Big Night!

It is winter program night.  We've practiced and are ready to go!  The program begins at 6:30; doors open at 6:00.  See you there!

* Don't forget tomorrow is pj day!!!

Instruments

The class was so excited to talk about their instruments today!  They said they had a lot of fun making them at home.  I was impressed with the variety we have.  If your child forgot to bring his/hers, just send it tomorrow.  We will play with the other 2nd grade classes on Friday.  I'll be sure to snap a few photos to share.

PLHS Singers

Our day started with a quick trip to Lane University to hear the PLHS Singers.  The high school students sang several songs to the elementary students and we were able to sing a few back in return.  I was excited to see seven of my former students in the choir.  It's hard to believe my first class is now the senior class!

Holiday Spirit

I was happy to read a positive report from Mrs. Henderson.  She said the class had a great day.  I love hearing that news!  We took our winter session of the Math MAP assessment today.  Not all students were able to finish (that's okay, there is no time limit).  What results I do have back look good.  We will take the reading MAP assessment next week.  Next week will be a bit crazy, but we are going to try to keep as close as we can to our regular schedule.  Have a great weekend!  Check out our holiday spirit...  (There is a lot more spirit bubbling through our room, but these kiddos had the shirts to prove it!)

Gambino's Night

Notes are going home today that it is PLES night at Gambino's if you order let them know you are with the school and 20% of your order will be given to PLES.  I will be gone tomorrow, Tori Henderson will be my substitute.  She was Mrs. Bradney's student teacher so the students are very familiar with her.  I am sure they will have a great day!

Instruments

I sent a note home today about our instrument project.  Each student is to make a homemade instrument that 1) makes sound 2) changes in pitch and 3) changes in volume.  The instruments should be returned by December 16th.  Don't let this project intimidate you!  It can be as easy as wrapping rubber bands around a plastic tub.  If you have questions, don't hesitate to ask.  We looked up some images of homemade instruments today during class.  The students got very excited and came up with some interesting ideas.  I reminded them that this was their project... not their parents!  If your child tries to put the project on you, remind him/her that he/she is the thinker, planner, and builder; you are just the assistant!

Math Poem

The class learned this poem "More on top, no need to stop.  More on the floor, go next door and get ten more. Numbers the same, zero's the game." We reviewed it several times and talked about how we could repeat it to help us solve our subtraction problems.

Subtracting Two-Digits

We had our first lesson on subtracting two-digit numbers.  (Side note: The class did awesome on our two-digit addition chapter.)  I was happy with the work they did today.  As I have said before with addition, knowing basic facts by memory helps in solving more complex problems quickly and correctly.  Challenge your child to see how can solve facts faster!  This is a simple skill to work on in the car while traveling to and from places.

Listening Walk

We have started our unit on sound.  The class had a chance this afternoon to roam the halls and listen for sounds.  They then had to record a description of the sound and what they thought caused it.  Their favorite sound... the flushing of a toilet! (My camera was not cooperating. These were the only two pictures that didn't turn out as a complete blur!)

Happy Monday

I was worried about today, just a little.  Sometimes the first day back from a break can be pretty rough.  Today wasn't though!  We had a great day together.  The class worked hard and got along great.  We had indoor recess today due to the rain.  Our first recess we met the other second grade classes in the library and had several games taking place.  Second recess was held in our room.  Right now indoor recess is still a lot of fun.  I hope they still feel that way in the spring!

Happy Thanksgiving

Have safe and happy Thanksgiving!  I am thankful for your children that you share with me.

Short and Sweet

The class thinks this is the best week ever... no spelling words and no homework.  I'm not sure if it will be the best week ever, but I'm hoping for a good one!  We are still working hard the two days we are here!

Happy Friday

Have a great weekend!  Here is a silly picture of our students who wore their favorite sports attire today...

Favorite Sports Team

Tomorrow is "Favorite Sports Team" Day.  Send your kiddo to school in their favorite sports team attire!

Writing and Teamwork

We divided up into groups with the intent of practicing paragraph writing.  This lesson ended up being more focused on teamwork.  Only one group finished a paragraph.  Several groups argued.  I think we'll try again tomorrow!

