Week 16

Dear Parents,

          This week we focused on several of the gingerbread man stories. We compared/contrasted the character traits from three of the stories. We also wrote a summary on gingerbread men. In math we are continuing to add double digit numbers with models. We are comparing fall and winter in social studies. We wrote a response to our discussion and made an art project to display. I will post a picture of their work on our classroom blog. We also finished publishing our Winter acrostic using the computer in computer lab. 

       We began a new science unit on motion. The engage activity was marble painting which was lots of fun. They placed two marbles with different colored paint on them in a box and got to watch the marbles slide, turn, spin, and roll at different rates of speed as they tilted the box. We can’t wait to learn more! 

        I would like to thank Cate Crane and Veronica Cooper for making our holiday party memorable. Our holiday sing along is always so much fun. Look at the Blog to see more about these events!

                                                     Flat Stanley Musical

Week 15

Dear Parents,

            Another great week of learning in second grade! I think their most memorable event was our field trip to see Flat Stanley put on stage. Reading the story as a class, thinking about the characters, making character maps, and finally making a Flat Stanley to be mailed away to experience a new place  has been so much fun! Don’t forget to look for pictures on our classroom blog.

            In guided reading we continued reading our individual group books, but also got to experience stations for the blind and deaf. We learned about braille, sign language, and discovered smells and objects without using our eyes to see if we could identify them! More pictures are posted on our classroom blog!

            In Math we have been adding two digit numbers using mental math and a hundreds chart. I have been impressed with how quickly the children have learned these skills. Earlier in the week I sent home a picture of the fasttmath facts learned by your child. All the blocks with answers 0-9 should be filled in. I cannot move your child to subtraction facts until the entire board is colored dark to show all fasttfacts learned. Please make sure that your child does fasttmath at least two times a week as part of his/her math log. I appreciate your help with this!

             We have wrapped up our lesson in science on magnets. I was also impressed with how well my class did on the assessment. We have one more week of learning before holiday break  … not that the children are counting down! :)

Discovering what things are by feeling them, learning sign language, and discovering different smells was so much fun! No one much cared for the vinegar smell!

Learning about braille on Braille Bug. It's fun decoding messages!

Week 14

Dear Parents, 

         It was so nice for all of us to get back to learning after the Thanksgiving Break! The children have been busy making a special holiday gifts for their parents.  We have taken our test on ordering and comparing numbers in math. We are finishing up our unit on nouns and will be learning about holidays that are celebrated this month. 

        Our reading stories are getting progressively harder. The students will be soon moving into our Reading Book #2. Several children had trouble with this last comprehension test as they were expected to infer the best answer. This was the last story in Book #1. If your child had trouble with the Helen Keller comprehension test and you are wondering how to help him/her with inferring, I have a few suggestions. We read the story several times at school. The book goes home on Mondays and Wednesdays for the children to read at home for their reading log. Have your child read to you, then ask them questions about what they read. Check for understanding and ask questions that they have to think about what they have just read. 

      We have been experimenting with magnets and learning what types of things are magnetic and how magnets help us in our every day lives. We were amazed to see how a magnet helps a simple motor run!

      

*You’ll find our weekly Newsletter attached, as well as a flyer for Kids Stage which has a class open for registration in December. 

*Sumdog (another option to fasttmath is set up on our Blog) This website allows your children to get on line with their classmates and play with each other. They will be learning how to log on and play this week.

*I will be serving hot chocolate and cookies at Polar Express night and hope to see you there!

* Continue to encourage your child to fill in his/her own reading and math log. Second graders can do this on their own. Parents are just to initial nightly. I remind my class that their parents already passed second grade! :) Please help them work on this independently. This helps them learn to be responsible. You will be amazed at how proud they will be of themselves.

Week 13

Dear Parents,

            We had a great week of learning about the first Thanksgiving, comparing it to our Thanksgiving today, and writing “How to Bake a Turkey” papers. The papers turned out really cute and have been made into placemats that went home today.Unfortunately, four were left in our classroom. They will be waiting here after the  break. We have also been learning about three Native American Tribes. We are creating a flip book about their dwellings, modes of transportation and facts about how they lived. 

