Our room is almost bug free!

The mealworms that were supposed to come home today should have come home. We had a sad lesson in our room today. Some of the adult beetles could not walk straight and kept flipping over with their legs flailing up in the air. They had a grey, dusty look to them. For whatever reason, they had some leg injuries that prevented them from walking forward or staying on their bellies. This of course prevented them from being able to find their food. We had to have a discussion about how sometimes living things are not born or do not develop as expected and it can affect their quality of life (defined as how easy it is for them to live). As humans, we have the ability to go to doctors and have parts of our bodies fixed, whether it is a bone that is out of place, our brain that needs some help, or our lungs when they get congested. We talked about how most living things just have to live with what they are given, and survive the best they can. I think the message went over some heads, but the tone of the room was a sad one as most of the kids understood that these beetles could not survive with the deficiencies they had. However, those who wanted to go home with a mealworm brought that home taped shut and in a baggy (I did NOT want to hear about those things getting loose in the backpacks!!

Today, the kids had a link for practice on using different rules. It is kind of like the frames and arrows, but a bit more challenging. I told them to take their time and check their work carefully! They also were to do a practice test - randomly choose ten words from the bag and have your child write the words down. Take a second to talk about the word if it is spelled wrong. We are going to attempt to test tomorrow...we are working on a special project as well!

Please see the post from a few days ago about what to do for our "Read In" party on Thursday. Wearing pajamas is NOT REQUIRED, but I am wearing them so I hope I'm not alone!!

Did you hear it might snow on Friday????? 2 more days, everyone! 2 more days!!

A busy week ahead!

We aren't on break just yet! As we get ready for our last four days of 2011, please keep in mind that the kids will still be learning and will still have homework Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday! We will have a set of word wall words that are on the fun side, but we will still test over them on Thursday. We will continue our geometry work, studying faces, vertices, and sides, 3-D shapes, line segments and parallel lines. We will also work on our first draft of our slice of life pictures.

As you well know, the kids have been reading like crazy at home. They brought home the gift sheets to complete at home this weekend. Just a simple sentence on each one they earned for 60 minutes of reading. I am happy to announce that everyone participated this week and earned at least one gift sheet. Many kids read so much, they earned three or four gift sheets. That is a lot of reading! Since the best way to become a better reader is to just spend more time reading, this is a wonderful investment, sure to produce great returns!

We have far exceeded our 100 gift sheets we set as our goal, and we still have almost another week in the program. Needless to say, we have earned our "Read-In" Party. This will take place on Thursday morning. Everyone is invited to wear their pajamas, BRING their slippers, bring a stuffed animal and a special snack. Yes, for this day only, they may bring chips or cookies for snack! No candy, please. Sorry - I can only go so far! :-) Also, kids may bring in special books that they would like to read and share with others during our "Book Share" time. They will bring these books home on Thursday afternoon. Please limit the number of books to three. ANY books are ok, as long as it doesn't hurt to carry them in the backpacks.

Speaking of reading, I am looking for parents to come in to read some of the new Monarch Books. These are books that are in contention for the Monarch Award for Picture Books. There are many to choose from and I can be flexible to meet your schedule. It would take about 10 -20 minutes, depending on how much you stop to discuss the story with the class. We are going to try to get through all of the selections, so I thought it would be nice to bring in some guest readers. Let me know if you are interested (this week or after break!). If you are in the school for any reason, the books are in the LMC, right as you walk in. Feel free to stop in and see which one you would like to read and let me know, so I don't read it to the kids myself!

As a reminder, we will have our PTA sponsored Winter Party on Thursday afternoon. FOr second grade, the PTA provides a pizza slice and a cookie from 2:15 - 2:45 in the room and from 2:45 - 3:15, the kids get a dance party in the gym with Kaptain Karaoke! What a fun day to finish up December!

Mealworm permission letters came home today. IF I don't get one back signed by Tuesday, or a call, or an email, I will set your child's mealworm, pupa, or beetle free into the field behind my house! Thanks!

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Mealworm permission

Here is the link to the mealworm permission letter!

Slice of Life

Today, we had a great discussion about what details to include in our slice of life writing. We talked about how including information using our five senses can help us find areas to write about and focus on. Here is the picture we used today:




Ask your child to talk to you about some of the things we added to our graphic organizer using our five senses. Most of the students have been to a bonfire so they were able to talk about it. This is something your child will need to do tomorrow for their own picture.

Changes....

Wow, were we excited today to get to our mealworm time. It has been three days since we have observed them and we saw some definite changes! Some had their pupas turn into beetles (adult stage). A few died, but we talked about how that is just one part of the life process - that it cannot last forever and it is shorter for some than others.

We have been making some changes in computer lab, too. I have been spending more time teaching the kids about how to use all of their fingers on the keyboard, not just their index fingers. We will continue talking about it, and I have included some new practice sites on the links - look at the Other Links You'd Like area for these, if you would like some practice at home.

We are moving on to our next math unit on geometry concepts. Today, we talked about the concepts of symmetry and polygons. We learned that regular polygons are polygons which have all sides the same length. Polygons are defined as plane shapes that have 3 or more sides with straight lines (no curves). There will be MUCH MORE to learn and explore over the next two weeks (this unit will continue after we get back in January).

Continue to encourage nightly reading at home, filling in the calendar with the minutes and signing the homework sheet. I sent home a sheet today that you can refer to when you are looking for some basic questions or prompts to use with your child after ANY reading assignment.

Thank you for all the support you give your child at home. It makes SUCH a difference and I appreciate the effort, especially this time of year with so many other "responsibilities!"

New Critters!

As many of you may have heard, we have some new "classmates" in 2G.

MEALWORMS!!

Mealworms are insects that are usually found wherever there is flour or grain, like in bakeries or mills. It is a perfect specimen to showcase the stages of growth. The stages are:
1. Egg - small, white, oval shaped - about 1 millimeter long. Hatches in about one week (we did not see the egg stage with our specimens).





2. Larva - brown, elongated body. stage lasts 2-3 weeks. MOLTING occurs at this stage.
















3. Pupa - off white color, the pupa is very still during this time as it changes to become a beetle. This stage lasts 1-3 weeks.






4. Adult - when it comes out of the pupa, it is white, but gradually changes to black. We had one student that had the mealworm change to a beetle within the fist day (it was in the pupa stage when he took it for his "pet!" It has wings but cannot fly. It can hop! The adult only lives about a few months.. The female can lay up to 500 eggs before it dies, and then the life cycle starts all over again!












And, yes! Students will get the opportunity to bring home their Darkling Beetles when they change to adults!! Very Cool!

We're mad about adding!

How many strategies can you use to add two numbers together? That is what we are currently exploring in second grade. Many people utilize the traditional method of addition, which we briefly touched on today (for those kids who already employ this method), where the ones column is added, tens are regrouped to the tens column, then the tens are added together. Many kids in the class understand how to use this and that is wonderful. However, it is beneficial to be able to understand different methods for solving a problem. This skill will translate to greater conceptual understanding, in math and in life! Help your child as much as you can with the methods they are least competent with.

Let's take the following problem as an example:

46 + 29

MOST USED METHOD ---->Counting Up:
Always start with the higher number (46). Count up nine by ones (from the number 46): 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55. Now count up by tens two times (from 55): 65, 75. The sum is 75.


The most logical method done with less errors: Combining Groups(also knows as Partial Sums Algorithm):
First, group and add the tens (40+20 = 60).
Second, group and add the ones (6+9 = 15)
Finally, add those sums together (60+15 = 75). The sum is 75.

Adjust and Compensate:
Think about how the numbers could be added easily. You know that 29 is one away from 30. 30 is easily added to another number. Well, 46 + 29 is one less than 46 + 30. If you know that 46 + 30 = 76 and take one away,the sum is 75.

Similarly, if you know that 46 is 4 less from 50 and 29 is four more than 25 and 50 + 25 = 75. The sum is 75.

