Remember that this week is the end of Unit 1 so we will not have a spelling test this week. Your child will receive a new Unit 2 Spelling list in their binder by the end of this week. We will have a Unit 1 Test this week that will be a review of all the skills we have learned in Reading and Grammar so far.
Your child brought home a Social Studies activity for a Community Project in their binder last week. It has your child's assigned place on it.
Information about the Fall Festival and the wrist bands and t-shirts also came home last week.
If you are planning on joining us for any of the field trips this year please make sure you turn in the background check form that came home at the beginning of the school year. We are hoping to get our first field trip to Lanark finalized soon.
We will have a Math Test on Chapter 2 Thursday. Make sure your child is comfortable with the review sheet that will come home Wednesday for homework.
Please email me with any questions you may have. Have a super week!
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Class Pet
I am sure you have heard that our class fish Blue Bell is no longer with us. If one of you would like to pick out a new Beta Fish for us to have as a pet please let me know. Your child may name the fish for us. We have the fish tank clean and ready.
I need your help with two very important things. The first thing is regarding check outs during the day. If at all possible, please schedule appointments as late in the day as you can. I know sometimes we have to take the time we are given, but if you have a choice please make it as late as you can. It really hurts your child to miss Math in the afternoon. If you can schedule at 2:00 or later that would be very helpful. The other thing I need your help with is conduct. If your child brings home a conduct sheet I really need your help at home with enforcing the importance of following the classroom rules. We are a very social class, and we are learning the correct time to talk during our school day. If your child is talking during instruction it is going to hinder them from learning, along with their classmates. I have given much grace and reminders regarding this, but we have been in school now long enough to understand the correct time to visit. I am also in the middle of making some changes to our seating arrangements in the room. I am going to do everything possible to create the best learning environment for your child. Thank you so much for your help with both of these things.
Your child brought home a very important piece of paper this past Thursday. It gives you information on how to check on your child's AR progress as well as Math Facts info. As a parent, I absolutely love to receive emails telling me that my child took an AR test and what they made on it. This is a great way to stay updated on your child's progress with AR. I have been very pleased at how well we are doing in the classroom. If you feel like you need to read and quiz your child on their library book before they test just send me an email and let me know you would like to send a post it on the book before they test on it. Please remind your child to bring their library books back to school every day.
I can't seem to give the kids enough time to work on Math Facts in a Flash. I have a feeling that the Math Store has a lot to do with their motivation, but I am impressed regardless. I wanted you to know that I do set up a schedule to make sure that every child gets on Math Facts when we do it as a class. I wish we had more time and computers to do it more often. Remember that your child can practice at home, but can't do the actual testing unless they are at school.
If your child didn't bring in a yellow folder at the beginning of the year, they need one. We keep important information and passwords for testing in this folder. The kids also take the folder with them each time they go to the library.
I will be out of the classroom this Friday to attend a conference in Birmingham. Mrs. Pinel with be with the kids. She has been working at Blount for many years and she knows exactly how we do things in Room 124. Your child will be in very good hands.
I need your help with two very important things. The first thing is regarding check outs during the day. If at all possible, please schedule appointments as late in the day as you can. I know sometimes we have to take the time we are given, but if you have a choice please make it as late as you can. It really hurts your child to miss Math in the afternoon. If you can schedule at 2:00 or later that would be very helpful. The other thing I need your help with is conduct. If your child brings home a conduct sheet I really need your help at home with enforcing the importance of following the classroom rules. We are a very social class, and we are learning the correct time to talk during our school day. If your child is talking during instruction it is going to hinder them from learning, along with their classmates. I have given much grace and reminders regarding this, but we have been in school now long enough to understand the correct time to visit. I am also in the middle of making some changes to our seating arrangements in the room. I am going to do everything possible to create the best learning environment for your child. Thank you so much for your help with both of these things.