            I hope you all enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving with your friends and families!

Shadow Puppets

We will be creating Shadow puppet plays to be viewed at open house in the spring. Here is a sneak preview!

The Big Event

Jacob, Tyler, Helen, and De'Andre helping to support The Big Event!

Prideful Paw Award Winners

Jobin and Sheba

Marching for the veterans!

Malik reading the letter he wrote to the veterans.

"You're a Grand Old Flag"

Tyler

                                       

WEEK 12

Dear Parents,

                Your children did an amazing job at the CRE Veteran’s Day celebration! Malek’s letter to the veterans was read by him to represent second grade. Tyler introduced "You’re a Grand Old Flag” before the second grade sang to give a little background about the song. The entire second grade marched a sequence to honor the veterans. It was a beautiful ceremony! 

                Some students failed last week’s subtraction timed quiz over the flash cards in their math logs. The students have two minutes to do 20 problems. These need to be memorized. Next week I will send home the same subtraction facts as week 11 for the students who still need to master these facts. Please work with your child to help them memorize them so that they can quickly fill in the quiz. I appreciate your help with this.

                We have been learning how to write expository or “how to” papers. We are working on a special gift which will go home with your child next Friday. They are excited about making them! Next week we will be reading and learning about the first Thanksgiving. 

JUST SAY YES ASSEMBLY!

Week 11

Dear Parents,

              Week 11 went very quickly! We learned all about Veteran’s Day, who Veteran’s are, and wrote letters and poems to Veteran’s to be given to them before our assembly next Tuesday. The letters your children wrote were very thoughtful! They thought of reasons for thanking Veterans, empathized with them and honored them with their words. It is so touching to hear something so profound come from 7 and 8 year olds. They are ready to perform for the Veterans as well. They have been working together with the other second grade classes to learn a marching routine to be performed at the Veteran’s Day Assembly. Songs will also be sung to honor our Veterans. We hope you will be able to come on Tuesday Nov. 11th at 8:30 A.M.!

            This week we also had a wonderful assembly with the message JUST SAY YES! Two professional football players, turned motivational speakers, visited our school to deliver the message that you should hold on tight to your dreams and don’t let go. Big dreams take a lot of effort. I became a visual for this message as I and Miss Zach were lifted above his head to the delight of my second graders. I will assure you that I held on tight! (picture can be seen on our blog)

            We are also having our annual Stuff the Pantry Food Drive! Many families in our community go without food every day. Let’s show our community how much Coyote Ridge cares by donating canned foods this Thanksgiving Season. We will collect until November 14th

           Any packaged foods will do, but we really need: canned green beans, baking mixes, canned fruit, canned pie filling, evaporated milk, canned yams, chicken broth, canned cranberry sauce, instant potatoes, sugar, and canned corn. 

          Thank you all so much for helping us support our community through such a great cause!

The Winners of the science construction challenge!

Week Ten

Dear Parents,

                   We had another amazing week of learning and creating together! Make sure you click on the link below my name to see some of the amazing things we created! The challenge in science was to choose from some materials including pipe cleaners, spaghetti noodles, string, rubber bands, and tape to build a structure that would hold a cotton ball higher than any other groups! The winners are on our blog page. Wednesday was building day. Five groups had the afternoon to construct an area of their choice: Urban Area, Suburban area, or Rural area. The finished products are also on our blog!

                   The report cards are available to view on Skyward. I have attached the directions as well as our weekly newsletter to our weekly e-mail. I know that you will all be proud of your child for his/her hard work this nine weeks! This second six weeks I am giving my students more responsibility to check over their work to make sure all is completed before it is turned in to me. Last nine weeks I would return work that had not been finished and have them complete it before grading. I encourage you to let your child be the one to fill out his/her math and reading logs. The more responsibility we give them, the more they begin to take on naturally on their own.

Our First Nine Weeks Quality Coyotes!

                                                               Archana and Tyler!

More Pumpkin Fun!

Our Pumpkin Project!