The way "We as parents" learned: Traditional Method:
Add the digits in the ones column (6+9 = 15), write the 5 in the ones place in the sum and carry the ten over to the tens column, add the digits in the tens column (4+2+1 = 7) and add to the tens place in the sum. The sum is 75.


If your child knows that you only employ one standard method when doing addition and want to learn new ways to add numbers quickly, let them try to teach you a method from the list above that they are learning. If a child can work through the method by teaching someone else, complete learning will have taken place and application of that concept will happen more readily!

In addition (pun intended), we are working on estimating sums. These are called "ballpark estimates." This requires the kids to look at a problem like 46 +29 and find a ballpark estimate that allows them to determine what the actual, exact answer will be close to. 46 is closer to 50. 29 is closer to 30. I can easily add 50+30 = 80. My actual, exact answer will be close to 80. The problem with estimating like this is that sometimes the kids put so much energy into finding the ballpark estimate, they think they are done with the problem. They will just carry the estimate over to the exact answer. The purpose of learning to estimate (and they will do this for the next three years in math, at least) is to compare your real answer to your estimate to make sure you are close. The estimate should be done quickly so more time can be spent on the exact answer.

AND THAT IS HOW WE ARE MAD ABOUT ADDING!!

Challenges

A new week brings new challenges. In the home folder, you will find a letter about a new reading incentive. The students are VERY EXCITED about the reward we will earn together for this program. Be sure to remind your kids to keep track of minutes read on the white calendar. Most of the class has been doing an excellent job writing their titles down (in their own handwriting!!) on the homework sheets, so this should be a simple addition and I hope not stressful at all. Most parents have also been doing a great job at signing the homework sheet every night. I cannot begin to tell you how much you will appreciate developing these good work habits NOW with your child. If you are finding that you are needing to remind your child of what is expected of him or her each night, sit down and talk about your expectations. The only change for you as the parent is to initial the weekend minutes so your child can earn the maximum gift sheets for the minutes read. If minutes are recorded on a weekend day, they will not be counted if there are no initials on the day.

Another challenge for tomorrow is to find out what Roman Numeral is used to represent the number 50. We talked about this earlier in the year, but some kids were getting a little confused trying to remember it today. Some kids are confident they know, but should check to be sure. That will be our secret letter tomorrow.

Our challenge for the week is to figure out how many days we have been in school so far this year. This will require going onto Young's website, click on the left link titled, "Online Calendar" and count the number of days from the start of the school year to this Friday (minus days off and the weekend days).

We are starting to take Accelerated Reader tests in 2G. Today, the kids took a test over a book they had read to them called, Dear Mrs. LaRue (yes, that should be underlined but the blog isn't allowing it right now). This is a program we have where the kids read a book (either assigned to them or a book they have chosen to read) and take a test checking their comprehension of the book. Students will need to fill out a little slip of paper to let me know they are ready to take a new test on a RECENTLY READ BOOK. Many times, kids think they can take tests on books they read last year or a few months ago. Taking Accelerated Reader tests should be done soon after reading the book so that the material is still accessible. Students earn points for these tests if they pass them. All students in 2G will have a goal of 10 points to try and reach by the end of the second quarter (this is the Friday after we get back from Winter Break). Most picture books that are around the second grade reading level are worth 1/2 point. Some books will be read to the kids. Also, they will be able to earn points taking the test for the read aloud book, The BFG, when we finish that story (which should be soon!). That type of chapter book is worth MULTIPLE points. The longer the book and the higher the reading level, the more points the test is worth.

We will also be challenging ourselves with new word sort activities this week, so check the homework sheet carefully and have your child explain it to you. Being able to teach someone else how to do something is extremely important.

The word wall words this week are words that have proven to be a great challenge for the majority of the class in their independent writing. Please take the time to go over these, as well as MATH FACT CARDS, nightly for at least 5 minutes!!

Are you up to the challenges??

Being Thankful

Hi everyone! Today, we spent a good deal of time talking and writing about what we are thankful for. We even created a turkey to show the things we are thankful for. Here is mine:


This is an activity that Kenna did while she was in second grade and I pull it out every year to look at. The kids are grateful for A LOT of things, some of them just couldn't stop writing about what they are thankful for...the list goes on and on!

It is a short week, but we are still working hard. Today, we did some exploration about using farenheit and celcius thermometers. We also read from our social studies text about the Pilgrims and their important voyage to America for religious freedoms. We learned about the importance of the Native American groups, who helped the English learn to survive here in America. In writing, we worked on how to include more descriptive words in our writing with a puzzle activity. I don't know how we are able to fit so much in our day, but we do. We are SO EFFICIENT!!

IMPORTANT!! PICTURE RETAKE DAY IS NOT TOMORROW - IT HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED TO NEXT WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30. If you wish to have your picture retake, bring back all of the original picture package you ordered on or before the 30th. Thanks!

Listen to Books Online

I have added a section for sites you can visit to read books online. I am not sure if there are chapter books anywhere, but you'll find a great selection of children's book to help increase vocabulary and word recognition and work on fluency and comprehension! If a password is needed, you can use the ones I have included. I hope you enjoy the sites. Find a story to share with a parent or sibling!

See you Monday!!

EXCITEMENT!!

Our Star Student activity is moving right along. One of the benefits of being the Star Student is that you get to share a favorite book with the class. You can even have a parent come in to share it with you. Here is our Star from this past week, M.P. and her mom! They shared the book, Parts. It is a funny book and gave us some laughs!





Here is some exciting news! Look at this picture I just took!



What is this? This is a picture I took of my blog page where I can track how many hits my blog site has gotten over the past few years. Today, it hit 10,000 hits! Kenna was the one who put it over. When I logged on this afternoon, it was at 9,999, so she ran to my phone to click on the blog icon and it showed 10,000!! That means you and your parents (and some of your grandparents!!) are using the site for all the information I have on it. So, in honor of that monumentous event, the secret word for the day is ten thousand (ok, it is two words!). Tomorrow, we will talk about how much ten thousand is!! Keep visiting!!

This short week...

Here's what we're up to this week:

Literacy
We will finish up our story Pumpkin Fiesta and take an assessment on the story on Wednesday. We read this story as a class and the kids read it today on their own. We are working on the skill of retelling events from a story in the correct sequence. We will havea few sessions of Daily 5, where the kids choose their literacy activity and work on independent reading.

Math
We are finishing up Chapter 3 this week. The students will work on a variety of math box items in small groups and will take an assessment on the unit concepts on Wednesday.

Writing
We continue to work on creating paragraphs with one topic. The paragraph should begin with a topic sentence that does not include the details. We are learning to use transition words, commas in a series, as well as using the proper mechanics in our writing. If you would like your child to show you what he or she can do, just give them a topic and ask them to write a paragraph about it. EXTRA WRITING WORK DONE AT HOME EARNS A SMELLY STICKER! Just bring it in to show me! Here are a couple suggestions for writing a topic sentence and details:

My favorite anything (subject in school, friend, vacation, movie, etc.)
How-to paragraphs (brush your teeth, fix a bowl of cereal, ride a bike, etc.)

Science
Calling all boat makers! Bring those boats in tomorrow for the Cargo Challenge, which will take place in the afternoon! Remember to follow the guidelines for making your boats!

OTTER CREEK
STUDY THOSE FACTS!!

I hope some of you are at school right now, listening to the amazing storytelling of Sue Black. She was WONDERFUL today - we listened and participated in 3 storytellings. My favorite was about the teacher who assigned her kids the most unusual homework! Do you remember? Can you retell the major events from this story?? Which one was your favorite?

See you tomorrow, little ones!

Happy Weekend!

Happy weekend, everyone!
I hope you are having a great time enjoying this gorgeous weather. We have been busy raking and cleaning and putting Halloween decorations away. I have also taken the time to finally "clean up" my blog, so I hope you can easily navigate it to find what could help your child at home. See the groupings in the right margin to find math sites, language sites, sites to visit for science and social studies, and miscellaneous links to use.

