A Good Day, But With Some Tough Questions

From Mrs. Clough (no class blogger today):

First of all, Happy Birthday to Xander!  We had no class blogger today due to our birthday celebration at the end of the day which included card making, eating treats, singing, and a little dancing! :)

I think I will start today's post to briefly discuss the events that occurred in Newtown on Friday, what it means for us, and the questions I had today...I do not believe that any words can entirely describe how tragic and horrific the event that took place last Friday afternoon.

A note went home this evening from the MISD Superintendent, Sarah Pinion.  In that letter she briefly addressed the procedures in place across the district and the law enforcement and safety agencies in Marion that also share in our procedures and plans.  Please be assured that all procedures have been discussed with your children and that everyone in the MISD will, and would do, everything possible to keep your child(ren) safe in an emergency situation.

I had a couple of children during our morning discussion today, ask some tough questions.  Over the weekend I (probably along with many other educators and/or parents across the U.S.) thought about what I would say, should any questions arise.  I knew not to go into much detail and yet I did not want to leave a lot of unanswered questions or give ambiguous  answers.  I have to admit that answering a 7 or 8 year old's questions regarding something like this, is no easy task!  Once I realized that a couple of kids had questions, I quickly asked who had heard about what had happened and almost everyone raised their hand.  I just said that there was a man who made a horrible choice and hurt some children and teachers at a school far away from here.  We talked about how while it may be sad, most of the children were kept safe because of the plans and protection their teachers had and gave. From there we finished our quick discussion by reviewing our own procedures, and I assured them how much I cared for them and will always do my best to protect them in any emergency situation (tornado, fire, lockdown).

I think I can speak for everyone at Starry, if not every person across our country, when I say our hearts and support go out to the families, friends, first responders, and everyone who has been touched by this tragedy.  While I am not a parent yet, I am a teacher and I want all of you to know how very much I care for each of your kids during the 7-8 hours they are with me everyday (and that's not even counting the amount of time I spend thinking about them outside of school!).  I would do, and will continue to do, everything I can for your them.  They are my #1 priority, care, and concern at all times.

In OTHER news...we began work on a secret project today...I will only share 2 pictures and leave you guessing! :)

In math, we are continuing to work on collecting data, organizing data, and graphing data.  We will continue working on this until break time!  This week we will also be focussing on addition and subtraction fact practice!

For Text Talk/Vocabulary we read the Caldecott winning book Strega Nona and will introduce the first three vocabulary words from that story tomorrow!

That is all for tonight.  Once again, I want to reiterate how much I care for each of your children and I also want to thank you for entrusting them under my care, supervision, and guidance.  It is a privilege, one that I sincerely love.

Have a wonderful evening!

Mrs. Clough

Feliz Navidad!

From Connor:
At recess we got a one.  It was a really good day and we watched a movie as a class reward.

From Mrs. Clough:

As Connor mentioned we did have a really good day!  We had earned a class reward for following the Marion Way and we spent half of our reward time in the PE for life room getting some exercise and the other half of our reward time watching the cartoon version of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (as we had read the book and done a writing activity last week).

In addition, in math we are continuing with ways to collect and organize data.  Today we looked at how many teeth each of us had lost and ways to graph that information.  We learned about a line plot and graphed our information in that way.

Today we visited Mexico and read the Tommy DePaula story The Legend of the Poinsettia.  The kids made their own mini version of the story and created their own poinsettia as well.  It was a fun project and another successful trip, learning about Christmas around the world!

We also had a PBIS assembly today and there were four students in our classroom recognized for being honest!  Congratulation and well done to Avery, Gracin, Libby, and Landen! :)

A few reminders:

-Winter Party is next Friday (December 21st)...I will send a note home next week for those who are signed up to bring something! :)

-NO SCHOOL Dec. 24th-Jan. 2nd

-January 3rd: Classes resume!

Have a great weekend!!!  

Mrs. Clough

Christmas in Sweden!

From Gracin:
We talked about Christmas in Sweden and how on the morning of the 13th, they eat rolls and drink hot chocolate and coffee.

From Mrs. Clough:
Aside from our time spent learning about and enjoying some of Sweden's Christmas traditions,  we continued our work with collecting/organizing/categorizing data in math and even made a class bar graph.  In shared reading we continued with another Chris Van Allsburg book, which the kids are LOVING!  He truly is a great author and illustrator, not to mention his books are GREAT for inferring.  So far we have read:
Jumangi
Zethura
The Widow's Broom
The Garden of Abdul Gasazi
We will continue reading his books until next Thursday, so you can count on hearing more about them!