Week Nine

Dear Parents,

       Its hard to believe that the first nine weeks is over! It has been a wonderful time of learning, guiding and now releasing your children to be more independent in accomplishing their daily work. Remember that you will only receive a paper copy of the report card if you checked the appropriate box in skyward. The rest of you will be viewing your child’s final grades on line on Friday, Oct. 31st..

        The children were so excited to share their Pumpkin projects today! I could see all the hard work and time that went into each one. If for some reason your child did not complete the project, please send it by Monday as this grade will be reflected on the first nine weeks report card. The deadline for entering grades is Monday night. This affects five students.

        Next week is Red Ribbon Week. The students are to help support a drug free awareness by wearing red on Monday, wearing PJ’s on Tuesday, Being a twin on Wednesday, wearing a sports related shirt on Thursday and may dress up as a book character on Friday!

         See the attached flyer about the reflections contest. Our classroom could win an ice-cream party!

Week 8

Dear Parents,

       Thank you for helping your children be on time with his/her pumpkin assignment. The children are excited about what they have planned so far. The next due date is this Monday.  The final project is to be turned in this Friday. The children who turn in their story maps on Monday will receive two red tickets! They love spending them on items from our treasure box.

       It was great seeing many of you at our Fall Festival. A fun time was had by all. I was busy passing out candy to the children in the hall. I saw many great costumes! Thank you for supporting our school!

       Attached is our newsletter for the upcoming week as well as the November lunch Calendar. Starting in December these will be going home only by e-mail. Please let me know if you will be needing a paper copy.

       Our school Running club started last Friday. If your child signed up he/she can meet us on the north side of the school by the doors next to the art room. I will be helping with this club and be waiting there Fridays at 7:15  to help escort the children to the field to run their laps.

Week 7

Dear Parents,

        Parent conferences are well under way! It has been wonderful talking to a lot of you about your child’s progress. Working together we will create a strong knowledge base which will help your child be successful in second grade and beyond. I am looking forward to the rest of my conferences! Be on the look out for your conference reminder the night before.

         I hope you enjoy a nice long week end with your family. In your child’s Coyote Folder a second grade project is coming home. Please read through the instruction packet with your child. Your child is to choose his/her favorite book.  It may be a book you have at home or one chosen from our school library. The final project will be a summary of his/her book with a picture of a foam pumpkin turned into a character from his/her book attached to the page, and the foam pumpkin itself. There is a calendar of when things are due along the way to keep everyone on track. By next Thursday your child needs to fill out the supply list page and sketch a picture on the pumpkin book project blueprint. The story Map also located in the direction packet is due on Oct. 20th. Remember the book itself is not about a pumpkin, it can be any book. A foam pumpkin can be decorated to look like a character from your child’s book. We do not want to have any real pumpkins carved  as they can spoil quickly. The second packet that has a small note attached is the final project to be turned in on October 24th with the decorated foam pumpkin.I hope you have fun working on this project together!

          At school we will be creating group projects for our Social Studies Unit on communities. These will be models of communities. Your child has been placed in a group with students who have the same favorite type of community. The community types are rural, urban, or suburban. To help with these projects please send any recyclable materials that they could use like empty cereal boxes, oatmeal  containers, etc. They can also bring in small match box cars,  toy animals, or anything you think they could use to represent his/her chosen community. I will be supplying the base, construction paper, tape, markers, and glue. I am always amazed at how creative our students can be!

          Next Friday is our Fall Festival. Each second grader is asked to bring in a bag of wrapped candy to be given out to students at the festival. The second grade teachers will be auctioning off a gift of time with students. We will spend an afternoon having sundaes and games here at CRE with your child and a friend if you win. All 10 students will be together with the 5 teachers having their ice-cream party! I know we will have so much fun!

           *Our school fundraiser has begun. Please participate and help our school!

            *Please consider having your child enter the Reflections Contest!

KING MALEK WELCOMES YOU TO THE CRE BOOKFAIR!

Week 6

Dear Parents,

                Thank you for sending in the decorated pumpkins! Our hallway is decorated with many projects that we have been doing over the past few weeks. We are ready for Fall and the cooler weather with our Fall writing and the pumpkins lining the bulletin board. 

