Pie in the face

Well...even though 2nd grade raised over $300 for Cadets for a Cause it still wasn't enough to beat 1st grade.  You may remember what that meant -----  I got to get a pie in the face.  I am proud of the kids that brought in money and thanks for your support with this great fundraiser.

FINAL reminders...please read!!!

WOW...I can't believe I have 2.5 days left with my 2A friends!!!  Where did the school year go?!?  Below are a few reminders about our final days together.  Please read through it carefully so that you are aware of what will be going on.

Friday, May 18:  We are going to Lake Meyer for our end of the year field trip.  A note went home Monday about this so I just wanted to remind you of a couple of things.  Since Lake Meyer is about 30 minutes away we are taking school buses.  With it being a short trip, please do NOT send electronics to school with your child for the trip.  Also, I had some ask about cameras; I do not want students to bring a camera.  Lake Meyer has several activities planned for the kids and I do not want them to lose or forget the camera.  I will be taking pictures of everyone.  The school is providing a sack lunch and snack so your child does not need to bring any food for the trip either. 

Monday, May 21:  In the morning we will be packing up the classroom and bringing all student materials home.  I have lots of plastic bags but if you want to send a different bag to school that would be great!!  They will be cleaning out lockers and bringing home all their desk supplies home.  Everyone needs to bring at least their backpack.  We will walk to East Park for lunch and our recess.  The school is NOT providing a lunch so please send one with your child, including a drink.  I am hoping the weather will cooperate with us!!!

Tuesday, May 22:  In the past we have had our field day but it was decided not to have it this year.  Do not worry...2nd grade teachers are planning some fun activities instead!!!!  We have a 3 hour early dismissal and then let the summer fun begin :)

 It sounds like it will be another gorgeous weekend...enjoy!!

LOTS coming up!!!

I want to start out by congratulating every kiddo in here...we had AMAZING MAPS testing results!!!!  I am so proud of them!  We did goal setting this time for all 3 tests and I think that really motivated them to improve their scores.  Everyone should have brought home a little slip of paper to show their improvements.  Please congratulate your child!

With the end of the year drawing closer we have changes to our schedule which includes field trips and testing days.  Please check your child's folder each night for reminders that may come home.  This week I did our final round of DIBELS benchmark testing.  I am very proud of everyone's reading progress this year.  Please continue to read with your child over the summer and encourage them to practice the various comprehension strategies they learned this year.  Next week I will give them their final Lead 21 benchmark assessment and next week will also be our final week for word study.  The final list will come home today.  They are learning about plurals this week.

Next Wednesday is Cadets for a Cause.  We will walk over to the high school to enjoy some fun activities before the big walk.  Students will eat school sack lunches that day.  Please do not send a sack lunch with your child that day.  As part of the day’s activities, we will be doing a food drive to benefit the Howard County Food Pantry.  “Admission” to the football stadium for  the Cadets for
a Cause event will be 1 non-perishable canned good or personal products that are needed
for the food pantry. The following is a list of personal products that are needed by the food pantry, as well as any non-perishable canned goods.

dish soap
bar soap
shampoo
toilet paper
tuna
peanut butter
cake mix
cookie mix
macaroni and cheese boxes
paper towels
pancake mix
syrup
toothpaste
brownie mix 

Thanks to those who volunteered to go on the field trip to Lake Meyer.  I will send home a note about this trip next week.  Since it is only to Calmar we will not be taking charter buses on this trip.  If anyone is still wanting to volunteer to swim with us at the fitness center please contact me.  Once again, we swim on Wednesday the 16th.  I would need parents from about 12:35 - 1:40.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!  Enjoy the warm weather!

MAPS testing next week

Happy rainy Thursday!!!  :(  I sure had a lot of quality time with my kiddos today (he he) since it was raining AND we didn't have access to a gym during recess.  I actually don't mind indoor recess...I get to the kids interact with each other and it's fun to see that side of them as well.  They played a lot of board games and we were setting the timer for computers since everyone wants to use them.  The best part of indoor recess is that they get to listen to music - and sometimes bust a move!!

I want to let you know we will start our MAPs testing next week.   Just a reminder, this is the assessment students take at the beginning and end of each academic year.  The test are done on the computers and not timed.  The computer adjusts the difficulty of questions based on how students answer the previous question.  We will be taking reading, language arts, and math assessments.  We will be taking a test Monday afternoon, Tuesday afternoon, and Thursday morning.  Please try and make sure your child is here on those days.  I appreciate your cooperation with this.

I must say THANK YOU to those who have sent donations to school for Cadets for a Cause!!!!!  When we started this competition we never thought we would bring in so much money.  We have already surpassed our goal of $100...and it's only been a week!!  I have gotten some bigger bills and I did double check with the kids to make sure their parents knew.  We encourage kids to continue donating - but we don't want you to feel pressured to send money.  We also discussed that the bragging had gotten a little out of control in all classes.  We will continue to collect money until May 8th but we will only update the thermometers once a week.  Thank you for your support with this!!