SWEDEN! (Some fun facts)
In Sweden, Santa is referred to as Kris Kringle and on the morning of December 13th the girls/women wear crowns made of wreaths with candles, and the boys wear "Star Caps". December 13th is referred to as "Santa Lucia Day".  Also, it is a tradition that the women serve coffee and rolls.  SO...today in 2nd grade we enjoyed some hot chocolate (in place of coffee, because goodness knows that caffeine like that would not be good for a bunch of already enthusiastic 7 and 8 year olds!) and donut holes.  YUM!  While enjoying our treats, the kids worked on their own wreath crown and star cap.

Working on our crowns and caps, while enjoying some treats!

Star caps!

Wreath crown!

Class picture in our Star Caps and Wreath Crowns!

That is about all for tonight!  Have a great night and check back tomorrow to hear about our trip to MEXICO! :)

Mrs. Clough

Gingerbread Germany!

From Holly:
We got a 1 at recess.

From Mrs. Clough:
Today was another fun filled day, not to mention busy!  As Holly mentioned, our class earned a 1 at recess which means they did an excellent job of getting to our line when the bell rang and were facing the front and quiet!  I have to say I am very proud of 2C, because we almost always get a 1! :)

In math we worked on collecting pocket data.  How many pockets was each person wearing, not how many pockets were there total in our class (like the previous times we discussed pockets).  We then came up with ways to sort and organize that data.

Today for our Christmas Around the World, we visited Germany!  We learned that in Germany, Santa is called Saint Nicholas and he also arrives by a ship and rides a horse through town (very similar to Holland, which we visited last week!).  We also learned that the people of Germany were the first to use Christmas trees AND are well known for their baking and use of gingerbread men and houses!  SO....the kids each got a gingerbread man and were told take only one bite.  They were then to color the part of their gingerbread that they ate (on a separate activity page) red.  They then were told to eat a second bite, and on the activity page, color that part of their gingerbread man green.  Finally, they were told to take a third bite and to color that part of their gingerbread man, yellow, on the activity page.  After they had the coloring done, they were to do some writing about "How I Eat a Gingerbread Cookie", following a First, Second, Third writing prompt.  It went pretty well.  We talked about beginning sentences with capital letters, ending sentences with punctuation, and adding details so that our writing is not boring!  Once they finished all of their writing they were able to finish their gingerbread man!

Tomorrow we will be visiting Sweden, so stay tuned for that!!!

A few reminders:

-You may pick up your cookie dough from the fundraiser TONIGHT between 5 and 7 in the lunchroom.  This is the only night you may pick it up!

-Keep sending your child to school in a winter coat, gloves, and hat! :)

-Holiday Party next Friday, December 21st!  A reminder note will go home early next week for those who are signed up to bring items!

-NO SCHOOL Dec. 24th-January 2nd!

Have a great night!

Mrs. Clough

La Befana!

From Cole:
We read a book about Old Befana.

From Mrs. Clough:
Again, it seems like it has been forever since I last posted!  Friday afternoon we got really busy with some activities, and yesterday I was unfortunately, home sick!  BUT-we are back, and you can count on daily posts this week!

In math we are continuing to work on ways to collect, categorize, and sort data as well as ways to represent that data.  Overall, the kids are doing a pretty good job, but it is a challenging skill for 7 and 8 year olds to grasp so we will continue to work on it!

In Shared Reading, we have begun reading books by Chris Van Allsburg.  LOVE his books!  We read Jumangi yesterday and today we read Zethura.  We continue to work on making inferences by, "taking your background knowledge and your clues from the text, you put 'em together and you JUST INFER!".

We are rolling right along with our Christmas Around the World social studies unit.  Today we visited Italy after getting our passports stamped, and learned about Old Befana, the witch who comes down the chimney and puts ashes in shoes (instead of stockings) if the children have not been good, and gifts/treats in shoes if the child has been good.  Children in Italy open the majority of their gifts on January 6th. Tomorrow we move on to Germany, so stay tuned for more about that trip!  :)

Working on creating our own "La Befana". I will get a picture of everyone's for tomorrow's post!

A Venn Diagram of things that are the same and things that are different in Italy and the USA for Christmas (plus some key words for the writing the kids worked on later!).

A few reminders:

-Cold weather is HERE!  Please make sure your child is coming to school with hats, gloves, and winter coat!

-THANK YOU to those who offered to bring items for our Christmas Around the World festivities.  It is much appreciated!

-Next Friday (December 21st) will be our holiday party.  I will send a reminder note home for those families who are signed up to bring treats/plates/napkins/water soon.

-December 24-January 2nd are NO SCHOOL days!

Have a great night!