                 Now that we are six weeks into the year I am gradually putting more responsibility on my second graders. They are having classroom jobs, monitoring their own behavior, and working independently to finish their work. This week the reading and math tests were a little harder and a few students needed to retake the test. If a child gets below a 70% on any test (other than spelling) the child is to be retaught and given a chance to retake the test. The second score can be no higher than a 70%. I try to encourage my students to do their very best the first time and recheck their answers so they can get the score I know they are capable of getting.

                   We have a few important things that went home today in the Coyote Folders. Some parents received an envelope from the office showing you how to go on line to complete important information for our school. There is  a fair ticket for each student. I stapled them to our newsletter so that they could not fall out of the folder. There is also a half sheet that has your conference time on it. On Monday I will see De’Andre’s a and Daniel’s parents. The rest of you will get a reminder in the daily folder the night before your conference. I am looking forward to talking to each of you about your child’s progress.

Week 5

Parents,

    We had another great week of learning! I am so impressed with the writing that your children are doing. They are quickly learning writing skills to improve their narratives.  We are editing, revising, and writing our final drafts of “In the Fall”! They have great imaginations! Over all I was impressed with the reading and vocabulary tests. The children took the tests independently and did very well. They are so proud about being second graders and already see a big improvement in all they do. 

      Please continue to have your children practice their math facts with the flashcards sent home in their math log or by playing Fasttmath on the computer. I have taught my class how to access fasttmath from home. The more facts that are memorized, the more successful your child will feel as we delve into harder two and three step problem solving strategies.

     A pumpkin project went home in the coyote folder today. Please help your child decide how to decorate it and return it by Tuesday so that we can add it to our class pumpkin patch. You may decorate them any way you wish and use a variety of materials to create your one of a kind pumpkin! I appreciate all you do!

      I will be sending home times and dates for conferences next week so that you can begin signing up! I look forward to meeting with all of you!

Jiho got her award today!

All of second grade winners who could attend the PTA Meeting

Prideful PAWS

                          De'Andre receiving his Prideful Paw Award at the first PTA meeting!

Week 4

Dear Parents,

   Wow!  My second graders a amazing me with their self directed skills. They are going about their work and day as if they have been in my classroom several months! There are still missing stars on behavior charts here or there, but this is just to reinforce the lessons I am teaching at school. Talking during testing, quiet reading and writing  times are what a few students are still working on. This is a process and I promise we will all get there! If your child comes home without a star, please discuss it and talk about making a better choice the next day. This chart is not meant to be a punishment, rather one of encouragement to do the right thing.

     The other thing that I would like your help with is looking carefully with your child through his/her papers sent home in the Coyote Folder  on Fridays. Please encourage your child to do his/her best work on each assignment as I will continue to encourage him/her here. Homework will start coming home more on a regular basis as soon as our beginning of the year testing is completed. Usually the reading book will go home on Mondays for the story of the week to be reread. The book will come home again on Wednesdays with vocabulary practice that goes along with the story. It is very important to go over these words as the story and vocabulary will be tested each week and are counted as separate grades. Math/ English homework practice will usually go home on Tuesdays.

   Thank you to those who made it to our first PTA meeting! It was great to see you and celebrate our first two Prideful Paw Winners: De’Andre and Jiho! It is not too late to join PTA. We are having a contest to see which classroom can get the most members  … our class would love the chance to duck tape Mrs. Jacobsen to a wall! 

Have a great weekend!

EEKK ... We are elbow to elbow, knee to knee practicing reading with someone!

                                            Two more friends practicing EEKK!

The Sentence Song

Everyone in the whole class learned the song and received a treasure box item!

Week Three

Dear Parents,

       During  the third week of school I have seen so much growth! The students are beginning to independently manage their time and learning opportunities in the classroom. I have been individually assessing children as they happily go about their work. We have been discussing good work habits and responsibility.  The students are getting better returning their reading and math logs completed on Fridays. Please help your child remember to keep these important folders in their backpacks. When they tell me “mom or dad took it out” I remind them that it is their responsibility to put it back in each night. As far as I know I do not have any moms or dads in my second grade class! They laugh and promise to remember. As well as these logs there are other papers that come home weekly for math that must be completed and returned the next day. The reading book comes home when we have a story that week for them to read twice a week. (Once on Monday and then the night before their comprehension test.) The vocabulary words that are from the story are included on the test. It is important that the vocabulary homework be completed as well. 

