Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Tuesday

Happy Birthday to Max today!

At morning meeting today, we chose our 3 word slogan to represent the 3B's: Kindness Always Wins.
Some of us finished our Rainy Days vs. Sunny Days papers; others finished Weekend News; and the rest of us worked in our writers' notebooks. We learned how to play 4 square in PE. Today in reading, we read a mystery book called The Stranger. We worked on making inferences about the stranger in this book. In word work, we learned our last new word wall words for the year. We started a new read aloud book called Trumpet of the Swan. Will's grandmother came in to help today during Math Daily 5. We worked more on fractions!

Monday, April 29, 2013

Monday

Welcome back from April vacation. This is the second time 2F has helped Mrs. Follansbee write the blog.  Today, Mrs. Follansbee tried out some new organizational tricks! Today in math we started to work on fractions. In computer lab, we worked on Into the Book. This is a website where you can learn about strategies that you use when you read.  In writing, we did Weekend News.  Independent reading was longer today because Mrs. F was at a meeting and we skipped read aloud also. Mrs. F brought in a box of stuff and we practiced making inferences about this stuff. We also have a new sharing stool. In morning meeting today, we did a lightning share.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Thursday

Today is the first time the students of 2F are writing this blog! 

Today was a really "zigger-zaggery" day.  We had both art and PE.  This is the first time that we've had art and PE on the same day! We had word work earlier  than usual.  We did Spelling City on the computer.  We had a test in math about money. Someone special came in this afternoon to talk to us about the importance of Dairy products.  We had snack a little later than usual. We had a fire drill this morning too.  We did the work board in reading. Some people did Write about Reading.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

The Week Before Vacation

We just finished watching The BFG and having snozzcumbers and frobscottle!  Thanks to Mrs. Ehrmanntraut and Mrs. Chapman for helping put those two things together!  The reviews were mixed as far as the snack and the movie.  I heard a lot of "The book was so much better"!  I love that!  It was a fun afternoon.

We are wrapping up our unit on money.  Some children are still struggling a bit with identifying and counting money. Any help on that would be great!  I will test them tomorrow.

Many students finished their write about reading this week.  We also made weather graphs in computer lab.  It was our last WIN for word work this year.  The next cycle will be focused on math.

As we approach vacation, we will be researching weather topics in the library this week and making weather mobiles.  We have an assembly Friday morning which is always a special treat. This is the TIGER assembly which focuses on bullying.

Energy is high and spring has sprung!  Life is good in 2F!!!!

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Wednesday and Thursday

2F is a happening place! We had Mrs. Maynard come today to read us some books and talk to us about upcoming library programs.  Also, we had the Jump Rope for Heart assembly.  We saw some amazing kids jumping rope!

We are almost finished the BFG and I would like to show the movie next week.  Along with the movie, I would like to make snozcumbers and frobscotle (ask your children!) and will need some help with ingredients as well as putting it together.  I will send an email out tomorrow about this.

The link for the channel 9 broadcast is below in case you missed it.

Channel 9

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Monday and Tuesday

Kevin Skarupa came today!  We learned a lot about weather today.  The students will be on TV tomorrow morning at 6:15.  Set your alarms!

In math, we are learning about money. Students have identified coins such as quarters, nickels, dimes and pennies. Today we looked at bills as well. We are skip counting to get ready for counting coins and bills.

In computer lab yesterday, we drew pictures and wrote sentences about our favorite types of weather. I will put these into a class book when everyone is done.

We did our weekend news yesterday and finished up today. Students are working on reflecting about their week in guided reading. I ask students to think about what they are doing well each week as well as what they will work on the following week. This week, we talked about the definition of being successful at something. They needed to give me reasons for why they were successful with something rather than just listing it.  This requires a lot of thought.

We've been concentrating on contractions in Word Work. Yesterday we played a game in partners forming contractions.  We will have WIN groups tomorrow.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Wednesday and Thursday

I was out at an elementary school in Dover visiting a school who has Math in Focus as their math program yesterday. It was so insightful!  This school is in its 3rd year of implementation and we got to see teachers teaching lessons and talk with them later about our questions.  It was a great experience.  The students seemed to enjoy having Mrs. Mosca as their substitute teacher.

We read a book about weather today.  Students are gaining vocabulary about the topic.  Kevin Skarupa will be coming on Tuesday to visit us.  He is the weatherman for Channel 9 News. There will be a permission slip coming home tomorrow for you sign granting permission for students to be video taped. Traditionally, Skarupa brings his camcorder and videos students waving then plays it (with no sound) the next morning after his forecast.  Please send these slips back as soon as possible.  Thank you. If you choose not to grant permission, students will be asked to step outside the room when Skarupa tapes the crowd.

Tomorrow, Miss Mary the Turtle Lady will visit us in the afternoon.  She does a great talk, sings with the kids, and brings her turtles for them to see.  The kiddos always love it!

Students are in full swing of writing workshop. They are choosing their own topics, drafting, editing, revising and publishing their stories.  It's great to see them proficient with the writing process.

In math, we are finishing up the chapter on Mental Math and Rounding.  I will test them tomorrow.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Monday and Tuesday

We're off to a great start this week!  Students are learning to round numbers to the nearest ten and figure out whether answers to addition and subtraction problems are reasonable.  We will continue to review this as is it a difficult concept.

FYI:  math homework this week is not a math log but a cumulative review of chapters 1 through 4.  This is not an assignment students can choose to do. I would like all students to complete it as best they can.  Thanks for your help with this.

In reading, we will be working on the skill of inferring coming up this week.  Students are working on their Write about Reading letters.  Every week, they need to write a letter to me about a book they have read over the course of the week. They include the title of the book and what it is about as well as their reactions to the story.  I am impressed with their ability to craft these letters.  They do this all on the computer in class.

We have been talking about contractions in word work.  We are also doing WIN groups twice a week. This cycle is revolving around word wall words, vocabulary, and phonics work.

We are beginning our study on weather. Kevin Skarupa will visit on Tuesday!  We will be in the library doing a weather mobile project.  We were able to use a weather CD in computer lab to kick off this unit.

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns!