A Great STart!!

We have had an amazing start to the new school year!  The kids in room 403 have been really hard at work!  Let's take a peek at just a few things we worked on last week!

We began learning about ABC order.  The kids worked in partner groups to complete ABC order activities such as this one...

We also worked on sentences last week.  We learned that a sentence must be a complete thought and that it must begin with a capital letter and must end in an ending mark such as a period.

We also learned about character traits and setting last week! 



I couldn't wait to introduce the kids to one of my favorite characters...Molly Lou Melon!  She's absolutely awesome!  And just like I thought, the kids found her GREAT just like I do!  I read two books about Molly Lou Melon...

    

 



We then completed a character trait graphic organizer where the students had to think about words that describe Molly Lou Melon and then provide evidence from the text.  Then we made Molly Lou bags full of these character traits inside!



 

Look at these Molly Lou Melon characters that our children drew!  I have some AMAZING artists in my room!

 

 

 

 

 

 

In math, we learned about doubles and adding in any order.  These activities were placed in the students' math journals...

 

 



 

Here is a Doubles Dude that we made last week.  We wrote our doubles facts on our dudes!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



In Social Studies, we are learning about urban and rural communities.  We completed these graphic organizers and activities for our Social Studies journals.

 

 

 

 

 

*These activities were found on teacher blogs on the internet and the teachers pay teachers website.

 

 

Let's look ahead to this week...

 

      Reading/Language Arts - long vowel CVCe patterns, subjects
      in sentences, main idea and details

 

      Math - topic 2 addition strategies
      Our math topic 2 assessment is scheduled for Thursday!

 

     Social Studies - urban and rural communities

     We will finish this unit at the end of the week.

 

Remember:  Homework is NOT to be returned to me.  The packet of information I am sending home this week is a study guide to what we are learning this week.  Please only work a little each night with your child.  This is NOT to be completed in one night.  In order for your child to be successful in second grade, it is important that your child work on their homework every night.   I am asking that you allow your child to read to you each night, especially if your child brings home a bag of books from my room. 

 

Please don't forget about the YMCA Water Safety field trip this Tuesday and Wednesday.  Parents are welcome to come!  We will be at the McQueen Smith YMCA at 11:30 these two days. 

Girls:  You may wear your swimsuit underneath your clothes. This will help with time before going to the YMCA. 
Boys:  You may wear your swim shorts to school.  Please remember to pack dry pants to wear back to school.

 

Please remember to pack dry under garments, a towel, and a plastic bag (Wal-Mart or grocery bag) for your child on these two days.  Goggles and swim caps may be brought also.

 

If want your child to attend this field trip and you haven't sent in the money and permission slips, you may do so on Tuesday morning.  You must have all three of the permission slips filled out and signed in order for your child to attend this trip.  If you do not have the permission slips that were sent home, please email me at stephanie.rowell@acboe.net,  and I will meet you in the front office with new ones Tuesday morning.  If I do not have all three permission slips, your child will not be able to go.

 

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!  I am so excited to see your sweet children Tuesday morning!

 



Math Daily Grade Coming Soon!

We will have a math daily grade this Friday.  The children will be assessed on...

     *  adding 0, 1, 2     ( 6 + 1,  3 + 0,  5 + 2)
     *  doubles      ( 2+ 2 = 4,   5 + 5 = 10)
     *  doubles plus 1    ( 3 + 3 =6  so 3 + 4 = 7)
     *  adding in any order    ( 3 + 6 = 9     or    6 + 3 = 9)

Please remember to send in YMCA water safety forms in by this Friday if your child plans on attending.  This water safety program is a wonderful field trip for our second graders!

Happy Monday!

Happy Monday everyone!  I hope everyone had a great day!  We have a very busy week planned!  This week we are learning...

*  comprehension skill:  character and setting
*  vocabulary skill:  alphabetical order
*  phonics skill:  short vowel
*  grammar:  sentences
*  math:  addition strategies (doubles, near doubles,
    adding in any order, adding 3 addends)
*  social studies:  rural and urban areas

We will have our Reading/Language Arts assessments on Thursday.  Our math test will be next week.  I will inform you of this test date.

