January Calendar
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and are enjoying your break.  Here is a look ahead to January.  2013 is almost here!  Happy New Year!!January 2013

Candy and Gift
Just a reminder that the candy for the holiday party and the gift for the gift exchange are due at the beginning of next week.  The gift should be two winter accessories...a hat and gloves, scarf and mittens, etc.  The girls should bring a gift for a girl and the boys for a boy.  Please just label the gift with who it's from and that's how I'll know if it's for a girl or boy.  Let me know if you have any questions.  I can't believe how quickly how December is flying by; although I don't know why I'm surprised...it was always does! :)

Lemelson Young Inventors Challenge

LYIC Announcement

Grading and Coupons
Hello there....I just wanted to let you know that throughout the month of December there may be Fridays that spelling tests and/or homework are not sent home that same day graded/corrected.  We have a lot of changes to our schedule this crazy month and they may prevent me from grading and sending those items home the same day. 

Holiday Party

Please email me and let me know as soon as possible if you are able to or willing to help with the holiday party.  The party will be Thursday, December 20th from about 1:00-3:00.  Set up will begin at about 12:30.  Helping could include sending or bringing in a food item or coming and helping run the party. Just let me know if you're up for it! :)

Holiday Gift Exchange
Below is a notice that will be going home in the Friday Folders this Friday.  Please read it carefully and let me know if you have any questions.  If you will be unable to purchase 2 winter accessories for the gift exchange please let me know as soon as possible so everyone can be included.  Thanks so much!

Mitten Exchange

Thank you
Thank you so much for the nice birthday wishes! :)

Just a reminder...
Field trip money ($8) is due by this Friday.  I hope you had a great long weekend!

December Calendar
Wow! I can't believe it's December already and I can't believe how quickly December has already filled up.  Below is our very busy December calendar.  The time for the holiday party has not yet been determined; however, it will be some time in the afternoon of Thursday the 20th.  More information will be coming home soon.

December Calendar

Games Games Games

Here are some more fun online games to check out.

Turkey Pardon Word Game

Color the Turkey Addition

Verb Viper

Noun Dunk

Time to send in those used books 

for the Animal Ark Used Book Sale

The holidays are just around the corner, so it's time to start cleaning out those bookcases and closets for those books that your child has read, and read, and read to help out a worthy cause. Our Animal Ark used book sale will be in February and we need to start collecting books to make sure we have enough for the sale.  The proceeds from the book sale will be used to adopt an animal from Animal Ark when we go in May.

If you have any children's books to donate, please send them in ASAP.  The more books we have, the more we can help the animals!        

An animal at Animal Ark will thank you!

Field Trip Time

Our first field trip will be on Thursday, December 6th.  We will be going to a play put on by the students at TMCC.  The play will be at the Nell Redfield Theater on Keystone Ave.  We will be leaving shortly after 9:00 am and will be returning to school some time around noon.

A note will be going home shortly; however, the cost for the field trip is $8 per student.  Please send cash or a check made out to CRES in as soon as possible.  Chaperone tickets will be $6; however, please do not pay for a chaperone ticket without speaking to me first.  The seating is very limited, therefore we may not be able to accommodate all of the parents that want to chaperone.

The students will need to bring a cold lunch on this day.  We will most likely miss our scheduled lunch time at school and will need to eat in the classroom when we return. The second grade teachers are also asking that students dress nicely on this day since we are going to a "theater" and practicing our audience manners. :)

Owl Pellets
Last week we learned all about owls.  On Thursday we dissected owl pellets to see exactly what owls eat.  We carefully pulled apart the sterilized pellets that had been regurgitated from owls and matched bones that we found to see what types of animals they may have eaten.  Some students found bones from mice, rats, moles, and shrews.

Spectra Art
We had our first Spectra Art lesson on Friday from Maddie's mom.  The kiddos learned about Henri Matisse and then did a self portrait using oil pastels and watercolors.  It was so much fun!