Mrs. Clough

St. Nicholas Day and Hanukkah!

From Brayson:
My favorite thing today was PE.

From Mrs. Clough
We have had a great 2 days, especially in learning more during our Christmas around the world unit.  Before I get to updates about that, I will share a bit more about what else is going on!

In math we are beginning to work on collecting data, or information on a certain thing/topic.  We have been playing rounds of "Guess My Rule" and separating certain things or people based on different characteristics and recording our results.  As we continue we will be working more on graphing and other ways to collect data.

In shared reading, we continue to work on inferring.  Today we read the story Five Chinese Brothers, which was published in 1938 (so naturally, the kids thought that was pretty cool) and we worked on taking our background knowledge and the clues from the text-puting them together and inferring!  Next week we will begin reading books by Chris Van Alsburg.  His book are great for inferring and there are some fun activities to go along with the books!

Christmas around the world has been going great!  Yesterday we traveled to Holland to learn more about Saint Nicholas-AND when the kids got to school this morning (after leaving their Dutch shoe, carrots, and hay out on their desk), they found that Saint Nicholas had been here and left them a treat!  :)

The metal detector wand checking for anything inappropriate!

Waiting in line to get the passport signed!  Going through "Customs"

After our trip to Holland, we got back to Starry and talked a bit more about Dutch traditions.  We learned a new song, although the kids already knew a Dutch Christmas song that they shared with me! :)

Today we learned about Hanukkah-the history and the eight nights of celebration.  We read the book The Eight Nights of Hanukkah and then we each made a candle stick for a class menorah that will be hung in the hallway.  On our candles we wrote things on the flame that "light us up", or things that make us feel good, or things we believe we are good at.  I will put a picture of the menorah tomorrow!

A few reminders:

-A note will go home tomorrow about the cookie dough fundraiser.  You may pick up your orders next Wednesday the 12th.  That is the ONLY day you may pick up your orders.  Look for more details tomorrow in your child's take home folder.

-It is getting colder and may end up staying that way finally.  Please make sure your child has a winter coat to wear to school, as well as gloves and a hat.  There is a chance for snow on Sunday, so it may be about time to send boots as well!

-NO SCHOOL December 24th-January 2nd.  Happy Holidays!

Thanks for stopping by!

Mrs. Clough

Finally, a new post!!!

From Emily D.,
Today we went in to Mrs. Greone's old room and learned about Safe Touch.  We had gym and music.  We read the book How the Grinch Stole Christmas and then did a fun thing with it.

From Mrs. Clough:
Once again, it has been a while since we have had a blogger and post!  Things have just been crazy busy and we tend to run out of time at the end of the day, so I apologize if any of you have missed us!

Our big news is that we have begun our Christmas Around the World unit.  We have our passports and suitcases ready and tomorrow we will embark on a trip to Holland to learn more about how they celebrate Christmas.  We talked a bit today about their holiday traditions (the wooden shoe left out by fireplace instead of a stocking, Saint Nicholas comes on a ship and not a sleigh, etc).  We made our own shoes to lay out tomorrow night with hopes that Saint Nicholas will come and leave a treat by the time they come to school on Thursday!

 

We also worked on putting together a color coded map to keep track of what continents we visit over the course of the unit.

In math we have been working on counting groups of ten and working with problems that ask us to sort out groups of 10 and see how many are left over with a given number.  Tomorrow we will begin with some data collection about our class and making graphs.  We continue to work on our addition and subtraction flashcards that include the following strategies: Doubles, Doubles Plus 1 or near doubles, Plus or Minus 1 or 2, Plus 10 Combinations, and combinations of 10.

Today as Emily mentioned, we had a visitor from St. Luke's Hospital and they presented information and a video on Safe Touching-what are good, bad, and secret touches.  A note about this presentation went home last week.  

Also, as Emily mentioned, I read the book How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and for writing, the kids had to tell me what they would do to make that grouchy Grinch grin to make his heart grow bigger!  I think we all had a really good time with this "craftivity"!  :)

A few reminders:

-Tomorrow is an Early Release at 1:40pm

-If you have not already, please send your child's Christmas traditions page to school as soon as possible so they can share with the rest of the class!

-No School Dec. 24-Jan. 2

Have a great night and check back tomorrow to hear about our trip to Holland!

Mrs. Clough

Finally, a NEW post!

From Beckah:
We read a book.  It was called  The Wednesday Surprise.

From Mrs. Clough:
Wow!  Feels like forever ago that I last posted, but I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving break, had full bellies, and had lots of good times with family!  I certainly did and before you know it, it will be time for Winter break!  :)

Monday I was gone at a meeting, hence no blog post; and the last two days I was home sick with a flu bug!  Ugh!  It certainly has been going around school and everywhere, I think!