Paragraphs

Although we work on the writing process each week, I still feel like several of my students do not have a good grasp on paragraph writing.  Today we watched a BrainPop Jr. video on the topic.  We then answered several questions about topic sentences, supporting details, and closing sentences.  I'm anxious to see if it helps on our next writing project. 

Brrr!

We had many cold kiddos at recess today.  We will go outside unless the temperature, including windchill, is below 20 or it is too wet.  Please be sure your child has appropriate attire.  Hats and mittens are a good thing!  Another big help to getting us out to recess is if each child know how to button/zip/tie their own coats.  Please practice with your child.

Lights Camera Action

The class shared their skits over food products today.  Some were quite persuasive!  Ask your child what his product was that he/she shared. 

Have a great weekend!

Cause and Effect

Well, this class knows about effects!  They made me laugh today when we discussed cause and effect.  I would give a situation and they had to think of the effect it might cause.  They had some creative effects!  We talked about how one cause could make several effects.  It was a fun discussion.  Ask your child to share some causes/effects with you!

Grandparent's Day

They say it takes a village to raise a child.  Today I had a chance to see what an amazing village my students have.  It was great to have our grandparents visit and spend time in our room.  I know not all grandparents could attend and we discussed as a class how that was okay.  Those grandparents would be thinking about us from a distance!  It was a good day.

Raz-Kids

A note went home today about Raz-Kids.  This is an online reading program.  It gives the students access to several books at different levels.  The students may listen to, read, and take quizzes on each of the books.  If your child wants to spend his/her time on electronics, this is a great way to compromise!  Our subscription only lasts until January.  At that time, we will have to re-evaluate if the program is helping our students and if we have the funds to renew.  We've been using it in the classroom during small group rotations and it is one of the most popular choices.

Happy Friday

The weather is beautiful.  Go outside with your child and enjoy it while you can!  Have a great weekend!

Food Fun

Our health unit covers healthful foods.  Today we talked about food ads and how they could influence us to buy food items.  Next week, the class will have a chance to make their own food ads.  It is a lot of fun to see their creativity in action!  Ask your child if he/she knows what item they would like to try to sell.

Subtraction Stress

Mental subtraction is not my favorite math unit to teach.  I mixed the order of the lessons up a bit, thinking I would make it easier on the class.  Unfortunately, today seemed stressful just the same.  Our lesson was on using a hundreds chart to subtract.  This is the same process as when we used the chart to add, but several students were not seeing the similarities.  It was a stressful hour, but we made it through.  As your looking at your child's papers tonight, ask him/her to explain the process to you.  Teaching is a great way to learn!

Native American Writing

We are beginning a new writing topic; our focus is on Native Americans.  If your family has any Native American heritage and you would like to visit our classroom to share about it, we would love to have you!  The class seemed very excited about the topic.  I hope they continue their excitement and we end the unit learning a lot about our past and what influences it has on our current lives.

Happy Halloween

A big thank you to the parents who planned a super party!  It was great.  Have a happy and safe Halloween.

Halloween Heads Up

The class is super excited for our Halloween party tomorrow.  We will begin our parade of costumes at 1:50.  Visitors may arrive 15 minutes early to help students prepare and set up for the party.  Remember. gory costumes or weapons of any kind are not allowed.

Shake Them Bones!

We often use the website Go Noodle for our brain breaks.  The website has lots of short activities to dance, stretch, and breath along with.  It also gives random facts that we enjoy giggling about!  Today we shook with Them Bones! 

Peer editing

We did a little peer editing today.  The class knows what is needed in a sentence, but is working on slowing down to be sure each of their sentences have the correct structure.  I really like that our homework packets this year regularly include sentence writing.  Talk to your child about what makes a complete sentence when you write together at home.

Happy Friday

I hope to see some of you at Garden Day tomorrow.  The PTO is hosting the work day from 9:00-12:00 at PES's garden.  They will be serving hot dogs at the end of the clean-up.  Happy Friday!