Holiday Food Drive
Each class is holding their own Holiday Food Drive for the next two weeks until Thanksgiving. For each item of non-perishable food that is brought in I give will a coupon*.

*There is a 10 coupon limit :)

Halloween Party
Our Halloween party last week was a blast.  The kids had so much fun at our "Mad Scientist Lab Party".  Thank you so much to everyone that helped make it awesome!

You may click on any picture below to enlarge it. :)

Making Slime

Checking to see if it glows

Dissecting Diapers

Boo!

Owls

Next week we will be learning about owls.  We will be doing a special science project with owl pellets on Thursday afternoon.  We will need a couple parents to help with them. Please email me or let me know if you'd be able to help Thursday, November 8th from

2-3.  Thanks!

Happy Halloween to you and yours!

Math Games
Here are some links to more math games that will help reinforce skills we've been practicing.

Pumpkin Addition Memory Game

Alien Addition

Place Value Eaters

November Calendar
Here is our calendar for November.  You may use the tool below to download, view in fullscreen or print. Nov Calendar

Nevada Day Week
Homework this week will be due on Thursday.  The spelling test will be given Thursday afternoon.

Box Tops
Don't forget to send in your box tops with the form that goes home in Friday Folders.  Our class has been in first place and we just recently went to second place.  We want that popcorn party! :)

Using the Hundred's Chart
I found a fantastic way to practice addition and subtraction using a hundreds chart at home.  Use the link below for an explanation of a way to practice this skill that will help your children become more comfortable using the chart and more familiar with and aware of the patterns it holds. 

I posted a hundreds chart on here a couple weeks ago that you can print for extra practice too :)

Hundreds Chart Activities

MAPS Math Test Scores
Below is a link to the "Parent Tool Kit" from the MAPS testing website.  It has some answers to FAQ's parents have about the scoring and testing.

MAPS Parent Tool Kit

Haunted House Math Game
Here is a link to practice math facts in a fun haunted house.

Haunted House Math Game

Adjective Game

We have been talking a lot about adjectives (describing words) in class.  Here is the link to a fun adjective game that seemed extra appropriate for this time of year with it's creepy spiders. :)

Adjective Game

Conferences
I'm looking forward to meeting with all of you for our conference this week.  Please let me know as soon as possible if you will need to reschedule.  Remember that each day school will be dismissed at 12:50.  Homework will remain the same this week.

Below is a fun handout I found that I thought I'd share.  You can use the links below to enlarge, download or print.

How to Succeed in School

Help!
We still need two volunteers for the Fall Fest next Friday.  We need a volunteer from 4:30-5:00 and 5:00-5:30 to help run the Coke Bottle Toss.  Please let me know if you are able to do this :)

Mailmen
As the school has progressed I have been adding new classroom jobs to our routine.  One of the jobs that the students now take responsibility is "mailmen".  This entails passing out corrected papers into the slots that then get placed in Friday Folders.  You may notice some papers coming home that may not be your own child's.  If this happens please just send them back.  The "mailmen" are trying their best to be careful. :)

Review Weeks for Spelling
Every six weeks our spelling words are a review.  On a review week we don't do a pre-test on Monday and the spelling packet looks a little bit different.  Every child receives the same spelling list that consists of 30 words that contain the phonics patterns we've practiced for the previous five weeks.  Our first review week is next week :)

Fall Fest
The Fall Fest is Friday, October 19th.  Our class is in charge of running the Coke Bottle Toss.  We need 4 volunteers that could run this during the following times:

4:00-4:30

4:30-5:00

5:00-5:30

5:30-6:00

Please email me or send in a note if you are able to help during one of these time slots.  Any volunteers receive an extra five bonus tickets.  Thank you for your help.

October Calendar
Here is the October calendar.  You can use the tools on the bottom to view fullscreen, download or print.

