Ms. Williams

May 6, 2008

3 weeks and counting!!! What a wonderful year it has been! There is a lot going on so hopefully posting all of this will make your lives easier! :)

*Please make sure to fill out and return the enrollment forms with the envelopes as soon as possible.  It is important that you sign, print, and date the back of the form...otherwise I'll have to send it home again!  Also, please include the postage so that we can mail your child's report card to you this summer.  If you have already returned the envelope to school without postage, you can send in stamps with your child and I will put them on your envelope.  THANKS!

*The PTA registration is due this Friday, May 9th.

*Scholastic Orders are due online tomorrow, and I will place the orders after school!

*All Media Center books are due back to school this week. 

A heads up for the last 2 weeks of school:

-Wednesday, May 14th- Field Day 12:00-2:00.  Wear tennis shoes, your yellow tie-dye t-shirt/Field Day shirt and sunscreen, bring a hat and a labeled water bottle. 

-Tuesday, May 20th- RAD Day/Pajama Day (Read All Day).  Students will bring in books and a towel to read on outside. They are welcome to bring in a small pillow in addition to the towel if it fits INSIDE their bookbag.

-Wednesday, May 21st- 2nd Grade Beach Day 11:00-1:00.  The 2nd grade will have lunch and games outside with a special treat for snack.  Wear sunscreen, a hat and "tropical" clothing and bring a towel and a sack lunch.

-Thursday, May 22nd- Game Day/Relay Races and Ice Cream Sundae Party-  Students can bring an appropriate game to share with 2-4 students.  Please be sure not to send in anything that you cannot afford to loose! That afternoon, several moms will be helping with relay races and to serve the ice cream sundaes!

-Friday, May 23rd- Last Day of School.  Wear your yellow tie-dye t-shirts for the 2nd Grade Awards Ceremony.  Our class will eat lunch outside, weather permitting!

April 14, 2008

Welcome Back! I hope you all had a safe and wonderful Spring Break!  If you haven't done so already, don't forget to send in your notes for your children each day for the CRCT test. Also, I know I had put on the note that they didn't need the book until the 30th, but that was a mistake by a week. I had wanted to start it during the afternoons of the CRCT testing days to have something fun for them so if at all possible, please make sure you send in a copy of Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing so we can begin our novel study by April 23rd! We have already gotten over half of the children's books! Thanks so much!

We will be spending the majority of our mornings reviewing language, reading, and math skills to prepare for the CRCT. I would encourage you to still be taking the practice tests online to reinforce what we are doing here! We will be looking specifically at abbreviations, commas, quotation marks, contractions, syllables or (word parts) as they call it on the test, singular/plural, pronouns, run on sentences, apostrophes, nouns, verbs, adjectives, and naming/telling part. Please review these concepts with them nightly! We will not have Spelling this week or next week.

We are continuing to learn that repeated addition is the same as multiplication, how to draw arrays, read a times table, and divide things equally. We will finish up our study of Australia and move onto Life Cycles beginning next week! My fiance traveled to Australia back in October so the kids will have a little souvenir to bring home once we finish! :)

It is hard to believe we are only 6 weeks away from the end of the year! Thank you to those of you who have returned your volunteer sheet for our activities. We would love to have as many of you to help out as possible!!! As always, I am here for your children and love them dearly! It has been such a fabulous year and I know the rest of the year is going to fly by! Have a wonderful week and let me know if you have any questions!

March 31, 2008

One more week until Spring Break! Please make every effort to have your children here all day on Friday as we are reviewing for the CRCT! It is crucial that they don't miss any of our review time!

In Reading, we are continuing to introduce your children to a variety of genres and types of books during Guided Reading. They will be voting on their favorite type! In whole group reading this week, we are reading Night of the Stars and they worked in groups of 4 or 5 to construct a story map together, including setting, characters, beginning, middle, and end. Please continue to orally go over these elements when you read with you child each night!

In Writing, we began Persuasive Writing last week and modeled a shared writing together. We brainstormed reasons and details of why all kids should have their own room:) Then they independently created their own reasons of "Why Children Should Receive an Allowance." Over the next few weeks, we will continue to work on adding details to show support for our arguments and to "convince" our reader to believe our point of view!

We will be spending a lot of time reviewing for the CRCT in the areas of Reading, Language, and Math this week and after Spring Break as well! We will use the white board in the classroom to let the children help select the correct answers!

In Math, we are finishing adding and subtracting 3-digit numbers, including money. Please continue to review this over Spring Break and then when we return we will do Multiplication and a few division lessons!

In Social Studies, we are still studying Australia! The kids have loved learning all about the "Land Down Under" and we will have our Olympics day on Thursday this week! Thank you to Holly Cooper and Steve Fairchild for volunteering for our class event!

Have a safe and relaxing Spring Break! I will look forward to hearing all about their travels!