Social Studies

We have started our new chapter in social studies.  Our lesson today talked about the difference between continents, countries, states, and cities.  I mentioned in an earlier post that it was important for the students to know their address.  My hope is by the end of this unit, each child will know!  Find out if your child knows his/hers.  If not, start practicing!

Writing Rubric

The 2nd grade teachers were discussing how we graded writing and we decided we didn't like it!  Mrs. Gantz found a new rubric online that we tweaked a little to make our own.  Later this week, your child will be bringing home his/her writing over pumpkins.  Along with it will be the writing rubric.  I found as I was using it, I still need to make a few changes, which I will do before our next project.  It is a better way for you (and your child) to see how their scores was given.  Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions about it.  I'm always open to ideas!

Tight Transitions

We started a challenge today... to have tight transitions.  Tight transitions mean when we change from one activity to another, we do it quickly and correctly the first time.  Once the class has 10 tight transitions they earn extra recess time.  We transition A LOT during the day so we can lose many learning minutes if we don't transition correctly.  So far, they've earned three points.  It's not much, but it's a start.  I'm hoping each day we do better.  And by the end of the week we'll be at 100%!  A teacher can dream, can't she?!

Computer Lab

Ms. Angie sent a message saying the 2nd graders were the best behaved group of the day!  We usually have three specials on Friday, but due to Mrs. Hamm being sick, we only had two today.  I split my class in half with part joining Mrs. Scrimsher's class and part joining Mrs. Gantz's.  Here is a video Angie sent of one of the groups behaving wonderfully....

Place Value

Our chapter on place value has been more challenging that I was expecting.  To help this, we have been doing more guided practice than usual.  I have also started breaking the class up into group.  They love it!  After I introduce the topic to the whole class, we break into three groups.  We then have three rotations, one with the teacher, one for independent work, and this week one with technology.  Our technology rotation has been math games on the ipads, as  you can probably guess this has been their favorite.  They did like though a game we played today called Odd Todd and Even Steven.  Ask your child how to play!  It did involve a game board (which could easily be recreated at home!).

Plurals

We've been working hard on writing and identifying plural nouns.  Here are the rules the class has learned:
#1 For most words add s.  (Bug= Bugs)
#2 For words that end in ch, sh, s, ss, x, or z add es.  (Dishes = Dishes)
#3 For words that end in y, drop the y and add an ies. (Baby = Babies)
#4 Unless... y is right afer a vowel, then just add s. (Monkey = Monkeys)
#5 For words that end in f, drop the f and add ves. (Box = Boxes)

And... Go!

We, as teachers, are encouraged to let students guide their own learning.  It is sometimes hard at a young age for students to understand how to find answers to questions they have.  At the beginning of the year, Mrs. Thornton asks each teacher to set at least two goals.  One of my goals was to have at least one student led project every quarter.  Now that we are in the last week of the quarter, I decided I better get to that project!  We're starting out simple.  The only direction I gave the students was that they were teach correct hallway behavior.  They have decided how to divide up and what way they will present the information.  I have a few students work independently and a few small groups.  They are doing everything from writing a story, drawing posters, and creating skits.  We will work on this project then present to each other on Friday.  It should be interesting!  (And hopefully improve our hallway behavior too!)

Thank you!

Thank you for your attendance at conferences.  I appreciate the time you took to come in to visit about your child.  Please remember that I am always happy to answer questions and share ideas.

Fire Safety Month

     October is Fire Safety Month.  This morning, we had a visit from Douglas County Emergency Communications along with the Lecompton Fire Department.  Both groups talked about what to do in case of an emergency.  The students heard how important it was to know their address.  I was surprised how many students could not say where they lived or tell their phone number.  This is an important thing to work on learning.  Have a long address?  Try singing your address to the tune of a familiar song.  It is also important to know how to call 911 and to identify a gathering place outside of your home in case of a fire.  Fire alarms are another important safety feature.
     Fire safety is very close to my heart.  My cousin, Josh, was killed in a house fire during his senior year of high school.  He was spending the night at a friend's house; the friend's house caught on fire during the night.  Josh and his friend were upstairs and were both killed.  The mother and younger sibling were sleeping on the main floor and were able to escape.  Fire safety is something we practice over and over at school, but because fires, fortunately, don't happen that often it is often easy to not take seriously.  I know, it only takes one time.  There may only be one chance.  Make sure you are prepared and as protected as possible.