Blog Tip for Math Fact Practice
In the right hand column of this blog, click on the link: Otter Creek math Fact Practice. This will take you a teacher's site (from May Watts) that gives you the facts for each level. While the letter I sent home this week detailed the progress your child has made in this area so far this year, and it is my hope that you are using the fact sheets we sent home on Curriculum Night, this site will give you the facts specific to each level. If you don't have those cards, you can copy the facts onto index cards for at-home practice with your child. Each day, your child should write their level on their homework sheet. I cannot stress the importance of this skill so that energy can be placed on mastering concepts and problem solving, not on simple computation.

Conferences
I can't wait to meet with you at conferences this week. If you need to reschedule for another time, please let me know as soon as you can. See the "Upcoming Events" in the right margin for what the month's activities look like!

:-)

New Challenges

Building Boats
Today, the letter about our Cargo Challenge went home. The competition will take place next Tuesday and Wednesday during science time. Every student should make a boat of some sort, even if it is just made out of paper plates or play dough. Be sure to stick to the regulation size detailed on the sheet.

Data Collection
In math today, we began talking about collecting data. We learned the words minimum, maximum, mode, and median. Tonight for homework, students are going to collect 5 pieces of data at home and make a bar graph out of the data.

Word Sorts
While we did not have time to meet in our word sort groups today, the new sorts were passed out and the kids had time at the end of the day to cut them. Please make sure they finish cutting, putting their student number on the back, and put them in the baggy in their home binder. We will spend time discussing words in our groups tomorrow during literacy time.

Word Work
This week, we are continuing to practice using the dictionary. This is a valuable life skill that will help your child understand how to use resources for learning. If you have a dictionary at home, give your child any word to look up and spend a few minutes with them figuring out strategies to find words quickly. Always have them identify the guide words at the top of the page to help find the word. Read the part of speech and the definition. Practicing earning a new skill in a different environment with different people and using different materials will create a stronger understanding of the skill. Thank you for your support with this at home!

Books, Books, and more Books!
Book orders from Scholastic came home yesterday. Thank you to those of you who supported our class and purchased books, either online or the traditional way. You helped earn 1500 points for me to purchase new books for our classroom. As you may have heard from your child, anytime you would like to donate books to our classroom (old ones your child has outgrown or lost interest in), we welcome any and all donations. I asked the kids to get a quick note from you, signed, saying that you support and are aware of this donation, just to make sure your child doesn't clean out their bookshelf at home! Young's Book Fair is taking place next week! Come in to purchase some wonderful materials and help our school earn a percentage of the sales. I LOVE the book fair! Come check it out!

Treasure Box
I am sure most of you have heard about your child's purchases this week at our Treasure Box. This is a chance for the students to use the Dolphin Dollars they have been earning this year for little prizes. I pick up items here and there at Target, Oriental Trading, Goodwill, garage sales, etc. to put in my Treasure Box. The kids had fun going through to pick their items. If anyone is ever at Target and sees fun little items that your child would love and they are marked on sale (REALLY far on sale!), if you are comfortable buying them for me and send it in with the receipt and I will happily reimburse you! Kids also will have the chance to spend their Dolphin Dollars for next week on either Stuffed Animal Day or Dance Party Lunch - in the room for $20.

Pictures from last week!

First the boats were tested for their ability to hold some cargo. This is the winning team's vessel. It had a capacity of 52 cubes.










Then, the 53rd cube made it sink.




















Here is the winning team with their construction. Good work, teams!

The best day!

This is part of a comment I overheard today during science. The students worked so well in their groups today constructing their boats. I was extremely impressed! The kids got into their groups this afternoon and were given two clumps of clay. Only one person could actually touch the clay (the vessel constructor) and that was determined by the highest student number in the group of 4. It was the rest of the group's job to talk to the constructor about how to make the boat so it had the greatest capacity. The goal was to construct a boat that had the capacity to hold 10 little base ten cubes. The teams who met that goal earned 5 Dolphin Dollars. Then, the competition was for the team who constructed the boat with the greatest capacity. The winning boat was constructed by N.Y.'s team and it held 52 cubes!! S.S.'s team came in second with a capacity of 20 cubes. Tomorrow, a letter will come home instructing students to create their own boat, of any material, that will be tested next week in class to hold ceramic tiles. The rules and directions will be outlined clearly in the letter. Every student is asked to construct a boat for the contest. The bottom must be no larger than 3" by 4". I tried to post some pictures here, but Blogger won't let me!! I will send them to the list serve - so ask you parents to show you! Congratulations, everyone!

Tomorrow is our fall party. Please bring your costume to put on before the party. No weapons, blood or gore, or really scary costumes should come to school.

Busy, busy, busy!!

Whew, what a busy day we had in 2G! Look at all we did today!

First we started by reading my favorite Halloween book from my childhood, Spider Saves Halloween. We are working on remembering the important details of the stories we read so we can retell them to someone. Being able to retell story events in order is a very important reading skill. We put our retell on a pumpkin since the story was about Spider dressing up as a pumpkin!

Next, we had Mrs. Montemayor come in and give us a lesson about the artist, Winslow Homer. He is no longer living, but his art work lives on. He was famous for sea scapes and nature scenes. I didn't share this today, but Homer was the FIRST artist I did a research project on in my art classes in college. I love his work. Your child brought home the picture they made in class today. They used watercolor pencils. If you have a paintbrush at home, allow them to use some water to brush over their art work and bring it to life! When it dries, it can come back to school and we will hang them in a display. The picture we learned about was called "Snap the Whip."




Here we are busy creating our own nature scenes!







Later in the day, we spent some time making shapes out of clay to see what we could make float and what we could make sink. We found that it was much easier to mold the clay into sinkable shapes than floatable shapes. Here are the mad scientists in action:









We spend some quality time charting our data so we could keep track of our observations, just like real scientists!!

Go take a bath!

We are jumping right into science this week! We have been learning about what makes an object sink and float, but we have been learning really challenging vocabulary, like buoyancy (NOT girlancy, remember!), displacement, and cargo. Talk about some of those words tonight at bedtime. If you take a bath tonight, think about those words while you are trying to make yourself float. Why can't you make yourself float? To displace means to remove physically out of a position. How much water is being displaced when you get in the tub? That means, how much water has to "get out of the way" so that your body can fit in the space where the water previously was?

If the weight of your body was lighter than the water you displaced, you would float. It would be like the weight of the water has the strength enough to hold you up. Of course, as we will continue to learn - the SHAPE of an object affects how much water gets displaced, so SHAPE is just as important as the weight of an object!

NOW, if your body was heavier than the water that was displaced when you got in the bathtub, you would sink! Think of Archimedes, a Greek (meaning from Greece) mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer....and TAKER OF BATHS! He is the one who came up with the idea of displacement and buoyancy - WHILE HE WAS IN THE BATHTUB!! Think of where the world would be if he never thought of this!

Red Ribbon Week:Remember that tomorrow is Backwards Shirt Day.
Thursday is Sports Jersey Day.
Friday is be comfy day - wear your sweats!!

Fun practice!

This week, we worked on inferring while reading. Making an inference means that we use the clues in the story to help us put ideas together that the author didn't actually WRITE in the text. Here is a great website that helps you put some clues together to figure things out!

TRY IT!

Have a great weekend!

Fire Prevention Month

Today, the entire second grade had a chance to visit with a fireman from The Aurora Fire Department to learn about fire safety. We learned about ways to be safe at home, including changing our smoke detectors TWICE a year, having a smoke detector in every bedroom, and, of course, not playing with matches or lighters! It was really great to see all the gear a fireman has to wear and we got to see the truck as well (but we didn't go inside)! We'll be learning more this week about how to keep our family safe in the event of a fire or an emergency.