March 17, 2008

Happy St. Patrick's Day!! This year is flying by! I can hardly believe we are beginning our last 9 weeks today! Just a Peek at Ms. Williams' Week:

For Reading, we read several Leprechaun stories and one in particular called Leprechaun on the Loose. The children had to work in cooperative groups to put the story sentence strips back in order, only it was quite a challenge because there were about 25 sentences! They did a fabulous job and they work so well together! Tomorrow, we will read several more and write our own Leprechaun stories! We will include our fluency practice with our poem "I'm a Little Leprechaun." On Friday, we will have the kids practice one last time for the Reader's Theater plays and then they will present to their classmates!

In Writing, we worked on singular/plural this morning and later this week, we will begin our Tiger Publishing stories. These will come home on Thurs afternoon, along with their report cards. Their will be explicit directions on what to do and when to return the final product. We also will be working on our Vocabulary Workshop book and reviewing synonyms, antonyms, context clues, etc.

In Math, this will be our last week of Measurement. They will learn all about centimeters and meters and how that compares to inches, feet and yards. We will measure all over our classroom and so have them give it a try at home as well!

In Social Studies, we are kicking off Australia this afternoon and I am so excited to begin! It is going to be a great unit and they will learn a lot about another culture! The entire 2nd grade will culminate our study with an Australian Museum and Olympics day!

Finally, we will celebrate our Compliment Chain hitting the floor on Friday. We will be watching Ratatouille and the kids may bring one pillow and wear their PJ's. Please no stuffed animals or any other toys, etc. 1 PILLOW and PJ's:)

I hope you all have been able to start reviewing for the CRCT with your kids online! This will really help them be successful! Have a wonderful week!

March 10, 2008

Hello!! Thank you for getting the Solar System projects here on time! They all look great! Today, we are headed to the Cobb Civic Center for our Performing Arts ballet. The kids are very excited about it! Just a peek at what we are learning this week:

In Math, we have been working on measurement. Your children have learned how to measure using inches and feet and this week, we will make our own yardsticks and measure in yards and also be able to record the temperature. They will learn how to make a reasonable guess as to which unit of measurement would be best to measure certain objects with and estimate their lengths. Next week, we will begin working with centimeters and meters. Several of our engaging activities have been "Measuring Myself" using nonstandard measurement such as unifix cubes, "How Do Our Classroom Items Measure Up"-they were able to work in groups and measure 20 items with their rulers to the nearest half inch or inch, and "Inching Our Way Around the Room." You should most of these come home in their folders today! In Writing, we have focused in on our next trait of writing: Word Choice. We worked on changing boring words into descriptive adjectives and action words into powerful verbs! Ask your children some of the ones we brainstormed! In Language, we have worked on prefixes and suffixes in addition to using quotation marks correctly. This week we will be spending our time on abbreviations and contractions. Please review any of these skills with your children to help them retain these concepts! Lastly, in Science, they have LOVED learning about the Stars, Moon, and Planets, We created the phases of the moon last week by scraping off the icing of our oreos! :) They did a fabulous job and I am confident they won't forget it! This week we will be having the kids present their Solar System Presentations!

I think that is all! Have a wonderful week!

February 25, 2008

March will be here before we know it! Thank you so much for editing your child's animal reports with them! They are so proud of themselves and you should be so impressed with their writing! It is far above the requirements for 2nd grade:)

As far as homework goes this week, you will have just the 2 journal entries for writing, in addition to the "Out Of This World Project" that is coming home today. We are taking one more week off from our usual spelling  as we focus in on contractions and do some touch phonics skills with short and long vowel words. Please get a head start on this project. It will require quite a bit of work for them to do a good job, so waiting until the last minute will not help them be successful. All of the directions are on there, but this will be their first oral presentation to the class. Let me know if you have any questions!

In Reading, we continue to work on reading skills such as using context clues, making inferences, cause and effect, and sequencing in Guided Reading groups. Ask your child about the book study they are working on each week or 2 weeks! We also are spending a good bit of time working on Vocabulary this week and will introduce a new workshop to achieve this beginning this week! In Math, we are going to quickly get through comparing 3 digit numbers and will take our test on Friday. Up next: Measurement followed by 3-digit addition and subtraction and then Multiplication and Division. PLEASE review 2-digit addition and subtraction so that when we get to 3-digits in a week, it will be fresh on their minds! We are beginning our unit on Celestial Bodies and will take a look at stars, how the moon changes shape, and why we have day and night. Last time in Science Lab, your children made sundials which we took outside and they were amazed that it actually told them the real time! Try it with them at home!

Thank you so much for all you do for us and for your children! We are always so thankful for your donations and your time! Have a wonderful last week of February!

