Help Wanted

We have our Mega Party on Tuesday, December 13th from 12:30-1:50. We have the party with the other 2nd grade sections and all of the 1st 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!!!

Word Work and Math

You may have noticed that your child is beginning to add big numbers together!!  Next week I will introduce the addition algorithm to them.  This is going to be different than the way you learned it...fyi!!!  Right now, we are busy practicing different strategies to get the answer mentally.  We do a lot of counting by tens and I'm trying to get them to not use the number grid all the time.  They also learned in a 2-digit number to add the tens together first and then the ones; then they need to add those two numbers together.  Please practice math facts with your child at home.  If they have fact power over the easy facts it will make 2 and 3 digit adding much easier!!

I have made some changes to word work beginning next week.  I have decided that all students will have the same word list - students will not be self-selecting their words any more.  The reason for this is I want to see more application of the rules we study.  For example, next week we have words following the /e/ sound: e, ea, ee, e_e, and ie.  I want students to remember and apply the rule for long e sound.  Our new literacy program (Lead 21) does a lot of phonics practice and students have been practicing the sounds for long e a lot lately.  Since everyone will have the same words I will do a class test on Fridays; students will not buddy test any more.

A list of 10 words is coming home today.  These are your child's word study words that they will practice next week.  We will test them next Friday.  Please keep these words in a safe spot and practice them with your child.  These are the words...just in case the list doesn't 't make it home!!

1.  maybe
2.  green
3.  deep
4. clean
5. team
6. theme
7. niece
8. relief
9. believe
10. cheese

If you have any questions please let me know.  I hope everyone has a super weekend!!

BookFLIX

Friday I showed the kids how to get onto BookFLIX.  They LOVED it!!  This is a great way for kids to listen to or read books online at home.  There are hundreds to choose from.  Each week at school, the kids have a day they are able to go online and get on bookFLIX or on the LEAD 21 site.  Here is the information so your kids can listen at home as well.  I know some have already done this; I sent home information about it conferences night.

Go to the address www.aea1.k12.ia.us
Clink on online resources - then click on BookFLIX

User name: kaea137
Password: kaea01

Brrrrr...it's cold!!!

Well....I guess old man winter decided to pay us an early visit this year!!  I can't believe we have had snow already this year AND a late start!!  Please make sure that you watch the news, listen to the radio, or get a text message when we have winter weather.  That way you're not bringing your child to school earlier than needed.

This week in literacy we have been discussing several comprehension strategies: make inferences, recall and retell, and author's purpose.  

• We learned that author's don't write everything in the story so we need to use what we already to know to figure out what the author means - this is making inferences.  It's a really difficult comprehension strategy to understand so I am pleased that my kiddos are beginning to understand this.  
• Another GREAT strategy is recall and retell - I'm working with my kids to make sure they understand and remember what they read.  When readers recall and retell they need to think about what the page was about and then tell someone about it.  This is a great strategy to practice at home.  
• Finally, we continue to discuss why author's are writing their stories: to inform, to persuade, or to entertain. 

In math we are practicing our addition and subtraction strategies and our money skills!!  We went to a "farmer's market" in our math journals and bought fruit and vegetables.  Second graders are expected to recognize and count coins so please help your child with this if you see them struggling.  Next week I am going introduce making change...yikes!!!

This week, students wrote a personal narrative about a time they overcame a problem.  They did a super job with this!  Yesterday we did an activity to practice stretching sentences.  As an class we started with a basic sentence: We had fun.  Students needed to add details to it and turn it into a complex sentence.  Then, they were able to practice this with partners and share them with the class.  I expect my second graders to write good, complex sentences.

I hope everyone has a super weekend.  It sounds like we are supposed to have decent weather so hopefully you are able to enjoy the outdoors.  Please continue to read with your child each night!!

Halloween Party

Last week we had a successful Halloween party.  Thanks to the volunteers that donated pumpkins and helped carve!!!  The kids had a super time and did a great job working together to carve the pumpkins.  Here are a few pictures from the party.

This week at a glance...

WOW!!  Can you believe it's already Halloween?  I've been LOVING the warm falls days since I really do not like winter!!!  I enjoyed meeting with everyone last week for conferences.   Thank you for coming in and for continuing to work with your child. 