As a reminder, tomorrow is picture day! Thursday is Dolphin Depot. Our book orders are due on Friday! Mrs. Grezlik is opening her Treasure Box on Friday for the students to spend some of their Dolphin Dollars!! Let's have a great week!

Science Fun!

Today we had our first round of science fun. We are working on thinking about the science behind what makes something sink and what makes something float.

We filled our bowls with water and took turns in our groups choosing an object, predicting whether it would sink or float, and then testing it and writing our observations down. It was a great deal of fun and the kids had some great discussions about it! Here we are in action!

Half a Day, Half a Post!

Fill in the missing parts with what you remember about our half day!

We started our day by trying to find a funny way to use our vocabulary words. 4 of the words from our Harcourt story are......

We wrote quick paragraphs about names we would choose for ......,

During Daily 5 time, we did.......

Mrs. Grezlik explained that next week during Daily 5 time, we will get to....

Our math lesson was on frames and ......

One mistake we can easily make during frames and arrows work is......

tomorrow, we have at test in.......

Our picture day is .........

Blind Sorts

Hi kids!
I hope you went right home and told your parent all about earning the Fish Party today! What a great way to start the day! Way to go with the great behavior in specials classes!! Keep earning those fish!

Today you have a Blind Sort to do with a parent. While there is nothing to write for a blind sort (therefore, nothing to turn in), here is a quick reminder of how to do a blind sort.

1. Grab your cards from your zippered pouch.

2. Grab a parent or an older sibling and ask them sweetly to help you for 10-15 minutes.

3. Dump your cards out and find your headers (or the header patterns and header words if you are the blue group). Put them out on the table or floor.

4. Have your parent or older sibling call the word out to you (NOT SHOWING THE WORD - THAT IS WHY IT IS CALLED A BLIND SORT).

5. You decide, after listening to the word - where the word should go. You point to the spot (under which header) it should go. If you decide, after your parent or older sibling places the card down where you directed, that the card is in the wrong sort column, you may move it. If you make more than ONE (YES, ONE!) mistake during this blind sort, start again (if your parent or older sibling has time).

The goal is to place all the words in the correct column WITHOUT looking at the spelling pattern AND making no mistakes! GOOD LUCK!

Columbus Day fun!

Hi everyone!
I hope you are enjoying the beautiful fall weather! The girls are outside with their friend dressing up the yard for fall fun! Madison is ready for the Bears game tonight and Kenna is on the left with the messy hair (who needs to brush hair on a day off??)! I hope you are having some fun this weekend!


Here is something fun we saw in our backyard yesterday:



One of our neighbors has this great hot air balloon and every once in a while, they tether it (which means attach it so the balloon doesn't float away) to their truck and give the kids rides up and down. It was too windy to do rides, though, so they had to bring it back down and they will try it next weekend. It was very exciting!

I apologize for not posting last week very much! Next week, my mom is coming home from her rehabilitation center and my life will be back to normal! YIPPEE!

Check out the new math website I posted in the right margin. Remember that Wednesday is a half day of school - early dismissal at lunch time.

See you tomorrow and BOY - do I have a SPECIAL SURPRISE for YOU!!

New Math Sites

Some parents have asked for some more math websites to visit, so check out the links in the right margin under Math Websites. Some of the sites offer math worksheets that you can modify to meet your own desires and print out for practice!!

Today, we started word sort groups. We are starting with 3 groups, pink, green, and blue. These groups were identified based on the Words Their Way spelling inventory that was given the second week of school. This inventory tells me what spelling patterns they have mastered and which list I need to start them on. You might find that your child tells you the list they have is too easy, but this is word study so your child will benefit from the study that we do with the words. The sorting is good for classification purposes. Today's assignment was to do a regular sort like we did in small group today.

I am so excited to report that yesterday, I collected the homework sheet from the kids' binders and we had almost 100% of the kids write down their reading selections EVERY DAY AND got parent signatures!! I cannot even express my gratitude that you are so supportive and encouraging on this communication piece. Thank you!!

Second grade PE night is TOMORROW!! Our class's session is from 6-7p.m. Bring the whole family!

What's an icon?

Today we had our first skill lesson in lab. We are learning about using icons in Microsoft Word. We have to learn all the parts of this program so we can use the program to its fullest potential. If you have a computer at home, play around with the icons on Microsoft Word and find out what they all mean! Today, we also saved a document in our own personal folder. We will use our jump drive soon!

We took our word wall AND word study test today. Tomorrow, we will get our new word study list. We will do this in small groups. We will study the list this week AND next, since it is a shorter week next week. We also are working together on our reading selection test. Remember, there is no school on Monday and early dismissal next Wednesday.

In writing, we are studying what makes a paragraph. Today, we started to create a paragraph about art. We are beginning to understand that a paragraph needs a main idea sentence and some detail sentences about ONE topic!

Wednesday night is our second grade PE Night. Our class's session is in the gym from 6-7 so bring the family and dress for some activity!! See you then!!

On the late side!!

Hi there kids!
Sorry for the late post. Lots of family duties to attend to.
Are you ready for tomorrow? Did you read the reading story out of your big, heavy book?. I know some of you were really weighed down but I hope you are prepared for answering some questions about the Henry and Mudge stories!!! I love how so many of you picked out some Henry and Mudge books at the LMC today! I loved the sleepover one. Even if these books seem a little easy to read, they are great to use to practice fluency (how fast you can get through words)! I see great choices being made during our Daily 5 time as well as LMC time! Like I said today in class, you all make me very proud when I see you trying your best and helping each other! Keep up the great work, 2G!!!!

Tomorrow is the last day for the Laura Numeroff story sheet if you'd like yours to be included for next week's assembly. Remember that you can also order an autographed copy of one of her books!!

See you tomorrow!!!!

Manners!!

Today, our secret word is "manners!". Can you remember what we learned about manners today? When might you use your manners around the school? If you see a teacher or student who needs to pass through our line, what could you do? When someone says "Thank you!" what might you say in return? I love it when I hear some of you using good manners, even when I'm not looking (or you think I'm not looking!).

Please remember to bring your spelling sort to school tomorrow. Lots of you did your assignment and left it at home. Remember to practice your word sort words and word wall words. We will test on Friday. We will ALSO take our first reading test over the Henry and Mudge story on Friday. We will do this first one as a class, but will send the book home tomorrow to read for homework. We have studied narrative elements (story parts) this week. Can you tell the characters (who), setting (when and where), and plot (what's happening) of a story? Can you tell the narrative elements in The B.F.G.?

Tomorrow, there will be no testing. We will have a math lesson in the morning and some writer's workshop time where you get to choose what to write about. During Daily 5, we will have time to write about Sophie or the giant from our read aloud. What would you tell Sophie or the giant??

See you tomorrow! I hope you have a GREAT night's sleep!!

Our first day of testing!

Parents,
Today, your child started taking the CoGat test. The letter explaining this test went home last week. We are testing tomorrow morning and Friday morning. Today's test took some extra time as the kids got the routines down of what to do and how to behave during a testing situation. The test is not timed - the kids have time to think and answer at their own pace, and then they let me know they are done by putting their pencil in the middle of their books. Most of them did a great job at remembering to do this step. I am SURE the kids will do better tomorrow and by Friday, there will be no question what to do during testing. I saw some excellent thinking skills during the tests today!

Due to the testing, we did not have math today. Your child's homework in math was to study their doubles fact cards (in home binder pouch). Memorizing these doubles facts will help them greatly in upcoming lessons. We are making some fabulous progress with Otter Creek, so make sure your child keeps their math flashcards (from Curriculum Night) up to date so they are studying the correct facts to help them pass. We take a test on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday most weeks.

Next week, we have another famous author coming to visit Nancy Young Elementary - LAURA NUMEROFF!! Ms. Ranucci talked to us last week about the books she has written, including If you Give a Mouse a Cookie and If You Give a Pig a Pancake. Due this Friday is a picture and sentence that uses the same pattern the Laura uses in her writing. Her new book is called If You Give a Dog a Donut. A form came home today for the kids (you!) to order one of her books and get an autographed copy while she visits our school. What a great memory! They are great books!