Your child brought home a very important piece of paper this past Thursday. It gives you information on how to check on your child's AR progress as well as Math Facts info. As a parent, I absolutely love to receive emails telling me that my child took an AR test and what they made on it. This is a great way to stay updated on your child's progress with AR. I have been very pleased at how well we are doing in the classroom. If you feel like you need to read and quiz your child on their library book before they test just send me an email and let me know you would like to send a post it on the book before they test on it. Please remind your child to bring their library books back to school every day.
I can't seem to give the kids enough time to work on Math Facts in a Flash. I have a feeling that the Math Store has a lot to do with their motivation, but I am impressed regardless. I wanted you to know that I do set up a schedule to make sure that every child gets on Math Facts when we do it as a class. I wish we had more time and computers to do it more often. Remember that your child can practice at home, but can't do the actual testing unless they are at school.
If your child didn't bring in a yellow folder at the beginning of the year, they need one. We keep important information and passwords for testing in this folder. The kids also take the folder with them each time they go to the library.
I will be out of the classroom this Friday to attend a conference in Birmingham. Mrs. Pinel with be with the kids. She has been working at Blount for many years and she knows exactly how we do things in Room 124. Your child will be in very good hands.
THE JUST GIVE CAMPAIGN IS GOING GREAT! Thank you for all your support.
 |
| JUST GIVE |
Story this week: The Strongest One
Genre: Play
Phonics: Consonant Digraphs
Comprehension Skill: Realism and Fantasy
Comprehension Strategy: Monitor and Fix Up
Grammar: Commands and Exclamations
Math: Place Value
Our Dirt Babies are growing like wild so you may see them this week. If they do come home, your child will have directions on dressing the dirt baby, giving it a hair cut, and bringing it back in to share the next week. We'll see how they look around the middle of the week. Don't forget to "wash" their hair in water if they do come home. We don't want any hair to turn brown.
We are going to be learning about our community in Social Studies. Your child is going to bring home an assignment to take a picture and document one place in our community. We will be putting all of our places together to make a class book.
Please email me if you have any questions or concerns. Have a super week!
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Put On your Seatbelts...
We have a very busy academic week ahead of us.
I have a great big thank-you to give to the moms of Ethan, James, and Reagan! These amazing ladies came in and helped each child make their own dirt baby last week. I will post a slideshow of our fun time together. I am sure you have all heard all about your child's dirty baby. My favorite quote from that day happened when when we were watering them good before putting them in the window to get some sun. When I handed a child her dirt baby, she leaned over and kissed the top of the dirt head and said, "I love you my dirt child!" Oh, how I love spending my day with your precious children! :)
I want to give you a heads-up that once the dirt babies grow a lot of "hair" they will come home with your child to be dressed up as anything your child would like. Then they will bring them back to share with the class.
The JUST GIVE campaign is going great. I wanted to make sure you understand that the money doesn't have to be turned in until November 1st. The only thing your child needs to turn in right now is the sheet saying whether or not your child will be bringing in money. The money is based on donations, and all of the money will go toward the school. Even if your child isn't bringing in money, they still need to return the sheet. If we were doing fund raisers Blount would only receive a small percentange. Hopefully this campaign will replace fund raisers for us this year. I know as a parent, I love this idea! Your child may ask grandparents or anybody else that may be interested in helping our school.
I will be sending home several Scholastic book orders Monday. If you want to order, they are due by this Friday, September 21st. I will also include a letter letting you know how to order online if you would like. If you are more comfortable filling out the forms and sending them in, that is fine also. Please remember that you only have to send in one check to Scholastic even if you order from several different ones. I will place the order Friday afternoon so please don't send any in after Friday. Also, only send a check to Scholastic. I can't mail them cash.
I know some of you are still waiting on Spirit Wear and books from the author visit. I will get those to your child as soon as they are given to me. I believe we are waiting on an order to come in for more Spirit Wear. They are very quick about getting those passed out once they have them.
Your child will bring home a Science Vocabulary study guide Monday. Please have them review it for a test Tuesday. We will play a big review game Monday that will have them very familiar with these vocabulary words. Please review the words with your child Monday night to make sure they are prepared. There are only 8 words, and these are already very familiar to them.