Today is our Halloween party.  We are carving pumpkins at the end of the day.  Thanks to the parent volunteers for helping and also to those that donated pumpkins.  I really appreciate your help!!!!!

Tomorrow we are heading to UNI to see the play The Frog Prince.  We are leaving promptly at 9:30 so please make sure your child is here on time.  The school is providing a snack and lunch so do not send any food to school with your child.  We are taking Hawkeye Stages busses and we will provide movies.   Please do not send movies or any other electronics to school.  We will eat our lunch at the UNI dome and then head to Gallagher-Bluedorn for the play.  We will return to school right before  dismissal.

In literacy news, we continue to truck along with our new reading series.  These last few weeks the students have learned 2 comprehension strategies: determine important information and determine author's purpose.  These were also introduced to contractions and dictionaries.   We are not doing word study this week due to the short week last week and the field trip this week.  Just a reminder that Book-it is due tomorrow so if your child has read 400 minutes please sign and return the pizza paper with your child.  A new recording sheet will come home tomorrow.

We finished up our 2nd math test last week and this week we began a quick review of place value and money.  We are shopping for fruits and veggies today in math.  It is important that your child can identify and count coins - please practice this at home if needed.  I also hope that all students will achieve fact power this year and won't need to rely completely on fingers or number grids.  Please practice basic facts with your child as well.

We are going to wrap up our butterfly unit in the next week or so.  All of our butterfly friends went from larva to pupae to adults.  This was really exciting for 2A students!!!

I hope everyone has a super week.  Happy Halloween!!!!

Dancing Fever

We have been working soooo hard to earn tickets in 2A!!  In August and September students were earning blue tickets.  All the second graders had to work as a team to earn our reward: a reward recess and dance.  We were having a friendly competition in the school and 2nd grade came in 3rd!!!  During that time we earned 1, 800 tickets.  That's amazing!!!!!!  A lot of kids danced the whole time and I must say we have some excellent dancers in 2A :)  Way to bust a move 2nd graders!

Now, students have to work individually for golden tickets.  I don't give these out quite as often and I give them out for students making excellent Cadet Pride choices.  Each Friday the PBIS team will collect the tickets and draw one winner from the class.  This week Ashley was the winner...congrats!!  I have an extra incentive just for our classroom as well.  Each week I count up the tickets and the top 3 ticket earners are getting a reward from me as well.

I hope 2A students continue to make good Cadet Pride choices!

Helllllooooo Pumpkin Cavers!!

I am searching for volunteers to help out at our Halloween party...I need pumpkin carvers:) The party is on Monday, October 31st from 2:20-3:15. If you are able to help, please send a note with your child and I will get back to you.

Also, in the past I have bought 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!!

Attention Readers!!!

This post is for families that do not have kids currently bringing home books nightly.

Beginning tonight, your child will bring home a book each night.  They will choose this book from our classroom library.  Please have your child read it and then I would like you to fill out the blue reading log sheet.  Please write the title of the book and decide on the level of the book: too hard, just right, too easy.  Keep this sheet in the plastic bag.

I understand that everyone is busy but please try and have your child read nightly.  This reading time may go towards Book-it.  Once your child has filled up the whole reading log sheet he/she will be able to choose a prize from my classroom prize box.

Thanks for your help and support with this!! 

This week...

We did daily 5.  Jacy
We ran the track.  Emily
We had fun at math.  Brady
We did Lead 21.  Noah
We learned how to stop a sentence with sentence stoppers.  Alyssa
We learned how to weigh things.  Paul
We learned the body parts of an insect.  Landen
We did a buddy test.  Amy
We used sentence stoppers in a sentence.  Hunter
We had a lot of fun in Daily 5.  Travis
We practiced Cadet Pride.  Jasmin
We learned not to burp with our mouth open.  Cole :)
We did lots of learning.  Nathan

Book-It!!!!!

The beginning of October does NOT mean that Halloween is almost here. It doesn't mean we're in the middle of fall. It doesn't mean winter is getting closer..yikes! WHAT????