We are currently reading books written by another great author, Cynthia Rylant. She has written many books, including familiar series like Henry and Mudge and the Poppleton books. Tomorrow, we'll be reading an autobiography of hers to expose the kids to non-fiction work as well as the many fictional stories she has to choose from.

Make plans now to attend the 2nd grade PE night next week on October 5! More coming home about that this week! FUN! FUN!!

Bus Drill

We wrote the following paragraph together during writing today. The person who gave the sentence has his or her initials after the sentence).

Today we had a bus drill in second grade (Mrs. Grezlik). On our bus drill, we learned how to evacuate a bus (T.F.). We learned how to exit the front of the bus (M.P.). We learned how to walk around the front of a bus to stay safe (N.S.). We learned how to sit on our bottoms and face forward when we are on the bus (D.S.). We learned never to go under the bus if we lose a paper (M.L.). We learned that if the bus tips over, we may evacuate through the top (A.C.). Finally, we learned that there are 7 exits on a bus (K.J.).

Where in the world?

Students,
Today we did a little bit of map study. If you need extra practice telling your continents and oceans, try this website.

HERE is another site to help!

Math homework is link 2.1. We worked on reading and creating addition number stories. Use the picture on the page to make a number story, answer your question, and write a number model.

Remember, we have a test on our word wall words AND our WORDS THEIR WAY assessment on Friday, so prepare now!

See you tomorrow!

Does our room look different?

Our room has changed! Can you find your seat??

Yesterday, the kids got their first Home Link that goes with our math lesson. Some sort of math practice should come home nightly from now on Monday through Thursday. Sometimes, kids will have some time to begin (or complete) the math that is assigned. If your child comes home with a finished page, please take the time to go through the page with them. Feel free to create a new problem for them to do on the back that is similar to the problems on the page. Looking at and thinking about the activity in a different setting with a different person is a great way to get the brain to take in the information to a deeper level of memory.

Yesterday's home link (1.11) had a section that needed the MRB (My Reference Book) and since we had a substitute in here yesterday afternoon, it did not make it home. It is coming back home today to use the MRB (which every child should have) to finish, along with Link 1.12 on reading temperatures.

Don't forget to study your Words their Way words, Word Wall words, and Otter Creek Facts. Our Words their Way and Word Wall test will be at the end of this week, so be prepared.

Progress reports will come home on Friday. CoGAT testing will take place in second grade next week on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings.

Take a Trip to Spelling CIty!

Some of you have visited Spelling City before and know how it works. This is a guide to those who haven't been to this great practice site before! I will use it to update the word wall list and may even put on word sorts that I use with each group. Most importantly for now, I have added all of the sight word lists for kindergarten, first grade, and second grade. Please familiarize yourself with this site and allow your child 10-15 minutes to practice most days of the week. This will help your child build confidence in spelling, writing, and reading! Plus, it is super fun and engaging! Be sure to check my lists for new opportunities.

Here are the directions for this site:

1. On my blog, click on the Spelling City link in the right margin under "Links for this week's learning." This link will always be there so you can access it anytime. You can also just type in "spellingcity" in your address bar or google it!
2. On the site, click on the "Find a List" tab under the sun in the logo area.
3. in the "Find a list" search box, type in my name, christi grezlik, and hit search (you can also just type in grezlik and my name should come up)
4. find my name and click on it
5. find the list you want to work on
6. choose an activity to practice your words!

I hope you enjoy this new ADVENTURE with me!!

Some links for this weekend....

We had a very busy week in 2G. Please be sure to check your child's home binder today. While I gather the homework sheets on Friday to check parent initials, some kids have work to do that was not completed today in class or they just need some extra practice doing.

Every child could benefit from practicing their Otter Creek flashcards up to their level. The goal is to say the sum automatically, without hesitation. If your child takes more than three seconds, have them repeat the fact aloud three times. Another area of daily study could be practicing the Words their Way cards in their zipped pouch in the back of their binder. Finally, reading a book that is at your child's reading level is very important. I have assessed the kids this week and will be sharing their reading level on the progress report next Friday. If you need books at home that are at your child's level, take this level to your local library and ask the librarian for help in finding appropriate books. Always let your child pick books that he or she is interested in, but insist on having a book that is at the correct reading level as well. It will help them build confidence and automaticity.

Did you know that the Bookmobile will be available in front of the school on some Saturday's beginning next Saturday (the24th)?? I can't come that first day but I plan on coming one Saturday and will let you know. I can't remember the time- will add that this week.

Here is an easy way to work on some sight word practice- click here, make your choices, and click start now!

If you are proficient (which means pretty good) with your sight words, try this sight to challenge yourself with new vocabulary! You will get smarter and earn rice for people who are hungry, all at the same time. It is so fun!!

Have a great weekend!!

Classroom Neighborhoods

Today, we started our very own classroom neighborhoods. As we study what makes a community, we are really focusing on how people in a community support one another. In all small groups, each person plays a role to help support their group. Sometimes the group needs to hold a vote to make a decision. Today, the group had to decide on a neighborhood name and more. The groups did a great job and we read about some neighborhoods in New York City. Tomorrow, we will do some work on using maps. Some kids took the social studies book home to read those pages again (p.16-19).

Tomorrow, we have our second word wall test. The words are on the back of the homework sheet. Please make sure your child has studied and is prepared. We create sentences with our word wall words on Friday morning, so be prepared for those too!

Also tomorrow, we have a special assembly. The secret word is "Bubbles!" Can you guess what the assembly might be about??

See you tomorrow!

Self checks

Today, we completed our first self-evaluation on our word wall sentences from last Friday. It should be in your child's folder if they turned them in on time. I graded the work to see if your child used the word properly in the context of a sentence. Today, your child was responsible for evaluating the bits and pieces. This will hopefully teach your child what is expected of sentence work as they will complete it again this Friday. There are days that I will use the evaluate sheet to conference with your child, some I will collect, and some will come straight home. From this week on, your child will be graded on the spelling of their word wall word in addition to using in correctly so each sentence will be worth 2 points. I'm hopeful that this reflection will create better thinking during all written work, knowing that our work
needs to be legible and formatted and understandable if we want our intended readers to appreciate it.

Today, your child should have brought home their race car fluency passage that we've been using for
practice. They need to read that to someone at home tonight and it should be written on the homework sheet.

Thanks for your support at home!! Our second word wall test is on Friday.

Busy Day!

Hi everyone!

We had a busy day today, didn't we? Here are a few things you can review about what we did today:

We read a passage about race cars and made predictions about the passage. We read to practice our fluency and accuracy.

We worked on how to use a calculator today and were challenged by NOT using some keys to make given numbers.

We talked about more ideas for writing and chose one favorite person we know to write about. We wrote one topic sentence and tried to write 4 detail sentences about that person.

During reading, we listened to our read aloud and had to complete some exit questions to show how well we were listening. We also worked on a word sort on our desks and a blind sort with partners. Mrs. Grezlik had some of us come over and read to her to check our fluency rates. She'll finish that tomorrow.

In social studies, we read about how we can read maps and discussed why they are important.

Today's homework includes:
Reading - 20 minutes and write the title of one book on your homework sheet
Otter Creek - cut out your flash cards up to the level you are currently on (I shared those with the class at the end of the day and they were to add them to their homework sheet)
Word Wall - study
Words their Way - do a sort at home and do a blind sort with a parent where YOU DO THE WRITING and they do the speaking. Remember - you only get to hear the word and have to write it in the correct column.

Secret Word: Word

Curriculum Night TONIGHT!!

Parents,
I hope to see you in a little while at our Curriculum Night. Session 1 will begin at 6:30 and Session 2 will start at 7:10.

Looking for some good actors or actresses!

