Mr. Kinneer, of the Wellman Rotary, read us some good stories, and who can resist delicious cupcakes and a Cat in the Hat video in the library. One Great Reading Week! Thanks to all who made this possible.
Friday, March 8, 2013
Reading Week Pics
Mr. Kinneer, of the Wellman Rotary, read us some good stories, and who can resist delicious cupcakes and a Cat in the Hat video in the library. One Great Reading Week! Thanks to all who made this possible.
Is this yours? Part 2
If any of these belong to your child let me know, and I will send them home with them. Tried to do pictures from different angles so you could see them. Would appreciate any help you can give us!
Thanks!
One Great Reading Week
Great excitement met our upcoming Reading Week! We started by preparing our door at the end of last week and the beginning of this week. The Wellman Rotary was scheduled to come on Wednesday to read to us and they would take a look at all the doors and then pick a winner. It was great to see all the different ideas planned around a Dr. Seuss theme. Our door was planned around the overall theme of "Grab a Hat and Read with the Cat." I think it turned out pretty neat-and I appreciate you sending hats so that we could take some great pictures. A picture of the door is coming. Tuesday was supposed to be the day we wore Tie-Dye t-shirts, until the weather had other plans and we were wearing our t-shirts at home. On Wednesday, after a late start, we dressed in our dots and had Mr. Bill Kinneer visit our room and read to us. Mr. Kinneer is part of the Wellman Rotary. Thursday was probably our favorite dress up day, as we all made it to school in our pajamas. The best prize ever-getting to wear your pajamas to school! We had a Read and Feed, Alex and his family shared some delicious Trix treats, and we munched on popcorn that Ms. Proctor and Mrs. Flynn popped (Thanks ladies!). Today, Friday, was hat day and I enjoy seeing all the different types of hats that students show up with. I imagine the kind of memories that have been made as students are winning, earning, or purchasing those hats! We ended the day with a new book for each student from the Wellman PTO, (Thanks PTO!) and decorating cupcakes in the library in honor of Dr. Seuss and the anniversary of his birthday. (Thanks Ms. Kral and Mrs. Blossom!) It must be noted that in addition to Ms. Kral and Mrs. Blossom, Mrs. Bessman and Mrs. Thomas did a lot of the planning for our fun week. I must thank you parents for encouraging students to read and return their reading slips, which helped them earn a prize like stickers and tattoos. Each day also had a mystery reader, and if you guessed correctly and were drawn out of the hat, you received a special prize.
In addition to our special weeks, a couple of other ongoing record keeping things: Live Healthy Iowa minutes will be due on Monday. Please try to remember to send those with your student. I must turn in minutes on Monday, and those who turn them in are in the drawing for a prize sponsored by the Welllman PTO as well, such as swimming passes and rollerskating passes. A special thanks to the Wellman Y as Christina Nash has been coming on Monday mornings to do exercises with the students before school in the gym. Mrs. Rediger has also been very helpful with getting us going on Monday mornings, putting some music on the school speakers to get us all moving and grooving!
Six students enjoyed a sledding party and some hot chocolate in celebration of them reading 200 or more minutes for the month of February. Your child brought home a March calendar to keep track for the month of March. My goal remains 200 minutes per month, as I know things come up during the week, but the amount of reading they do outside of class has a direct correlation to their reading skills and abilities. MAKE TIME TO READ! The hardest thing at our house is just shutting that TV off-I encourage you to take 20 minutes of that screen time and use as reading and it won't be long and I think you will see a difference.
I am including a picture of our lost and found pile. If you see something that is yours, can you please email me what it is, and I will send it home with your student. It is extremely difficult to get students to claim something that has to belong to someone in 2A, as we are the only ones who use our coat hall.
Upcoming events include Two Hour Early Out-March 13; Spring Pictures-March 15; the Spring Music Program and Art Show-March 19-7PM at MPHS; End of the 3rd quarter-March 20; Report Cards coming home on March 22; Parent-Teacher Conferences on March 25-26 between 4-7. There will be no school on Friday, March 29.
One new face in our room is Ms. Brandi Kleese. She will be helping us all do our best, and takes over for Mr. Kerr.
Thought I had almost lost this-so before I cause myself great stress again, I will publish and put the pictures in on their own post! :) Have a great weekend!
In addition to our special weeks, a couple of other ongoing record keeping things: Live Healthy Iowa minutes will be due on Monday. Please try to remember to send those with your student. I must turn in minutes on Monday, and those who turn them in are in the drawing for a prize sponsored by the Welllman PTO as well, such as swimming passes and rollerskating passes. A special thanks to the Wellman Y as Christina Nash has been coming on Monday mornings to do exercises with the students before school in the gym. Mrs. Rediger has also been very helpful with getting us going on Monday mornings, putting some music on the school speakers to get us all moving and grooving!
Six students enjoyed a sledding party and some hot chocolate in celebration of them reading 200 or more minutes for the month of February. Your child brought home a March calendar to keep track for the month of March. My goal remains 200 minutes per month, as I know things come up during the week, but the amount of reading they do outside of class has a direct correlation to their reading skills and abilities. MAKE TIME TO READ! The hardest thing at our house is just shutting that TV off-I encourage you to take 20 minutes of that screen time and use as reading and it won't be long and I think you will see a difference.
I am including a picture of our lost and found pile. If you see something that is yours, can you please email me what it is, and I will send it home with your student. It is extremely difficult to get students to claim something that has to belong to someone in 2A, as we are the only ones who use our coat hall.
Upcoming events include Two Hour Early Out-March 13; Spring Pictures-March 15; the Spring Music Program and Art Show-March 19-7PM at MPHS; End of the 3rd quarter-March 20; Report Cards coming home on March 22; Parent-Teacher Conferences on March 25-26 between 4-7. There will be no school on Friday, March 29.
One new face in our room is Ms. Brandi Kleese. She will be helping us all do our best, and takes over for Mr. Kerr.
Thought I had almost lost this-so before I cause myself great stress again, I will publish and put the pictures in on their own post! :) Have a great weekend!
It's not mine, is it???
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Wow! Time FLIES when you are learning!
YIKES! I kept telling myself I would get back to the blog, and as I look at when I last posted, it has been a LONG time since you last got a glimpse inside 2A. We have gotten back into more of our regular routine after spending time learning about Medieval Times. Our Medieval Day was FABULOUS! Thank you so much for the donations and volunteer help. We honestly couldn't have done it without you. The kids had a great time, and a reporter from the Wellman Advance came and did a story on our day. You will find it in this past week's paper. Our MAPS tests turned out pretty good for most everyone. In math, all of us made progress, and in reading, most scored higher.
We continue to build our comprehension skills in reading. When you get the chance to listen to your student read, be sure to ask them questions such as: What is happening? Why do they like a certain character? What has been your favorite part? Why did a character do a particular thing? Listening to them read at a speed that you can understand, and a speed in which they are knowing the words without having to sound them out is our goal.
In math, we are studying patterns. We have worked on using the number grid to help us figure number patterns quickly. We have been working with complements of 10 so that we can use basic facts to help us figure addition and subtraction problems. You can help at home by continuing to ask basic facts when you are driving down the road, or having them tell you the time at different parts of the day.
In science, we have moved from building understanding in how balance works to using those concepts to make things balance while being in motion, like a top.
Each day brings new things to learn and try out. The days go so fast that we must make the most of the time we have. I have enjoyed this class and can't believe how fast our time goes together. Do you think we could just make the world spin a little slower-making our days a little longer?
We continue to build our comprehension skills in reading. When you get the chance to listen to your student read, be sure to ask them questions such as: What is happening? Why do they like a certain character? What has been your favorite part? Why did a character do a particular thing? Listening to them read at a speed that you can understand, and a speed in which they are knowing the words without having to sound them out is our goal.
In math, we are studying patterns. We have worked on using the number grid to help us figure number patterns quickly. We have been working with complements of 10 so that we can use basic facts to help us figure addition and subtraction problems. You can help at home by continuing to ask basic facts when you are driving down the road, or having them tell you the time at different parts of the day.
In science, we have moved from building understanding in how balance works to using those concepts to make things balance while being in motion, like a top.
Each day brings new things to learn and try out. The days go so fast that we must make the most of the time we have. I have enjoyed this class and can't believe how fast our time goes together. Do you think we could just make the world spin a little slower-making our days a little longer?
Thursday, November 1, 2012
When the Lights Went Out
This week has been a very out of the ordinary week! Mrs. Fisher has been thinking about report cards and conferences this week, while 2A students had been dreaming about Wednesday, Halloween night! Wednesday was a day of celebrating, as we used our math skills to examine various parts of pumpkins, such as its circumference, price per pound, number of lines, and number of seeds. Mr. Bean, Alex's dad was able to help us with our work. We also found out that pumpkins float not sink! After everyone cleaned their pumpkins and seeds out, we found out we had about 2900 seeds for 7 pumpkins. Wednesday was an early out day, which always makes things short, and a bit hectic. After lunch, we had our party and got the chance to parade around for the other rooms.
On Thursday, we did the second half of our fall celebration, using candy corn to estimate and measure different parts of the room and ourselves. Thursday was Day 1, the start of a new rotation, and our morning special is music. We were in the middle of music when everything went dark! It seemed odd at first, but the power stayed off for about 4 hours. We did our best to continue the school day, and it was interestingly quiet when we all settled in to get some work done in the dark. We got to eat in the classroom in the dark. Who knew that would be seen as such a reward! I will have to keep that in mind for the future. The power did come on before it was time to come home. We hadn't considered how much we use the document camera and smartboard, and the internet to help us throughout the day. It gave us a new appreciation for being thankful for what we have! The evening was a great time to meet with many 2A parents and talk over where we are and where we are headed for our year in second grade. I look forward to meeting with the rest of you next week!