October means Book-It is starting!!!!!! This is a reading incentive program sponsored by Pizza Hut. Who doesn't like pizza right? A calendar was sent home with your child on October 1st.  Please make sure you keep this calendar in a safe place.   I note went home with the calendar as well.  The second grade teachers decided to ask students to read 400 minutes each month during book-it.  It is recommended that 2nd graders read 20 minutes each night so this goal is achievable for your child.  When your child reads record that amount of time on the pizza crust and then they can color in the pizza slice. 

I do not require your child to participate in this program; however, what better reason to read than to earn pizza??? This is a totally optional activity that runs from October to March. The past few years I have had only a few kids choose to participate in this which makes me really sad. I'm hoping for really good results from this year's class :)

So...now here is the extra special incentive for participating in this program!!!! Those students who  participate all six months will celebrate by having a pizza party with me!!!!! I will be supplying the pizza in April for all the students who reach their reading goal for ALL six months. Those that do not participate, will eat lunch in the cafeteria as usual with a different teacher.

I hope you encourage your child to participate and HAPPY READING!!!

Scavenger Hunt

Yesterday in science your child got to go on a scavenger hunt.  What were they searching for???  Anything that moves...but not people.  I put the kiddos with partners and each group had a clipboard.  We set off outside and most went immediately to the butterfly garden.  They found a lot of bugs and other creatures: flies, bees, slugs, grasshoppers, worms!!!!  When they found something they had to draw it and then label it.  Boy...did they have fun!  The next time we have science we will take a look at their findings and decide it their creature is an insect.  Fun times!!

Work Work

We launched the 4th part of Daily 5 this week...yippee!!!  That means that almost have our daily routines established and are really get down to business!

We have a new literacy program this year and all 2nd grade teachers are following their sequence of word work sounds. Last week I established the word work routine using basic CVC words.  Each day of week the kids have a different job to do during Daily 5 with their words.  This is the schedule; ask your child what each day means:

Monday: Mix and fix
Tuesday: Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check
Wednesday: 6 sentences
Thursday: Manipulatives
Friday: Buddy Test
 
This week the sound is short vowels.  If you are wanting to practice with your child at home the words will come home each Tuesday on the Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check sheet.  If your child gets all 10 words correct on Friday for the test I give them a little treat :)

Here are a few pictures of your kids practicing their words this week.

2A's thoughts about the week

Jason: 2A is really fun
Travis: My cousin came
Amy: We did a test
Jasmin: Read to Self is fun
Emily: 2A rocks
Alyssa: Cadet pride
Abby: Read to Someone is really fun
Hunter: I played on the playground
Paul: I brought my army equipment
Brady: Mrs. Brynsaas rocks
Landen: We did Read to Someone
Jacy: We did math
Noah: Daily 5 is fun
Zach: We played wizards at recess
Nathan: We had fun
Fletcher: We made a sand castle at recess
Gabe: We read from our book tubs
Cole: Read to Self is really really fun
Casandra: We did math
Jenna: I love recess

Homecoming Week

Next week is homecoming...YIPPEE!!!!!

To show our Crestwood Pride we are having dress up days next week:

Monday: Favorite Team/Jersey Day
Tuesday: Pajama Party Day
Wednesday: Exercise/Workout day (wear sweats/track pants)
Thursday: Super Hero Day
Friday: Cadet/Blue and White Day

These days are optional so students do not have to participate. We will have a 2 hour early dismissal on Friday, September 30 for the homecoming parade.

Go Crestwood Cadets!!!

Daily 5

Your child has been working REALLY hard to build up our stamina for Read to Self, Work on Writing, and Read to Someone.  This takes a lot of time and practice because students need to read/write the whole time...no breaks allowed!!  We have created I (independent) charts for each component and practiced the right/wrong way to do each.  We started our stamina building at 3 minutes and have built our Work on Writing and Read to Self staminas up to about 20 minutes.  We continue to increase the Read to Someone stamina as well.  I am soooo proud of my 2A kiddos...keep up the good work!!

Here are some pictures of your kids building their stamina.