To give everyone a quick update on what we have been working on this week since being back from break:

Math-We are working on different strategies and problems that require us to skip count by 2's, 5's, and 10's.

Shared Reading-We are continuing with working on inferring ("You take your background knowledge and your clues from the text, you put 'em together and you just infer!")  and this week we read the book Baloney which the kids really enjoyed, and as Beckah mentioned, we read The Wednesday Surprise.

Social Studies-We are going to be wrapping up our maps unit.  I have a special culminating event planned for the beginning of next week, so stay tuned!

I hope that the packets I sent home before break were helpful and that your child chose to work on it a bit! :)  I will do the same again, at Christmas break time with some new activities.

A few reminders:
-Please send your child's holiday tradition page back to school (the red construction paper that went home before break).  We want to begin discussing our holiday traditions before we begin our unit on Christmas Around the World. Please send them back as soon as possible.
-Wednesday December 5th is an Early Release at 1:40pm for teacher inservice

Thanks for stopping by!
Mrs. Clough

A little late, but better than never!

From Libby:
Mrs. Clough is reading a new Junie B. Jones Thanksgiving book.

From Connor:
We had good PE and Music.  Recess was good.  We got a 1 at recess so it was a really good day.

From Mrs. Clough:
WOW!  First I want to apologize...I am a few days behind in the blog.  Things have been crazy busy around here with conferences, birthday parties, and Thanksgiving activities!

I will leave you with a few reminders, and that final picture of our Feathers Full of Thanks turkey that we did last week.

1.  Packets of activities and ideas to do over break in reading, spelling, and math will be coming home today to keep those "brain juices" flowing when the kids are away from school!
2.  Cookie Dough fundraiser order forms are DUE (as of yesterday).  If you have not sent your child's back yet, please do so next Monday.
3.  There is a special project being assigned to do over break.  Look for that in your child's take home folder tonight.  They may work on the project over break and bring it back next Monday.
4. Cold weather is coming and I believe it will be here to stay.  Please make sure your child comes to school with a warm winter coat, gloves, hat, etc.  If you need help purchasing such items, please feel free to contact me or anyone else here at Starry.
5.  December 5th is an early release at 1:40pm for teacher inservice.

Have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving!!!!
Mrs. Clough

Feathery Tuesday!

Hello Everyone!
No class blogger today as she was sick today, so it's just me again!  We had another very busy day with lots going on!  I will share a few pictures to go through our day.

One of our big projects today was to come up with a list of what we are thankful for.  As a class we made a list of about 36 things that we are thankful for and discussed why.  This is seemingly appropriate as Thanksgiving is FAST approaching!  After we made our list of things we are thankful for, the kids each chose 3 things they are thankful for and why, and then wrote each thing on a turkey feather.  After school tonight I pieced together our turkey and it is now on display in the hall for parents to see at conferences.  I aimed to stress to the kids how lucky we are and that in parts of our state, country, and all around the world, many people do not have the same things we do and that we often take things for granted.  Many of the kids had never heard that phrase before, so we talked about what that means too! :)  I love our turkey feathers full of thanks and hope you will too, when you come for conferences!  (Look for a picture of the completed project, in tomorrow's post)

In math today we further explored the concepts of even and odd and worked to define an even number and an odd number. 

In social studies we learned about birdseye view and map symbols.  We will continue with these map skills tomorrow.

A few important reminders:

-Report Cards went home TONIGHT!  Please check your child's take home folder/backpack.  Please look it over before coming to your scheduled conference!

-Early Release TOMORROW 1:40pm

-Conferences Thursday November 15th 4-8pm.  Check your scheduled time!

-Early Release MONDAY Nov. 19th and Conferences 2-6pm

-NO SCHOOL next Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday

Have a great night!

Mrs. Clough

Busy Week!

Hello Everyone!

No class blogger today as we had a birthday party to end the day (Happy Birthday Philip!).  We missed the last Thursday and Friday blog posts, so I will get you caught up!

Math-We finished up our last bit of work with story problems with known numbers and unknown numbers and have begun exploring the concept of even and odd numbers.  Today we talked about pairing students in our class and making teams with a given number of students and if it would work to even out. We will continue with this concept tomorrow!

Shared Reading-We officially ended our focus on making connections and building our schema last week and tomorrow we will begin making inferences and will continue to do so through December.  Just as a quick explanation-inferences are when you, "take your background knowledge and the clues from the text, you put them together and you just infer!".  We will learn this chant tomorrow and drill it into our brains over the course of the next month to go along with all of the different stories to teach inferencing and activities we complete, so stay tuned!