Safe Place

This morning the second grade classes took a walk to our "safe place".  This is where we would go if we had to evacuate our building due to a dangerous situation.  We discussed situations that would require is to leave our building and situations that would not.  I hope that we will never have to use this procedure, but it is important to be prepared.  After we were finished, the 2nd graders had a chance to have recess at Rowena Park (Lecompton's city park).  They had a great time on the new equipment and asked if we could go back for second recess!  I know I did not list the name of our "safe place" ask your child where it is!  If he/she can't tell, then ask me!

Short Week

Due to our short week we will not be having spelling words or homework.  The class was not disappointed!  I did remind them though that the should still be reading each night and maybe even could get in a few extra minutes!

Welcome, Carmel

We were excited to meet Carmel today.  She is a one year old llama.  Devin, who is a 4-H member, shows Carmel during the fair.  Devin demonstrated how to lead Carmel through an obstacle course and let all the 2nd grade students say hello.  This afternoon, we also had a chance to meet Blane's new puppies.  It was an exciting way to end our week!

"Man Down!"

Several of the 2nd graders had a new game today at recess.  I never quite got it figured out, but it involved several students laying on the ground "down".  It isn't my favorite game.  I kept thinking someone was injured! I let them play though because they were playing so great together.  I could tell their imaginations were spinning.  There was no arguing, no tattling, just several shouts of "man down".  Surprisingly enough, I never saw any violence either.  I don't know what caused the "men" to drop.  They probably didn't even have a reason; the best part of the game seemed to be running to save one another!

Bulletin Boards

It sounded like a good idea when I signed up to do both main hallway bulletin boards in the same month.  Get them over with I thought.  Fall, Halloween, lots of topics we can cover I thought.  Well, now that October is here, the idea doesn't seem as great!  Either way we are preparing to hang things in the hall.  Our first project is making a "Proper Noun Pumpkin  Patch".  Today we made a list of proper nouns and our pumpkins for the patch.  Stay tuned for the finished product!

Trips #2 and #3

We made it!  Bald Eagle Rendezvous and the homecoming parade were both great trips.  We had a lot of fun and got a lot of candy (Sorry, parents!).  The Rendezvous is open tomorrow 9:00- 5:00 if you'd like to check it out for yourself.  Have a great weekend!  Next week we should be back to our regular routines.

Trip #2

Yeehaw!  We are safely home from the American Royal.  The number one response I got when I asked students what their favorite part was...lunch!  The rodeo was a very close second.  We had a lot of fun cheering on the participants at the youth rodeo.  The class had fun cheering on me during a game of "horseshoes" I was selected to play by Bob, the rodeo clown.  We also heard many interesting presentations about agriculture and its importance in our world.  Tomorrow we will visit the Bald Eagle Rendezvous in the morning and the homecoming parade in the afternoon.  Students will not need sack lunches.

Trip #1

We had a successful trip to the Smithsonian traveling Hometown Teams exhibit located in Perry.  If you are a sports fan or interested in local history, be sure to check it out.  The exhibit will only be open until Sunday. Thank you to the Perry Pride organization for their hard work getting the exhibit here and ready.  Tomorrow will be our all day trip to the American Royal (think rodeo not baseball).  Sack lunches are needed.

Practice Makes Perfect

Today we spent our Daily 5 (or small group rotation time) practicing our expected behaviors.  I emphasized a lot with the class how important it is that we use our time wisely and that we don't have any time to waste!  This is a time of day that can have a huge impact on a students learning; the hard part is it has to be done independently.  I am most often working with a small group of students.  We usually have four rotations, only one which is spent in group.  This leaves a large chunk of time for students to use or waste time.  Wasting time is not okay with me!  We will keep reviewing and practicing until we get it down.  I'd rather spend the time now working on getting it right than being partly effective all year.  It will pay off in the long run!