If our schedule goes as planned, we will be ready to test on Chapter 1 in Math this Wednesday. Your child will bring home a review sheet for homework Tuesday night. Please make sure he or she is very comfortable with it in order to be prepared for the test.
Our Social Studies map test will be this Friday. This test will be on the 7 continents and 4 bodies of water. Your child brought home a study guide map to prepare for this test a while back.
Shew, I told you we have a busy week! :)
Story: A Walk in the Desert
Genre: Expository Nonfiction
Phonics: Inflected Endings
Comprehension Skill: Main Idea and Details
Coprehension Strategy: Text Structure
Grammar: Statement and Questions
Please email me if you have any questions or concerns. Have a super week!!
I have a great big thank-you to give to the moms of Ethan, James, and Reagan! These amazing ladies came in and helped each child make their own dirt baby last week. I will post a slideshow of our fun time together. I am sure you have all heard all about your child's dirty baby. My favorite quote from that day happened when when we were watering them good before putting them in the window to get some sun. When I handed a child her dirt baby, she leaned over and kissed the top of the dirt head and said, "I love you my dirt child!" Oh, how I love spending my day with your precious children! :)
I want to give you a heads-up that once the dirt babies grow a lot of "hair" they will come home with your child to be dressed up as anything your child would like. Then they will bring them back to share with the class.
The JUST GIVE campaign is going great. I wanted to make sure you understand that the money doesn't have to be turned in until November 1st. The only thing your child needs to turn in right now is the sheet saying whether or not your child will be bringing in money. The money is based on donations, and all of the money will go toward the school. Even if your child isn't bringing in money, they still need to return the sheet. If we were doing fund raisers Blount would only receive a small percentange. Hopefully this campaign will replace fund raisers for us this year. I know as a parent, I love this idea! Your child may ask grandparents or anybody else that may be interested in helping our school.
I will be sending home several Scholastic book orders Monday. If you want to order, they are due by this Friday, September 21st. I will also include a letter letting you know how to order online if you would like. If you are more comfortable filling out the forms and sending them in, that is fine also. Please remember that you only have to send in one check to Scholastic even if you order from several different ones. I will place the order Friday afternoon so please don't send any in after Friday. Also, only send a check to Scholastic. I can't mail them cash.
I know some of you are still waiting on Spirit Wear and books from the author visit. I will get those to your child as soon as they are given to me. I believe we are waiting on an order to come in for more Spirit Wear. They are very quick about getting those passed out once they have them.
Your child will bring home a Science Vocabulary study guide Monday. Please have them review it for a test Tuesday. We will play a big review game Monday that will have them very familiar with these vocabulary words. Please review the words with your child Monday night to make sure they are prepared. There are only 8 words, and these are already very familiar to them.
If our schedule goes as planned, we will be ready to test on Chapter 1 in Math this Wednesday. Your child will bring home a review sheet for homework Tuesday night. Please make sure he or she is very comfortable with it in order to be prepared for the test.
Our Social Studies map test will be this Friday. This test will be on the 7 continents and 4 bodies of water. Your child brought home a study guide map to prepare for this test a while back.
Shew, I told you we have a busy week! :)
Story: A Walk in the Desert
Genre: Expository Nonfiction
Phonics: Inflected Endings
Comprehension Skill: Main Idea and Details
Coprehension Strategy: Text Structure
Grammar: Statement and Questions
Please email me if you have any questions or concerns. Have a super week!!
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Fall is in the Air!
Wow! I sure do hope everybody has enjoyed this beautiful day with your family.
We have a busy week coming up in Room 124.
Please don't forget about our first PTA General Membership Meeting this Tuesday at 6:00. I will give your child a homework free evening to make it easier for you to be there. The PTA will also have Carraba's there with dinner for only $6.00 a plate. They have made it super easy for us to all be there. Your child brought home a yellow sheet with the menu, and it sounds delicious! I hope to see you all there. Also, be on the lookout for information to come home about our Just Give campaign. We attended a Pep Rally Friday afternoon so I feel pretty sure that your child had a lot to tell you about it. Our PTA goes above and beyond to do everything they possibly can to help make our children and our school the best.