Hi everyone,
Just a reminder that I am looking for a few students to show how to properly P.O.P. for the camera tomorrow. We are preparing for parents to come on Curriculum Night on Monday and I would love to show a video of how to do this activity correctly. Will you be the one I pick? What are the steps of P.O.P.-ping?? If you are interested, you will be asked to write out the steps AND demonstrate it tomorrow during our Otter Creek time.

Don't forget to check out the money fun post below to click on the links. Remember to hover over the purple words and click! Also, do you see that you can now post your reaction (opinion or feeling) about my blog post for the day? Just click on one of the boxes at the bottom of the post to tell whether you thought it was interesting, funny, or cool! Vote!

See you tomorrow!

Money FUN!

If you click on THESE WORDS, you will enter a great site for practicing counting money! Have fun!

HERE is another fun game to practice money!

Good Fit Books

Tomorrow is our LMC day. Remember to bring your books back if you are done reading them so you can pick out books that are a good fit for you. Today, we talked about how some books are a good fit, meaning they are just right for our reading level. We discussed ways to follow the I-PICK method.

I Pick a book out.

P urpose - I have a purpose for reading this book.
I nterest - I am interested in this book's topic.
C omprehension - I can understand what I'm reading about this topic.
K now - I know most of the words in this book (the five finger rule).

It is important to know why we pick the books we do. Tomorrow, we will talk about when it is ok to read a book that is above our level and below our level. We want to always be reading books that are at our independent reading level, but there is a time to look at those "Old Favorites" and the "Save for Laters."

Today in math, we worked on our partner skills by playing Addition Top-It. During writing, we added more to our idea lists and chose a topic to write about. Tomorrow, we will have our first Word Wall test over the following words:
are, an, first, best, said, and then. Next week, we will begin our first Word Study list (think:spelling) and this will be discussed at depth at Curriculum Night. Each week, we will have a new list of Word Wall words.

As a reminder, tomorrow is Dolphin Depot at Young. This is the school store and will be open first think in the morning. Tomorrow is only for grades K-2. Also, MOnday is Curriculum Night for grades K-2, so make plans now. It is from 6:30 - 8:00 and I hope to see everyone.

Have a wonderful evening!

Keeping Cool!

I hope everyone is keeping cool. I am sitting here in the room with three fans currently turned on me as I write this! It was a good decision made by the district to keep the kids out of the room today as I don't plan on spending too much time in here this morning and by this afternoon, it will be miserable up here. Enjoy the day off.

As a reminder, we also do not have school on Monday (Labor Day) OR Tuesday (Building Articulation Day). I know many parents wonder what these articulation days are exactly. These days are a time for grade level teams to talk to each other about how to best help students succeed in their current grade level and be better prepared for the next grade level. Talking to other teachers early in the year like this helps me understand what your child was exposed to and experienced in first grade and what they need to know and be able to do in third grade. These are not days for teachers to work in their rooms, it is a very productive day and benefits the students greatly. I just thought you might like to know that. So, I will look forward to seeing the kids next Wednesday, Sept. 7 (late start day).

We will have our first Word Wall test next Thursday. Your child has a list of words in the home binder, right on the back of the assignment sheet. Please be sure to check this EVERY NIGHT and sign when your child has completed the reading and work. Each week, we will have different items on the assignment sheet. Also, your child may not have finished an assignment and it will be written on that sheet. Your child needs your help to develop good organizational skills. A habit usually takes about 2 months of consistent participation in the behavior, so after a couple months (ideally), you could have created a habit that your child will carry with them for the rest of their lives. Let me know how this works for you. :-) In the meantime, if your child happens to not complete their homework, they may come home with a "Yikes!" note as a reminder to complete it. Thanks for your support!

I look forward to seeing you on Monday, Sept. 12 at 6:30 for our Curriculum Night. This is for parents only, so make arrangements for your child(ren) now. This is an evening for me to share what we will be doing in all subject areas this year and how you can help at home.

The homework for this weekend will be to read 10 minutes each day and cut out the money (3 green sheets) that was sent home. I like to send this busy work home so we can focus on learning in the classroom. Thank you for taking the time to see that it gets done and placed in the sandwich baggy that came home as well.

Have a wonderful Labor Day and loooonnnnggg weekend!

Heat warning-freeze those water bottles!!

Hi everyone! Thanks for checking in!! Read the whole post, ok??

Tomorrow and Friday are going to be very hot days! Wear cool clothes and bring water bottles filled with half frozen water (fill bottle 1/2 or 3/4 of the way and freeze overnight). We will take frequent water breaks tomorrow to fill up and your water will be nice and cold! Be sure you have a few books to read in the afternoon-some of you left the LMC today without checking out any books! You'll need them tomorrow!

Today, we had a full day of learning. We talked a lot about telling time during math. Can you find out how to write the number 9 in Roman Numerals?? Ask someone at home to help you! Also, keep it to yourself until sharing time! There is no secret word for tomorrow-I only do that some days!!

We talked today about using the "Stop, Walk, Talk" method when we are having problems with another person. We always want to feel safe in school. We created a huge list of ideas to write about during writing today. It was amazing!! I can't wait to start writing and seeing what you choose to write about!

I'm sorry for the late posting, Wednesday nights are busy nights with soccer practices!!

See you tomorrow and bring your water!

What time is it?

Do you know that it is 6:00p.m. and I am STILL at school? It's true! I need to go home! Herbie and Howie will be lonely but they should find someone's desk to go into for the night. Remember, if you find Herbie and Howie in your desk, it is because they love a clean desk. However, you are NOT allowed to clean your desk out any time of the day! Some of you were cleaning out your desk today during my TEACHING or your WORK time. That will call for your card to be turned because it causes such a mess and it is noisy! Just keep your desk neat every part of the day!

Tomorrow, we will be reviewing what you learned with time! Take some "time" (Ha, ha!!) to look at a clock and review it at home with someone so you are well prepared!

Here are some questions for you:

Did you bring in your money today? If not - bring it tomorrow!

What are the days of the week?

What are the months of the year?

How can you use your hand to tell which months have 31 or less days?

How can you write 7 or 8 with Roman Numerals? That is our SECRET WORD - ROMAN NUMERALS!

See you on TIME tomorrow!! Remember, it is Wednesday - so it's late start day. Also, it's gym day and LMC book check out!! Bring your LMC Books (if you are done)!!

One for the kids.....

Hi there! This note is written just for the students! Parents can read it too, but I know I have been writing a lot of stuff to the parents!

First - a new secret word: Howie

Howie was lost a good part of the day today and is feeling very sad that he spent so much time stuck in a desk. Howie likes his dark spaces but needs some air during the day. Be sure to check your desk in the morning to see if he is in there. Remember, Howie and Herbie need air during the day or they get very sad!!

As a reminder, you have homework and it is in your home binder. Get your homework sheet signed by a parent! Bring in your money too if you haven't already. You need:

20 pennies
10 dimes
5 nickels
4 quarters

Practice counting money! See you tomorrow!

The Class Email List

Hi everyone! I hope you are enjoying your weekend. I finished compiling the class emails and have created our own email list - so you should have received our first group email on Friday. If you did not, PLEASE LET ME KNOW AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. I do not want you to miss any important information. If you do not regularly check email, I will be happy to print out what I send/post and send home a hard copy in the home binder. However, you have to let me know that this is what you prefer. Thanks!

Also, I forgot to mention that I will only be posting here (usually) Monday - Thursday. The only homework over the weekend (usually) will be to read 10-20 minutes, depending on your child's stamina. Eventually, this will also include 3-5 minutes of studying flashcards to improve math fact automaticity. Get in the habit of checking your child's home binder/home folder nightly for any important papers. Get your child in the habit too, by discussing the color they ended the day on (Behavior calendar) and if they have materials in the correct place in the binder (notes and papers for home should be in the home FOLDER, not in the side pockets of the binder. Spending a few minutes talking about the importance of being organized and how to be organized (but not harping on it), will eventually sink in (maybe not for a few years)!! I am glad I spent some time reading this summer about what a second grader is developmentally ready to do because it has helped me understand what I can expect from your child. However, each child is different, so if you find that your child is having a difficult time with something I am expecting them to work on, please contact me by phone, email or note!