TOYS

Ahhhhh...2nd graders this year are bringing A LOT of toys to school!!!!  Unfortunately, when toys are brought to school problems always arise: toys get broken, traded, or lost.  So, the second grade team decided to ask students not to bring toys to school this year.  Here are a few examples of toys that are being brought: trading cards, dolls, barbies, trucks/cars, blay blades, etc.  When your child is out at recess we encourage them to run around or play on the equipment.  Please make sure your child is NOT bringing toys to school. 

Our Week in Review

Wow!  It has been a long time since I have done a blog post...sorry about that!!  We have been so busy in 2A lately.  Here is a run down or our lately activities.

My second graders continue to work VERY hard in here. I continue to introduce new things to them and add to know they're already doing.  The beginning of the year is really about establishing routines.  Some routines are review from last year but it's a matter of retraining them and reminding them!!

This week we continued to work really hard on our Work on Writing and Read to Self stamina. We are up to 20 minutes for Read to Self and 16 minutes for Work on Writing...AMAZING!!!!  This week I continued to introduce more ways to Read to Someone.  Kids LOVE reading with their friends!!  So far they know 3 ways to Read to Someone: Check for Understanding, I Read, You Read, and Choral Reading.  When you are reading with your child at night chat with them about the ways to Read to Someone. Maybe they can even teach you how to do it :)  So far I have been choosing their partners for them; next week they will learn how to do this.

On Monday we took a little break from Daily 5 and we discussed September 11th. I showed them a short video clip explaining what happened and then read a book written by students. It was called September 12: We Knew Everyone Would Be All Right. My kiddos has super questions about this day and were very eager to learn about it. I was amazed how much they already knew about this day. 

In social studies, we have been learning all about communities.  We are coming to the end of this unit so next week I will be testing students.  Next we will begin a science unit.  More to come about science later...

The first math unit was mostly a review from last year: addition facts, number grids, clocks, and counting money.  These were skills that your child should have learned.  If they seem to be strugging with money or telling time please practice at home.  I started assessing these skills on Thursday and will continue a couple of days next week.  Along with the written test I need to listen to each student count.  Thank you to your kids for returning their homelinks this week!! Your child will have one most nights; your child should be able to do them independently but please help out if needed. Try and get it done and return it the next day. I will understand if there wasn't any time and it needs to be done the following night. Have your child return it when it's done. I do keep track of these.

As you can tell we've been really busy in here lately.  I continue to be impressed with 2A's Cadet Pride!!! Thanks for our support and for working with your child at home.  Please continue have your child read each night.  Have a super weekend!

Penny Cup

The kids learned a new game in math today: Penny Cup.  This is a game that you could play at home with your child!  All you need is 20 pennies and a cup. 

To play:
*Player 1 hides some pennies under the cup while player 2 is NOT looking

*After the pennies are hid, player 2 needs to count the pennies outside the cup and then figure out how many are under the cup.

*Switch roles

*Have fun!!!

Writing with clay...

Today students had the 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. I must say this was my most creative group!!!  We had amazing creations in here!! :)  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.  Everyone did a super job with this!

Some of you might be asking why we did this. Well...I tied it to writing in 2nd grade. Yesterday we read a book explaining the steps that authors have to go through when they create a book. We will go through similar steps here in 2A. 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.

Here are some pictures of the students creating their pieces and of the final product.

Happy writing 2nd graders!!

Morning Meeting

The last couple of years I have started the day with a morning meeting and so far it has been a HUGE success. This year 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 3 parts to the Morning Meeting that we do: greeting, group activity, and sharing. The morning meeting will last about 15-20 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! Since we have several new students in our room it's been a great way to learn everyone's names :) We've been working really hard on good eye contact and a good handshake. Thankfully everyone understands these things now!!!

Group activity allows the students to interact with each other and to even laugh a little. They REALLY like this part of the meeting. It's our one opportunity during the day to play a quick game with everyone present. I think it builds excellent classroom relationships!

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. 

I have attached the sharing schedule.  Please keep this in a safe spot until your child remembers his/her sharing day.  We will start sharing on Thursday.

