Miss Henry's Class

May

Hello!  Can you believe it's May already?  May is packed full of events, activities, and fun!  Here is a list of important dates, along with descriptions and things that you need to know about them. 

May 1 - Staff Kickball game for Relay for Life @ 3:00

May 2 - School Clean-up day

May 5 - Mountain View's 80th Birthday celebration - in-school assembly...  Students wear your Mt. View T-shirts and spirit wear!

May 7 - Last day of Junior Acheivement

May 8 - 2nd Grade Awards Ceremony 8:30-9:00am in our classroom

May 5-9 - Working on our "Bare Books" in class... Let me know if you'd like to volunteer to help us out! 

May 9 - ALL LIBRARY BOOKS DUE, Last day for AR tests

May 12 - AR Picnic

May 14 - K-2 Field Day

May 19 - Students share bare books with other 2nd graders - volunteers needed to help facilitate!

May 20 - Author's Celebration - Parents invited! Come and see your child's portfolio from the year and see the bare book that they authored!  8:30 - 9:30am

May 22 OR May 23 - End of year party (date still to be determined)

May 23 - Last day of school

Have a GREAT summer!!  See you in August when you are all 3rd Graders!

April

Happy Spring!  I can't believe it's here already...

I know we are all gearing up for spring break and I'm sure you all have wonderful plans, but I did want to remind you that a week and a half after we return, the students will be taking the CRCT tests!!  We have been reviewing in class and will continue to review up until we take the test.  But, it is also extremely important for you to be reviewing and practicing at home and on the computer. 

Earlier in the year you received an instruction sheet with your child's login information for the online practice assessments.  If you have misplaced that form, please send me an email to let me know so that I can make you a new copy right away! 

Important dates to remember:

April 2 - Field Trip to Botanical Gardens

April 4-13 - SPRING BREAK

April 15 - Bank Day

April 23 - May 2 - CRCT Testing

Have a GREAT SPRING BREAK!!!  =)

March

Hello!  Can you believe it is March already? 

The third nine weeks is coming to an end and CRCT tests will be here before we know it!  Please make sure you are taking the practice tests at home on the computer.  If you have lost your paper with the login information, send me a note and I will get you a new one.  Keep reviewing all of the skills I have mentioned in previous blogs, they will be essential on the CRCT tests and it will be great for you to review and reinforce at home. 

I wanted to take an opportunity to let you all know about the upcoming Silent Auction on March 27, 6:00pm.  At the auction, you can bid on teachers!  I will be up for auction along with Ms. Bolek, and we will be offering a hiking trip to the students who are the highest bidders!  I would love for this to include some of my students, but there are only 4-5 slots available! So come ready to bid!  I look forward to seeing you there! 

A few things to study that I haven't mentioned before are:

*Practice writing complete sentences, does it have a subject and predicate?

*Discuss the difference between a summary and retelling:

       -Retelling has all details and sequence of events - retells the entire story.

        -Summary is a shorter version, only telling the beginning, middle, end, including the problem and solution.  This may not include details such as conversation, entire sequences, etc.  It only tells the basic important parts. 

*Keep practicing basic math facts, as well as two-digit addition and subtraction

*Practice making change with money

*Review all spelling "Words to Learn"

Here are some important dates to remember in March:

Mar. 4:  Early Release at 12:30

Mar. 7:  2nd Grade Friends Musical - 8:30am in the Cafeteria

Mar. 11:  Bank Day

              In-School Field Trip - Star Lab in Media Center

Mar. 14:  Last day of 3rd Nine Weeks

Mar. 17-21: Spring Book Fair

Mar. 20: Report Cards sent home

Mar. 27: Book Reports Due (Information coming soon)

            School Silent Auction and International Festival @ 6:00pm

Mar. 24-28: Multi-Cultural Week

Mar. 29: Movie on the Mount

February

Hello!  The 3rd nine weeks is just about half-way over.  Conferences were a huge success and I truly enjoyed meeting with each and every one of you!  Your children are truly a joy to work with each day.  We are learning so much and growing each day! 

