and practicing Read to Self. Hopefully your child has told you about it:) We made an I-chart (I for independence) and listed what the students need to do for read to self and what the teacher needs to do also. I had students show us the right way and wrong way to Read to Self. They thought it was really funny to see kids reading the wrong way!

We have been practicing for five days and have built our stamina up to 5 minutes, hurray!! That means that everyone is able to read quietly and in one place for 5 minutes without any disruptions. What an accomplishment! We plan to continue to work on our stamina and our goal is to make it eventually to 30 minutes. Keep up the great work 2A!

Wordle

I'm sure some of you are thinking, 'What is a wordle??' A wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text.

So...today I had the kids tell me words that described their last 2 days in school. It took them a while to get going, but once they got going they thought of a lot of words!! As you can see from our wordle, the word "cool" is the biggest. That's because they used that word many times -- evidently they think second grade is pretty cool:) I sent home a black and white copy today and told them I would post the color copy on our blog. You can see it here: first day wordle

I hope you enjoy...your kids really did!!!

Class Parties

Our class will be having a class party for Valentine’s Day, Halloween, and Christmas. We are asking that you please donate $4.00 to go towards the class party fund. From this fund, refreshments and any necessary supplies will be purchased. Please send $4.00 in an envelope to school with your child. Thanks!

Birthdays

Today we had our first birthday so I thought I should let you all know what we do for birthdays in 2A. If a child's birthday is during the school year we will celebrate it on the actual day. If you would like to send treats your are welcome to do that. Please make sure they are store bought -- sorry, no homemade food allowed:( If your child's birthday is in the summer we will celebrate their half birthday. Once again, you may send treats if you wish.

Students may bring invitations to school and pass them out for parties. However, if a boy is having a party and brings the invitations to school, he must invite all the boys. THis is the same for girls -- girls need to invite all the girls. Otherwise there will be hurt feelings. If you want to have a smaller party, please mail the invitations from your home. Thanks!

Successful Open House

Thank you, thank you to all the parents and students who came to Back to School night!!! I think this was the first year where EVERYONE attended! It was great to meet all of my new 2nd graders and their families. I am going to have a wonderful group of students this year:) Please feel free to contact me any time throughout the school year if you have any questions or concerns. I can't wait to see everyone again tomorrow morning!

Calling All Walkmans!

Please don't think that I am going back in time, but I need walkmans for my classroom. Yes, the portable music players that play CASSETTE tapes!! I learned in my Daily 5 class this summer that they make excellent portable listening centers. Unfortunately, they don't sell these anymore. I asked at Wal-Mart and they looked at me like I was crazy! So, if you have any old ones laying around that you're not using I could sure use them in our classroom. Thanks!

Goodbye Summer

As I sit here watching the Today Show (which is my daily routine early in the morning) I am saddened. No, I'm not sad because of all the horrible news but because summer is ALMOST over!! Where did it go? I was quite busy this summer visiting family and friends almost every weekend. My girls kept be busy every day...they are quite active and like to keep me busy! I took a Daily 5 literacy class to keep me up to date with my teaching. We also took a family trip to Florida which was awesome!!

But now that August has arrived, I am once again reminded that school is about to start. To be honest I am sad, but on the other had I am quite excited. I have put away my fiction books for school books. I have started setting aside time to go to school and put together my classroom again. I have also started this blog which I hope will keep you as parents even more informed about what is happening in your child's classroom.
There is one final week left of vacation I will spend that week with my girls but will also put in a lot of time in my classroom getting it prepared. I am excited and motivated to start a new school year. I can't wait to meet my new group of students for this year!

Welcome!!

Welcome parents and students to our 2A classroom blog. I hope everyone had a wonderful summer break. It sure went quickly, didn't it!!! It is my goal this year to use this as our main form of communication. Please check back frequently for updated posts and important information. I look forward to meeting you all and working with your children this year.