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!!