Thoughts from the 1st week of school

We learned things in math. Brady
We learned how to count money. Fletcher
We learned new things in social studies. Alyssa
We did social studies. Landen
We did recess. Gabe
We learned how to read. Jason
I like to read. Emily
We read books. Travis
Daily 5 is fun. Jacy
We learned how to write. Ashley
We did morning meeting. Abby
Do Cadet Pride. Jasmin
Math is hard. Noah
Make good choices. Cole
Be respectful. Hunter
Make new friends. Nathan
Be trustworthy. Amy
Get tickets. Zachary
School is fun. Casandra

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

Soon enough we will start having birthdays here in 2A so I thought I would give you a heads up and/or a quick reminder about our birthday policy here at Howard-Winn.

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 you are welcome to do that. Please make sure they are store bought -- sorry, no homemade food allowed:( Also, with our new Wellness Policy we're asking that if at all possible you try and make the treat healthy. If your child's birthday is in the summer we will celebrate their half birthday. Once again, you may send treats if you wish. Please make sure that the birthday treats do not contain peanuts or peanut butter.

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!

And.....We're Off!!

We are definitely into the full swing of things in 2A! We spent the first couple of days discussing and reviewing Cadet Pride. This was a review from last year but it needs to be retaught every year. We began implementing Cadet Pride last year and it was VERY successful so we are hoping for the same results this year. We are busy working towards a reward and students are busy trying to earn their blue tickets.

Now that I have taught the students all of the Cadet Pride expectations for school I am going to expect that I see Cadet Pride throughout the day. Unfortunately, a lot of 2A friends are struggling with this. I have to talk to the class MANY times throughout the day and remind them of my expectations. I have a lot of very chatty kids and I need them to understand that with 21 kids it's really difficult to teach when I have them talking. Also, it is unfair for those that are trying to listen. Please discuss Cadet Pride with your child at home and remind him/her of the 4 Cadet Pride rules: Be Caring, Be Respectful, Be Responsible, and Be Trustworthy. Thanks for help with this.

This week I introduced Daily 5 to the students and we have been busy practicing Read to Self. So far 2A students have built their stamina up to 9 minutes. We can't seem to get past that but we are hopeful that tomorrow will be the lucky day! My goal for them is to get their stamina up to 25 minutes. This means that everyone in the class needs to be reading quietly and for the full 25 minutes. This definitely takes teamwork and practice! Please encourage your child to be reading every night at home. Now that your child is in 2nd grade he/she should be reading 15-20 minutes each night!!!!!

We also started math this week. So far we are just busy reviewing skills that were to be learned lat year: basic addition, time, money, etc. We are also busy establishing math routines so that we will have a successful math class for the remainder of the year.

Thanks to everyone for sending money to school with your child. They appreciate using real money during math class!!!

First 2 days Wordle

2A students made a wordle at the end of the day yesterday. They thought of words to describe the first two days and then I made a wordle with those words.

Click on Wordle to see it. It's also along the side of the blog page.

Successful Open House

Thank you, thank you to all the parents and students who came to Back to School night!!! 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 spend this school year with you!

What?? Summer is over??

Where did the summer go? It seems like I was just packing up my classroom and now I have been busy unpacking everything again! I must admit, I'm a little sad that the summer is over. I had a great time at home with all 3 of my girls this summer. They sure kept me busy but I loved every minute of it. Grace is ready for kindergarten this year, Livvie is looking forward to daycare, and Nora is just starting to roll over and laugh at her sisters!!

My family and I did a lot of fun things this summer and I'm sure you did as well. I'm excited to hear all of your stories from the summer! I'm also excited to meet all of my new kiddos!!!!

Enjoy the last few days of summer freedom and I will see you at Back to School night!!

Nora Jane

Hi 2nd graders!!

I hope you are having fun with Mrs. Easler. She told me everything is going well and that you seem to have adjusted to her as your teacher. I hope you haven't forgotten about me :) I know you had a music concert on Tuesday so I hope that went well. I thought about you guys and was sorry I couldn't watch you sing.

Nora and I came home on Sunday...on Livvie's birthday. She's doing really good and loves to eat and sleep!! I can't believe she is 1 week old already today. I have added some pictures for you to look at. I will be over to visit you in the next couple of weeks. I'm not sure when...so please don't ask Mrs. Easler all the time.

I miss you guys!!!!!!
Mrs. Brynsaas

Mrs. Brynsaas update :)

Hey kids!!!

