A Happy Week Before Vacation!

Hello families,
We've enjoyed each other immensely this week. Our Valentine Exchange was a huge hit! No school on Tuesday made Wednesday feel like Monday again--what a crazy week! Luckily everyone was super excited to be back at school and got right into the learning spirit.

This week we worked on an opinion piece to show to Mr. Rosen. Students chose from 3 possible topics -- choosing to write about one they had a strong feeling or opinion for: 
1) What lunch meal should be added to the menu? 2) What is your favorite P.E. activity? or 3) Which do you prefer to swim in: a pool, the ocean, a pond, or a river? Students worked diligently to plan and write these opinion pieces to show all they've learned about this genre of writing.

Second grade mathematicians finished up the measurement unit. They measured things and compared lengths, widths, and heights using both the standard and metric systems. They estimated lengths and decided what the best unit of measure or tool for measuring would be appropriate in varied opportunities. They also did a fun measurement scavenger hunt around the classroom! First grade mathematicians have been discussing many strategies for adding. They have also been doing A TON of number line work. This is important work so they can internalize where numbers are in relation to each other, thinking about the order of numbers as well as how they are related to each other.

We finished reading our chapter book, Voyage to the Volcano on Thursday. We have all been really interested in learning about volcanoes so will begin to read some non-fiction books about volcanoes after winter break.

We've continued looking at and reading about landforms and bodies of water in science. This week we played a fun, interactive game identifying them on the SMARTboard. Here are links to two science games for this unit in case you want to play at home!

- High Point Lookout - Spot the Landforms and Bodies of Water
- Landform and Bodies of Water Concentration


Our Friday schedule this week is pretty awesome and exciting for our last day before vacation. Since we missed Art on Tuesday we'll have a special art time after our snack tomorrow so students can finish their clay work and their pots can dry over vacation--ready for the next step of glazing after break!

Friday's Schedule
Arrival/Morning Meeting
P.E.
Spanish
Snack
Art
Lunch
Community Cleaning
Sharing
Pack-Up and Free Read
Fitness Friday
Dismissal

I won't be in tomorrow since I have an appointment in the morning. I wish you all a happy, safe, and healthy winter break. See you in March!

Dates to Remember:
Friday February 19th -- Final Fitness Friday
Monday Feb. 22nd - Tues. March 1st -- Winter Vacation - NO SCHOOL 
Wednesday March 2nd -- School resumes
Wednesday March 2nd -- Wunderle's Big Top Adventures Circus Residency begins! - All School Introduction 9:30 a.m.

Highlights - February 12, 2016

Hello families,

This week we read a ton more in our Magic School Bus Chapter Book: Voyage to the Volcano. We are learning a lot about volcanoes and how they shape and change the Earth. We also reviewed the 4 stages in the water cycle (condensation, precipitation, collection, evaporation) and made little cycle books that are now out in the hall. We began to talk about how water also shapes and changes the Earth.

On Thursday we were all excited for the All School Meeting. A few brave first and second graders chose one of their opinion papers to read to the whole school! I wish there were time for each of my students to do this--they have all learned so much and grown as opinion writers over the past few weeks. Hopefuly you saw their progress in the writing samples that came home this week! We also got to sing for the school in our Primary Singers group!

I wanted to remind you all that we will be having a small, classroom Valentine's Day celebration in the morning of Monday February 15th. I sent home a list of the students in our class 2 weeks ago, but I'll email it out to you again in case you misplaced it. Giving valentines is a choice, not a requirement. Please note though that if your child would like to hand out valentines at our celebration they must give one to each student (not just a few). This is important so feelings are not hurt. Thanks!


Dates to Remember:
Monday February 15th -- Classroom Valentine's Day Celebration 11 - 11:30 a.m.
Friday February 19th -- Final Fitness Friday
Monday Feb. 22nd - Tues. March 1st -- Winter Vacation - NO SCHOOL 
Wednesday March 2nd -- School resumes
Wednesday March 2nd -- Wunderle's Big Top Adventures Circus Residency begins! - All School Introduction 9:30 a.m.

Highlights of the Week 2-4-16

Hello families,

This week we celebrated our 100th day of school! We made the exciting trade of all our coins for a giant magnetic dollar on our Penny-a-Day job board. We also traded our 10 groups of 10 for a 100 flat on our Counting the Days job board. Together we read a poem that had 100 words. In second grade math we also did some skip counting to and from 100 as well as a 100 Name Game.

We also did a very funny opinion writing connected to the number 100. We imagined what we would be like..."When I'm 100!" Students thought of what they might do, wear, and say when they are 100 years old. When we finished this writing we posted our opinion papers on our hallway bulletin boards. Check them out if you're ever in the building! Our skills in writing opinion papers have really been improving!

We had a variety of read aloud this week. We read Snowflake Bentley in connection to our 4 Winds about snowflakes. Ms. Israel came in for a special read aloud, Taking Diabetes to School, to help us learn about what diabetes is, what it means, and why some people need a special plan to stay healthy. (We also saw what really happens when someone gets their blood sugar tested.) Finally we began a new chapter book, The Magic School Bus: Voyage to the Volcano. This is in a chapter book series based on the picture books but written by different authors. We'll be reading this chapter book for a few weeks and connecting the story to our science study of landforms, bodies of water, and processes that shape the Earth.

Second grade mathematicians began a new unit on measurement. This week we focused on the Standard System of measurement (inches and feet). Some students are working on measuring with whole and half inches. Others are taking on a challenge and measuring with quarter and eighth inches!


Dates to Remember:
Friday February 5th -- Teacher Inservice -- NO SCHOOL for students
Thursday February 11th -- All School Meeting 2:30 p.m.
Monday February 15th -- Classroom Valentine's Day Celebration 11 - 11:30 a.m.
Monday Feb. 22nd - Tues. March 1st -- Winter Vacation - NO SCHOOL 
Wednesday March 2nd -- School resumes