Have a Wonderful Vacation

Thank you so much for your attendance at our 12/12/12 Art/Poetry Night.
Mrs. Fornia and I had so much fun and were really proud of all the hard work our students did!

Here are some watercolor paintings of the fox from the Gingerbread Boy.

We are finishing our Gingerbread Village activity with a writing exercise.  Students have planned out a Gingerbread person that lives in their village and are writing their own Gingerbread Boy stories.

Tomorrow, students will be taking the end of unit math test for Topic 17.  They can practice tonight with the practice sheet I am sending home as homework.

As a reminder, we are not sending home December or January assessments... these will be shared with you at conference time at the end of January.

There is no spelling homework or weekly coversheet this week.

Students are also bringing home a winter fitness log and a brochure for the next session of after school classes

Today, Mrs. Chin came in and showed us some clips from the movie "Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and we talked about how Rudolf felt when he was laughed at and how to treat others nicely.  We also talked about compliments and how they make people feel.

Today, we also had an assembly titled, "Our Planet, R Choices".    In the assembly, students were encouraged to practice the four Rs:   Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.

Please check the star student schedule to the right on this blog.   There was a mix up with dates so I had to change some of the January and February Star Student weeks.

Thank you and have a wonderful vacation!

News for the Week

In Social Studies we have been learning all about maps and created our own map of a gingerbread village. 
Students worked in groups and had to plan how much space they needed for parks, water, houses, businesses, and roads then they created a map grid showing where everything in their village would be.
We are currently making our maps come to life.... creating little gingerbread houses out of milk cartons and bulding our village on sheets of 16" by 16" paper

 Our houses are starting to come together... we will be finishing our villages this week.

We have also been reading various versions of the Gingerbread Man story and are having fun comparing each of them.
We are finishing up our Pebbles, Sand and Silt unit.   Here are some pictures of the vials of sand and silt mixed with water.   We observed what happened after it had a few days to settle.

Our Nature Vision visit was a big success!  Students learned all about different types of fossils and made a fossil repleca.  Replicas can go home with students on our 12/12/12 night.

Thank you for bringing in your family cards and/or pictures!  Our class is enjoying looking at all the cards.   You can continue to bring these to school so we can add to our collection.

Winter  Music Concert:  Tuesday, 12/11/12 at 2:30 in the Commons (lunchroom).

Class Art Night:  Wednesday, 12/12/12 at 6pm in our classroom.

 

 

Congratulations to Hanako!!!  She was the winner of a random drawing from the Thanksgiving

Fitness Form Contest!

Note from the Wellness Team: 

Thanksgiving Fitness Fun Form random draw winners are K-2 Hanako M. (Subcleff/Fornia) and 3-5 Donovan H. (Davies)! Hanako and Donovan can pick up there prizes in the office tomorrow, Dec. 11. 

•  Best class participation was a fierce battle this year! Mrs. Roy's (87%) edged out Mr. Gervais's class by a mere 1%!  Mr. Sandbo will be contacting teachers to arrange the extra 1/2 hour prize play time! 

•  Christmas Fitness Forms will be going out soon! Thanks to everyone for promoting this program! 

 

 

Winter Fun News

Hi Parents,

Does your family send out a holiday card?   Does it have a picture of your children or your family on it?   We are collecting holiday cards with family photos (or just family pictures) to put up around the room.  
Your child can bring the cards/photos to school anytime between Monday and winter break.
It will be fun and festive to see all the family pictures in our room!

Special note about the 12/12/12 event:
The written invitation that went home mentioned that this was an adult and 2nd  grader only event. This is not the case!
While this is a special fancy night for your 2nd grader,  since it is an evening performance, siblings are of course invited.   We hope the whole family will enjoy this celebration of student art.
Sorry about the incorrect message on the invitation.

Thanks and see you soon!

Happy December

Dear Parents,

It was nice to see so many of you at the Grand Opening Ceremony.   We had our Modigliani-inspired self portraits on our desks for people to see.   Here they are.

On 12/12/12, you will be able to see all of your child's artwork and take the art home with you.
Students will also be performing some Reader's Theater plays for you that evening.
Please let us know if your child will not be able to make the 12/12/12 celebration.

Today we are sending home all of your child's assessments for the month of November.
Please look through them and return the empty folder.
Mrs. Fornia and I especially enjoyed reading their writing assessments this month.
As a reminder, 2nd graders are graded on a scale between 1-4 for their writing, math, and reading tests.
4:  Exceeds Standard
3:  Meets Standard
2: Approaching Standard
1:  Not at Standard
By the end of the year, students should be able to take the monthly timed math facts test
(33 problems) in 90 seconds with only 1 error to qualify for a 4.
We will not be sending home assessments for December and January.   We will be collecting all of those to share with you at your child's conference in January.

Thank you so much to Senora Womack for coming in to teach us the days of the week and the months of the year in Spanish.