Social Studies-Continuing our work with maps...tomorrow we will focus on birdseye view and the compass rose!

Writing-tomorrow we will be working on writing things that we are thankful for (as Thanksgiving is soon approaching).  Look for a big turkey in the hallway on Thursday displaying our feathers of thanks! :)

A few reminders:
-Early Out this Wednesday at 1:40pm
-Conferences Thursday November 15th 4-8 (Check your scheduled time!)
-Early Out Monday November 19th 1:40pm, Conferences 2-6
-Book Fair at Starry Thursday (Nov. 15th) and Monday (Nov. 19th)
-NO SCHOOL next Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday! :)

Please make sure your child is coming to school with an actual (warm) coat-and hats/mittens.  Not just a sweatshirt.  It has become much too cold for just sweatshirts.  If you need assistance purchasing a winter coat, please feel free to contact me or any other member of the Starry staff. :)  Brrrrrrrrr!

Thanks for stopping by!
Mrs. Clough

Our 50th Blog Post!

From Lilly:
We were reading Jamaica Tag Along and I made a connection and others in our class did too.

From Mrs. Clough:
This is our 50th blog post (granted, I started the blog a little before school started).  The kids came in this morning anxious to hear who had won the election (if they did not already know).  I have to say, I think the whole two days of activities we did were certainly a learning experience and sparked their enthusiasm (without getting into any detail about what the candidates actually stood for).

In math we continued with the game "Cover Up" and more story problems.  Tomorrow we will have an assessment over story problems and continue with some learning games.

We took some time with a grammar lesson today on proper nouns.  We first discussed what a noun is (person, place, or thing) and that a proper noun is a particular or special person, place, or thing that needs to be capitalized.

Our class has been working to earn tally marks for positive and responsible behavior as entire group (not individuals) and we reached our goal of 10 today, so I have a surprise planned for tomorrow.  Stay tuned for that!

A few reminders:

-Book Orders are DUE tomorrow!

-PLEASE check your child's folder for you conference time note if you have not already!

-NO SCHOOL Friday November 9th

-Early Out Wednesday November 14th at 1:40pm

-Conferences Thursday November 15th 4-8pm

-Early Out Monday November 19th 1:40, Conferences 2-6

Have a great night!

Mrs. Clough

Election Day and Birthdays!

*No Class Blogger today

We had a very busy day here in 2C!  We had two birthdays (Happy Birthday Jakob and Beckah) and we also did a number of activities and read a number of books about voting and the election.  We even had our own election in our classroom!  All of this, on top of our "normal" schedule and routine!

Today we read several stories to learn more and engage in the election process going on across our country. We read Duck for President (which is a great story that tells about becoming mayor, wanting to be governor, and then president), Arthur Meets the President (because everyone loves Arthur, and we learned about a few places in Washington DC), and Vote! which gave a LOT of great information about the voting process, as the kids had so many questions about it.  We had our own election and we talked about how our votes are to be private, out of respect.  As it turns out, we had a tie.  11 to 11!  The kids were anxious to know who won the real election, but I explained we will not know until tomorrow (hopefully!).  We also did some writing titled, "If I Were President..."  and you can imagine some of the things I read from their writing (longer recess, better lunch, help schools, etc).  :)

In math today we learned a new game called "Cover Up" where we were working on solving addition/subtraction problems with an unknown number.  Each pair had 18 counters and chose how many counters to start with and they recorded that number.  Then, while the other partner closed their eyes, the first partner took some of the counters and hid them under a piece of paper.  The other partner had to then use addition or subtraction to find the unknown number of counters that were taken, based on the number still left out to see.  For the most part, the kids all did really well with this and I believe helps build the skills necessary to solve the story problems we have been working on!  So we may bring this game out to play a few more times!

We are now fully back into guided reading groups and assessments are over (for the most part).  It was so great to get back to the "bean" table in our small groups!  

A few reminders:

-Book orders are DUE this Thursday, November 8th

-NO SCHOOL this Friday November 9th

-Conference time notes went home TONIGHT, so check them out!  Let me know if your assigned time, does not work.  I did my best to schedule them based on your preferences.

-Conferences are November 15th and November 19th (Early Out on the 19th)

Have a great night!

Mrs. Clough

We're Back!

From Lora:
Tomorrow we have two birthdays in Mrs. Clough's class, but in all of November we have four birthdays in our class.

From Mrs. Clough:
Hello everyone!  I'm sorry it has been a few days since I've posted!  We just tend to run out of time at the end of the day some days!  My apologies!  I hope everyone had a great weekend!

