Announcements:

You're invited to Muffins with Mom! Muffins with Mom will take place on Friday, May 19th in the MPR. Students will be brought down around 8:15, and we would love if you joined us for some quality time, muffins, coffee and tea with your child! An invitation went home in red folders today!

Please RSVP here if you are able to come!

A-Z countdown: This teacher goofed this week! Monday we will combine F and G!

Monday - F & G - Reading by Flashlight and Games! Please send your student in with their favorite book and a flashlight!

Tuesday - H - How to Day - We will watch a fun video on how things we use every day are made!

Wednesday - I - Ice Cream Day! I'd love if you could donate ice cream sandwiches or ice cream cups to our classroom for this day!

Thursday - J - Joke Day! Students will bring in their favorite joke, and we will spend some time sharing them and giggling!

Friday - K - Kindness Day ! We will do an act of kindness :]

Here's a glimpse of what happened this week in the classroom:

On Wednesday instead of sitting in a faculty meeting, we got to play P.E.! Parachute and dodgeball!

Working on our persuasive writing!

Bring your favorite book day was a hit among all!

Healthy snack day: Protein style!

Here is a look at our learning for the upcoming week:

Language arts: Next week in grammar we will work on a top secret project! We will brainstorm and go through the writing process to write a paragraph sure to make your heart feel all warm and fuzzy! We will continue memorizing the poem Harriet Tubman by Eloise Greenfield. Students are doing a wonderful job reciting stanzas 1-3 with expression and inflection, while standing up straight and proud! We will read a story title Narcissus and differentiate between listening to another person, and hearing what we want to hear. We will identify situations in which someone is not listening, and examine our own abilities to listen to others. Ask your child what our class came up with to the questions 'what does it mean to be a good listener?'. In literature we will continue to explore how the Ingall's family makes maple sugar, and even sample some of the real stuff! We will read chapters 8 and 9 and identify what different animal tracks look like!

Math: In math next week we are taking it WAY back to the beginning of the year! We will spend a day reviewing important concepts we learned in first semester. We will refresh our brains on mental math, multiplication, division, and measurement.

History: Students will compare Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee, and how the war ended for each of these men. You can ask your history buff to explain how General Sherman and his men helped lead the Union to Victory (but please wait until the end of the week, because believe it or not, some students can't figure out how the war ended and are sitting on pins and needles each history lesson!).

Science: Next week we will conclude our Biography unit through learning about an African-American doctor who performed the first successful open heart surgery! Dr. Daniel Hale Williams was a surgeon who helped set up a teaching hospital in Chicago. It was the first hospital in Chicago to have African-American doctors and nurses on its staff. ALL patients were treated well there. We have truly enjoyed learning about these important people in Science and discussing the virtues they each possess.

Week 34!

Announcements:

A-Z Countdown: Can you BELIEVE that we are inside the last 26 days of school?!? I created a fun countdown for each letter of the alphabet so we can really soak in these last days as a classroom family. Today for A we did a small art project, ask your student about it tonight! Next week we have letters B-F and we need your help! Please keep these a secret from your child, as I'd like each day to be a joyful surprise. Some will be given away because students need to bring something from home, but some will be an exciting adventure!

Monday - Book Day! Students will need to bring a book from home and take turns reading it aloud to their friends
Tuesday - Compliment Day - I have a fun compliment activity planned!
Wednesday - Donut day - We will enjoy a donut hole at the end of the day. Please sign up here to donate donuts to the class.
Thursday - Exercise Day - We will spend a some class time doing fun exercise videos on Go Noodle!
Friday - Flashlight Friday - Students will need to bring in a flashlight and their favorite book, we will spend some time in the dark, reading by flashlight!

Pictures of our week!

A is for ART - today we learned how to draw racecars and baby chicks!

Someone special visited us this week! THE DESK FAIRY!

We learned how we can REDUCE REUSE and RECYCLE for Earth Day!