I would love to have some help from two parents this Thursday at 10:30 for an hour. We are going to make our dirty babies. We will be going to lunch right after that if you would like to help and then eat lunch with your child. Speaking of lunch, you are ALWAYS welcome to come and join your child for lunch. Our lunch time is 11:25. A great big thank-you to the Fallesen family for providing our soil. Get ready parents, you are going to hear a whole lot about your child's "baby"!
Your child brought home a map with the 7 Continents and 4 bodies of water this past Friday. We will test on them the week of September 17th. They are only responsible for knowing where they go on the map. They do not need to know how to spell the words. The words will be provided for them.
We are going to start working into our reading groups this week. We learned about our literacy stations last week and practiced with each one.
Your child does not have their ZPD reading range yet. We had half of our class that had to go and retake the STAR test Friday. There was a problem with the program when they tested in the lab with Mrs. Brand the first time, so she had them retake it. Hopefully we will have those ranges this week.
Please don't forget to label money when you send it in. If you are sending lunch money it would be very helpful to have your child's lunch number and name on it.
Story this week: Henry and Mudge and the Starry Night
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Phonics: Consonant Blends
Comprehension Skill: Character and Setting
Comprehension Strategy: Monitor and Fix Up
Grammar: Predicates
Math: Place Value
Gearing up for a SUPER week in 2nd Grade!!
We have a busy week coming up in Room 124.
Please don't forget about our first PTA General Membership Meeting this Tuesday at 6:00. I will give your child a homework free evening to make it easier for you to be there. The PTA will also have Carraba's there with dinner for only $6.00 a plate. They have made it super easy for us to all be there. Your child brought home a yellow sheet with the menu, and it sounds delicious! I hope to see you all there. Also, be on the lookout for information to come home about our Just Give campaign. We attended a Pep Rally Friday afternoon so I feel pretty sure that your child had a lot to tell you about it. Our PTA goes above and beyond to do everything they possibly can to help make our children and our school the best.
I would love to have some help from two parents this Thursday at 10:30 for an hour. We are going to make our dirty babies. We will be going to lunch right after that if you would like to help and then eat lunch with your child. Speaking of lunch, you are ALWAYS welcome to come and join your child for lunch. Our lunch time is 11:25. A great big thank-you to the Fallesen family for providing our soil. Get ready parents, you are going to hear a whole lot about your child's "baby"!
Your child brought home a map with the 7 Continents and 4 bodies of water this past Friday. We will test on them the week of September 17th. They are only responsible for knowing where they go on the map. They do not need to know how to spell the words. The words will be provided for them.
We are going to start working into our reading groups this week. We learned about our literacy stations last week and practiced with each one.
Your child does not have their ZPD reading range yet. We had half of our class that had to go and retake the STAR test Friday. There was a problem with the program when they tested in the lab with Mrs. Brand the first time, so she had them retake it. Hopefully we will have those ranges this week.
Please don't forget to label money when you send it in. If you are sending lunch money it would be very helpful to have your child's lunch number and name on it.
Story this week: Henry and Mudge and the Starry Night
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Phonics: Consonant Blends
Comprehension Skill: Character and Setting
Comprehension Strategy: Monitor and Fix Up
Grammar: Predicates
Math: Place Value
Gearing up for a SUPER week in 2nd Grade!!
Monday, September 3, 2012
Happy Labor Day!
I appreciate you all taking time out of your very busy lives to come to the cluster conferences last week. I love to do those right away so we are all on the same page with 2nd grade.
I want to clarify something that I believe I told one of my groups incorrectly regarding the pre-test for Spelling. When we have a Holiday on a Monday we will take the pre-test that Tuesday. So tomorrow we will take a pre-test on our spelling words. If your child is sick on a Monday they will just wait until that Friday to take their spelling test.