Real/Fantasy

We worked on realism and fantasy today.  To get the class moving, I let them develop a skit showing either a real scene or a fantasy one.  The rest of the class had to determine what the skit was showing.  It was fun to see the results.  This project also gave us a chance to work on our teamwork skills.  It took awhile for some groups to decide what the plot of their skit would be.  In the end though, each group pulled through with entertaining performances!

Homework

I was very happy with the homework completion last week.  The class told me the work was easy!  I appreciate your help in making sure the work is completed neatly and with few errors.  As I mentioned before, please let me know if you have any questions or if your child is having difficulty completing the work.

Side Note:  A permission form was sent home today for our American Royal field trip.  This is our "official" form; the one previously sent was to get a head count so that we could order tickets.  Everything has been paid for, I just need your signature saying your child my attend.  You will not need to sign a from for our Hometown Teams or Bald Eagle Rendezvous trip as they are both in district.

Fund Raisers

The PTO has sent home booklets for a fund raiser.  The sale will run between now and September 28th.  If you are able to help out, I know the PTO would appreciate your support.  They provide a lot for our students such as pay field trip fees and provide classroom supplies.  They also would love to have more PTO members.  Join them at their next meeting!

PIE and Apples

The class learned three reasons why an author might right a story... to persuade, inform, or entertain.  To make the lesson more interesting, we made "pie" to help us remember.  The pies are coming home tonight.  Ask your child to explain each piece to you!
We have been working hard learning and writing about Jonny Appleseed this week so we took some time to have some fun by painting apples.  The class could make their pictures however they chose as long as it had an apple in it.  We have quite a few artists in our room!  Below are the students painting away.  (I apologize for the sideways picture.  I can not get it to rotate!)

Science/Health

We finished up our science unit for the quarter. Your child should be bringing his/her test home today.  This along with the work completed in the workbook will make up their science grade.  We will be working on health for the next week.  Our lessons will be over getting along.  This is a always a good chapter to work on as we learn more about our classmates and how to work together.  Today we talked about getting along with our family and working together to do chores.  We decided everyone would get along better if we worked without complaining.  So, hopefully your child will be eager to help tonight!

MAP

We took our first MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) assessment today.  This is the assessment I discussed at Back to School night.  The class did a nice job for their first round.  It is a bit overwhelming and not very enjoyable for most students.  We took the reading portion today (which seems to be the least liked of the three) tomorrow we will take language arts, followed by math on Thursday.  We will retake the assessments in the winter and spring to see our improvements throughout the year.  The assessments give us a better view of strengths and areas for improvement in each child's learning.

Jackets

Although it has been hot outside, our room can get really cold when the air conditioner runs.  I do not have control of our room temperature.  I keep a jacket at school and use it often!  Several students have asked if I have extra jackets they can wear; I do not.  If your child would like, he/she may also bring a jacket to school to wear during class.  I know it can be hard to concentrate if it's freezing!


Enjoy your weekend!

Number Buzz

During math last week we played a game called, Number Buzz.  The students stand in a circle; we take turns skip counting around the circle.  If a student says the 'buzz' number they have to sit down.  We played counting by 10's with the number 100 as our 'buzz' number.  The class did a great job and loved playing!  Tuesday we played counting by 5's and it was not as pretty!  It was much more difficult for the class to identify what number would be next and we had more 'buzz' numbers, 25, 50, 75,100 (see how I'm slowing working quarters in!).  The class was getting frustrated and began asking if we could just play with 10's.  I was so proud when a little boy spoke up, "No!  If it doesn't challenge you.  It doesn't change you."  Exactly!  I agreed and we stuck with the 5's.  Today we played again and it was so much better.  Once we get it perfected, I'll throw in 2's (wish us luck!).  Ask your child to teach you to play!

Mrs. Brown is missing!

Due to an appointment, I had to be gone this morning.  Mrs. Foster was my substitute.  During writing time the class had the assignment of writing where the thought I could be.  They have great imaginations!  I was everywhere from riding tigers to being sick to taking a vacation to being put in jail!  Mrs. Foster said the morning went well and picture time went smoothly.