To catch you up, we have been working more and more with story problems with unknown numbers.  Those problems have been a bit of a challenge, but hopefully with more practice this week, we will get the hang of it.  An example of a problem with an unknown number would be:
Kira had a bunch of balloons.  Sally gave her 6 more balloons.  Now she has a 18 balloons. How many balloons did Kira have to start?
If at all possible, work with your child on ways to solve this problem, to get some extra practice!!! :)

This will be our last official week of making text to text, text to self, and text to world connections to build our schema.  We will then enter the world of inferring so stay tuned to that!

Today and tomorrow in social studies we are taking a brief break from maps, to do some activities having to do with the Presidential election!  The kids are really into it and have been discussing it with each-other.  I've heard a lot of, "I'm voting for______, because ______" which has been great to hear!  Although, I think we all agree we are tired of the commercials on TV.  A few kids have even said they're tired of hearing the lies from both candidates!  :)  It really is intriguing to hear what the kids opinions are and what they have picked up from TV, parents, etc.  Tomorrow we will have our own class election, so I'll let you know who OUR winner is, tomorrow night!  Today we talked about our current president, but also we talked about what any president is, has, and can do.

More election activities tomorrow so check back!

A few reminders:

-Book orders are DUE this THURSDAY, November 8th (the more you order, the more points we earn as a class to get free books for our classroom)

-Official conference time notes will go home this week.  Be on the lookout (in your child's folder)!

-NO SCHOOL on Friday, November 9th (End of 1st Trimester)

-Please send your kids to school with warm jackets, hats, mittens.  It is getting colder!  Fall is here to stay, winter will soon follow!

Have a great night!  OH-and as Lora mentioned, we do have two birthdays tomorrow which I will share more about in tomorrow's post!

Mrs. Clough

Happy Halloween!!!!

(Above the kids did a little Halloween BOO-ling-hence they came home with a roll of toilet paper!)

Happy Halloween Everyone!

There was no class blogger today because we had such a jam packed end of the day today with our Halloween party!  This post will be all pictures, so enjoy!

The kids know me so well.  I already got some licorice for Halloween (Twizzlers are my favorite!)  

Up the Waterspout math activity with graphing and comparing numbers.

Mario, Ash, Vampire Girl, and Puppy

Mario #2, Fairy, Replacement Ref, and Angel.

Ninja, Pink Daisy, Grim Reaper, and Mermaid

Rapunzel, Cowboy, Hawkeye Player, Dolphin Trainer

Mario #3, Cleopatra, Zebra

It was a very FUN filled day and I have to say I really enjoyed my first school Halloween party!  Thank you to those who provided water, treats, plates, and napkins.  Also, thank you to the parents who came for the parade! :)
Back to regular business tomorrow!Mrs. Clough

Hallow's Eve!!!

From Landen:
I liked going to gym.

From Mrs. Clough:
Another festive filled day here in 2C.

We had many activities that centered around Halloween including a read aloud called Too Many Pumpkins, an activity with ordinal numbers (first, second, third, etc) and a costume parade, and we continued with our pumpkin carving writing focusing on editing and transitions.  We will continue to work on our informative/explanatory writing with the pumpkin carving tomorrow.

We also did a number sequencing activity called "Going Batty", where the kids had to put a set of four random numbers in order.  They all did a really nice job!

We had an all day visitor today, Morgan, who is a senior in high school in Springville.  She is interested in pursuing a career in elementary education and came to observe and also help out in our classroom!  It was fun to have a guest all day!

Tomorrow is the big day!  Halloween!  The kids are very excited, as am I!  We will have lots of fun and academic activities going on.  We will have our party begin with changing into costumes around 2:15 with the parade and party to follow.  You are welcome to join in the parade by sitting in the hallway.  :)

Very important reminder:
Conference time preference notes went home tonight.  Please fill it out and return by this FRIDAY NOVEMBER 2nd.  I will then begin setting up a schedule according to your preferences.

Short post tonight, but look forward to a long one tomorrow!
Mrs. Clough

Pumpkins Galore!

From Cole:
We wrote the steps to carve a pumpkin and Mrs. Clough actually carved it!

From Mrs. Clough:
We have entered Halloween week and had a very busy, but I hope, fun-filled day!  Many of our activities were centered around Halloween including math, reading, and writing so I will share some of the highlights.

For read aloud today, we read The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything (seriously has to be about the longest title ever for kids to remember!) :)  It is one of my favorite Halloween books and the kids really enjoyed it too and turns out they had read it in music class last week!  We also read Spookely the Square Pumpkin which taught us not to judge a book, or a pumpkin, by its cover!  Tomorrow we will watch the Spookely movie, which I know the kids are really excited about.