Help Wanted

With the end of the year getting closer we have 2 field trip that I will need parent volunteers.  If you're able to help with one or both please contact me or send a note with your child.  I will get back to you to confirm if I still need help or if I have enough volunteers.  Thanks in advance!!

Wednesday, May 16: We are swimming at the fitness center from 12:35 - 1:20.  I would need you to get in the water and swim with the kids.  We swim with 1A, 1C, KA, and 1D.  You would be able to meet us at the Fitness Center if you can help.

Friday, May 18: All Cresco 2nd graders are taking an end of the year field trip to Lake Meyer in Calmar.  We will leave school at 9:30 and return around 3:00.  I need 3-4 parents for this day to help out. 

What have we been doing??

Wow...time sure is flying by!!  I hope everyone had a super Easter break!  I sure got a lot done around the house, spent time with my family, and ate a lot of yummy food and candy!  We are in the final stretch of the school year and I have A LOT to get accomplished!!

Your child may have mentioned that we are playing BINGO in here - they are correct!  As always, students are asked to show Cadet Pride while at school.  Unfortunately, this has sometimes been a struggle...so I decided to make it more fun with a game.  I put my 2A students into 4 groups and they named their group.  They need to work together and ALL show me Cadet Pride and if they do they earn a group ticket.  If a group earns 5 tickets they can choose a spot on the BINGO board.  The best part for them is that there is a reward in each spot.  The best part for me is that I have students showing me amazing Cadet Pride.  Keep up the good work 2A friends!!!!

Literacy: We are continuing our Community exploration in Lead 21.  We are learning how communities have changed and how people can change a community.  In two more weeks we will start our final Inquiry Project for the school year.  The comprehension strategies that this unit focuses on are listed on the right side of the blog.  When your child is reading please encourage him/her to make predictions and also summarize the story when finished.  Summarizing is a really difficult skill for most students!!

Writing: I introduced a new unit in writing: nonfiction and biography writing.  Your child read about several famous people and chose one they wanted to learn more about.  They started researching that person last week and taking notes.  We will continue with that and they will start writing a paper on their person.  We will work on paragraph skills and writing in complete sentences!!  Ask your child which famous person they are learning about - most were REALLY excited to learn about them.

Math: You may have noticed we are learning different metric and U.S. system measurements in math.  I am teaching the conversions between the different units and which unit they would use for different types of measurements.  Please continue to help your child with their homework if needed.  These last units are getting difficult.  Please remind your child they will have to THINK to solve some problems.  I have reminded them that school will continue to become more difficult and they will have to use their problem solving skills to get answers!!!

Our snack cupboard is empty!!  If you haven't sent a box of crackers to school lately please try and send one with your child.  Their stomachs will thank you!!

I hope everyone has a super week.  Remember...we have a 3 hour early dismissal tomorrow, April 11.

Cadets for a Cause...Update

As many of you know Cadets for a Cause is will be here before we know it!!  I have had several questions from students so I will pass along the information that I know so far.  When I find out more I will let you know.  Thank you in advance for your support!!

• Cadets for a Cause is Wednesday, May 9.
• T-shirt order forms are due Friday, April 13.  They can be turned into the office or the classroom teacher.
• Yellow bracelets are for sale for $1.  They are sold at school.
• Each classroom has a bucket for monetary donations.  If you wish to donate your child can bring the money to school and put it in the bucket.
• Each child is asked to bring a canned or boxed food item the day of the event.  This will go to the local food pantry.  I will have a collection box in the classroom so you can send this to school whenever it is convenient.
• ANYONE is welcome to attend the event.  As an entrance fee everyone is asked to bring a food item for the food pantry. 

Cadets for a Cause

We had our kick off for Cadets for a Cause this week.  Thanks to everyone who donated a $1 for shamrock painting today.  There were a lot of kids with shamrocks on their faces!!!!  We will have our Cadets for a Cause event on May 9.  More information will be coming home in weeks to come.

The committee would like all students to learn the UNI Interlude Dance for that day. We will practice it at home but I wanted to send you a link as week.  If you want you can practice the dance with your child at home :)  If the link doesn't work you can search it on YouTube under UNI Interlude Dance

UNI Interlude Dance

A Review of the Week

Wow...can you believe this weather???  The kids are REALLY enjoying it and are "complaining" how hot it is outside!!!!!  I sure hope it sticks around.  A quick reminder - it is cool on the playground before school so please remember to send a jacket with your child.  I also heard it might cool down next week so please make sure they are wearing appropriate clothes.

I BIG thank you to the families that came to our Tech open house night.  It was fun to see your child show you some of the things we do in our classroom.  Everything your child showed you is accessible at home if you have internet.  There are links on the blog to get to the various sites.

