Classroom Volunteers

I am organizing a new way to get volunteers signed up for helping in the classroom. We're using SignUp.com. This is an online coordination tool, to help us organize the classroom volunteer schedule. 

You will see only the month of October for now. I have sign ups for 
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday 10:50-11:20
Thursdays 12:00-12:30
This is our read to self/book choice time. Then I will go from there to see where modifications need to be made for November and so on. 

What I would love our volunteers to help me with is our classroom book clubs. Each child is in a book club with other students of the classroom. Your involvement here would be to help with a variety of activities/books the students have been assigned within their book clubs. You would be reading selected books with the clubs while also engaging in conversation connecting to the text. In addition, there will be other activities to do as well some days pertaining to reading.

Please click the link below if you are interested in being a classroom helper.

Here's how it works in 3 easy steps: 

1. Click this link to go to our invitation page on SignUp.com: 
http://signup.com/go/mhTLeiA

2. Enter your email address: (You will NOT need to register an account on SignUp.com) 

3. Sign up! Choose your spots - SignUp.com will send you an automated confirmation and reminders. Easy! 

Note: SignUp.com does not share your email address with anyone. If you have any questions or concerns please let me know. 

Thank you in advance for your help!

Morning Rainbow!

Awesome way to start a Friday!
Have a great weekend!

Peace Kids

Our classroom is participating in weekly class meeting with Westwoods school social worker, Mrs. Sulecki! We are becoming Peace Makers! This past Tuesday was our first group meeting and the students not only did awesome, but they loved it! Conversation involved what peace means and how to act peaceful in our community. The students were also able to talk about what choices they make in order to make peace. By the end of our visit Mrs. Sulecki let the students choose a team name. We are now the Peace Kids.

We will do this each Tuesday afternoon with Mrs. Sulecki. The students are already looking forward to our next class meeting! Ask your child about our Peace Makers meetings and see what more they can tell you!

Move A Thon

Friday, October 13th

Move A Thon

Coming home today with your child is

An information page about the Move A Thon

Deposit Tickets

Pledge Donation Form

Journeys

This week we are continuing to build understanding on information texts. We have two focus read alouds:

Dogs

Helping Paws

These informational text describe a familiar subject with all students - dogs! Students will regularly encounter those kind of text in textbooks, through research, and for independent reading. The text contains some how-to elements. Through our reading students will also encounter some informational text features:

captions

bulleted lists

headings

feature boxes

Our key learning objectives are to 

Read to understand the author's purpose

Compare and contrast information

Learn about dogs that help people with disabilities

Understand how captions tell about pictures

Below is our focus wall for the week that shows all students what to expect for the week and what will be continuously returning throughout each days instruction and activities.

REMINDER

Tuesday, September 26

Second Grade: 11:40-12:00

All are welcome!!

Louie's Hot Dog or Soy Peanut and Butter Sandwich

Adult Price $3.85

Student Price $2.70

Send in money if you like or pay when you come!

Hope to see you at the grill out!

Writing

Our second grade authors have been writing narratives, true stories about an event in their life. We have not only brainstormed topics of what to write about, but also talked about what all authors need to think about when elaborating on their writing and going through the steps of a beginning, middle and end. 

(Ask your child to tell you what elaboration means)

Students followed the Writer's Checklist

In addition to checking off the structure as we go, we also talked about what a good story needs to make it flow and keep the reader interested. Transition words!

After our first draft was completed, we were ready to revise and edit our writing. We edited our own papers, found a peer to edit, and Mrs. McNitt took a look to help smooth out the bumps. 

 

 

 

After the third look, they were ready to turn their sloppy copy into a final, published paper!

Math Review

Each afternoon students are involved in a math activity called Math Review. This is a short period of time where the students complete four different math concepts. Some, or all, concepts are different each week, depending on their level of understanding as a whole by Friday.

Students practice selected concepts Monday through Thursday, then test on Friday. This is their time to apply what they know, use the necessary resources of our classroom, ask their group members at their tables, and find the necessary tools to help further their knowledge towards each concept. After 10-15 minutes, all work is gone over as a whole group where students explain how to solve problems in different ways, correct errors, and possibly form small math discussions from any questions or connecting comments.
In the end, students star all work that is done correctly, and add up their total. From there they set a goal to achieve for the next day. This way they are able to set realistic goals for themselves, see their growth and also track their results. 

