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!

Brrrrr!

I guess winter finally decided to arrive this year. It sounds like we're going to be getting some snow this weekend as well. I'm not too excited about this since we are starting to move into our new house. Oh well...

Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately for recesses. Proper clothes need to include snowpants, boots, a warm coat, hat, mittens, etc. 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. Finally, it might be a good idea to send extra clothes to school in case their others get wet: socks, gloves, pants.

Time is Flying!

WOW!!! Where has the time gone?? I can't believe it is already December 1. We only have 14 days until Christmas break and I have A LOT to get accomplished.

During Daily 5 time we have started a new comprehension strategy: making connections. Students learned that if they can connect the book to their life or an experience they have had they can better understand the story and know how the character may be feeling during the story. I have ready several stories to the kids and have told them my connections to the stories. They are just starting to practice this themselves. When your child is reading with you at home encourage him/her to stop and make connections throughout the story.

Please remember to have your child read nightly for 15-20 minutes. I know everyone is busy but it's important that they "show off" their reading skills to you as well.

Your child may have mentioned that we are not doing Word Work this week. It's true!! I didn't get a lesson taught last week due to the short week. We will resume Word Work next week.

I continue to have busy little beavers during writing time. I read to them Thank you Mr. Falker on Monday and demonstrated how writers can write about an important person. Your 2A child did this and did an amazing job!! They now know that they can continue to write about important people in their lives during Writer's Workshop time.

****We have our Mega Party on Tuesday, December 14th and I am in search of volunteers to help out! Second grade has their party with first graders from 12:45-1:50. I would need help from 12:30-2:00.

I believe our newly formed PTO sent out an email asking parents to volunteer to help at this celebration by either monitoring the equipment, making popcorn, or just supervising. If you are interested, please let me know ASAP. You can either email me, call me, or send a note with your child if you are interested. Thank you ahead of time!!!

I hope everyone has a super weekend and I hope you all continue to stay healthy!!

The Important Thing

Now that everyone finally knows the steps that a writer goes through to create a piece of writing we can get back to our ideas trait. Last week I read the kids The Important Book. This is a book that tells important details about ordinary things: a spoon, grass, wind, etc. The purpose was to teach writers to write a main idea sentence and then to write details about that main idea. We made a class writing and wrote the important things about a pencil. They had great ideas!! Next, everyone chose a picture of a classmate. They had to think of 2-4 important details about their friend. They did an amazing job...everyone had amazing things to say about their classmates. Once everyone was done the writer read it to the class and then I hung them up on our door. They have gotten LOTS of compliments about their writing pieces. Way to go 2nd graders!!