For writing today, we began a major writing project to produce an informative or explanatory piece of writing where I brought in a pumpkin and we discussed 8 different steps for covering the pumpkin.  As we made each step, I carried out the task with our pumpkin.  We just took rough draft notes to remember the steps for today, and tomorrow we will begin drafting our final publishable piece of writing.

Working on writing the steps in our 8 orange boxes.

Mrs. Clough digging the pumpkin guts out.  GROSS! That has always been my least favorite part of pumpkin carving. THe kids found it amusing though! :)

Final project.  We will work on our final pieces of writing tomorrow!

A reminder note went home tonight from Mrs. Asa about the costume party coming up on Wednesday. I will be sending our own 2nd grade party note tomorrow, so be sure to look for that.  :)

Check back tomorrow to see more of our Halloween learning activities!

BOO! :)

Mrs. Clough

It's Friday!

From Avery:
We visited Google Earth today and Google Earth is fun, really fun!

From Mrs. Clough:
Happy Friday!  I said this morning to the kids, "TGIF" and many of them had "HUH?" looks on their faces! :)  None the less, I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Today in math we continued with reviewing story problems, although our focus was on subtraction story problems.  The kids really are getting the hang of using the different strategies and today we discussed what strategies are more efficient-easier, quicker, etc.  We will continue to work on this!  :)

Today we worked on a connections T-chart after re-reading Amos and Boris.  I think everyone was able to make some excellent text to text and text to self connections.  We also reviewed our vocabulary story for this week An Extraordinary Egg, which the kids find hilarious.  You will have to ask them about the frogs who thought they knew a "chicken" (actually it's an alligator).

In social studies, as Avery mentioned, we visited some more places around the world on Google Earth. They really are enjoying visiting different places around the world and learning more about the Globe.  Today we visited the Taj Mahal, The Lincoln Memorial, the Great Wall of China, Kids Inc. in Marion, and more.  We also reviewed city/state/country/continent/planet as well as the 7 continents song and 4 oceans.  Today I also introduced them to the 50 Nifty United States song.  Check it out on youtube!  Next week, we will really delve more into map skills (compass rose, grid, birdseye view, etc).  So stay tuned for that!

Those were some of our highlights today. Here are a few reminders:
-October 31st is our Fall Costume Party at 2:45.  There will be a more extensive reminder note going home Monday
-November 9 is a NO SCHOOl day, as it is the end of 1st trimester already!
-Please send your child to school with a warm jacket or winter coat next week.  Many kids (not just in our class) came to school with thin zip up sweatshirts today and were freezing!  Hats and mittens would be a great idea too!

Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Clough

Rainy Thursday!

From Jakob:
Today we had PE and Music, and inside recess.  It was fun.

From Mrs. Clough:
It was a very rainy Thursday, and as Jakob said we had indoor recess for both recesses today.  I think the kids sometimes enjoy that more than going outside!  Not so sure about the teachers. :)

We had our monthly PBIS assembly today.  This month's focus was on Responsibility.  Congratulations to Emily D., Cole, Holly, and Kyle for being leaders in demonstrating responsibility this past month!  Every month there will be an assembly with new students being recognized, so stay tuned.

In math we re-visited addition story problems.  We reviewed the steps to solving a story problem: 1) Read the problem and visualize it, 2) Pick a strategy to solve it, 3) Solve the problem and SHOW YOUR WORK, and 4) Write an equation for the problem.  We reviewed the strategies as well and even added to our strategy list!  Tomorrow we will review subtraction story problems.

In social studies, we reviewed our City/State/Country/Continent/Planet chant, the 7 Continents song, the 4 oceans, and facts about the globe.  Today on Google Earth we visited my hometown, The White House, Universal Studios in California, and Frankfurt Germany.  Next week we will begin more of our actual pirate adventure and we will learn more about the compass rose, birdseye view, and more.

Today during Daily 5 time, we had a visitor who will be joining us until the end of the high school semester.  Baylie is a freshman who will be helping out in our room and we are happy to have her!  She also happens to be the older sister of Livy, here in 2C. :)

Tomorrow I have a fun pumpkin writing AND carving activity planned (I will be doing the carving)...so check back to see pictures of the fun!

Don't forget to have your child wear Red and Gold tomorrow for School Colors Day for Red Ribbon Week.

Mrs. Clough

From Gracin:
We did Google Earth and we went to Hawaii and New York, which are both states in the USA.

From Mrs. Clough:
Wow!  What a beautiful day, feels more like early summer, than late fall!  Enjoy it while it lasts, that's for sure!  We had another very busy day in 2C, but one filled with fun.