Ask your child about math review and see if they can explain the process to you!

Smile!!

Picture day is quickly around the corner!

Friday, September 29th Westwoods will be doing picture day!

All forms for your child came home on Friday in their communicators. If you would like to purchase school pictures this year for your child please fill out the form that was sent home and have it in no later than Friday, September 29th. If you would like to send in your order early, please do and I will keep your order in a safe place ready for picture day.

All students will get their picture taken that day for the yearbook regardless if you are ordering or not.

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

Learning Buddies

We began our year long adventure with our fourth grade friends of Mrs. DePlaunty's classroom. They will be our learning buddies once a week! 

We meet on Fridays at the end of the day for 30 minutes. Mrs. DePlaunty and I select different themes for the week, whether it be reading, math, or a fun STEM project for all buddies to participate in. This keeps the students engaged and eager, ready and excited for the next time we meet with our learning buddies! 

The first week of school we met our fourth grade friends and got to know one another with a friendly interview. The first week the fourth graders interviewed the second graders, then last week the tables turned and the second graders interviewed the fourth graders. Very fun!!

When we were finished each buddy was able to listen or read a story they are enjoying in their own classrooms during book choice time.

We are going to have an awesome year exchanging learning experiences with our fourth grade friends!  

 

Library!!

Our scheduled library time is Thursday morning at 10:45-11:15

Welcome Mrs. Maniaci as our new librarian!!

Students checked out two books with week in library. Mrs. Maniaci is also asking for all library books to be returned from students the day before their assigned library day. This will ensure all books get checked back in and all renewals are placed before our library time. Which means, all books your child checks out from the Westwoods Library will need to be returned by Wednesdays. 

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Happy Reading!

  

Math Mountains

We have been doing a lot of exploring with addition and subtraction equations. What we know and what we need to work on. 

A tool that has been a helpful resource this week have been Math Mountain Cards. These show a total (in all) at the top and two addends (partners) at the bottom. These give a visual representation of a total breaking apart into smaller numbers (addends). 

Math Mountains helps with:

Addition: Having two addends at the bottom to add together making a top total

Subtraction: Having a top total and needing to find an unknown addend

Students have learned to write addition and subtraction fact family equations that they can make from a variety of mountain cards.

Math Mountain Card pages are coming home for the students to cut out and keep at home. We also have a set of our own in the classroom.

They can play a game we learned in class as well. We worked in partners, taking turns covering up one of the numbers on the mountains. The other person had to then guess the unknown addend or total using a subtraction or addition equation. This made the students think, use a strategy for addition or subtraction, then solve.

 The yellow cards are easier and the blue cards give more of a challenge.

Please try to play this game with your child at home.

News & Updates

Book Order

All book orders are due on Friday, September 15th.
If you are ordering online our classroom activation code is 
HFPT3

Spelling Words

This week in your child's communicator came home a list of short vowel a and short vowel i spelling words. These are words we are working on in the classroom, reading in our stories, working with in our phonics and grammar lessons, and connecting and using in our writing.

We will NOT be having spelling tests and instead will be continuing conversations with spelling vocabulary involved. Even though we do not have spelling test, I still encourage students to practice these words at home.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions. Thanks! 

Field Trip

Wednesday, October 4th

Second grade students will be traveling to the Traverse City Butterfly House and Bug Zoo. 

We will leave Westwoods at 12:15 and arrive at the butterfly house at 1:00. The field trip will commence at 2:15 and we will arrive back to Westwoods at 3:00.

Please click on the below link to complete the online form for permission.

https://goo.gl/forms/L4tWLHJMgH19g1pu2

The cost per child is $7.00. This cost will cover zoo admission and also the cost of transportation.

Each class will need two chaperones to attend the trip. The cost for chaperones is $5.00. This cost will cover zoo admission.

 Please contact your classroom teacher is you are interested in attending this field trip. It will be first come first serve on volunteers.

Thank you!