I miss you already! I hope you are having good days with Mrs. Easler. I'm sorry I had to leave so quickly last Thursday. The baby must have moved and it was making it really hard for me to walk...yikes! I'm feeling much better now but I am staying off my feet as much as possible.

Nick and I went to the doctor last Friday and we found out that the baby will be born this Thursday between 7 and 7:15. We're REALLY excited!!!!! I will let the school and Mrs. Easler know what we had. I will also get pictures on the blog as soon as I get home from the hospital.

Remember your Cadet Pride and I hope you have super days without me. I will be thinking about you and good luck at your music concert next Tuesday.

Youtube is AMAZING!!

This is the first year we've been able to use Youtube at school and the kids and I have found it to be very useful...and entertaining!!! We have studied 3 parts of speech this year and I have shown a Grammar Rock video to introduce verbs and adjectives. I must say...the Grammar Rock videos sure brought back memories!! I watched them when I was in school :)

Grammar Rock - Verbs:

Grammar Rock - Adjectives:

We also sang a verb song so the kids would know the difference between action verbs, linking verbs, and helping verbs.

Verb Song


Finally, in social studies we have been looking at maps. The kids LOVE maps and are soooo interested in them!!! Right now I have them labeling states on the United States map. They are also locating the 7 continents and the 4 oceans on the world map. In hopes of the kids remembering the 7 continents I shared with them a song about the continents. They are quite the singers :)

Continent Song

PBIS dance

WOW!!! Do I have some dancers in here :) A couple of weeks ago we had our PBIS reward dance in the gym. Our DJ was Mr. Wiley and he played some super songs...the kids had a blast. Most of the kids were out on the floor dancing at some point or another. Popcorn was also being served, which was a nice treat for the students.

Read Across America Week

The first week of March always means that there is a special birthday....Dr. Seuss!!!! I have gotten a bunch of his books in the classroom and the kids are really enjoying them. They're a bit hard to read though - he sure likes to write tongue twisters!!

In honor of his birthday and Read Across America Week I asked for parent/family volunteers to come into the classroom and read to the class. So far we have had 2 special readers. We have a few more before the week is over. If you are still wanting to read to the class please let me know and we can schedule a time. The kids love listening to other readers!! Here are the pictures of our guest readers so far.

100th day

Since 100s day was many days ago I thought it would probably be time to put some of our 100th day pictures on the blog. We don't do a lot of celebrating in 2nd grade, which the kids were OK with. We did spend math time working on a project. The kids worked with a partner and had to construct something with 100 marshmallows and 100 toothpicks. They had a great time with this and some were very creative!! During writing they wrote what they would be doing when they were 100. These were hilarious!!! Finally, grades k, 1, 2 had ordered muffins from the bakery so we enjoyed those during our snack time. They were delicious :)

Where has the time gone?

Wow!! I can't believe it's already the beginning of March...where has the time gone? I will be the first to admit, I have not been very good at keeping up with the blog this year. I apologize!!

There are going to be a couple of posts after this one because I have a lot of pictures that I haven't shared yet. I hope you and your kids enjoy. A quick update about me...I have 4 weeks left before my due date. To tell you the truth, I am hoping I go sooner than later. While I am still here we will continue to push right along. I have a lot planned for the next few weeks. Hang in there kids :)

Here is a brief update on what we've been doing lately:
**During the last 2 weeks of Daily 5 the kids have been learning about non-fiction books. We have learned that they have several special features that most fiction books don't have: sections, section headings, labels, cutaways, maps, picture captions, a glossary, an index, a table of contents. We have spent many days examining non-fiction books and locating these features in them. Today, the kids were given their own non-fiction features notebook. They have to be good detectives and search through various non-fiction books for these features. This is my way of knowing if they were paying attention :)

We are going to move into a biography study. The kids sorted books the other day and learned that a biography is a special type of non-fiction book; a book written about another person. I am going to share with them several biographies and then students will choose a famous person that they want to learn more about. They will work on a writing project about that person.

**As I mentioned at conferences, the students have been learning about 3 different types of poems: cinquains, acrostics, and haiku. They have officially written all 3 types. They are now doing a final acrostic poem in groups. Since it's Read Across America week they are doing an ABC acrostic and the topic is school. They are doing a super job...I think it's a little harder than they thought it would be!!