If I sent any missing forms home with your child last week, please send those back as soon as possible so I can get them turned into the office. Also, please send in the Time for Kids and Scholastic checks as soon as you can. I would love to get all of that taken care of this week. Thank you.
I sent home a Parent Letter with your child Friday that tells you how to access your child's Pearson Success account for our Reading test. I am so happy to tell you that we took our Reading test Friday and all keyed in our answers on the computer successfully. I will continue to monitor the kids as they do this until they are all comfortable with it. I was very pleased with the grades for our first test. I will be putting in a baseline test that the kids took the first week of school for Reading. I want you to know that this is just a baseline assessment to see where your child is at the beginning of the year. It is not a grade that is counted against them.
We started sharing our -About Me- posters Friday and we will finish sharing them Tuesday. The kids are doing an excellent job presenting them to the class, and we have all enjoyed getting to know each other better.
Your child will receive a study guide for learning the seven continents and four bodies of water this week. They do not need to learn how to spell them, they just need to recognize them and know where they go on the map. We will work on these for a while before testing. I just wanted you to have a heads-up.
Please don't forget to look for homework to come home tomorrow written down in your child's binder for the whole week.
We have a science project coming up that will require a large amount of potting soil. If any of you would like to send a large bag in please shoot me an email. I already have the other items. Thank you!
Your child will take the STAR assessment this week in order to get their reading range for their library books. Once we know their ZPD they may check out books on their level and take AR test on them. You will receive a print out letting you know how your child did on the STAR assessment.
Story this week: Expring Space With an Astronaut
Genre: Expository Nonfiction
Phonics: Long Vowels CVCe
Comp. Skill: Main Idea and Details
Comp. Strategy: Text Structure
Grammar: Subjects
Math: Number Concepts
Please email me if you have any questions or cocerns.
Have a super week!
I want to clarify something that I believe I told one of my groups incorrectly regarding the pre-test for Spelling. When we have a Holiday on a Monday we will take the pre-test that Tuesday. So tomorrow we will take a pre-test on our spelling words. If your child is sick on a Monday they will just wait until that Friday to take their spelling test.
If I sent any missing forms home with your child last week, please send those back as soon as possible so I can get them turned into the office. Also, please send in the Time for Kids and Scholastic checks as soon as you can. I would love to get all of that taken care of this week. Thank you.
I sent home a Parent Letter with your child Friday that tells you how to access your child's Pearson Success account for our Reading test. I am so happy to tell you that we took our Reading test Friday and all keyed in our answers on the computer successfully. I will continue to monitor the kids as they do this until they are all comfortable with it. I was very pleased with the grades for our first test. I will be putting in a baseline test that the kids took the first week of school for Reading. I want you to know that this is just a baseline assessment to see where your child is at the beginning of the year. It is not a grade that is counted against them.
We started sharing our -About Me- posters Friday and we will finish sharing them Tuesday. The kids are doing an excellent job presenting them to the class, and we have all enjoyed getting to know each other better.
Your child will receive a study guide for learning the seven continents and four bodies of water this week. They do not need to learn how to spell them, they just need to recognize them and know where they go on the map. We will work on these for a while before testing. I just wanted you to have a heads-up.
Please don't forget to look for homework to come home tomorrow written down in your child's binder for the whole week.
We have a science project coming up that will require a large amount of potting soil. If any of you would like to send a large bag in please shoot me an email. I already have the other items. Thank you!
Your child will take the STAR assessment this week in order to get their reading range for their library books. Once we know their ZPD they may check out books on their level and take AR test on them. You will receive a print out letting you know how your child did on the STAR assessment.
Story this week: Expring Space With an Astronaut
Genre: Expository Nonfiction
Phonics: Long Vowels CVCe
Comp. Skill: Main Idea and Details
Comp. Strategy: Text Structure
Grammar: Subjects
Math: Number Concepts
Please email me if you have any questions or cocerns.
Have a super week!
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