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

Weekly Update

Dear Parents,
Here's a little look into what we've been doing this past week....

Social Studies/Art:

Students are learning about the three types of communities, rural, urban, and suburban. During art, they learned how to draw a rural scene using perspective. Students drew a horizon line and used a vanishing point to show the road going off in the distance.

 World Languages:   We continue to add to our ways of saying, "Good Morning" and have posted a giant map in our 2nd grade shared space.   We are having fun learning about where different families come from.

 Literacy Time:
Students are working through various rotations each morning.   This time enables Mrs. Fornia and I to check in on each individual student.  We are able to teach them new strategies for comprehending the text they are reading, reading accurately and fluently, and expanding their vocabulary.   

 Math:   We continue to work on mastering addition and subtraction skills.  The goal is to build fluency with addition and subtraction within 100.   They will also learn to solve problems within 1000 by applying their understanding of models for addition and subtraction.   
Here's an example of a fun math game that we played today.

Other Information:

• PTA student directories went home today along with new PTA cards for PTA members
• A reminder about our Nature Vision program went home today, please be sure to send in your $8.00 as soon as you can.
• Vision and Hearing Screening is this Thursday
• Reflections due Oct. 26th
• Book Orders due online by Sunday, Oct. 28th

Weekly Update

 Dear Parents,

Here's a look at what is going on in our room:

Art/ Science:   
Students read about invertebrates in our National Geographic magazines.  Then they created vertebrates - using their names as skeletons.

 

 

 

Reading:
Our volunteers during reading time have made it possible for us to incorporate some great reading activities for the students.   Sometimes students are able to play a word game (like Apples to Apples)and other times they get to read their social studies books in small groups.

World Languages:
We are lucky to have so many families in our room who speak languages other than English.   We thought we'd put this to good use by learning some of these languages.  Currently, we are collecting ways to say, "Good Morning".  We have learned, "Gud Morgan" (Swedish) and "Buenos Dias" (Spanish).   If your family knows a way to say good-morning in a different language, we would love to have your child share it.   Just be sure to write it down for them, so we get the spelling correct.
Also... if you are able to come in and give a little mini-lesson on your language... we would love that.  We already have two folks signed up!  (thank you Shuko and Marianela!)

Field Trips:
We are planning two out of school field trips (more to come on these later) and some in-school field trips.    One in school field trip program is Nature vision....where a naturalist come to the classroom to give our students a hands on scientific learning experience.  It is like an in school field trip for the kids.  We have registered for three different topics this year.  They include Formula Fossils (Dec. 4th), the Water Cycle (Feb. 19th), and Investigating Insects (May 14th). 

 Each of these programs is used to enrich and extend our students scientific learning.  The fee for this in-school program per child is $8 which covers the cost of the instructor and the supplies they use in the activity.

Please send in either a check (made out to Carl Sandburg) or cash. Thanks.

Happy October!

Dear Parents,
We are enjoying our time conferencing with you and your 2nd grader!   They have made some excellent goals and we look forward to the growth they will make this year.

Last week, students learned about the artist Henri Rousseau and his paintings of jungles.

We looked at the types of greens he made by mixing blue and yellow.  We noticed the animals he liked to hide in the leaves.  Then we painted our own leaf scene withourselves hidden in the picture!

We will be collecting all the student art work so that we can have an art show later in the year.  Your child will get to share their work with you and then take everything home in one bound art book.

Ask your 2nd grader about the drama game we played today... it is called, "family portrait".  We took some great family portraits.

This week we began our first weekly homework packet and our first spelling list.   Our first test is this Thursday.    The coversheet for the homework is due next Monday.

This Wednesday, students are to practice their math facts as their math homework.  Please let us know if you have any problems logging on to xtramath.org.   Each child needs to know their PIN.  These were sent home last week, but we can happily send it home again if you need us to.

Your child brought home a flyer about the Reflections Art Program today.   All entries are due to the office by Oct. 26th.   We hope all of our great artists enter this contest.  Remember, students can also enter a piece of writing, a photograph, a musical composition, video, or a dance.

QUEST:  If you are interested in applying to the district's highly capable program, applications are due to the district office until 4 p.m. on October 30, 2012.

  Volunteers start next week!  Thank you to all our terrific volunteers!   And a big thank you to all of you... we had 100% participation in the dance marathon!!