Please forgive me!  I made 2 mistakes on our homework sheet!  I am SO sorry!  I have to be honest...I do this often.  I PROMISE I will do better with proofreading my homework from now on!  Please look at number 5 in the Phonics section.  It should say...Which word has the same sound as the o in job?
Ok, now look at the math portion of the homework.  5+2=7 should be on the next line.  Once again, I apologize for this! 

I have a HUGE request!  I am asking that each child in my class have his/her own pair of ear buds. 

                                                         
We will use ear buds at our listening station.  I am also asking that you send a small container for your child to keep his/her ear buds.  If you are unable to send in a small container, I can place your child's ear buds in a sandwich bag.  These ear buds will not be shared.

I want to tell you how much I am enjoying teaching your children.  They work hard, and they are very well behaved!  I enjoy seeing their precious faces every morning.  I am looking forward to a great week!  Please continue to check the blog for activities we are completing in class!

A Great Start to the New School Year!

We have a new faces in room 403 for the 2014-2015 school year, and they are so precious!  I wanted to share with you a few things we have been doing in just the two days we've been back in school. 

 

 

I LOVE a good book! Today, I read the book How I Spent My Summer Vacation by Mark Teague.  It is a great book about a little boy who has a very wild imagination, and it shows in his school report about what he did over summer break.  It's such a WONDERFUL book!
I really could not wait to hear how my students spent their summer.  The children completed a summer vacation writing.  Here are just a few of them...

 

 

 

 

One of my favorite authors is Kevin Henkes.  So, I couldn't wait to read a variety of his books to my children this week.  Today, I read the book Chrysanthemum. 

 

 

 

 

It is about a little mouse...wait, I'm not going to tell you about it.  Ask your child and see if he/she can tell you about this wonderful book!

We started with a character map of Chrysanthemum.

 

 

 



 

Then, we completed a craftivity of Chrysanthemum.  Although the pattern was the same for everyone, I saw creativity from all of my students!

 

 

 

 

I am SUPER proud of all of my students.  They all have a great attitude when it comes to learning!  I plan on adding some new pics at the end of the week!  Please keep encouraging your child to do his/her best!

 

 



 

 



 

 

 

Welcome Back for the 2014 - 2015 School Year!

I am so excited for the 2014 - 2015 school year with your children! I have a feeling we are going to have a wonderful and busy school year! 
I wanted to take this time to thank each of you for the supplies you sent for our second graders.  I greatly appreciate it!
This week your children will bring their binders home.  There is a sheet in the front of your child's binder that explains the parts of the binder, but I wanted to post it on my blog also.

 

This is your child's money pouch.  Please send any money for snack, lunch, field trips, etc. in an envelope with your child's name and purpose of the money written on it. 

 

 

This is the communication log where you can send notes to me.  I will have your child check this log every morning before putting his/her binder away.  It is your child's responsibility to bring me the communication log if you have written a note for me. 

 

 

The next item in your binder is the reading skill sheet.  (I had a pic but it didn't turn out!)  On this sheet you will find the story of the week, along with the spelling words and skills we will be working on for each unit.  All weekly tests will be given on Thursday each week.

 

 

Here is the Homework pocket in the binder.  Homework will be given on Monday, and I do not ask you to turn it back in to me.  I do strongly suggest you work on this sheet with your child throughout the week. 

 

 

 

Graded papers will be sent home each Tuesday.  School information will also be sent home each Tuesday and can be found in this pocket of the binder.

 

 

Here is the behavior calendar your child will bring home each night.  I am sending home a sheet explaining my classroom management system. Please review this calendar each night and initial on the appropriate date.  Please encourage your child to be on his/her best behavior each day.  We have a lot of things to learn this year, and I cannot have disruptive behavior in my classroom.

 

If you have any questions or concerns this year, please feel free to email me at stephanie.rowell@acboe.net or send a note to school with your child.  I am always willing to work with you for the benefit of your child!

 

Please continue to check this blog for information and activities that we are completing in our classroom!