**We started a new Social Studies unit yesterday. We are going to be exploring maps and learning how they can be helpful. The kids are really excited!!! Oh boy...

**We finished up our math unit last Friday. We have spent the last 2 days working on our Unit 6 math test. This is testing them on the trade first algorithm, arrays, multiplication, and division. Look for the test to come home within the next week or so.

WOW!! We have been busy. Thank you for continuing to work with your child at home. I have seen huge progress this year. Keep up the good work 2nd graders :)

Podcasting has begun!!

Well...we finally got started!!!! Thankfully the snow has held off so we could get into a routine! The kids are SUPER excited to start doing their podcasts.

Each week the kids are in charge of picking a book from their book tub. They need to practice it for a week and work on their fluency: accuracy, expression, and phrasing. On their assigned day they use Garageband to record their podcast. I am putting their podcasts onto the 2A website. I showed the kids how to find their podcasts but I wanted to give you direct link as well.

I hope you share these with your family members as well. The kids are really excited to hear themselves and their friends read!!

http://webmail.howard-winn.k12.ia.us/Brynsaas/2awebpage/2awebpage/Home.html

From that link clink on student podcasts and you will get a list of the kids that are doing podcasts in here.

Happy listening :)

Living Healthy Iowa Kids

It seems there's a little confusion about the calendar that I sent home earlier this week. To be honest, I'm a little confused too :) I talked to some other teachers so here is a recap of the note that was sent home:

*We are trying to encourage our kids to live a healthy lifestyle so we are asking them to record the fruit they eat and the physical exercise they get daily. This calendar needs to be returned to school and will be picked up by the PE teachers on February 15.

*Fruit: please record the fruit they eat at home. You can also ask them if they ate the fruit from their school lunch.

*Exercise: PE at school can be counted. We have PE on Monday and Thursday for 30 minutes. You can record our noon recess on the calendar: 20 minutes. We have a 2:00 recess daily: 15 minutes. We have 10:00 recess on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday: 15 minutes that can also be counted on your child's calendar. Also record the physical exercise they get at home. Exercise with a video game cannot be counted.

I hope this helps. I'm sorry about the confusion!!! Our main goal is to encourage all children to be healthy and active!

Welcome Back!

Wow! I can't believe it's already January...where did the time go? I hope everyone had a fun and relaxing Christmas Break. I know I sure did!! I was quite busy getting settled into our new house, so I guess it wasn't quite as relaxing as normal. I did enjoy the time home with my girls though.

It was WONDERFUL to see all my students again this week...I really did miss them:) Everyone seemed very excited to be back at school. They also had a lot to share. It sounds like Santa was very good to the students in 2A! We spend quite a bit of time reviewing this last few days: Daily 5 and Cadet Pride. They seemed to remember quite a bit :) Next week we'll put our noses to the grindstone and get right back at it.

Your child may have mentioned we have another teacher/helper in our classroom. She is in the process of writing a note about herself and your child will bring it home on Monday. We are very excited to have her in our classroom and the students were very welcoming towards her.

*****Other information********
I sent home their math tests today from before Christmas. I was VERY pleased with them!! Those are yours to keep.

Report cards will come home on Monday with your child.

Cross your fingers that the snow stays away and we make it school. I really don't want too many more make-up days.

Have a great weekend!!

2nd Trip to the Nursing Homes

The last day before Christmas break we went to the nursing homes again. 2A went to the Patty Elwood Center. While there we sang them Christmas and other holiday songs. The residents loved the songs and many were singing along. We also read books to them again. We did do something a bit different this year. In the past we have asked you to provide a couple of gifts for the residents. This year second grade students made presents for them in art class. Mrs. Weideman had them decorate CDs using glitter and then they turned them into ornaments. Hopefully they liked their ornaments :)

Mega Party

Before our Winter Break the kids had their mega party. I wasn't there that day unfortunately...Grace was sick. But, from what I heard they had a GREAT time and I guess I have some pretty good dancers in the class :) I can't wait to see their moves someday!! Here are some pictures from the day. Enjoy!