Right now we are in the midst of our Japan unit, and next we will be moving into units on Australia, as well as outer space and planets. 

In spelling we are moving right along and everyone is getting to be better and better!  Keep practicing those homophones at home, they are the biggest hang-up for these guys! 

In English we are writing persuasive letters and they are pretty convincing! 

In Math we have worked some with fractions and place value, and now we are getting started on measurement!  Keep working on time and money though, because they will continue to come up! 

Here are some important dates to remember for February:

Feb 6 - Early Release Day

Feb 7 - Class Picture Day

             6:00pm - PTA Meeting

             6:30pm - School-wide art show and Bingo night

Feb 14 - Valentine's Day

              In-House Field Trip by a Japanese Storyteller

Feb 18 - No School - President's Day

Feb 19 - No School - Teacher In-Service

Feb 27 - Character book reports due

Feb 29 - Leap Year! 

Have a Great February!  :)

January

Welcome to 2008! 

We are back and very excited about the 2nd semester of school!  I hope you all had a nice relaxing and enjoyable break.  I heard many stories of lots of awesome things that happened while we were away! 

There are a lot of changes and things to look ahead towards in the new year.  First, we have a new specials schedule.  For the third nine weeks only, we are excited to welcome a part-time computer teacher!  This means that we are going to be using a 6 day rotation, as follows: 

Day 1 - (Tuesday January 8) - Guidance

Day 2 - Art

Day 3 - PE (wear tennis shoes!)

Day 4 - Computer lab

Day 5 - Music

Day 6 - PE (wear tennis shoes!)

We will repeat this rotation until the end of the 9 weeks, excluding February 6th and March 4th where we will have performing arts instead of specials.  I will note each Friday in the agendas what days PE will be in the upcoming week so make sure to check agendas! 

If you're not sure, just send tennis shoes in their backpack to be safe!

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Next, we are in need of some replenished supplies!  Almost each student is in need of a new set of crayons, some new glue sticks, and new pink erasers.  If you could provide these for your child's personal use, that would be much appreciated!

Also, if you would like to send in extras of any of those supplies for me to keep as back-ups, that would be helpful as well! 

We are also in need of Band-Aids ( skin-colored fabric ones please!) and hand sanitizer squirt bottles.  We are on our last box/bottle of both!  Anything you could provide would be much appreciated!  Thanks so much for your continued support! 

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Important Dates for January: 

Jan 21 - NO SCHOOL - Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Jan 22 - 28 - Early Release days due to conferences... check folders for information soon!  You will recieve report cards at your conference.

Jan 31 - Book Reports due

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Points to study:

Spelling:  Please continue to study spelling words at home.  Your child has written their words to learn in their agendas throughout the year so if you're not sure what words to study, look back through the agenda and find out which words they are having the most trouble with. 

Keep practicing there and their!  We still don't all have it yet!  :) 

Math:  We are beginning fractions and getting ready to take a look at measurement.  The most important thing that you can be reviewing with your child at this time are things we have already covered.  The most important concepts they need to keep practicing are: 

Money - counting, comparing, and making change

Time - telling to the 5 minutes, drawing hands on a clock

Subtraction - 2 digit with regrouping! Keep Practicing!

Addition - 2 digit with regrouping!

(we will soon be beginning 3-digit addition and subtraction so we need to make sure we keep the foundation strong!) 

Reading:  Continue reading each night, and ask your child questions about what they read.  Make sure they are finishing one book before moving on to another.  Make sure they are understanding what happens in the book. Encourage them to take AR tests!

Writing:  Punctuation!  At this point in the year, we are starting to look for and encourage not only correct end of sentence punctuation, but commas, apostrophes,  and quotation marks as well.  Continue to remind them to use these correctly when they write at home. 

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Have a great January, and I look forward to conferencing with all of you at the end of the month! 

