Congratulations to our class spelling bee finalists:   Zoe, Faith, Oliver, and Emie.
Our two runners up are Luke and Grant!   Congratulations actually go to everyone.  We noticed how hard everyone was studying for this fun event.   Our All-Second Grade Bee is this Thursday at 2:30 in the Commons.

This Thursday is a big day!   In addition to the 2nd Grade Bee....we have our Book Rodeo during the day and or school-wide evening Math Night.  We hope everyone is able to attend math night, it looks to be a very fun and educational event.

In Science, we are beginning balance and motion this week. This week we will use counter balances to help balance  objects.

Today, we started working on how to better add details to our writing.  Writing without details leaves too many unanswered questions and makes writing fuzzy.   They worked with a partner to ask each other questions about a time they made a big mess.   Here are some pictures of our writing pairs.

The Sandburg PTA Skate Party is tomorrow, Feb. 26  from 6-8pm at Skate King.

Permission slip with parent/guardian signature is required to participate. Bring signed permission slips to SKATE KING not to school.  Permission slips will come home in your child's mail before the event, extras can be found in the office.

 General Information

Tickets will be available at the door $6.00 per skater.

• Roller blade rentals available from Skate King for an additional fee per skater.
• Payment can be made by cash or check only. Checks are to be made payable to Carl Sandburg PTSA.
• Sorry, no debit/credit cards accepted.
• Adults not skating get in free.
• Skate rentals are included in this price; no discounts for providing your own skates.
• Skate King coupons may not be used.
• No outside food 

Skate King will have the snack bar open to buy drinks and snacks.Mrs. Fornia and I will be sending home all the assessments for the month of February on Monday, March.  4th.    In that packet, you will find math quick checks, math tests, writing assessments, and a reading comprehension assessment for this month.  We also included our Winter and Spring Writing Grading Rubric and the Math Basic Facts Levels that go with our weekly timed math tests.

Welcome Back

Dear Parents,
We had a wonderful in class field trip from Nature Vision (our second visit).  This time, we learned all about the water cycle.  Ask your child to perform the water cycle boogie for you!

Community Research:
We began our powerpoint projects today!  Students learned so many great things about their location.  We will continue to work on these in class and then students will get a chance to share their presentations with the class.  You are welcome to send in photographs.... please email them straight to your child.  We are teaching them how to open picture attachments and save them to their files.

Math:
As your students practices their math facts every Wednesday (either with flash cards, one of our computer choices, or just orally with you), you should start adding in subtraction problems.   We are doing so well with our addition facts!   Now, we would like to focus on getting faster and stronger with subtraction facts.   We are sending home some subtraction worksheets this week as math homework as well.

Spelling Bee:
Our class bee is THIS  FRIDAY.   The top 4 spellers from our room will go against the top 4 spellers from the other 2nd grade rooms on Thursday, Feb. 28th.

Your second grader is bringing home a flyer for Sandburg Family Math Night.  There will also be a seminar for parents entitled, "Encouraging Math Confidence Through Games"  We hope you can all make it to this fun night.

Weekly Update

 Dear Parents,
Here are a few things we have been up to this week......

Mrs. Zuber came in and assisted students in decorating Valentine buckets.   She also brought in a lovely "Valentine Tree" that the class had made.   It's gorgeous!

Today your child is bringing home:

1. Fitness Fun form for Mid-Winter Break
2. A flyer about the Sandburg Skate Party on Feb. 26th
3. Their homework for this week. (including the school-wide Monthly Math Challenge)
4. Their new password and username for World Math Day (students may do this, IXL, or xtra math as math practice this week)

The World Education Games is an annual global online challenge to get all students (4-18 years of age) excited about learning, and to give the top students in all schools an opportunity to see how they measure up against the best in the world. Last year, over 5 million students were a part of what is now the world’s largest online education event.

Split over three days and focussing on mathematics  the World Maths Day is a hugely exciting and engaging way to promote learning and education across the world.

Community Research:  Students have been busy researching their community place!  Several students have already completed and turned in their answered questions.  All surveys must be completed and turned in by Tuesday, Feb. 19th (the day we get back from break).  We will begin working on our projects in class that day.

Please email pictures for this project to your child's email account.

Nature Vision:  We have our 2nd in-school Nature Vision visit the day we arrive back from vacation (Feb. 19th).   It looks to be another fun activity!

 While Mrs. Zuber was in, she read us a book called, "The Rainbow Tiger" and then students were inspired to create other colorful animals with their watercolor paints.

Valentines and Technology News

Hi Parents,

Valentine lists went home yesterday.   Students can buy or make their valentines… just be sure to make one for every student.  We will pass them out on Wed., Feb. 13^th.   We will be making Valentine holders in class sometime before that Wednesday.  Our party is a fun pancake breakfast the morning of Wed., Feb. 13^th.

 

I’m also sending home your students’ IXL username and password so they can access it from home fro Wed. night practice.

Here’s how you log on..

Go to   http://www.ixl.com/

Then type your student’s username and password at the top right corner.

 

If you or your student would like to access their school email account, simply go to this address:

mail.lwsd.org    and then type the student’s username and password (they should all know this).

 

Finally, we have another class website that we have been working with.  It does a lot of cool things that the blogspot one does not do.  For instance, we have been recording our favorite sentences and words from our Silent Reading Time and we can post some of our writing prompts, etc.   We don’t use it for everything, but some of your students might be interested in accessing it from home.  Students and parents can access it by going to lms.lwsd.org and again typing in their normal username and password.

 

Thanks!

Happy February

Dear Parents,

We enjoyed conferencing with each of you about your children.   It is delightful to get to share with you all the wonderful things your children have been doing in class.   We are so proud of all of them.   Most of all.... we are excited about how much this class just loves reading and how much they've gained in their reading skills. 

 

Students learned about the artist, Vincint Van Gogh, and his painting, Starry Night.  This also tied in to a lovely book called, Sky Color, by Peter Reynolds.   After discussing Van Gogh and the book Sky Color, students created their own unique sky colors and then added an evening skyline to their work.

 

 Today we worked on our February monthly calendar.

 We also learned about  looking for a pattern to solve math problems.   Students will be completing this recent math unit on Friday.   They will take the topic test next Monday.

 

Today, we practiced a little bit for our spelling bee.... students went out two at a time and practiced spelling words with an adult.    We will also be hosting a practice bee this week and next so students can become familiar with the concept of the spelling bee.  Studetns should keep practicing their words each night.

 

Our class now has an IXL account for math practice.   We will open it up this week and log in so that students can also do this at home.   I will send home passwords tomorrow.

 

Have a terrific week!