As a reminder - there is no school on Sept. 5 and 6 for the kids. After Labor Day, the staff has an Articulation Day at school. Also, our Curriculum Night is planned for Monday, Sept. 12 at 6:30.

Thanks!

Making Faces!

Today we worked on so much! We started the day with a number sequencing activity and worked for the first time in our math journals. Generally these stay at school, but a few kids took the page (1) home to finish. One way to help with number sequencing is just pick a number at random and have your child begin counting either up or down from there.

During writing, we talked about when a capital should be used in a sentence and what a sentence should end with. Then we practiced writing some sentences about things we want to learn, what we laugh about, and what we love.

During our reading time, we talked about creating mental images in our heads while we are thinking during reading. I was reading the class the story, Freckle Juice, and we stopped in lots of different places to talk about mental pictures.

We continue to get better each day about following the rules of the school and the room. One of the many instances I noticed today was when we had two minutes to clean up from an art activity and the kids were so wonderful about helping their neighbors. We finished with 5 seconds to spare!

Finally, a pink half slip came home today requesting money. No, not for me! The students need some coins (real coins) that they can work with throught the year. We complete many activities with money and using the real thing is much more meaningful! If you didn't get a pink sheet, we need (in a baggie) 20 pennies, 10 dimes, 5 nickels, and 4 quarters). They will be returned at the end of the year. Thanks!

Now, this next thing is something I do every once in a while. I put up a SECRET WORD. Only the kids who look at the blog or hear from a parent who read the blog should know it. The secret word today is Freckle. If your child comes in an quietly whispers it to me (without telling anyone else), they will get to color in 5 Dandy Dolphins.

Thanks for playing along and reading this post!

Quick Post

We had a great day in 2G today, even though it was SO hot! We managed with frequent water breaks and lots of fun activities! This has to be a quick post (two soccer practices to get to) so please talk to your child about the following:

Who is Holler Loudly?

What numbers did we use to do our "clap practice" today in math?

What did the kids use in the LMC with Ms. Ranucci?

How did we sort our first names today?

What two things do we have for homework (I'll give you this one - 10 minutes of reading tonight and our collage picture is due on Friday)?

What did we do in our math journals today?

What did our class earn for being so responsible during our fire drill today?

What group did you work with during today's number scavenger hunt?

Thank you for taking the time to talk to your child about the day we had together. I hope they remember some of the answers to the above questions. :-)

Day #2

Hi everyone!

There was no homework given today. However, many students did not bring in their homework from yesterday (Writing about "My First Day of Second Grade"). I told them I will give them one more day to bring that in before they need to bring a "Yikes" form, our version of a missing homework note. These will be half slips of color paper and need to be signed and returned the next day. There are also full page behavior notes that will be given if your child ends the day on red (and sometimes yellow). Please support this process at home as a learning opportunity and a chance to talk to your child about how to make better choices that will help our learning environment.

Your child colored in his or her behavior calendar today for today and yesterday. I will try my hardest to allow for this important sheet to get filled out before we leave. This is also a learning opportunity for you to help support what we are doing in the classroom. Take a minute in the evening and/or the morning to talk about your expectations for your child for that day.

We had a wonderful day getting to know each other. We accomplished a great deal today. We participated in an activity that forced us all to walk around and talk to each other. Being 2nd graders who like to talk, this was not hard for most of the kids. The class seemed to really enjoy it.

We also took our assessments to determine the levels for starting on Otter Creek (math facts), which we will continue working on tomorrow. You should see flashcards coming home soon that your child will keep in his or her home binder. It will be part of the daily homework for your child to study those nightly!

We read from a read aloud titled Chocolate Fever. The kids loved hearing about his boy who ate so much chocolate that he started to get brown spots all over his skin! Tomorrow, the kids will get to go to the LMC for orientation and book check out. YIPPEE!! I love the LMC!

Here's the final message for the night: Each and EVERY morning, your child will experience the exact same routine in my class. If you could please talk to your child about this routine, it would prepare your child for their day and create a habit. These exact directions will be on the board for the first few weeks until a routine is established. Here is what your child will read:

1. Walk into the room and take your backpack to your seat. Unload your backpack with everything you'll need - home binder included.

2. Take your ZIPPED backpack to your hook.

3. Hang your lunch bag on your hook or place it in the lunch box bin outside the door.

4. Make lunch choice on the SMARTboard. Put your lunch card in your pocket if you are getting hot lunch or milk.

5. (This direction will define the morning activity and it varies day to day.)

Our regular homework sheet will begin next Monday and be placed in the home binder. I will post homework on here daily until then. My email list will be up and functional tomorrow sometime, so look for an email to come to you Thursday! Thank you so much for the support you are giving your child at home.

Our First Day!

Wow! That was the fastest day I have ever experienced! I was overwhelmed by the number of parents I got to meet today. You were all, parents and students, so welcoming! I really enjoyed my first day as a second grade teacher. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful class of students to spend my days with! We are going to have a great year. Here are a few bits of information for you to know about our first day:

- Today, we collected all the supplies that were brought in. If your child did not bring in a supply, please try to get it here by the end of the week (baby wipes, tissues, baggies, pencils, markers, post-its, etc.). Most importantly, send in a pair of headphones (can be earbuds, too) and a zip drive as we are going to attempt to keep ALL student work on the zip drive this year. I will keep both items in a gallon size zip loc for your child to take to computer lab. Most likely, we will need to replenish some items, like tissues, half way through the year. There NEVER seems to be enough! Thank you so much for bringing these items in.

- Today, we put out home binders together. Like this blog, the home binder is an important tool used to communicate between home and school. In it, there are papers that should stay in for the school year (I have hole punched these) and they should be behind the page protectors, loose. It is very important that when you are done reading these that you intial or sign the top, just so I know you are aware of the information. I will let you know when a new sheet has been placed so you know to find it and read it. I will teach the kids to routinely add to the very back of the binder, so the notes are in sequential order (of course, with 28 kisd, there may be a time I don't catch incorrect placement). The page protectors are for work the children are doing that I also want to keep safely inside. It is a place to keep projects, ongoing work, favorite work pieces, etc.) The things that are to stay home or be signed and return to school will always be in the Dolphins home folder in the binder. The things on the left should be read over, possibly signed, and returned to school. The things in the right pocket should be looked through and kept at home - I will not ask for these back. Teaching students to be organized is very important to me. I model it and discuss it often and I hope a small part will rub off.

- One of the items in the Dolphin Folder was a green information sheet. Please take a minute to fill this out, especially your email. I use email to send important messages. I promise I will not bombard you with anything that is not related to helping your child succeed! Kids receive a reward if these are returned by Wednesdsay!

- If you did not return the green dismissal sheet, please do so as soon as possible. I need to make sure that your child knows exactly how to get home at the end of the day. A few kids were uncertain how to get home, even when the sheet was turned in. I would appreciate a quick discussion at home and frequent reminders about how your child should be leaving the school daily. Please remember to let me know if there is a change in plans!

HOMEWORK - We will get into a routine of using a homework sheet in the home binder, but for today - we worked on a simple writing assignment at the end of the day, right after our Back to School Assembly. The students were to write at least three sentences about their day. We brainstormed some ideas to write about and some kids only wrote the words down from the board, but they are to show me how they can construct sentences. It is important for you to let them do the work with little guidance, so I can see what they do with an assignment like this.

- Snack time will be in the morning, so please send a healthy snack that is not messy.