We have finished up our 4th unit in Lead 21 and we will begin our next inquiry project.  Since this unit focused on seasons and weather the students will be investigating a season and the weather associated with that season.  They will do research and create a project on the computer.  They will work on this all next week with a partner.  Once they are completed I will try and link them to the blog.  We will also take our quarterly benchmark assessment next week.  This assessment will cover the comprehension and vocabulary strategies that were taught in units 3 and 4 of Lead 21.  I plan to start unit 5 the following week.  Since next week is a short week and an inquiry project week there will not be word work. 

In math we are in the middle our fraction unit.  This is REALLY challenging for most students.  For most students this is a new concept so please remember that this is a beginning skill for your child.  When the homelinks come home please help your child as needed.  Also, when your child is stumped please encourage him/her to use counters to help with the problem.

On a behavioral note, I continuously need to remind my 2A kiddos to listen and be respectful when someone is talking.  I had a sub last week when I went to Ankeny for a school visit and she also commented how chatty they were.  I would really like to see ALL students work on this.  It's really hard to get things accomplished when I am reminding them to listen.  I also talked with students about table manners.  I have reports daily of students kicking, talking loud, using inappropriate words, or eating inappropriately at lunch.  Please chat with your child regarding these things.  Thanks!!

I hope everyone has a super weekend!  Enjoy the beautiful weather!!!!!!!!

Read Across America Week

Next week is Read Across America Week!!  We are doing some things at school to celebrate our love for reading and also to honor Dr. Seuss since his birthday is March 2.  These are some of the things we are doing:

**Each grade level was asked to choose a poem and one representative to read a part of poem.  These poems were recorded and were sent to the radio station.   I am not sure when they are being played.  When I find out I will let you know. 

**Your child was asked to bring in his/her favorite book.  The art teachers have been working with them on a book jacket project.  Students were asked to make 2 posters: the first was the front cover of their book and the back is a favorite character or part of the book.  Using string, the 2 posters were tied together.  Next week they will wear their favorite book during the day!

**Friday of next week your child will be reading with another class.  We will have munchie reading!!  We will be paired up with an older class and the two students will sit and read together.  Of course, since it is munchie reading they will have a snack and a drink.  A note will come home next week asking you to send a snack and drink to school with your child.  Please don't send anything until the note comes home.

**Finally, if you would like to come in and read a story to the class this would be the perfect time for you to do that!!!  If you are interested please send a note to school or e-mail me and we can finalize times.  You and your child can pick a favorite book for you to read.  Here are some times that would work in our schedule:

Tuesday, February 28: 9:30 - 11:20 or 3:00 - 3:20
Wednesday, February 29: 9:00 - 10:40
Thursday, March 1: 9:00 - 11:20

Since we started a new unit in literacy there are new comprehension strategies on the side of the blog.  Please take a look at those and reinforce them with your child when you are reading at home.

I hope everyone has a super weekend!!

Conferences and testing

I would like to thank everyone for coming to conferences this week!!!  It was great to chat with you and to show you your child's work.  Please don't ever hesitate to e-mail or call me at school.  Continue to read with your child nightly and help them with homework when needed.  I am trying my best to get them ready for 3rd grade next year.  In order to do this, we both need to teach them responsibility!!!

The last few days at school we spent wrapping up our literacy and math units.  We took our math test today over the subtraction algorithm, multiplication/arrays, and division.  I will get them checked this weekend and I plan to send them home with your child next week.  We will start a new unit on Tuesday: Patterns and Rules.  Please continue to review telling time, money, and the addition and subtraction algorithms with your child.

In Literacy your child worked REALLY hard on their group project.   They each had a city to research and their goal is to convince people that their city is the best.  They had to research the jobs, buildings, attractions, services, and natural resources in their city.  They took notes and then wrote 2 statements for each topic.  We will practice and present these next week.  I will tape them so that when you come for our spring open house you can see your child's presentation.  They worked really hard on these and put in a lot of effort.  I am so proud of them!!!!

Finally, with the end of February and Spring getting closer we will begin to have warmer and then colder temperatures.  Please make sure that your child is dressing appropriately each morning.  We still require boots, snowpants, winter coats, hats and mittens.  Warmer temperatures means a SLOPPY playground.  So, even if it's warmer outside your child will still need to wear boots and snowpants so they don't get wet.  You may also want to pack extra pants, socks, and mittens with your child in case they get wet at recess.  I will let you know when the extra clothes aren't needed.

I hope everyone has a super weekend.  I plan to stay home and relax.  I will see my 2A kiddos back here on Tuesday. 

Acrostics, Subtraction, and Inquiry

Wow...what a busy week we've had!  I am so proud of my 2A kiddos - they have been working so hard for me this week! 

