Reminders

Classroom Volunteers

Last week I sent out a classroom volunteer/helper schedule for our classroom. I only have the months of October and November to sign up for. Times are the same Monday-Friday from 10:05 - 11:10.

Please sign up if you would like to come in and help out with our classroom book clubs! The link is below.

Classroom Volunteer Sign Up

Thank you!

Donations
Some have asked as far what type of donations we need for our classroom. We are all set on Kleenex's and pencils for the moment. Thank you!! Clorox wipes we use each day, but go through fast. 

Besides the basic necessities of the daily grind, we also have an Amazon Wish List that is filled with "wants" in connection to our learning. 

The link is below and also to the right of the blog.

Amazon Classroom Wish List

You have all been so generous with donations to our classroom! Thank you for all your continued support!

Box Tops

We are starting to collect box tops! 

The classroom that collects the most Box Top by October 22 gets a prize!!

Please keep collecting!

Move A Thon

 Friday, October 12

Second grade is MOVING at 9:25

Please register your child(ren) for the Move-A-Thon

https://www.thegetmovincrew.com/

Click on the yellow star at the top right to get started. 

Registered students that receive at least one donation will get a prize!  

Donations may be made by cash, check (payable to: Westwoods PTO) or online. 

Students that raise $150 or more will get a special prize and the classroom that raises the most will also get a prize.

Pledge forms below went home on Thursday.

Students can bring their own water bottles on the day of the Move-a-thon. 

Volunteers will be needed to both count laps and run our snack table, please sign up if you can help! 

Classroom Volunteers

Come October and beyond we would love to invite in classroom volunteers!

Duties would include helping with our literacy hour from 10:05-11:05. During that hour we have book clubs, computer work, and different center activities. Each day students get to dabble in it all!
Classroom volunteers/helpers are a huge resource that help make this hour successful! The adult assistance needed will be to help students in book clubs to stay focused, ask question, make connections, and to also enjoy a good read with some fabulous kids!

If volunteering in our classroom is something you would like to do, you first need to please complete the online TCAPS volunteering applications form. Link is below.
online TCAPS volunteer application form

 After that is completed please click on the classroom helpers link below to find a date(s) that work for you!
Thank you!!
Classroom Helpers

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.

Vocabulary cards this week! 

 Ask your child to explain what each vocabulary word is and if they can use it in a sentence.

Updates & Reminders!

Picture Day!!
September 28
Please make sure your child has either their picture envelope into school by this Friday or you have prepaid for pictures online. 

Fall Lunch Grill Out

 September 28

Second Grade 12:15

Our first Lunch Grill Out of the year is planned!

Everyone is welcome to join us for lunch. Bring a beach towel or picnic blanket! 

Student lunch is $2.75 and Adult lunch is $3.85. You are also welcome to pack your own picnic lunch. The menu for the Grill Out is available HERE 

Popcorn Fridays

Every Friday the PTO make and deliver over 400 bags of popcorn to the students at Westwoods. They do this in an hour and a half on Friday afternoons. If you would like to help bag and deliver popcorn on Friday afternoons please sign up here! Volunteers are always needed!

Box Tops

We are starting to collect box tops! Please send in all and any box tops you have!

The classroom that collects the most Box Top by October 22, 2018 will get a prize. WAHOO!

Oleson’s Receipts

Help Westwoods Girl Scouts get FREE MONEY for the school! Oleson's gives back 1% of total receipt. They never expire. Please spread the word to family, friends and coworkers to help collect. Receipts can be turned into office. Over $500 was raised for the school in the last year and the Girl Scouts would like your help to double that, this year! We just need Oleson receipts (not Tom's... and alcohol/ tobacco purchases cannot included!) with "community share" points (located at the bottom of each receipt).

Freckle

This week we have another new math website we are using!

Freckle

If students would like to use this at home, here is the login information.

www.student.freckle.com

Click - student sign in

First Name: students first name

Last Name: FIRST letter of students last name

Class Code: 3w6wdx

Friendly Letters

This week we learned how to write a friendly letter. 

Students should be able to identify and label the five parts of a letter. 

date

greeting

body

closing

signature

While writing a friendly letter, students were also able to: 

use commas correctly

write a body about something that happened in their family

elaborate on their details. 

 

Mrs. McNitt's Peace Class

This Thursday we started our Peace Lessons with Mrs. Sulecki! Most kids already know what to expect with Peace Lessons, since many classrooms last year did this. However, this year we will build on previous years topics as well as come up with a new class name!

Mrs. McNitt's Peace Class

Mrs. Sulecki is always the one who has lead peace talks. She is our school social worker, who we all know and love. We will have our peace lessons each Thursday afternoon for twenty minutes.

Constitution Day!

Today we celebrate Constitution Day!

We talked about what it means to have rights and responsibility as a second grade citizen. We read through a Scholastic, did a whole group and partner activity, and then we watched a Brain Pop video. 

Ask your child what their rights and responsibilities are at school AND at home. 

We had an awesome discussion!

 

Home Websites

This week students were assigned their own computer...to stay at school! This is very exciting for second grade. It is the first year we are one to one on computers!

Along with getting their computer, students were introduced to new websites we are slowly implementing. Thanks to our PTO, we were able to purchase a few educational websites for classroom and home use. Two you have seen come home today with logins for your child.

Sum Dog is a math based website.

www.sumdog.com

The log in page below your child brought home this past Friday with all their info.

Epic Books is a reading based website that opens up books of interest to that user.

At the bottom of their Sum Dog login page they wrote their necessary info. If it didn't get completed correctly, here is what it should say.

www.getepic.com

sign in (top right corner)

Classroom Code is UVR-7921

If you have any additional questions or concerns please let me know.

Picture Day

Picture day for Westwoods is Friday, September 28th

All picture forms for our classroom went home on this past Friday. If you would like to fill out the form and send it in before our picture day feel free. I will hold on to it.

If not, please make sure your child has their order form by the day of the 29th.

Thank you!

Sept. Scholastic Book Order

Our first Scholastic Book Order went home for September!

If you would like me to place your order by sending the catalog order back to school then please follow directions stated on the catalog. Please also remember to write a check with any orders made out to Scholastic Book Club for the exact amount. (One check for the total amount).  Please NO CASH

If you would like to turn in an order please have it back to school by

Monday, September 17

If you are completing your order online, you are welcome to make your order when you want, whenever you want, as many times as you want.  

Our Class Activation Code HFPT3

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.

* You will notice students bringing home math mountain cards of their own to cut out. Please have your child cut these out and use as math cards at home. 

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 Tuesdays, in the afternoon, 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! 

Today we met our fourth grade friends and read outside on this beautiful day! It was nice to not only enjoy the sunshine but to also meet our future learning buddies! 

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