February 11, 2008

One of my favorite holidays is on its way! Thank you to those of you who are sending in Valentine treats for the class on the 14th! We will have several fun centers for your kids that afternoon such as My heart transformed into a... and a "LOVE IS..." writing activity. Last year's responses were priceless! Can't wait to see this year's ideas:)

We thoroughly enjoyed our Japanese Festival!! Thank you to the parents who spent their time and effort in setting up and helping prepare for the festival! It was a huge success! We will finish up our study of Japan this week and move onto Space soon after! Today, we made Cherry Blossom Trees. We will learn about Haiku's on Wed. In Writing, we are finishing our last paragraph this week and then we will write our rough drafts for the animal reports. They will edit them with a buddy on Friday and then it will come home to be edited with you all! They will be due on Wed. when they return. Please make sure they are on time or your child won't have their report to type in the Computer Lab that day! Thanks for your help! We also are working on when to use commas and apostrophes this week!  In Math, we began a new chapter on building 3-digit numbers and different ways to show that number-base 10 blocks, expanded notation, hundreds, tens, and ones, and written in words. Please review with them at home!

Thank you all so much for support and if you have questions regarding the logins for the CRCT practice, I will do my best to get an answer for you! It would be very beneficial for them to see that material and the way the questions are phrased daily!

February 4, 2008

We are rolling through the months with February already arriving! That is so hard to believe! Thank you for all of the out to lunch bunch donations! I know the children will love using the new equipment! Also, the children did a fantastic job on their Japanese Alphabet pages and their dolls! Thank you for encouraging and helping them do their best work!

This week we have Early Release Day on Wednesday-again! As if the kids haven't gotten out early enough lately! :) We also have our Japanese Festival on Friday, so a big thank you to those of you bringing in food for the 2nd grade and for helping set up! We really appreciate that!

In Math this week, we are finishing up our unit on Fractions! The kids seem to have really grasped this concept really well so just reinforce what we have learned at home! We will be doing several centers to review the material such as Fishy Fractions, Pizza Fractions and a Sorting Fractions center.

In Writing, we are well underway with our Animal Reports. We finished taking notes last week and gathering the research and this week we will turn our notes into paragraphs! They have done such a good job and their enthusiasm is precious to watch! They are so eager to get to the teaching Kindergartners part of the project!

In Social Studies, we are still studying Japan. Last week, we learned all about Japan's cities, bodies of water, and landforms. This week, we will take a look at their flag, clothing, food, housing, transportation and natural resources! It will be a busy time of learning in here!

I think that is all for the week! I am so proud of the progress they have made since entering 2nd grade! It impresses me to see how much they have changed and grown this year! Keep reading with them each night and have a fabulous week!

We all survived conference week and your children probably loved their extra playtime each afternoon! We have a busy week ahead of us so please make sure your child is here on time and is rested and fed!

We are beginning our Animal Reports and will check out our books tomorrow so please make sure your child returns their library books! We will have 3 research days this week finding facts on their physical appearance, habitat, and young. They will change their facts into their own words and record. In Math, we are beginning our chapter on Fractions today and will conclude with our test next Thursday! We have a lot of great things planned from "Family Fractions" to making Fraction strips, they will rotate to several centers involving fractions next week. We also are starting our study of Japan. We kicked it off with our speaker last week and now we will dive into learning more about Japan and their culture and compare it our way of life! We will have our Japanese Festival next Friday to conclude our study which the kids will absolutely love! Please have them wear their tie-dyed t-shirts to school next Friday for the festival! Continue reading each night for 20 minutes with your children and ask them questions about what they read to continue building good comprehension skills!

Thanks for a wonderful week and if you have any questions at all, feel free to email me! I really appreciate all of the parents who have helped out with Zero the Hero and 100th day of school snacks in addition to those of you who have signed up to bring in treats for Valentine's Day! We really are so grateful to have wonderful parents! THANK YOU!!

* Their Japanese Alphabet Page and Japanese doll are due this FRIDAY! Please have them here on time!

January 14, 2008

Another busy week is ahead of us! We are spending several days this week really working on using a dictionary. This is such a hard skill for many of your children. Please practice looking up words, locating the guide words, finding the definition and coming up with a sentence using the word. This will really be beneficial for them before they take the CRCT. We also have focused on alphabetizing to the third letter. In Writing, we are continuing working on Informational writing and incorporating voice into our writing. We took a look at how Dr. Seuss writes and how we know just by reading one of his books who wrote it. We want our readers to know our "voice" too! In Math, we finished up our chapter on plane shapes and began Solid Shapes today. We will be creating a shape book and eating our way through the shapes in addition to making a museum of play-dough shapes! I hope this makes it meaningful for them so they will remember it! We began our study of Mr. Popper's Penguins last week and the kids are completely enthralled with the book! They look forward to reading it each day!

I think that is all the news for the week! I am here to help your children be successful! Please let me know if there is anything you have questions about! I adore your kids!