Bathroom Stamina

We've been working hard on building our reading and writing stamina.  Today we discussed building another type of stamina... bathroom stamina.  The class giggled when I mentioned it, but I explained this was one of the important things to build.  Our time is precious so we can't waste it in the restroom!  I have a handful of children who ask to go quite often.  Our goal is to try to use the bathroom, even if we don't feel like we have to go, at appropriate times so when we are in the middle of a lesson we won't feel the need.  I understand there are emergency situations, but I think a lot of the trips that are happening are due to work avoidance.  The class seemed excited about our bathroom stamina building, so hopefully we'll build it quickly!

Ketchup/Pickle Time

We ended our day with a little ketchup/pickle time.  Students who had work to finish up had a chance to catch-up.  Students who had work complete got to pick an activity of their choice. Most students who had pickle time chose to go out for an extra recess with Mrs. Green; a few students decided to stay in and play with our marble set.  We will try to  have ketchup/pickle time regularly. 

*I forgot to send the weekly newsletter home today.It will come home Monday.  Here are the upcoming spelling words if your child is looking to get a head start.... thing   long   bring   clang   stung   strong   find   she   cold   both

Have a great weekend!

Good Fit Books

The class and I have talked a lot about choosing good fit books.  Students think about the following things when picking a good fit: 

I choose a book.
Purpose: Why do I want to read it?
Interest: Does it interest me?
Comprehend: Do I understand what I am reading?
Know: Do I know most of the  words?

Having good fit books is helpful in making the most of our learning.  It is also one of the hardest things I've found to have children want to do.  They don't like to take the time to find what is best fit; they'd rather grab a book with an interesting cover or full of cool pictures.  When you read books together at home, ask your child about how to find good fit books.  Encourage them to look for books that help their learning.

I added a story to the "kids quotes" page today after our book discussion!

Tree Measurements

We did make it back out to the Nature Study Site to measure our tree.  The class learned the difference between the trunk, main branches and secondary branches. Below are pictures of the class posing with the tree.  We've been lucky to have such great weather for our work outdoors. 

Tree observation

We picked "our" tree.  "Our" tree is what we will be observing now, in the winter, and in the spring.  It is in the Nature Study Site.  We had to record how the tree looked, smelled, felt, and sounded.  The class had some great observations!  Our time was limited so we will go back out tomorrow to do more observing and measuring.  Plus, I'll bring my camera and snap some pictures!

Writing with no pencils

I told my class to put away their pencils because we were going to start writing time.  As you can imagine, I got a lot of strange looks!  The point of my lesson was that sometime writers need to think things through before they start putting their ideas on paper.  We then broke up into small groups to brainstorm how first grade and second grade are alike and different.  We got back together and listed some of the ideas on the board using an adapted Venn diagram (square's tend to work better than circles for us).  We'll continue with this topic for the next few days.

Newsletter

Your child should have in his/her folder tonight our classroom newsletter.  It provides information on what we will be learning about in the following week.  It includes spelling words for the upcoming week.  If you child struggles with spelling, use this list to get a head start practicing.  I want the newsletter to be useful to you.  If there is something you would like to see in it that is missing, please let me know.  Your comments are welcome.  (Have you noticed yet that I value communication?!)  Happy weekend!

Read to Someone

We worked on a new Daily 5 rotation, read to someone.  The students practiced finding a partner to read with, getting started right away, reading the whole time, and checking for understanding.  This is one of their favorite Daily 5 rounds.  We have already worked on reading to self and working on writing.  Our final two will be word work (which they keep begging me to start) and listen to reading.  They are doing a great job remembering the expectations from last year.  We are continuing to work on building our reading and writing stamina.

Indoor Recess

It's only day three and we've already had a chance to try out some of our indoor recess activities.  Luckily, the class seemed pretty excited about what was in the room. Some of the most popular items were the marble tracks, castle, Twister, and our art center.

Here we go!

Today was our first day of "real work".  They class did a nice job with our introduction to new spelling words as well as our first math lesson.  We worked hard picking out good-fit books.  This is not an easy task; I'll explain more about that later.  I think we are going to have a good time this  year!  Plus...they are super cute!