100th Day of School

On Wednesday, February 11 we celebrated the 100th Day of School.  Students in our class created "100 Day" books, highlighting things like what they would eat 100 of, what they would buy with $100, and what they wish they had 100 of.  They also discovered that they could write 100 words (and more!).  

Math activities included filling in a 100 Chart, playing a game called "Collect $1.00", and making a display that shows 100 Ways to Make 100.

* Don't Forget *

On Friday, February 13 we will have a classroom Valentine celebration, including healthy snacks (thanks for the donations!) and an optional Valentine exchange.

As a reward for meeting our class goal on our behavior clip chart, students are also allowed to bring in a small stuffed animal for the day to join in the celebrating :)

February Homework

The snow days have really thrown me off!  I am not sending any homework home this week (February 3 - 6).  I also will not be able to send home the February Reading Calendar and Reading Log until later this week or next week.  Please just continue to read for at least 20 minutes each day (don't worry about keeping track of the titles you read without a Reading Log). 

Also, if you have math facts to work on (from the letter sent home last week), please continue to work on those.

Report Cards

Due to the two snow days this week, report cards will not be going home until Monday, February 2.  This gives teachers time to input grades in our Web2School system, and gives office staff time to print drafts for proofing, as well as any time needed for fixing up mistakes before final copies are printed.

Thank you for your patience.  As always, I will be happy to talk to you about any particular questions or concerns you may have.

January News

The first week of January flew by so quick!  This month brings us new units to explore in math and writing.  While we will continue to work with money, adding and subtracting, and telling time, we will also explore a unit in math on data analysis.  Students will learn how to read and interpret data, as well as how to collect data and make representations of their results.

In writing workshop we have just completed our unit on Information Texts, and will begin to learn how to write opinion pieces.  So far this year, second graders have really risen to the challenge of our new writing program.  I am excited to see where the Opinion Writing unit will take us!

Reading Response

The purpose of our Reading Responses is not only to get students thinking about their reading, but also to encourage students to talk about good books as they present their Responses to their peers.  I am incredibly pleased at the level of conversation that takes place around the books that students in our class are reading!  The passion for a good story ends up spreading to others and students find themselves reading and enjoying books that they might not have noticed otherwise.  Thank you, families, for supporting your child's reading - and responding to reading - at home!  It is quite evident how literacy rich this classroom is.

Mark Your Calendars

Monday, January 19 -- No School

Celebrations

Our K-4 Winter Concert is Monday, December 22 at 1:00 pm. Please join us as our students celebrate winter with song.

On Tuesday, December 23, we will have a classroom party. You do not need to bring anything in – I will provide a small snack.

I hope you all have a happy and safe Christmas!

Dates to Remember

Newsletters and other notices have come home, but December is a busy month so I want to remind families of some important dates:

Tuesday, December 16 - 'Twas the Night Before Christmas
                                        book celebration day
                                        (students may wear pajamas)

Monday, December 22 - Winter Concert for grades K-4 at 1:00

Tuesday, December 23 - Noon dismissal

Car Ramps and Catapults

Writing Workshop is looking a lot like science class these days! Working with the concepts of simple machines and forces and motion, we are learning to write like scientists.  Instead of stories, we are writing "Lab Reports".  We are using scientific ideas such as question, hypothesis, procedure, results, and conclusion to write in a way that will inform our readers.  

In order to write like a scientist, we need to be scientists!  So far we have performed experiments that involve the distance a toy car will travel off a ramp on tile floor and on carpet; and the distances a ping-pong ball and cotton ball will travel when shot out of a catapult.

It is a shared opinion in our class that science and writing are fun!