Class News, by Olivia and Audra

We have played "Around the World".  Whoever makes it around the circle first wins.  (This is a math game that we play with flashcards.)  Mrs. Pelkey reads aloud to us.  She is reading a Magic tree House book called "Haunted Castle on Hallows Eve".  So far we are on chapter 5, The Ghost.  There is a floating bone.   On Monday we are going to have a party.  We will watch a movie.  We will have snacks.           ~  by Olivia

We have a new Promethean Board.  We have been playing math games.  We added by dragging chips to the empty spaces.  We also learned about doubles by watching a movie.  It's about shells and animals.  They are in doubles.  (We use BrainPop Jr. to watch videos and take quizzes on topics such as addition and doubles.) On Monday we are having a pajama day!              ~ by Audra

Pumpkin Carving

Check out this website at home.  We were able to use our Promethean Board to virtually carve jack-o-lanterns.

 http://www.abcya.com/pumpkin_carving.htm

Upcoming Events

A notice on blue paper is coming home Thursday with this same information.

Food Drive Run by Second Grade

As part of a community and Neighborhood unit, our class has been talking about how to be a good citizen.  Some of our ideas have included: cleaning up litter, planting trees, and being nice to neighbors.  Our class, along with Mrs. Lent's class, have decided to run a Food Drive for students in grades PreK - 2.  The second grade students will be in charge of collecting, counting, and graphing the donated foods.  The Food Drive will run from October 31 - November 4.  All donations will be given to a local Food Shelf.


Halloween Party

We will have a classroom Halloween party on Monday, October 31.  We will watch a movie, play games, and enjoy Halloween treats in the afternoon.  (Please still pack a healthy snack for morning snack time.)  We will also have Pajama Day that day!  Please be sure to still have appropriate clothes for outside recess.
Donations for our Halloween Party are welcome!  Please bring in whatever you can.  Later in the year we will have other celebrations where I will be asking for particular items. Please note  that we have 18 students, so whatever you bring, please bring 18 of the same thing.

Promethean Board, by Emily and Aliah

We got a Promethean Board.  Mason was the first one to use it.  It is very cool.  We do calendar on it always unless there's a sub.  Mrs. Pelkey keeps on getting frustrated when it doesn't work how she wants it to.  The Promethean Board has to have a laptop hooked up to it and a projector.  The first time Mrs. Pelkey used the Promethean Board, everyone yelled and screamed so I asked them if they would stop. The Promethean Board is big like the white board.  We use a special pen or our finger (to move things or write).  Mrs. Pelkey has a remote to turn it on.  We like our Promethean Board because we do a lot of fun stuff.  We play math games.  We can't use white board markers and crayons on it. 

~  by Emily

I am having lots of fun with the Promethean Board.  I loved the Google Earth.  When we first got the computer, everybody was so excited.  I was too.  So we went on Google Earth.  Everybody was screaming.  I put up the quiet sign.  I was very excited.
On our Promethean Board, we have done drawing, we have done addition, we have done Google Earth.  We all took turns.  We are all going to use it again.

~  by Aliah

News From the Teacher...

Hello Families!
I hope that many of you are checking in to see updates on what's happening in our classroom.  We have also started having "student bloggers".  Any student who wants to will have a chance to add to our class blog.


Our Promethean Board is installed and in use.  (Promethean, I learned, is the brand name of our interactive white board.  I was wrong to call it a SMARTboard -- another brand name.)  I am learning all about it while using it with the class.  You can imagine what an experience that is!  So far we are using "Promethean Paul" (our cute name for it) during Morning Meeting.  We  do calendar, base 10 counting, and money every day.  I have also found ways to use the board with interactive math games, and during a mini-lesson for Writing Workshop.  Our children are very lucky to be growing up in an age of technology!


In math we are working on addition within 20.  It is very important to be fluent in these facts, as it will help us in other math concepts.  We are practicing strategies besides just counting up to get the sum.  One strategy we have used is thinking of doubles or "close to doubles".  For example: 5+7 can be thought of as 5+5+2.  10 plus 2 can be calculated much faster than starting with 7 and counting up 5.  Students are exposed to a variety of strategies.  The hope is that each student will find what works best for them.


In Social Studies, we are working on mapping and community.  To go along with the idea of community, we are discussing being a good citizen.  Information will be coming home soon about our classroom community service project.


I will be out on Tuesday, October 19.  I am attending a workshop on teaching about Maine Native Americans.  This will be the second workshop I have attended on this topic.  In the spring we will have a unit on Maine and Maine Native Americans.


You may have noticed there is no homework this week.  That's my fault -- I've spent so much time learning about the Promethean board, I forgot to gather and copy materials for homework!  Feel free to torture your child with extra work at home anyway :)  Tell them I said it was OK ;)

Reading and Writing, by Josie

In Mrs. Pelkey's class we have been working on vowels and consonants.  We also have vocabulary.  We have just ended a theme in reading called "Silly Stories" and now we are working on poems.

Class News, by Sara and Zach

Big Reading Books     by Sara

In our class everybody has something called a Big Reading Book.  It has amazing facts and stories.  We are going to start a new theme called "Nature Walk".  The stories in "Nature Walk" are: Henry and Mudge and the Starry Night, Exploring Parks with Ranger Dockett, and Around the Pond: Who's Been Here?


Math   by Zach

We are doing story problems in math class.

More News

* No school Monday, October 11 (Columbus Day), and Tuesday, October 12 (Teacher Workshop Day).
* Book Orders are due October 13.  Please make checks payable to Scholastic.
* We are getting a SMART Board in our classroom!  I'm so excited!  We have a lot to learn about how they work.  Go to YouTube and watch some videos about SMART Boards -- you'll be amazed at what they can do!!!  More to come on this in future postings.