        If there is any parent who would like to be my room mom or dad, please let me know as soon as possible. I would really appreciate your help! An added bonus is that our first field trip will be Dec. 12. I may take one parent. The room mom/dad could join us on this field trip as long as her/his background check has been completed! The information  for the field trip went home in the Coyote Ridge Folder on Friday.

          Lastly I’d like to encourage you all to become members of the PTA at Coyote Ridge! Together we can do amazing things. I have joined and hope to see you this Thursday night at 6:30 in the  CRE gym.

* Please complete the forms that were sent home last week in the Coyote Ridge Folder and return

*Please send $5.00 cash or  check written to Beth Carpenter for Scholastic News (I have used a credit card to pay for the class) Thank One more to get in! :)

*Thank you to Helen and her family for sending in more treasure box items. My class is quickly earning red tickets to purchase from our treasure box

Please contact me at any time for questions! I am always available to you!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Week Two

Dear Parents,

         I had another amazing week of learning with my class! I am commending each of you on your child's behavior and eagerness to learn. If a star was missing from your child’s behavior chart, remember that this is a time of making friends, learning routines, and getting to know the classroom rules. I have not had to do more than speak to a child to remind him/her of the rules. Everyone in my class wants to do what is right! I am so proud of them.

          Please remember to leave the reading and math logs in your child’s backpack. That way they are home each night ( Monday-Thursday) to be filled out and also in the backpack ready to be turned in each Friday morning. Please help your child fill out these charts. This teaches responsibility and is an important part of his/her learning. 

          The daily folder is our daily communication to each other. Please check it each night, removing papers and returning it to school the next day. Any papers you wish for me to receive, please send back in this folder. I check them each morning. The Coyote Ridge Elementary folder goes home only on Fridays. In this folder you will find the next week’s newsletter, graded papers from the week, as well as important flyers and notices from the school. Please remove all papers and return the folder to school on Mondays. Both folders went home this evening and are in your child’s backpack. 

           I have not posted any photographs or videos on our blog as of yet. I am waiting to hear which students have opted out of having pictures or videos taken. See the attached newsletter to see what we will be learning next week.

* Please complete the forms in the Coyote Ridge Folder and return

*Please send $5.00 cash or  check written to Beth Carpenter for Scholastic News (I have used a credit card to pay for the class)

*Thank you to Helen, Malik, Daniel, Ishan and their families for sending in wish list items for our classroom

Please contact me at any time for questions! I am always available to you!

Have a wonderful weekend!

First Week

Dear Parents,

         We had a fantastic first week of school! My second graders are so well behaved and ready to learn each day. With excitement and behavior like that, we will go far in our learning this year! Today we presented the Me bag project.

         Now a few reminders: If your child forgot to bring his/her bag, please send it next Tuesday. Next week spelling lists will go home on Tuesday. Please help your child study these words throughout the week as the spell check will be eachFriday. On the attached newsletter you will find a sight word list. Each week your child will be responsible for learning to quickly read these sight words. I will check them each Friday and a record will go home. Don’t forget to help your child fill out his/her reading and math log each night. Keep the old flash cards in a separate baggie to continue to practice. A timed test will be given each Friday only over that week’s math facts. Next week we will be learning doubles. 

         I am sending a super hero poster home in the Coyote Folder to be completed and turned in by Sept. 8th. Each week a star student will be picked to present his/her poster to the class. Each child in the class will then write a page about your child. This will be made into a special book to take home. We love learning about our classmates! I am looking forward to a wonderful year!

IMPORTANT DATES:

Sept 1 No school

Sept 3 PE wear gym shoes

Sept. 4 Cub Scout meeting 6:30 in the CRE gym

Sept. 5 Please send $5.00 cash or check written to Beth Carpenter for Scholastic News (I prepaid for all the magazines with a credit card)

Sept. 10 Picture Day