Literacy: We took a break from our Lead 21 mini-lessons and reading groups this week.  The students were put into groups and they started their inquiry projects.  We have been discussing communities this unit in Lead 21 and our theme question is "What makes a good community?".  So...in their groups students had to look at a list of cities in the United States and decide which one they wanted to learn more about.  They had to think about the resources, services, and goods that the community provides.  Once they had a city picked they had to look at pictures of the city and determine 3-5 interesting features the city has.  Finally, they used the pictures and make a mural of the city.  As you can tell they really had to use cooperation for this project.  After 4 days of work the murals are almost complete.  They look awesome!!

Math: At the beginning of the week the kiddos took a math test.  I am in the process of getting those checked.  They will come home when I get them done.  It probably won't be for a week or so since I will be gone next week.  Our next math unit is going to teach students subtraction strategies.  Next week they will learn the subtraction algorithm.  Look for the homelinks to come home!

Writing: We are in the middle of our poetry unit.  This week the kids worked really hard and wrote 3 different kinds of acrostic poems.  They wrote one about themselves, one about Martin Luther King, Jr., and one about a friend.  They did great with this and were really using good word choice towards the end of the week.   Some were even looking in the dictionary for help!!  Way to go writers!

As you can see your children have been working really hard.  Please continue to read with them at home - their reading skills are really improving!  I want to let you know that I will be gone next Tuesday through Friday.  Nick has a business trip/awards ceremony and this year it's in Florida!  I will be here Monday.  They all know that I will be gone but please chat with them about this and remind them to show the same respect towards the sub. 

Thanks and have a great weekend!

Geometry, Poetry, and Communities

I hope everyone is staying warm!!  This weather is slightly ridiculous...if you ask me.  I'm really not a fan of cold weather.  And, the way it sounds, snow is probably coming our way tomorrow.  Please make sure that you listen to the radio/TV for any weather related announcements.  Also, make sure your child is dressed warmly in case they are able to go outside.

We have really been pushing forward in literacy.  Our theme is communities and we are learning what makes a good community.  Students are learning about goods, services, and resources -  how do they effect communities.  The two comprehension strategies that we have discussed this week are cause and effect and asking questions.  You may have noticed that I listed all of our comprehension strategies on the right side of the blog page.  I will highlight our focus strategies in red. 

**Asking questions - readers can ask themselves questions to better understand a text.  They may be able to find the answer to those questions in the text, by thinking on their own, or by consulting an outside text.

**Cause and Effect - readers can identify cause and effect to understand how events go together.  They learned that a cause is the reason something happens.  What happened is the effect.

I modeled both of these strategies with stories during mini-lessons these last two weeks.  Please discuss these with your child and encourage them to continue to monitor their comprehension. 

Math: We are wrapping up our unit on geometry.  Yesterday we learned about symmetry.  We learned that the imaginary dividing line is the line of symmetry.  Some objects can have one or more lines of symmetry.  They may not have a line of symmetry at all.  At the end of class we played a symmetry game online - which most of them loved.  I have posted the link on the left side of the blog page.  We will either start the test tomorrow or Monday. 

Writing: Last week we learned that writers can fancy up their words by using a thesaurus.  Students were given a boring word and they had to use a thesaurus book or the one online to make a list of better choice words.  During literacy we learned that words that mean the same thing are called synonyms.  I introduced acrostic poems to them yesterday.  I hope that they will make good word choices when writing their poems.  We will continue with the poetry unit for the next couple of weeks.  By the end of the unit they will know how to write three different kids of poems.

I hope that everyone has a super weekend!!  Stay warm and enjoy the snow! 

Is this January??

Wow!!  Can you believe this weather??  I had a student yesterday ask me if they had to wear a coat since it was so warm!!  That's crazy!  It sounds like it's going to be getting colder next week so please make sure your child is still bringing appropriate winter clothes.  The playground is muddy so boots are a must.  It's also cold in the morning so please make sure your child is bringing snowpants.

Our snack closet is empty so if you're shopping this weekend snacks would be appreciated.  Your student and their stomach will appreciate it!

We did a review of the Daily 5 this week during literacy.  I was impressed...the had 20 minutes of stamina for Read to Self and Read to Someone.  Way to go 2A!  We struggled a little with Work on Writing.  It was hard for them to write the whole time.  We will continue to work on building this stamina back up to 20 minutes.  During work on writing time students are able to write several forms of writing: personal narrative, fiction story, Fairy Tales, letters, lists, non-fiction.

When we reviewed Cadet Pride they did a super job in the hallway!!  They are so quiet I have to look to see if they are behind me :)  Unfortunately, they have been quite chatty in the classroom.  I would like them to work on this. 

We started a new unit in Social Studies.  We will be exploring Earth and learning about states, our country, and the continents and oceans. 

I hope everyone has a super weekend and you enjoy the nice weather.

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!!!