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.

Storytime

     This week we are reading stories about my favorite storybook character, Scaredy Squirrel.  Today we read the first story titled Scaredy Squirrel.  He's afraid of just about everything.  We then wrote about thing that scare us in our journals.  There will be more Scaredy adventure this week.

Someone brought in a squirrel..YIPPEE

     We also started a story Mrs. Connolly shared with us titled The Day the Crayons Quit.  Sooo funny.  Each color writes a letter to a little boy.  Apparently, red and yellow are not speaking to each other because they both think that they should be the color of the sun.  It's a super funny book.

     Speaking of letters, we got a very surprising letter from turkeys today.  That's right......turkeys.  They want us to persuade other to eat something else for Thanksgiving.  I guess they are sick of being chased and having to hide.  We started writing letters today convincing others to eat something else this holiday.  We also learned a few turkey facts this week.  Which helped with our writing.

     Tomorrow is a VERY exciting day for our second grade friends next door.  Our class is super excited to attend their performance of a Thanksgiving play they've been working hard on.  I don't doubt for a minute that it will be FANTASTIC.

     So much going on and little time to write.  Keep on the lookout for another post this week.  Let's hope time allows!!!



   

Report Cards

     Report cards go home on Friday so be sure to check your child's backpack for them.  Please keep in mind that this term has been mostly REVIEW of first grade.

     We played a prefix matching game.  We had to match a word with a prefix to it's definition.  Each child was given one piece of the game.  The tricky part was we had to do it without talking.  It was the most quiet our room has ever been.  We used this chart to help us.

     Here are some other centers we "played" with.

fact families

number sorting

greater than/less than

antonyms

     We have lots of different books being read at the same time.  Ask your child which he/she is reading and have them tell you all about it.  Is it a Cam Jansen mystery?  Chickens and Salsa? or maybe a book about camping with Dad?

Three Day Weekends

     I think three days is just the right amount of time for a weekend.  It gives you time to have fun, be productive and rest up.  It makes it easy to start the week fresh.

     I have been slacking a little on my blog and I apologize for that.  As I say to the kids almost every morning "BUSY BUSY BUSY".  Term one ended on Friday.  I've spent wayyyyyy to much time working on report cards, which go home on Friday, and I THINK they are finally done.  I'll be able to review them in school tomorrow.

     We have been super productive in class.  We are studying pronouns and verbs.  We are working on the water cycle.  I told the class to notice what happens to the mirror in the bathroom after a hot shower.  CONDENSATION-water vapor turning back into water droplets-very exciting stuff.  Our math lessons are picking up, adding two digit numbers without regrouping-whoo hoo.  We are all using BOLD BEGINNINGS in our writing.    The students ROCK at this.  Best of all, we got postcards from our South Carolina pen pals.

     Here are some pictures to enjoy!

We wrote what we were thankful for (I threatened NO video games)

Created in art

Bold beginnings anchor chart.

More place value practice

Pronouns

     Reminder, Thursday is a half day. Dismissal will be at 12:30.  I will be having parent/teacher conferences then as well as on Thursday evening.  If you want a time slot and haven't signed up, you can do so here or contact me.
   

Conference Sign-up

 Hi everyone.  I'm trying something new.  Click here to be directed to sign-up genius.  A site where you can sign up for a parent teacher conference time with me.  Remember to insert your child's first name at the final step. The dates are Nov. 14 or 21.  How cool is that?

Bake Sale / Election Day

     We will have a chance to visit the bake sale tomorrow so send in a dollar or two if you'd like your child to purchase a treat.

     We started learning about weather today in school.  We will be starting the water cycle as part of the weather unit.  I LOVE weather.  If i wasn't a teacher, I think I'd be a meteorologist.

Halloween

     It was nice to see so many little friends enjoying the Wyman School Halloween party Friday night.  The costumes were great and everyone had a great time dancing, playing games and hanging out.  

     As always, the parade on Sunday was a huge hit.  It was a beautiful day to enjoy it and seems many students did.

     Today in school, we rotated through 6 Halloween stations.  We gave the steps for carving a jack-o-lantern, put words in sentences and ABC order, rhymed and even did a little math.  The children seemed to have fun (while learning at the same time) and everyone got prizes when they finished.

    We've been reading a Bailey School chapter book called Vampires Don't Wear Polka Dots.  We are getting near the end and the children are LOVING it.  Ask your child if they think Mrs. Jeepers is a vampire or not.  Can they give you evidence from the text as proof?

     I ordered Scholastic News for the class.  If you are willing, I'd appreciate it if you could send in $4 to cover the cost.  I think it's a great addition to our classroom.

     Thursday will be our Halloween Party.  Kids are welcome to bring their costumes to school.  Please label the pieces and leave the toy guns, swords, axes etc at home.  After lunch we will put them on, have a snack and parade around at 2:00.  Please pack your child an extra snack and drink for our party.  Remember no food can be shared with classmates.

    

Spiders

     This week we read Spiders by Gail Gibbons and made our own spider web of facts.  Ask your child to share with you some new things they learned.

     We shared our creepy house stories.  They were awesome.  We've been reading and writing our own fables where the moral of the story is BE KIND.  Ask your child about The Lion and the Mouse an Aesop fable.

     I had other pictures to share but my camera/computer wasn't cooperating.  We're still ROCKIN the math word problem.  Much less whining this week, which makes for a happy teacher.

     Remember, this Friday is the Wyman School Halloween party 6-8.  If you've never been, you are missing out.  It's great fun.

     A special shout out to Mrs. M for sending in these fun craft projects for the class.  The students loved them.

     GO SOX!!!!

Busy Bee

     Today was my last workshop.  This one I was the presenter at, which I was super excited to be asked to do.  It went great but sucked quite a bit of my "home" time for prep.  Which is why it took so long for this post-Sorry.

     This was a nice short week.  We have spooked out some of our lessons.  Here we brainstormed adjectives to describe this house and then wrote a story about it.

      It's hard to see here, but the children wrote antonyms on the bat's wings to decorate our hallway.

      These ghosts are greeting people using quotation marks.

      We searched the room for some fact family cards.

 
    Math word problems have been driving the students MAD.  I'm telling you, I have heard more than my share of WHINING.  The problems are tricky, but I am encouraging the children to try, try, try.  It's OK to make mistakes but never give up.  Their little math minds are being pushed to the limit and I LOVE it.  "Remember, walking was tough when you first learned."

     Best of all we had a new student for Red Sox day!

     Enjoy the weekend!!

   

Red Sox Day Thursday

     Show your team spirit by wearing your favorite Red Sox tee or hat!  Don't have any?  No worries.  A little red, white and blue will work too.  GO RED SOX!!!

Frog and Toad

     It's been a bit of a fragmented week for me.  I attended a workshop on Fundations (our phonics program) on Wednesday and a math workshop today.  Both were great and I came away with strategies that will make me EVEN MORE dynamic than I already am....hard to believe I know.  But seriously, I got some great tips that I'm looking forward to implementing.  One thing that was STRESSED over and over was that the children NEED to be fluent in their addition and subtraction facts.  Xtramath will help with this.  Please be sure your child has some time to log on at home.  Remember, it is part of their homework.

     We have been meeting in small groups to read Frog and Toad chapters.  The students then discussed each chapter to find the beginning, middle and end.  We focused on looking for the main idea, not every little detail.

     In math, we worked with tens and ones and talked about place value as well as fact families.

     Our class is super excited because there will be no spelling test next week.  We reached our goal of 30 cans in only 4 days.  I'm sure many Woburn families are grateful for your generosity.

     We checked out SpellingCity in the computer room.  You can search for our class lists by my last name and the children can play games with their spelling words.  It helps if they have the list in front of them for some of the games.  You should check it out at home.

    Clemson/BC this weekend......can I get a Tiger Roar???  Also, look for me at the Sox game Sat. night if you watch the game.  I'll be the tiny fan waayyyyyyyyyy in the back cheering loudly.

     Here are a few pictures of our week in review.


MATH GAMES

    ANTONYM SORT

HAT DAY

COOL STUFF KIDS DID WITHOUT ME ASKING  <3

Crazy Busy

     I'm not sure what's going on but we are CRAZY BUSY in second grade.  So busy that I have no pictures to share.  Our post cards are finished and ready to mail.  I just need to find time to address the envelope (yup, we are that busy).

     This week is our read-a-thon.  If you bring in a new or gently used book to be donated to different organizations, your child will get double reading points.  Friday is hat day (no donation required).  It's to celebrate the end of our read-a-thon.

     We've created a paper chain.  Each child who brings in a canned good gets to rip off a piece of the chain.  It started with 30 links and is now down to 19.  If we rip them all off, we'll have no spelling test the week of Columbus Day.  The kids are all gassed up about that!