Tomorrow we have our Nature Vision in class field trip.  Students will learn all about the water cycle.

Come check out the office during the month of December!   The 2nd grade artists have their Gustav Klimt trees displayed.

Weekly Update

 We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving break!    Here are a few pictures of some work we did during that short week....

Shuko led a wonderful ceramic lesson (even teaching it in Japanese!)
and Caroline gave the 2nd graders a look at our beautiful new kiln.

 Here are some pictures of what writing time ..... we were working on Thanksgiving poems and
our pieces about our names.

Today, we practiced reading our Reader's Theater plays with expression!
We also had a visit from Mrs. Chin.  She told us all about Kelso and how to identify
small or big problems.  We played a game to practice what kind of problem is a small problem and what kind of problem is a big problem that needs to be reported.
We are looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible for the Grand Opening
Celebration here tomorrow night at 6pm.   You'll get  a chance to see some more of our classroom as well as the other rooms throughout the building.

Happy Thanksgiving

Hi Parents,
Wow... what a rainy Monday we had.    We had all our recesses indoors today!     The entire 2nd grade met in the big shared space off our rooms and students were able to play games, draw, use the netbooks, and even watch a movie during lunch.   We think our shared space is a pretty fun place to spend rainy day recesses.

Due to the short week, there will be NO spelling and NO homework cover sheet.
The homework for this week is to simply read, read, read.   These rainy days are perfect for curling up with a favorite book.
Students are also bringing home TWO math sheets today.   These can be done as their math homework this week.

When we get back from Thanksgiving Break, we will begin working with numbers and patterns up to 1,000.  

Today we were treated to a fun craft led by Mrs. Zuber.   Each student made a little turkey and wrote out some things they were thankful for.

Tuesday, Mrs. Adam and Mrs. Mantooth will be in to do a little clay lesson with us!

Here are some pictures of the oil pastel artwork done by Mrs. Fornia last week. This is inspired by the work of the artist Robert Indiana.

Mrs. Fornia and I are so very thankful for our wonderful class of 2nd graders and our amazing parents.  Thank you for sending your children to school ready to learn each day.

We look forward to seeing everyone for the school's open house on Tuesday, Nov. 27th at 6pm and then again for our evening showcase on 12/12/12 at 6pm.

Monday Update

Hi Parents,
We hope you enjoy these delicious sandwiches with everything on them!    They were inspired by artist Claus Oldenburg.... he creates giant sculptures and pieces of art that are full of humor and surprise....just like our sandwiches.

Thank you to Mrs. Zuber for reading us two tantalizing books about crazy sandwiches.   That got us in the mood to create!

Today, we read about how the character Gooney Bird Greene got her name and started brainstorming ways to write about what our names mean to us.

Students may be asking you the following questions:
1.  How did you pick my name?
2.  What other names were you thinking of giving me?
3.  Does my name have a special meaning?

We will be organzing our ideas in a pre-write, and then we will be writing paragraphs to create an essay about our names.   The more information they have... the better!

Thank you to everyone who brought in yellow ribbons for our Veteran's Day Wall.  

Art/Social Studies: We looked at images of different urban skylines. The children noticed the different sizes and shapes of the buildings and the rooftops. They they created a skyline with chalk pastel.

SAVE THE DATE for our class's winter art night.... which we are calling our.....Night of 12s.  
Each student has 12 pieces of art to share, 12 lines of poetry, and some other special surprises......
On Wednesday,  12/12/12, at 6:00pm (1/2 of 12!).... we would like to invite you to a showcase of 2nd grade work.    

Student/Parent Email:   We are excited to start this new Friday writing routine...students will begin emailing with parents!  A letter was sent home regarding the guidelines for email use. Please email your child by Friday so they can capture your email address.

Book Orders:   Book orders have been placed. Expect the books in 2-3 weeks.

Science:  We screened different sizes of rocks to separate gravel, pebbles, and sand.

Social Studies:   We are learning about community leaders and how they are people who help make important decisions.  We learned how people choose leaders and election days.

Good-bye to Jacob:  Our classmate Jacob S is moving with his family to Sweden.   His last day with us is this Friday.   We will be making him a special book and giving him a special good-bye on Friday.

Thank you!    Our Halloween party was a huge success!!  Thank you to Caroline, Stacey, Tami, Michelle, Kristen, Molly, Shuko, Nela, Carrie, Alissa, and Jasmina!   All you parents helped make this party a great success.
Thank you also to Faith's grandmother, who came in and read us a spooky story during snack time.   We enjoyed hearing her read aloud.

And finally....One of the reasons we love teaching second grade is because of the great conversations that we have with the kids! The following conversations occurred during literacy centers on Friday:

Mrs. Fornia: “What animals do you see on the cover of this African safari book?

Ava: “A Cantaloupe!!”

Mrs. Fornia: “You know cantaloupes are a type of fruit..”

Ava:  “Yeah, I know! A Cantaloupe is also a type of animal!” (referring to an antelope!)