Here is a look at our learning for next week:

Language arts: In language arts next week, students will be introduced to a new type of paragraph! PERSUASIVE PARAGRAPHS! They will be introduced through a model letter that someone wrote to Mrs. Smith, trying to convince us to get a class pet! Students will then start their brainstorming and prewriting on a topic they'd like to persuade their parents or teachers on. We will continue memorizing and reciting the poem Harriet Tubman, ask your scholar what the first two stanzas sound like! In Literature we will read the sixth and seventh chapter of Little House in the Big Woods. After Wednesday ask your literature guru what Laura did that allowed her to get away quickly from the bear!

Math: Next week in math we will introduce students to geometry! We will talk about vertices, angles, and sides! At the end of the week we will make 3-D shapes out of paper!

History: The students will learn about Abraham Lincoln's background and feelings about slavery. They should be able to identify the early battles of the Civil War and the division of the North and South over slavery. They should also be able to explain why the South wanted to secede from the Union.

Science: Next week we will learn about a special woman, a nurse, named Florence Nightingale. She was also know as The Lady with the Lamp. Florence always believed that her life had a special purpose and that she was meant to help others. Ask your scholar how she accomplished this!

4 day week!

I hope you all had a great long weekend! Coach Cook and I are slowly making Chief bionic, so he went in for knee surgery on Friday. The weekend was spent loving on our recovering pup, and trying to take cute videos of him in the cone of shame. We spent some much needed time with family, and are rested and refreshed to tackle this week!

Here is a look at our learning this week:
 Language arts: We will NOT introduce any new words in Spalding this week. Instead we will test on the words from last week, and review and practice several misspelled words! In literature we will continue to work on editing our paragraph describing how Pa makes bullets. We will read chapters 4 and 5 of Little House in the Big Woods. We will compare and contrast Christmas in the Ingalls house with an important holiday in our own homes. In Grammar students will review and classify all parts of speech learned, including sentences containing conjunctions and compound parts. Students will practice identifying the central narrative in a passage, in the story The Magic of Oz by Frank L. Baum.

Math: We will begin a new unit on GRAPHING! We will begin by making a tally chart and a simple picture graph. By the end of the week we will be interpreting picture and bar graphs, as well as identifying the range and mode in picture and bar graphs!

Science: We will be starting a new unit on biographies through reading and learning about a man named Elijah McCoy, an African-American inventor. Do you know the saying "That's the Real McCoy" and where it came from? Ask your scholar about Elijah's important contributions!

History: We are moving on to the Civil War unit. Students will learn about disagreements between the North and the South that resulted in war. Ask your scholar about the Underground Railroad.

Field Trip!

We had SO much fun on our field trip! Thank you to ALL the amazing chaperones that came along and put up with the heat and dirt! We couldn't do it without you!

Panning for GOLD!

 Signs of a successful field trip:

Week 32!

Next week we will be entering week 32 of second grade! I can't even believe it! We have a short week ahead of us - with a field trip Thursday and no school on Friday!

Field trip information: The permission slip is due today along with $10. On Thursday please send your student with a sack lunch and a water bottle, both labeled with their name. Students need to be in uniform but can wear hats, and should wear sunscreen as well. We will be leaving the school at 9AM.

Here is a look at our learning this week:

Language arts: This week students will work on identifying the central narrative thread in a passage from a story called The Real Princess. In Spalding students will have the choice to write their words in cursive or manuscript for homework. Students can also choose to switch it up and do some words in cursive and some in manuscript. I really appreciate you help and partnership in monitoring correct letter formation at home! In grammar next week students will review classifying sentences and all parts of speech we have learned! On Tuesday students will be introduced to a new part of speech, our SEVENTH part of speech: CONJUNCTIONS! On Wednesday students will review conjunctions and classify sentences containing conjunctions and compound parts!

Math: In math this week we will wrap up our unit on capacity! We will compare different units of measurement, including a cup, pint, quart, half gallon, and gallon! We will discuss different scenarios in which using a specific unit would be necessary. Would you put cups of water into a pool to fill it up? Why or why not? We will work hard to solve word problems involving capacity, and comparing capacity. We will review concepts learned in units 1-12, focusing on subtracting money and multiplication, and then on Thursday we will assess our knowledge of units 1-12.

History: This week, we will learning about the hardships encountered on the journey west and get a little taste of pioneering on our class field trip!

Science: We will create a catapult and see how far we can launch PEEPS!