Ashley Henry

December

Wow! November flew by fast!  =)

December brings us close to the close of 2007, as well as the close of the 2nd 9 weeks!  All of the grades for the 2nd 9 weeks report card will be taken by the winter break.  All of the students are performing well!  What a bright class this is! 

Here are some tips of things that you can work on at home: 

Math: 

2-digit subtraction, 2-digit addition

basic math facts - use flash cards and review frequently!

money - counting and exchanging

telling time to 5 minute intervals

Spelling:

Continue practicing all "Words to Learn"

Try these suggestions:

Write the word in a sentence

Have your child teach you to play "Sparkle"

Talk about the different meanings of important homophones such as to, too, and two; there and their, would and wood, our and are, etc.  Use and write these words in a sentence or paragraph. 

Reading: 

Encourage your child to take AR tests!  If you read at home, send your child to school either with the book, or with the title of the book written down so that they can take a test the very next morning. 

Continue asking your child to retell what they read.  Ask for specific details, names, and events. 

Writing:

Encourage your child to use proper punctuation and capitalization!  Correct them each time you see a letter that is not the right size. 

We have been talking about strong verbs, describing words, apostrophes, commas, and complete sentences.  Continue reinforcing these at home.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

It is obvious that everyone in this class works hard at home, please continue working hard and spending time with your child each night reviewing homework, reading, and just talking about what they are learning.  You are their best teacher!  Please let me know if there are any questions that you have. 

December dates to remember:

Dec 17 - Culture presentations due

Dec 20 - Class Holiday Celebration

Dec 21 - End of 2nd 9 weeks grading period

Dec 24-31 - NO SCHOOL Winter Holiday

See you back on January 8th! 

I look forward to conferencing with all of you in January for our formal conferences!  Have a great Holiday season and a great vacation! =)

October

Hello!  As we begin October, we are coming to the end of the first 9 weeks.  We have had a very productive first quarter!  We have learned all about maps, globes, communities, and matter in science and social studies. In reading we have talked about story retelling, making connections to stories and text, questioning text, inferring information, reading with expression, and making predictions.  In math, we have learned about one and two digit addition strategies, graphing, estimating, place value, money, and venn diagrams.  In spelling we have studied many different spelling patterns, such as irregular vowels, contractions, compound words, digraphs, and "outlaw" words.  And lastly, in writing we have used the writing process to write about rollercoasters, and our trip to Turner Field, used thinking maps to organize our thoughts, and written sticker stories and book reviews.  As you can see, we have been very busy!!  All of the students are having a great time learning and experiencing everything each day.  We truly have a great class!! 

As we near the end of the quarter, please don't hesitate to let me know of any questions or concerns that you have.  I would be happy to set up a conference to let you know of your child's progress.  Also remember, we will be holding formal conferences in January. 

Here are some important dates to rememeber in October:

Oct. 9 - Bruster's Night (I will be serving ice cream at 5:30!)

Oct. 15 - Last day of first 9 weeks

Oct. 16 - Bank Day

Oct. 17 - Early Release Day - students dismissed at 12:30p.m.

Oct. 18 - School Picture Day

Oct. 20 - Fall Festival (Bring gently used coats and shoes to donate!)

Oct. 20-26 Book Fair and Red Ribbon Week

Oct. 22 - Report Cards issued

Oct. 23 - Bank Day

Oct. 25 - Book Reports due

Oct. 26 - Field Trip to Funk Heritage Museum

Oct. 29 - Performing Arts Field Trip (Info to come later)

Oct. 31 - Harvest Celebration

September

Hello!  Welcome to our first blog of the school year!  We have now finished our fourth week of school and we are off to a GREAT start!  We are learning so many different interesting things in 2nd grade!  Here, you will find classroom updates as well as important dates and reminders, so please check back often!!

Here are some important dates to remember in September:

September 17 - Scholastic Book Orders due

                          Field Trip permission and money due

September 19 - Half Day Dismissal for students

September 27 - Book Reports due

September 28 - Field Trip to Turner Field