     We read a book about Poor Puppy.  The children loved it.  Mrs. Elin REALLY loved it.  Me? It was okay.  I told the children I'd look for more Poor Puppy books at the library.

     Gym on Wednesday. :-)

   

Guess My Number

     This afternoon we played Guess My Number with the class.  The kids really seemed to enjoy it.  It's just like Guess Who but with numbers.  Here's a picture of the game.  Later this week we will play in small groups with the number lines we created today.

      We started finding the missing addends (7+__=13).  This was tricky for some.  Hopefully this sorting game will help.

     Here are some other "games" we've been  playing.

noun sorting

long/short vowel sort

     Today we started writing postcards to our pen pals in South Carolina.  I have a friend who teaches second grade there and we exchanged letters last year.  It was a huge success so we are trying again.  We started the first draft of a postcard of ANYWHERE in Massachusetts.  We are trying to add as many descriptive words we can.  Hopefully they will be ready to mail by the end of the week.

     Some students from Ms. Cotter's class created and put on a puppet show staring Echo and Baby Echo.  It's was wonderful.  

     We started to listen to Junie B. Jones on cd.  Her voice is just adorable.  Ask your child about it.

     Thursday is picture day and Friday is the read-a-thon kickoff.  Wear your favorite pj's (again).  We will be having an all school assembly to motivate us.  The deadline for can good collecting has been extended.  I love the initiative that the high schools students took in this project.  I'm thinking that if our class can collect 30 MORE cans by Oct. 11th, we will have NO SPELLING TEST the following week.  How's that for incentive?

Full Swing

     We are in full swing.  I have so much to write about, that I just don't know where to begin.  This week is going to be crazy.  Tuesday is Election Day, because of this the students will have lunch in the classroom with a limited sandwich menu.  The students actually had to order their lunch this morning.  Wednesday is a half day.  Dismissal will be at 12:30 and lunch will be early.  Thursday from 6-8 is back to school night.  I hope to see everyone there.  Friday is pajama day.  For a $1 donation, students may wear their pj's to school (keep in mind that we will still be going out for recess).  The monies earned will be donated to help beat breast cancer.  We are collecting can goods until this Friday.  The cans will be used to make a fortress at the high school, then will be donated to Social Concern.  Two senior boys took on this inititive.  LOVE THAT!!!

     In the computer room today we first did xtramath, then visited this fun game-click here.  It was from the brainpop jr site (you do not need to log into the site).  We will check out some of their other games this week.  I have a link to that site on my sidebar.  Most of the children really enjoyed it.

     You'll notice that our homework was stepped up just a bit.  It still should be completed easily by your child independently (except maybe the bottom of the first page) let me know if you have problems.

     In writing we will be writing about our classmates using the 5W's to gather and organize our details.
 

   
     We will be reading Poppleton books all week.  In today's story, Poppleton ate grapefruit and his lips turned "outside in".  Some of the children have never tried grapefruit.  Consider picking some up for a taste next time you go shopping.

  I read My Brother Charlie to the class today.  Well............I attempted to read it.  I needed to have Miss Davis finish it for me.  It's a touching (not sad) story about Charlie who is autistic and how he relates to his family.  It's written beautifully and if you haven't heard by now I cried.  It won't be the last time.  I'm a softie, can't help it.  Happy endings-tears, sad stories-tears, sappy comercials-tears, Disney movies-tears, old-timers sitting at Fenway Park with scorecard and glove-tears (boy do I love seeing that).  I've ALWAYS been this way, it's just who I am.  The kids, of course, thought it was hysterical.  The good news is that they are super motivated to read the story again..........hmmmmm, I wonder why??

math soring game

I'm in LOVE

     It's true!  I am in LOVE with this class.  They are wonderful.  I am one happy teacher.

   

     Thankfully today was nice in cool inside the building.  It would have been a GREAT beach day.

     We have been practicing our math facts in our math notebooks.  Practice some math fact drills while driving around town.........say  "double 4". 

one game we played

     The students brainstormed "what writers write" and we read this book by Cynthia Rylant.  It inspired us to write about a time we had a visit with our relatives.

     

     In the computer room we visted ABCYA.com and xtramath.  The children enjoyed ABCYA.  The link is listed to the right if your child wants to check it out at home.

     Our high school helper, Miss (Courtney) Davis, started this week.  She's fantastic.  We are so lucky to have her this year.