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.