Reminders

Parent/Teacher Conferences

As you know all parent/teacher conferences that were cancelled last Thursday are rescheduled for this next Thursday (Feb. 26) 5-8p. I have already moved some families around, due to new dates and times not corresponding. Please let me know if your time does not work. Thank you for being so flexible!! 

Scholastic Book Fair WILL extend into Thursday night conferences as well. 
**Order a pizza from Long Lake Grocery on conference nights and 20% goes back to Westwoods! 

Spelling

Students will have the same spelling list this week as they did last week. Due to the shorter week than expected, I want to make sure the students have adequate time to study and understand their words here at school and at home. Please let me know if you need another copy at home.
Their test will be on Friday, Feb. 27th. 

Homework Packet

New homework packets will be coming home Monday, as usual. I do expect homework due last Friday to be turned in this Monday. With the extra couple days home, I assume all students had more than enough time to complete assignments. 

Thank you!

Carnival
Westwoods Carnival is this Friday, Feb. 27th.
Volunteers are desperately needed for games in the classroom, cakes and cookies.
Below is a link to sign up for carnival.
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0f4daaac2ca5fd0-winter1
Carnival Pre-Sale Tickets Forms Due on Wednesday, Feb. 25th

Hopefully everyone is staying warm and had a nice weekend! Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Thank you!

Presidents Day!

Today was Presidents Day! 

We had a great discussion about the presidents of our country, what a president is and what they do as leaders of our nation. 

We enjoyed a book about President Barack Obama and saw a video on all the presidents in U.S. history.

Reminders

Timelines

Timelines were due today (Feb. 16th). 

Students will be presenting their timelines this week. 

They will be up for display during parent/teacher conferences. 

Homework & Spelling

New homework packets are coming home today along with students spelling list for the week. Due to our crazy Friday with Valentines, we were unable to get to a mini lesson for spelling and the pre-test before lists are handed out. Students will be bringing those home today, and will still have a test on Friday, Feb. 20th. 

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Thank you!

Parent/Teacher Conferences

Conferences start this Tuesday and Thursday along with the Winter Art Walk.
If you need a quick reminder for a time and date of your conference please let me know. I have everyone scheduled! Thank you!

Carnival Basket

Carnival basket donations were due last Friday. Thank you to everyone who contributed and who were able to donate to our classroom basket! Greatly appreciated!

Carnival

All school carnival is Friday, February 27th. If you would like to volunteer please use the link below. 

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0f4daaac2ca5fd0-winter1 

Weather Gear

PLEASE remember to send warm apparel for the COLD outside temperatures.

hat

mittens/gloves

coats

boots

snowpants

Popcorn & PJ's

Friday afternoon we had our Valentine celebration! Students were able to exchange Valentines and enjoy popcorn and a treat...or two...or three. They had an enormous amount of fun giving and receiving...in their pajamas and slippers!

Math Buddies

The fifth graders of Westwoods visited our classroom for some math fun! Second graders introduced a math game to the fifth graders called "Go for the Greatest!" They had six cards to use to find ten three digit numbers. Out of those ten numbers, they had to choose two numbers that would sum the greatest amount. It was the fifth graders against the second graders! 

It was a success and something we will definitely try again!

Math Review

Each week I will be posting our Math Review for the week. Each of the concepts chosen are:

Current work in our math curriculum

Concepts we are continuing to review from past units 

Content that students will be getting to and beginning/continuing to understand

Math Review is done everyday right after lunch, and tested on Fridays. If 80% of the class tests out of a particular concept that Friday, a new concept will be introduced for the following week.  

These concepts the students can also practice at home. 

Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you!

Six Minute Fluency

Students are still involved in Six Minute Fluency each day after Readers Workshop. They are doing so well building fluency with their assigned passages for the week. Each student pair is helping one another find and correct errors, do the math on words read correctly, and track their own growth on individual graphs. I hear students communicating with one another on how much more they are able to read, words they can read and understand, and their interest in the content they are reading. Students are able to see themselves growing as readers, and share in their excitement. Very cool! 

Reminders

Morning Routine BEFORE School

When students arrive to Westwoods in the morning, grades 1-5 (weather permitting) will go straight to the playground.  There is a sign on the front window viewable to the students as a reminder of whether they will be inside or outside, if they are unsure.  You are more than welcome to wait with your students in the lobby until the bell rings. The bell to go to your locker is at 8:45 and school begins at 8:50. Thank you!

Spelling

New words did come home last Friday for the week, along with last weeks test. 

Test on new words will be on Friday, February 13th. 

Library

Students are back to having the option of checking one book out for the classroom and one book out for home. However, I did still leave it up to them if they wanted to check out both books for the classroom. Most students chose to leave their books here at school for readers and writers workshop. 

Students will also be keeping these books for two weeks due to the Scholastic Book Fair next week. They will be able to shop the book fair, but unable to get to the shelves of the library. 

Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns about library. Thank you!

Parent/Teacher Conferences

I have the schedule for dates and times of who signed up for parent/teacher conferences. I will not be sending reminders out. If you need a refresher of when your time and date is please let me know. I am looking forward to seeing you all next week, or the week after!

Homework Packet

New homework packets are coming home today! Instead of addition mad minutes the students now have subtraction mad minutes. This helps their fluency for subtracting!

Please remind students to keep practicing their spelling words for the test on Friday. 

All word ladders and extra math pages are due on Friday. 

Carnival Basket

All donations for our GARDENING basket are due by Friday. February 13th. 

Thank you for your support!

Timeline Project

Project descriptions went home on Friday and are also posted on the blog here. These projects are due on Monday, February 16th. However, students are welcome to turn in their projects early if they are done and ready. Please let me know if you have any further questions. 

Valentine Celebration

Popcorn & PJ Day! Students can wear school appropriate pajamas to school for the day, along with a pair of slippers. 

Our celebration for Valentines Day will be Friday afternoon from 1:40-2:25. All details are posted on the blog along with the a class list if you need an additional copy. Students are welcome to bring in their Valentine box and cards at anytime this week.

Hope everyone had a nice weekend!

Timeline Project

This was sent home with students on Friday in their communicators. 

TIMELINE PROJECT        

Dear Families,

Within our second grade curriculum we are learning about timelines. This is a tool used in Social Studies and also a text feature we are currently identifying in our non-fiction reading unit. The students have a homework project to complete to get a better understanding of timelines, while connecting it to their own lives. They are going to make an individual timeline of their life.

Timelines should include:

- Begins at birth and continues to the present.

- Photos are optional and can be used along with written events. However, photos for each timeline should be appropriate for school display.

- At least 10 significant events in their lives.

(Some suggestions of significant facts include getting a new pet, moving to a new house, riding a bike, or the birth of a sibling.)

I did encourage your child’s timeline to be unique and creative, and to make it their own. While I did allow the use of photographs, illustrations, and other creative materials, please keep in mind that these timelines will be displayed.  

Remember that although all of the items will be returned, please do not send any valuable photos or materials in case they get lost in transit.

Along with this note, students also are being sent home with a roll of white paper for the students to use as their timeline paper.

I am asking all timelines be due by Monday, February 16^th.

Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns. We look forward to sharing your child’s life with our classrooms.

National Wear RED Day!

There was definitely an explosion of red yesterday at school! MANY Westwoods students showed their support and awareness for Heart Disease. Congrats to Callie and Avery who had on the MOST red on in our classroom!

Valentines Celebration!

 

Erosion

Science is teaching the students about Erosion on the Earth's surface. Before learning about what erosion is, students were able to make predictions about how the earth changes. They brought up earthquakes, floods, and volcanoes. That conversation helped to activate their prior knowledge about erosion. 

In the pictures below, students were experimenting on how wind erodes sand. They used straws as they acted as the 'wind.' They were able to relate this experiment to wind erosion in the real world. The Sand Dunes were a large topic of conversation through this process. They did a fantastic job not creating a wind storm in the classroom! Instead students were able to see the purpose of the experiment and how it helped to visually give a better understanding of erosion. 

Text Features

As we move through our non-fiction unit in reading, we are talking a lot about the different text features many of our pages include. Students are able to identify the different features they find and discuss how it helps teach more about the main topic. They use different text features as evidence to share their learning and connect to the main idea. 

Notes & Reminders

Westwoods Carnival Basket

Our classroom basket theme is GARDENING. 

If you are able and willing and can donate any items to our basket we would greatly appreciate it. 

All items are due by Friday, Feb. 13th. 

Our classroom basket will be auctioned off at Westwoods Carnival on Feb. 27th. 

Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns.

Thank you so much for all your help and support!

National Wear RED Day!

Friday, February 6th

Students wear read to schoool to support the awareness for Heart Disease. Students will also be jumping rope this week in Gym and learning about the heart.  

Spelling

New spelling lists will be coming home on Monday. My intentions were to get students tested on Friday, give the graded tests back, and also have a new spelling list for them ready to take home and study over the weekend. I had the list ready to go, however, we did not have enough time to go over the lists together. I did not want to send home words without the students knowing what the lesson for their lists were. So, instead we will do our mini spelling lesson on Monday, as well as take the pre-test to see what words need the most focus. You will see new spelling words coming home Monday after school. 

Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns. 

Thank you!

Parent/Teacher Conferences

Conferences are coming soon! February 17th, 19th & 25th. With the Winter Art Walk and Scholastic Book Fair going on as well!

Please let Heather Heitsch, in the office, know if you need the sign up link resent. Online sign up will be available until the end of the school day on Feb. 6th. If you do not sign up I will plug you in whatever available slot I have in the end. Thanks!