October

IMPORTANT- IXL SIGN-INS
The IXL usernames for our class have been changed in an effort to make things more simple.  All usernames are now the same as the AR usernames with the letters IXL added to the end.  The passwords are the same (which were already matching AR passwords).

For example if your AR username was bfred, your IXL username is bfredixl.  All usernames are the first letter of the first name and the first 4 letters of the last name plus ixl.  If your child has a 1 at the end of their AR username they will still use it for IXL. (twill1ixl)

Please let me know if you have any questions, or if IXL is not working for you at home and you'd like username and password verification :)

Meet the Colts
Today in the homework folders a Meet the Colts form is going home.  Please add a photo, fill out and send back to school as soon as possible.

No Math Night
There is no Math Night tomorrow night.  It has been postponed.  I will upload an October calendar for our class later tonight.  It's ready to go, but the district has blocked yet another website so I cannot load onto the blog until I get home :)

IXL
This week we will be focusing on addition facts in math.  In second grade it is the goal for the kiddos to master these facts (sums up to 20) and be able to immediately recall them.  Memorization is a great way to learn these; however, during the school day there's no time for that.  Below is a link to a website that has free flashcards you can print for practice at home.

Free Flashcards

For IXL this week any second grade strand that's addition would be a great idea.

Halloween Party
UPDATE

Our Halloween Party will be on Wednesday, October 31st.  This Wednesday is actually NOT an early release.  The party will be from 1:30-3:00.  Please email me, send in a note or comment on this post by next Friday the 5th if you're able to help at the party or by simply sending in an item so I can give your info to those in charge of party planning :) Party set-up will begin at 1:00.

100's Chart
Here is a 100's chart that you can print to use at home for help with math if you'd like.  The method that we use at school is to count up which means if the problem is 6+8, the child should start on the biggest number (8) and count up 6.  During subtraction it's the same technique only they'll "hop" backwards.  We also encourage using the patterns of a 100's chart and the fact that if you go up or down from a number it is + or - 10.  Students may choose to use this shortcut.  For example if the problem is 22 +12, they would begin on 22 and then instead of "hopping" 12 times they would go down one (+10) and then over 2 in order to make 12.

As we move forward in math over the course of this year and do two-digit subtraction and addition these techniques and familiarity of the 100's chart will be helpful.

100s Chart

IXL Usernames
Good morning!  I wanted to let you know that I changed a few of the IXL usernames last night in order to make things easier when signing in as a class in the computer lab.  From now on the last three numerical digits on the ends of every username are 274.  There were about 4 kiddos whose number was 695 (I have no idea why) so those few got changed to 274. Please let me know if you have any questions or if you have problems logging in.  We will be doing IXL in computers today for the first time so hopefully any problems that may arise can be fixed in computer class this afternoon.  Thanks!

FYI- We will be dicussing as a primary staff the possibility of changing these log-ins to being more simple and similar to AR sign-ins (they won't allow them to be exactly the same.)  I will let you know if this happens.

Picnic Lunch
Don't forget to bring a sack lunch tomorrow for the picnic after the Jog-a-Thon.  A towel or blanket and a water bottle would also be a great idea!

IXL 
This week skills that would be great to review are:

• B.1- Comparing Numbers up to 100
• A.5- Hundreds Chart
• A.10- Skip Counting Puzzles

Reading Homework
Reading homework begins tonight.  The children will need to read each night, fill out the summary log, have a parent sign in, and return it the next day. 

The books that are going home this first time may be a little easy to some.  The students know that if they read this book and do well on the AR quiz they will be bumped up to a harder book.  On the other hand, if they do poorly on the quiz then we will continue to work together to find a book that is at the appropriate level.

Please keep the sticky notes in the books so that we can re-use them. And you are always allowed to read ahead or read more if you'd like. :)

Let me know if you have any questions.

Aarrghhh Matey!

We had a great day at Pirate Day today.  The outfits were fantastic!

Have a great weekend!