- Classroom volunteers are needed. I will put my requests up here and will send emails out when I need help in the room. They will be random requests mostly until I get my routine going. Right now, I could really use some help tearing out some of the pages from our math Homelinks book. These workbook pages are very difficult to tear out for young hands, so if you could donate a 30-60 minute chunk of time, it would be such a help. If you are able to help out in the computer lab, I believe we will have lab on Monday afternoons, so that would be a regular 50 minute chunk of time you could sign up to help out with. Art Awareness is a program through the PTA, so let me know if you are interested in teaching a lesson about an artist and I will get you the information (generally 30 minutes long).

-We have peanut allergies in the room, so please refrain from sending snacks made with peanuts. Thank you!

Thank you for taking the time to check the blog today. Always feel free to contact me with questions, concerns, and suggestions. Have a wonderful evening!

It's Almost Here!!!

Hi everyone! Only one more day until our adventure begins!! Be sure to check out the specials schedule in the right margin of the page. Tomorrow we have art! Aren't we lucky!! Be sure to bring your water since staying hydrated it extremely important for your brain to learn (and you have lots to learn tomorrow)! A great trick is to fill a water bottle half way up, freeze it in the freezer (of course!), and then when you are at school, fill it up and enjoy nice refreshing water all morning! Also, dress in nice cool clothes so you are comfortable! Tomorrow morning, Meet and Greet starts at 8:40 and I will be up in the room waiting for you. Feel free to bring any family members and they can stay in the room until school begins at 9:10. You may also bring a picture of your family to keep in the room for the year as we'll be making a family collage this week. We have lunch at 12:15 and will have a morning snack time, so feel free to bring something healthy to snack on.

See you in the morning!!
Mrs. Grezlik

Welcome to a new school year everyone!  This really IS a new school year for me, since I am both at a new school and in a new grade level.  I am so excited about the adventures ahead as a second grade teacher.  If this is your first time on my blog site, please be aware that it is geared mainly toward fifth grade, since that is the grade I have taught for most of my career.  I will make changes to it as soon as possible so that it will be beneficial to my new second graders and their families!  My blog is a way for me to communicate with the families of my students as well as a tool for my students to enrich the learning we do in school at home!  I will write new posts often so that parents can keep up with what we are doing in school.  For now, I just wanted to say "WELCOME!"  I look forward to meeting you on Wednesday here at school for the social from 4-6p.m.  Hope you can make it!!

Let the Madness Begin!

Events coming up include:

May 20 - No School (School Improvement Planning Day)

May 19 and 20th - Hill Registration (19th from 3-7p.m. and the 20th from 8-3) Bring your checkbook!!

May 24 - 5th Grade Poetry Coffeehouse (Your child will bring home their poem this weekend - it does not need to be memorized. ALso, please contribute at least a dozen cookies and allow your child to bring a coffee mug for Coke, Sprite, or water to drink)

May 25 - 5th Grade Spelling Bee

May 26 - Mary Lou Cowlishaw Assembly

May 27 - High Tech/High Touch Science experiments (in school - Thank you PTA!!)
Also - last day for AR tests

May 30 - No School - Memorial Day

May 31 - Accelerated Reader Celebration/Gym Jam

June 1 - Awards Assembly

June 2 - Variety Show

June 6 - Fifth Grade Farewell (see above suggestions for how to help - THANK YOU PTA!!)

June 7 - Last day of school (dismissal at 10:10)

Other notes:

Please remember to send in items for our collection for the Hesed House(information came home last week).

Also, during the year I happily share my classroom library collection with the kids with the hope that all of the books will be treated with love and care and brought back to their "home." These are books I have purchased with my own money and would like to keep for next year's class. My books are marked with "Grezlik" along the top. Please check your books piles or shelves, stacks of school things, or under your child's bed for any of my books. Thank you!! Also, if you have any books you would like to donate to our classroom library, that would be a great end of the year gift to our classroom. Be sure to put your child's name in the book as next year's student's get a kick out of seeing "old" 5th graders names in the books.

I am sure I have forgotten something so you will probably be hearing from me again. We have lots of little things to work on in the last 10 or so days of school, so continue helping your child be the best they can be and make responsible decisions with their time as they finish up on a strong note!! Thanks for your continued support at home!!

Great Site for Summer action!

Here is a great site to sue during the summer to keep up on all of your math and literacy skills!! There are lots of resources here so take the time to look around.

HERE IT IS!!

When you enter the Brookdale Bridge website - click on the gray bar where "Math Links" and Literacy Links" are listed. Then you will follow down to tons of great sites - some for K-2 and below that 3-5 sites.

Enjoy!

Shakespeare

All about Shakespeare.


Shakespeare's sonnets are 154 poems in sonnet form written by William Shakespeare, dealing with themes such as the passage of time, love, beauty and mortality. All but two of the poems were first published in 1609.

Shakespeare Sonnets

Poetry Playtime!

Great site to create some amazingly fun poetry!

Check out this website for some extra help on creating a great diamante poem! Here are some ideas for opposites:
cat/dog
boy/girl
hamburger/Coke
pencil/paper
sandals/sneakers
king/queen
fire/ice
thunder/lightning
earth/sea
rose/thorn
love/hate
victory/defeat
peace/turmoil


Pattern to follow:

Line A: Topic A (must be a noun)
Line B: Two vivid adjectives that describe Topic A
Line C: Three interesting “-ing” action verbs that describe Topic A
Line D: Two concrete nouns about Topic A and two about Topic G
Line E: Three interesting “-ing” action verbs that describe Topic G
Line F: Two vivid adjectives that describe Topic G
Line G: Topic G (must be a noun)

Here’s another example:

Light
Clear, brilliant
Glowing, shining, revealing
Mirror, candle . . . Whisper, shadow
Deepening, sleeping, shrouding
Black, quiet
Darkness

Game Board Mania!

Just as a reminder that our final class work time for game boards will be tomorrow. You will have some time tomorrow during literacy and some time in the afternoon. Be sure, if you haven't already, to bring in your game board letter - signed by a parent. You will not be allowed to work tomorrow if you do not have the letter by a parent. Bring any materials you need to work on the board components for tomorrow.

Revolutionary War Board Game

We have finished Chapter 9 in Social Studies and will test over the chapter on Friday, April 15.
In addition, we have started a project where your child will be responsible for creating a board game that uses events, people, and places from the Revolutionary Way (before, during, and after). They have a simple packet of explanations in their home folder that includes a rubric that will be used to grade it.
It was given as an option to work alone or with a partner. Materials for the board game will need to be provided by you. This includes poster board(s), items to use as tokens, index cards to use for question cards, markers, dice, spinners, etc. I will allow some time for this project in class, but work will also need to be done at home.
The board game and all the necessary components will be due on Tuesday, April 26. Please discuss this project with your child. This is an opportunity for your child to understand time management when it comes to project work.

Here is a site to look online for ideas.

5G on NCTV

Hi everyone,
Here is the link to the NCTV interview. If you click on the video for the weekly news (should be in the box on the right), our story isn about 8:20 into the news. Enjoy!

Excitement in 5G

Hi there, everyone!
We had a very exciting afternoon in our classroom! We had a reporter come in to film our classroom and interview me and Shiksha about the Red Cross collection. Shiksha did a great job. The videographer spent time filming our afternoon literacy lesson on schools of the future before we had our interview. It was a great opportunity to let the kids experience what a news reporter does up close. I was sad the whole class did not get to be in the room for it, but most of the class was and it was just the time it could be done. Unforunately, I cannot get the picture to upload of the interview, so I will attempt to put it on tomorrow.

As a reminder - the Family Math Night that was supposed to take place this Thursday has been rescheduled for APril 28. Hope you can all make it - it will be a very fun night!!

Parent Night at Hill Middle School is still on for this Thursday from 7 - 8:30p.m. Please try to make plans to attend. This is a very valuable evening, especially for parents new to Hill.

FINALLY - a challenge was placed on the kids today to learn all 50 states and their capitals. There are plenty of links here on my blog to find online help to study the states. We will be working on these in the class but most of the studying will need to be done at home. By the end of May, your child is expected to know all 50 states, identify them on a map, and tell the name of the capitals. THEY CAN DO IT!!