October 1st Reminders!

Reading Calendars are due tomorrow (10/1)

• Students need to complete the back book report
• A parent signature needs to be on the front
• Their minutes for the month need to be totaled and written on the front
• Their name should be on the front!
• Minutes should be written in throughout the month

We earned our first class party!

We will be having a Pajama Party tomorrow (10/1)

Students can come to school in their pajamas or comfy clothes.

They may also bring one small stuffed animal that fits into their backpack.

Great job class earning your first party by having positive jaguar behavior at school!

Wonderful Writing!

On Friday we wrote all about what we saw, learned, enjoyed, and did on our field trip to Riveredge. There were so many great things to write about!

Wow, we saw a lot of critters!

We visited a lot of different habitats!

Today, Mrs. Hepner showed us the story Diary of a Worm. We watched this story on Book Flix, an awesome resource online that shows us fiction and nonfiction paired books. We even got to eat some gummy worms today!

After our story, we created our own diary entries! Our second graders wrote from the perspective of the worm for a day. It would be an interesting life as a worm! Here are two examples:

That would be a sight to see!

I'll stick to pizza for dinner!

We had a wonderful field trip to Riveredge!

Check out our Classroom Photos Page for more pictures from our adventures yesterday!

Exploring Mealworm Habitats!

Ask your child which type of food their

mealworms preferred?

-Oat bran

-Cereal flakes

-Cornmeal

Weekly Math Facts

Every Wednesday we will be having a two minute addition or subtraction fact check. Students need to complete as many facts as they can in two minutes. Their goal is to get at least 24 correct to receive a score of secure (SC). It will switch from addition and subtraction weekly. When it's graded it will be returned with only the ones filled in that they completed in the 2 minutes. Their grade will be at the bottom. If we don't have math class on a Wednesday due to a field trip, assembly, or special event, we will try to do it on another day of the week or we will skip that week. Here's what it looks like:

How can you help your child at home with these fact checks? 

*Have them practice flashcards.

*Eventually, we will be sending home some mini-flashcards that they can practice with you. 

*If they only completed 20 problems, give them two more minutes at home to see how many more they can finish. 

*Switch roles and you complete as many as you can in two minutes and then they have to grade your paper. (Then they are still doing the math work, but it's more fun!)

*Try to make it fun! 

Reminders:

Tonight (9/16) is curriculum night from 5:30-6:30

We hope to see you there if you are able to make it. 

If not, we will be sure to send our handouts home with your child tomorrow.

Tomorrow (9/17) is our MAPS math test.

Be sure your child gets enough sleep and eats a healthy breakfast!

 On Wednesday, September 23 we are heading to 

Riveredge Nature Center.

Please make sure your child is dressed for the weather!

Also, they will need to bring their own bag lunch that day to eat in the classroom before we leave for our field trip.

I am in the process of contacting parent volunteers to help chaperone. I will contact you soon if you are needed. Thanks for all the volunteers, I will keep you in mind for next time!

Reading is Thinking!

Look at all our great readers this morning during our read to self time! We are working on building our stamina up to 30 minutes....today we read for 18 minutes!!

Good Fit Books

Today during our Communication Arts time, Mrs. Hepner talked to us about choosing "Good Fit Books" for our read to self time. In the classroom, students each have their own book bin where they can put books they are interested in reading from our classroom library, home, or from the school library. These are self-selected books. Throughout the year, we will add some guided reading books to their book bins as well. 

What does a "Good Fit Book" mean? Here is the poster we created:

As students start to add more books to their book bins they will need to keep in mind, I PICK. Hopefully this can help you when your child is selecting books at home to read or from the public library!

Welcome to our 2nd Grade Blog!! 

What a wonderful start to our year! Students have been working hard on getting back into school mode.

We are very excited to update you with the events in our class and school. Our hope is to update the blog a few times a week.

These past few days we have been working on learning to be independent readers. We remind the students that there are three ways to read a book:

• Read the pictures
• Read the words
• Retell the story

We hope that you keep encouraging reading at home!