 

Mrs. Fornia: “Why do you think hippos spend so much time in the water?”

Lillie: “Because they are hiding from creditors!” (referring to predators.)

 

These kids make us smile every day!

Weekly Update

Hi Parents,

Here's a look at what has been happening this past week....

Art:
We learned about the artist Paul Cezanne and how he is famous for his still life paintings. In his work, we noticed the variety of colors he created by mixing paints. We learned about mixing primarty colors to create secondary colors. Here are our painted pumpkin still lifes:

Guest Teachers:
 Last Wednesay, Shuko came in and taught us a great lesson about Japan!   Ask your child if they remember how to count to 5.

 Tomorrow, Marienela comes in to teach us more Spanish.  We are so excited to have these special guests teach in our room.

Halloween:
Our party is from 1:10-2pm on Wednesday.    We will be changing into our costumes AFTER first recess (11AM).   We would love some parent help at this time too.  The parade starts at 11:15.  Thank you to all our parents who are helping with this.

Social Studies: We finished studying the types of communities, and students chose their favorites. Here is a sample of what they chose:
Luke: My favorite type of community is RURAL because I like to be around animals
Emie: My favorite type of community is URBAN because the city is nice to look at.
Jordan: My favorite type of community is SUBURBAN because it has lots of homes for families.
Carson: My favorite type of community is URBAN because there are lots of restaurants.

In our next social studies unit, we will be learning that geography is the study of our planet - its land, water, and people.

Spelling: We added a tab at the top of this blog with our weekly spelling lists. If for some reason you can't find your paper copy of the list, now you can find it on our blog.

Monthly Assessment Update:  During September conferences, Mrs. Fornia and I shared with you our assessments that we had given your child in September.  These assessments helped us to make goals for the year. 

Each month, we will be assessing your child's reading, writing, and math skills in a variety of ways.  This offers us immediate feedback as to what skills we need to focus on for your child to have maximum growth this year.

At the end of each month, we will send home some of these assessments in the clear plastic envelope you sent to school at the beginning of the year so that you can also see how your child is doing.  You may keep these assessments and simply send back the empty envelope.

We will be sending home our October assessments with your child at the end of this week.

Here is a list of the assessments you will see coming home at the end of  each month:
Math:   Timed math facts quiz (your child is aiming to complete 33 problems in 90 seconds!), Any topic tests, Any daily quick checks that were recorded in the gradebook
Writing:  Our monthly writing assessment
Reading:  Our monthly reading comprehension assessment



Have a great week,
Erin and Janna

Monday Update

Hi Parents,

Here's what we've been working on this past week:

Weekly Art Lesson:
Here are some pictures of our watercolor and spooky silhouette projects.   

 
Math:
We started timed tests. The children were assessed and placed at a math level accordingly. A packet came home last Friday with the timed test levels. Please keep the packet so that your child will know which facts to study when they progress to a new level. They will be tested every other week. We could use another parent volunteer every other Friday or Monday for 15-20 minutes to support us with this program so that we can give the timed test weekly. Please let us know if you are interested! 

 
Technology/Writing: 
 The children are continually working on their PowerPoint projects on their Netbooks. They are gathering information on animal predators from their National Geographic magazine. Make sure to ask them about Great White Sharks, Crocodiles and the Preying Mantis!

Poetry Tuesdays:
So far, we have learned how to write 4 different types of poems.   Here are a few examples of our work:

Science:
 We have been looking at the properties of rocks and sorting rocks into groups. This week we will use different sizes of screens to sort river rocks based on their size. Many kids are enjoying our Rock Identification book. We have quite the assorted rock collection!

Book Orders:
We are collecting book orders until October 31st. You can order online  or send in a check made out to Scholastic. Orders will be placed November 1st.   Thank you so much for ordering books this year.   With every book you order, our class earns points towards classroom books.    We are excited about filling our Imaginarium with lots of great books.

Halloween Party:
Thank you to our Halloween Party planning crew! Caroline, Stacey, Michelle, and Molly have a great party planned for us from 1:10-2pm (the very last section of the day after lunch). Our school parade will be from 11:15 until 11:45. Students may change into costumes at 11:00. If you are available to assist students in putting on their costumes, we'd love to have you join us at 11.

School Grand Opening/ Ribbon Cutting:
Nov. 27th from 6-7pm. This looks to be a fantastic event. Our school is also holding a 'Design a Flyer' contest for students. all entries must be available in an electronic copy.   Entries dues by Oct. 30th.

Reflections Art: Entries due this Friday! The theme is Magic of the Moment.

Lastly.... a big thank you to our parents who have been acting as special guest teachers!    Last week, Layton's mom gave us a lesson on Spanish numbers. Coming soon.... Hanako's mom will be giving us a Japanese lesson!

 Today, Jordan's mom read the class a book and led them in a clay activity.  Students brought home their clay today.

Have a wonderful week!
Erin and Janna