What’s New in Room 2?

Today in class students were given the opportunity to choose an animal book to use for our research writing/science assignment (which will be done primarily in class). While students have been provided with a book to use in the classroom, some of them showed interest in reading about other animals. Please allow time in the next few days or over the weekend to browse your books, go to the library and/or visit a bookstore to gather some 2nd-3rd grade reading-friendly materials.

I have added some additional links to the blog page. They can be found under Animal Report Resources in the column on the right.

Students will be reading about their animal, learning the report writing structure, and developing a report through the writing process. We are also now studying about animals in science.

Thank you for your support.

Happy Halloween, Parents!

I hope your little second graders survived the sugar rush from yesterday’s carnival and better yet, I hope you survived it too! I tried to make it around to everyone during the carnival as well as I could and it appeared that they all had a wonderful time. They were sure busy playing games, consuming sweets and mixing with their friends.  Speaking of your little angels, I am trying to think ahead (Yes, it happens sometimes!) I think I would like the girls to be angels for our Christmas performance and the boys, shepards, so if you happen to come across 1/2 off  angel wings in the after Halloween sales, you may want to secure a pair of wings for your little girl.

Have a safe Halloween! Happy Haunting Second Graders!

Mrs. MacDonald

Reminder: Halloween Carnival this Friday. If you want to join in the fun and bring siblings, they are welcome too. Sometimes the little ones do better with a leader. I will partner them up, so everyone feels comfortable.

Tickets are .25 each and go on sale Wednesday. All games are one ticket except for the haunted house, which is 2 tickets. Students can bring money for the snack bar and photo booth too.

The fun begins at 12:15 (Well, I like to say the fun begins at 8:15am, but you know what I mean).  and ends at 2:15. If you plan to take your child early this day, it is ok, but they must be signed out in the classroom.

Don’t forget to pack a healthy lunch that your child will eat because candy will be a plenty! (Hee! hee! and then we send them home).

Remember, they can wear their costume too.

Please add May 1st 2010 to your calendar for the 2nd grade First Communion! More information to come.

Hi Parents, sorry this message is not to you. It is for your students.

Hey, Second Graders!

As promised I have linked the typing program http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/ to the blog page. Look under links and click on Typing Game and you will be able to practice your typing. Have fun and practice your home row too!

Love,

Mrs. MacDonald

Hi All!

Reminder: Please make sure,  if you signed up to chaperone the 2nd grade field trip next Thursday, you are not only fingerprinted, but also have completed the online Safe Environment for Children Program @ shieldthevulnerable.org . 

If you haven’t been fingerprinted, you may be too late for this field trip, but you are encouraged to get fingerprinted for our next field trip on November 13th. If you haven’t completed the Safe Environment for Children Program, it isn’t too late. Just make sure you send in the Certificate of Completion. While the diocese provides us with completion updates, we are only notified monthly, so the certificate is necessary if you are chaperoning on this field trip. See the directions below for completing the online course. It may be done in segments and shouldn’t take more than an hour total.

Parents planning to volunteer in the classroom also need to complete this course. I will be looking for volunteers next Friday (10/23)  to assist with the Halloween stations in class.

Go to: shieldthevulnerable.org

Click Diocese Sign Up Adult

Select Sacramento Diocese

Complete registration

Click Start on the My Course page

Print and return the Certificate of Completion to school

Parents planning to volunteer in the classroom also need to complete this course. I will be looking for volunteers next Friday to assist with the Halloween stations in class.

I thank you and so does your child!

Laura MacDonald

As all of you should know by now, progress reports went home Friday. Just a quick note regarding one grade in particular. Under math you will find End of 2nd grade Assessment. Please note this assessment is assessment that covers all of the end of the year standards for second grade. Your child will take this assessment again at the end of the year and growth will be measured. If your child didn’t appear to do well on this assessment, then don’t be surprised. None of the students did well on it, don’t worry. We will use these numbers to show growth at the end of the year. Chapter one math, on the other hand, shows how your child did after learning unit one, your child should have done well on this test. Please feel free to voice any other concerns by sending an email, dropping me a line or coming by at school. Thanks!

Mark your calendars… We will be going on a field trip Thursday, October 22 to Dave’s Pumpkin Patch to learn about harvesting crops and how food gets from the farm to the grocery store. This trip will support our Social Studies unit: People We Depend On. More information will follow. If you haven’t yet, please get fingerprinted, so you will be able to participate. If you can’t join us this time, there is another possible field trip in the works for November and December. Notes coming home soon!

Also, your child will be bring home thier progress report Friday. If you have specific questions about what an assessment consists of or what a score means, please feel free to ask me. I love to talk about your children!

Hope to see you at Grandparent’s Day next Thursday!

Behavior

Many of the students were not on their best behavior this week. Please check in with your student and discuss their behavior in class. Ask them about their conduct. One way to get a correct response out of  your student is to ask them, “If I asked Mrs. MacDonald about your behavior, what would she say?”

Areas of concern include:

• Blurting out during discussions instead of waiting to be called on
• Talking over the teacher or other students when they participate in classroom discussions or give responses
• constant attempt to go to the bathroom during direct instruction
• talking off-topic during independent work time
• treating others with disrespect

While many students in the class have outstanding behavior, it is always helpful to reinforce your expectations of your child at school. I appreciate your support and would be happy to speak further with you regarding this issue at anytime.

FOCUS

Another concern I have with several of the students is their ability or willingness to pay attention to classroom learning. I assess students throughout the day and ask for verbal feedback and physical cues (individually, group or whole class)  to let me know they are listening and following along during instruction. I watch and listen carefully because just because a student is quiet and well behaved, it doesn’t mean they are paying attention. There does seem to be quite a few students in our classroom that fall into this category, so I am focusing hard in this area and following up frequently, so students will see they are held accountable for the information I am teaching.

I also work hard to get students to be active learners. While students are eager to share, they do not do a good job at this age listening to each other. I continue to instill in them that they can learn by listening to each other and that I am not the only teacher in the room.

We have completed chapter one math and are now working on Chapter two: Place Value, as you could probably tell from this week’s homework.  Coming home tomorrow (Wed.) should be your child’s Chapter One math pages  along with their Chapter test and their self assessment stapled to the back. You may notice a few of the pages in the packet were blank. We covered the standards and moved quickly,  due to the simplicity of the subject matter.  If your child has pages that were incomplete, it could be for a number of reasons. With future chapters, unfinished pages will result in extra homework. Almost all students did well on the test . Students had a chance to review missed problems and we discuussed the correct answers together this afternoon.