In math we continued our work with number strings and also played "Beat the Calculator", which we introduced last week during math.  The kids are truly getting the hang of adding more than three numbers together-I was quite impressed! :)

In social studies, we reviewed the seven continents and our song.  I have put in a video of the kids singing it (with my loud voice leading-please disregard that!  I swear, I used to be a better singer!)

Also, in social studies, we learned about the 4 oceans and explored the globe a little bit more.  As Gracin mentioned, we did some more Google Earth time-and we were able to do it on the BIG SCREEN so everyone could see our journeys!  The kids really enjoyed it.  We visited the Empire State Building, the New Freedom Tower in New York City; Maui, Hawaii; Tokyo, Japan; and more.  Lots of fun!

Short post tonight...but more tomorrow!
A few reminders:
-Tomorrow is Wear Bright Colors Day for Red Ribbon Week
-Tomorrow, send some canned goods for Red Ribbon Week
-Next Wednesday is our Fall Costume Party at 2:45 note coming later!
-Send your child to school in a jacket tomorrow! Cold weather is coming!

Have a good night!
Mrs. Clough

Recap of Parent Night and our day today!

From Libby:
Mrs. Clough finished the Magic Tree House number one last Friday.

From Mrs. Clough:
First of all, thank you to everyone who came to the 2nd Grade Parent Night last night.  I think it was a success and I hope that those of you who attended found it informative, but also loose and fun! :)  For those that were unable to attend, I sent home the materials with your child this afternoon!  During out time together last night, I went through a typical day in our classroom and what we have been working on, also I gave a little more background about myself. :)

Today we continued with some number string math problems (3 or more numbers added together) and strategies to help us solve those.  We also began focusing on the doubles plus one strategy with some flashcards and I think the kids really latched on to that concept and are doing well, though we will continue to practice!

In social studies, we learned about the GLOBE and how that is a kind of map.

We wrote down different things we observed and knew as facts about the globe.  We will continue with questions we have about the globe tomorrow.

I have to say I was SO happy with the kids today and their responsiveness to my directions ALL day and their ability to stay at the appropriate voice level at different times. I told them whatever they had for breakfast this morning, they should have EVERY day! :)

A few reminders:

-Review those spelling words at home!  It DOES help! :)

-Please try to do a little reading with your child at home, it also truly helps!

-October 31st (next Wednesday) is our Fall Costume Party beginning at 2:45.  More info to come.

-November 9th is a No School day for teachers to prepare report cards (YES, it really is coming up that soon!)

Enjoy the warmer weather, though personally I liked the cool fall temperatures!

Until tomorrow, 

Mrs. Clough

Happy Friday!

From Kyle:
Today we finished the first Magic TreeHouse book and I think we will start the next book on Tuesday.

From Mrs. Clough:
TGIF!  Welcome back everybody!  Thanks for stopping by...it was another busy day here in 2nd grade and I will share with you a few highlights.

We had a big day in social studies where we began by reading There's a Map In My Lap which gave us LOTS of good information about all kinds of maps, in a rhyming fun way.  We then searched for places through Google Earth, which the kids LOVE.  We visited the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Tower Bridge in London, the White House in Washington DC, Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines, and Disneyworld in Florida.  If you haven't used Google Earth, you should give it a try! Satellites up in space zero in on any location that you type into the google search bar and it provides a real image across the globe.  Perfect for our globe/map activities!

Using the iPad with Google Earth, visiting Tower Bridge in London, England.  We sat in a circle and passed the iPad around to see each location.

After visiting far away places, we then learned about the 7 continents on planet Earth with the help of a song to the tune of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat".  It goes like this:

Seven Continents on the globe,

Count them now with me.

North America, South America, Africa makes 3.

Europe, Asia, Australia are 3 more I know.

Don’t forget Antarctica! 

That’s 7-Way to Go!

The kids then worked on a continent and oceans word search.  So social studies was JAM PACKED! 

In math today we played a game called "Close to 20" which focused more on adding three or more number that would get you as close to 20 as possible, though it could be a little more or a little less.  The kids really did a good job and we will play it again sometime!

We worked on a writing activity, which also involved writing clues, wearing a mask, and taking pictures.  Stay tuned for more details on that-and you may even see something with those things hanging in the hall when you come to Starry for 2nd Grade Parent Night on MONDAY!

A few reminders:

-Newsletter #7 went home today-Check it out!

-NO SCHOOL Monday October 22nd.  

-2nd Grade Parent Night is Monday 6:30-7:30.  Come for some information as well as some fun!

Have a great weekend!!!  

Mrs. Clough