Don't forget that this Friday night, November 2, is the PTO skate night at the skating rink. Cost is $1 for skate rental. The skate runs from 6:30-8:30. On Saturday, November 3, will be the Chip Shoppe fundraiser pickup. The pickup goes from 8:30-11 AM. This will be a busy weekend!
On Thursday, we did the second half of our fall celebration, using candy corn to estimate and measure different parts of the room and ourselves. Thursday was Day 1, the start of a new rotation, and our morning special is music. We were in the middle of music when everything went dark! It seemed odd at first, but the power stayed off for about 4 hours. We did our best to continue the school day, and it was interestingly quiet when we all settled in to get some work done in the dark. We got to eat in the classroom in the dark. Who knew that would be seen as such a reward! I will have to keep that in mind for the future. The power did come on before it was time to come home. We hadn't considered how much we use the document camera and smartboard, and the internet to help us throughout the day. It gave us a new appreciation for being thankful for what we have! The evening was a great time to meet with many 2A parents and talk over where we are and where we are headed for our year in second grade. I look forward to meeting with the rest of you next week!
Don't forget that this Friday night, November 2, is the PTO skate night at the skating rink. Cost is $1 for skate rental. The skate runs from 6:30-8:30. On Saturday, November 3, will be the Chip Shoppe fundraiser pickup. The pickup goes from 8:30-11 AM. This will be a busy weekend!
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
October 24, 2012
It was an exciting day 5 today as we played Flashlight Tag in PE to start off the day! Later on, we got to hear a story another student has written using the Harris Burdick pictures we are using. Then we started our own stories based on the pictures of Harris Burdick, a portfolio collection from author Chris Van Allsburg. This afternoon, Pam Holz, the Washington County Naturalist, came today to talk about stewardship of the land. This was a good tie-in to our unit on Soils. We began an experiment to see which of the 3 soils we have been studying is the best soil for growing cucumbers: clay, sand, or humus.
I will throw out that reminder that homework needs to be done nightly, and returned the next day. If your student doesn't have their homework at school the next day, they will do it at recess. Building responsibility is SO important!
I hope you have taken advantage of the Allentown math website and the Tumblebooks website I listed in last Friday's note. I will work on getting those links onto this blogger, but this is a new skill for me, so be patient with me.
We are finishing Unit 3 in math and will be taking the progress check tomorrow. In this unit we have begun the basics of making change, so that is a skill you can be practicing with your student. Here is the way I would suggest making change: 1) get to the closest number that ends with a 5 or 0; 2) get to the closest quarter; 3) get to the dollar; 4) count up to any other dollars. 5) Add up the change. An example of this would be: I pay $1 for something that costs 37 cents. 1) Get to the closest number that ends with a 5 or 0- that would be 3 pennies to get me to 40 cents. 2) Get to the closest quarter, (which is 50 cents) and that would be 10 cents. 3) Get to the dollar-50 more cents to get to $1. 4) No other dollars to count up to 5) Add up 3 pennies, 10 cents, and 50 cents, and that equals 63 cents. I hope this will help as you practice. Take the opportunity to use objects at home and assign them money amounts and practice counting up to $1. If your student gets good at $1, work up to $5.
Hard to believe that we are in the last full week of October-my how the time and days fly!
It was an exciting day 5 today as we played Flashlight Tag in PE to start off the day! Later on, we got to hear a story another student has written using the Harris Burdick pictures we are using. Then we started our own stories based on the pictures of Harris Burdick, a portfolio collection from author Chris Van Allsburg. This afternoon, Pam Holz, the Washington County Naturalist, came today to talk about stewardship of the land. This was a good tie-in to our unit on Soils. We began an experiment to see which of the 3 soils we have been studying is the best soil for growing cucumbers: clay, sand, or humus.
I will throw out that reminder that homework needs to be done nightly, and returned the next day. If your student doesn't have their homework at school the next day, they will do it at recess. Building responsibility is SO important!
I hope you have taken advantage of the Allentown math website and the Tumblebooks website I listed in last Friday's note. I will work on getting those links onto this blogger, but this is a new skill for me, so be patient with me.
We are finishing Unit 3 in math and will be taking the progress check tomorrow. In this unit we have begun the basics of making change, so that is a skill you can be practicing with your student. Here is the way I would suggest making change: 1) get to the closest number that ends with a 5 or 0; 2) get to the closest quarter; 3) get to the dollar; 4) count up to any other dollars. 5) Add up the change. An example of this would be: I pay $1 for something that costs 37 cents. 1) Get to the closest number that ends with a 5 or 0- that would be 3 pennies to get me to 40 cents. 2) Get to the closest quarter, (which is 50 cents) and that would be 10 cents. 3) Get to the dollar-50 more cents to get to $1. 4) No other dollars to count up to 5) Add up 3 pennies, 10 cents, and 50 cents, and that equals 63 cents. I hope this will help as you practice. Take the opportunity to use objects at home and assign them money amounts and practice counting up to $1. If your student gets good at $1, work up to $5.
Hard to believe that we are in the last full week of October-my how the time and days fly!
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