Letter to Jingle

     Today we wrote Jingle, our elf, a letter.  In it we asked him to let the Big Guy know that many of us need new school supplies: glue sticks, crayons, homework folders and the like.  I hope he passes the message along.

     Remember, Friday we will be walking to the movies and having our holiday party.  Please pack an extra party snack.  Keep in mind we aren't allowed to pass out food to our friends.

     Like to plan ahead?  After vacation, I will be asking each child to bring in a picture of themselves for a writing assignment.  Be sure it's not just a head shot because they will be writing about where they are and what they are doing.  It doesn't have to be a recent photo.

    Two more wake-ups before vacation.  Whoo hoo!

Holiday Workshop

     Tuesday we will be visiting the Holiday Workshop.  The students will be able to purchase gifts for their immediate family members for a dollar a piece.  Mrs. Wackrow does an excellent job organizing this event and the kids have lots of fun shopping.  No worries if your child forgets his/her money tomorrow, there will be a make up day on Wednesday.

     We are still practicing our shapes and addition with regrouping.  The students have nailed the addition.  Those shapes are super tricky though.

     Jingle has been behaving.  We are slightly worried that he may be stuck in his place because he didn't move over the weekend.  We will find out tomorrow.  If he's in the same spot, we may have to come up with a plan to free him safely.

     Our field trip has been moved to Friday.  I hope we don't get snowed out again.  I LOVE snow but REALLY want to see that movie.

     Also on Friday we will have our party.  Please pack your child an extra party snack and drink.

     I hope you appreciate this week's homework.  I thought it may make this holiday season less stressful for both students and their families.  HO HO HO

MATH

     Today was very exciting.  We did some addition with regrouping for the first time and the kids ROCKED it!!!!  Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

EXCITEMENT 2

     This week just keeps getting better.  I received these beauties to kick off my birthday week.  You are never to old to celebrate your birthday and feel special.  These certainly made me feel special.  I told the children my age, I'll be thirty-two.  Which is apparently younger than most of you because they ALL announced your ages when they were comparing how much younger I am than their parents.  LOVED IT

     There was a rumor that Mrs. Zotolli could be persuaded to let the school go to see the movie Frozen.  We wrote her letters trying to convince her and it worked!!!  See the letter she sent us back below.

     This morning Jingle got into a little mischief.  He scattered our warm fuzzies around to make room in the jar for himself.  The kids thought that was hysterical but I was none to please with the mess he made.  I expect him to be on best behavior tomorrow.

     We have read a few Anansi tales.  Anansi is a trickster.  Ask about some of the pranks he plays.  One story had a some metaphors in it, so we decided to come up with a few of our own.  In the other story, Anansi gets a taste of his own medicine.

         To make tomorrow even better, it's PJ Day.  Be comfy and bring in $1 to donate to Woburn Council of Social Concern.  Have a wonderful weekend everyone!!!

Excitement

     Today was very exciting.  First thing this morning, we were invited to a special class on light presented by the Discovery Museum and sponsored by the PTO.  It was great fun.  We learned that color was a form on energy.  We used prisms, magnifying glasses, made tops, reflected colors (but not black), and had fun.  Did you know that chromatography is the study of color?

  
     We have a new student.  Meet Jingle, our elf.  I'm sure he'll only be reporting good news to anyone who will listen.

     We learned about three different shapes today: squares, rectangles and quadrilaterals.  All squares are rectangles but all rectangles are not squares.  Ask your child to explain why?

     Our second grade class knows this big word...expository writing.  This book was a great example of it.  It's writing that explains or informs.  We learned some interesting chameleon facts.  The boy in the story was trying to persuade us in believing that chameleons are cool.   It worked on me.  They seem super cool.

     Did you get to the Festival on the Common this weekend?  Brrrrr it was cold.  Here is a picture of the Wyman tree.  Second grade made the peppermint ornaments.  They came out great.

     Lastly, I visited my brother yesterday and his living room was FULL with items to be donated in Shane's name.  It was positively breathtaking and brought joy to my heart!!!

THANK YOU

     Today my  heart was touched by the generosity of all of you.  I was surprised to receive your thoughtful donation to the Department of Children and Family Services in memory of my nephew Shane, who life was unexpectedly cut short this past June at the age of 12.  It's so nice knowing that many other children will have memorable holidays because of the all the friends I'm so lucky to be surrounded by.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.  I couldn't of asked for anything more.  Happy holidays!!!!

SHANE 

Thanksgiving Feast

     Tomorrow we are inviting our 2nd grade neighbors over for a Thanksgiving feast.  We will bake corn bread, serve grapes and apple juice.  Last week we made Native American headdresses (or turkey hats) to wear on this joyous occasion.  A special thank you to a mom, who came in to help us.  She also helped us make ornaments to hang on the Woburn center Wyman tree for the Festival on the Common and read us a super cute Thanksgiving story.

     Last week the other second grade class put on a Thanksgiving play for us.  It was FANTASTIC.  They clearly put a lot of work into this production and it was just wonderful.  We wrote well thought out letters thanking them for inviting us.  We highlighted what we enjoyed most about the performance.  I was a quite impressed by our letters.

     Inspired by their play, we had our own little play.  We didn't actually act anything out but we did read parts from a script.  It was about cooperation.  The Thanksgiving dinner was arguing about who was most important to the meal.  We had so much fun, we read through it twice, switching our parts each time.  My part stayed the same.  I was Sparky.  I think I nailed my "woof, woof".

      We also read some Native American legends.  We learned a bit about the Native Americans that lived right here in Woburn.  Did you know that Horn Pond Mountain was called Mount Towanda by the Abergonian Indians that lived there?  The island in the pond was called Wabisi, which means swan, because of a Indian legend.

     Here are some other fun things we did.

We unscrambled sentences and added the proper punctuation.

We sorted fall fact/opinion sentences.

     We are still reading Scaredy Squirrel stories and playing comprehension games to go with them.  In one story, Scaredy finally made a friend.  Not the friend he tried to make, but still a friend.  In another, he got some much needed rest.

     Here are links for two YouTube videos we checked out School House Rock Pronouns and this fun one from Ohio State Marching Band.

     Remember, Wednesday is half day and dismissal will be at 12:00.  No lunch will be served.  I wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving.