A Full Week of School!! :)

It has been so nice to get back into a school routine of a "normal" week.

Coming Home In Friday Folders:

• Yearbook Order Forms - Yearbooks are $7.  If you would like to purchase a yearbook, you can either order online or return the order envelope with payment.  The deadline to order a yearbook is February 28.
•  2nd Trimester Student Banner - Please read over the information about a fun way to celebrate your child's hard work over the first two trimesters.  The sheet below and a banner is coming home in your child's Friday Folder.
  

Parent/Teacher Conferences

As a reminder, Parent/Teacher Conferences are right around the corner.  If you have not filled out & returned your time request for your child's conference it is due by Wednesday, January 31.  If you need another sheet you can either click here or email me!  If we do no receive your request sheet on Monday, I will be sending home an additional sheet.

We will be holding Parent/Teacher Conferences over two weeks (February 6-15).  We look forward to meeting with everyone!

The Scholastic Book Fair will also be open February 12-16 and on February 20 for Special Family and Friends Day.  So make sure that you plan a time to check it out...there will be LOTS of great books that your kiddo will enjoy!

Special Family & Friend's Day

RBE will have a Special Family & Friend's Day on February 20.  Family and friends will have an opportunity to visit your child's special classes.  We have specials from 1:35-2:25.  More information will be coming out soon about this event, but I wanted to make sure that it was marked on your calendar.  If the family or friend that comes to visit would like to take home your child, please make sure that you either send us an email or write a note.

What's Been Happening in 2nd Grade:

• Math: This week in math, we are finishing up Unit 5.  We have been talking about different strategies that can help us to solve word problem.  Below you will find the strategies that we have talked about.  Next week, we will be taking the Unit 5 test.  A few weeks ago we sent home the HomeLinks for Unit 5 - these are a great resource to review what we have been learning with your child.

• Writing: We are continuing to work on publishing our first informational writing on the animal each student researched.  We have worked on adding a Table of Contents and Glossary to our book, and next week we will add nonfiction text features to help the reader understand more about our animals.
• Reading: We have been talking about the importance of making inferences as we read.  We know that we have to use our schema and clues from the text.  We will continue to work on making inferences as we read.
• Science: We started talking about the different ecosystems that animals live in.  We talked about the importance of water in an ecosystem.  We know that animals can be carnivores, herbivores, or omnivores.  Next week, we continue to learn about more ecosystems and about food webs.

100th Day of School

We had a great 100th day of school yesterday!  We made a class book about what we thought we would be doing when we were 100 years old - we have some really creative kiddos and they came up with such fun things that they think they will be doing in 90+ years!  We also had an opportunity to see what 100 seconds felt like as we did a variety of things (example: jumping jacks or high fives).  Today the students wrote a poem titled "100."  We will be sharing these with the class throughout next week.

Guest Reader

Mrs. Neale was our guest reader today!  She taught us about Duke Ellington.  We were able to listen to some of his music, and hear two books about music: Duke Ellington and Ben's Trumpet.

Tech Talk & Book Talk

Mrs. McKinzie came in today and gave us a Tech Talk.  She shared how to troubleshoot frequent problems when we are on the laptop.  She also showed us everything that is on the Media Center website - we will be taking advantage of some additional websites when we research for our second informational writing!

Mrs. McKinzie also came in to share her January Book Talk with us!  She shared some great books: Thelma the Unicorn (which will be at the Book Fair next month), Read the Book, Limmings, and Malala's Magic Pencil (which we snagged right after the Book Talk and read to the kiddos - GREAT book!).

6 Flags Read to Succeed

A 6 Flags Read to Succeed form came home in your child's Friday Folder earlier this month.  If your child would like to receive a FREE 6 Flags ticket, this form needs to be completed and returned to Mrs. McKinzie by March 1 - no forms will be accepted after this date.  All your child needs to do to earn a FREE 6 Flags ticket is to read for 6 hours and log the book and times read on the form.  If you have additional questions about this program you can contact Mrs. McKinzie. 

Valentine's Day 

• Party: Our classroom Valentine's Day Party will be on February 14 at 1:45.  More information will be coming out about the party soon.  
• Valentine Exchange: We will be having an opportunity to exchange Valentines before the party.  
• Currently, we have 23 students in your child's homeroom class or 46 students altogether in the Moss classroom.  Your can choose whether or not your child wants to do Valentine's for only the homeroom class or for both classrooms.  We only ask that if your child participates in the Valentine exchange that they provide Valentines for an entire class (not just pick & choose who they give Valentines to).
• We have found that it is easier to pass out Valentines to not fill out the "To" line but just fill out the "From" line.  This allows for the students to quickly pass out Valentines and not have to search for specific bags.
• Valentine's Mailbox:
• Each student will have an opportunity to design a Valentine's Day bag to collect Valentines in.  However, if your child would like to bring in his/her own mailbox that is okay.  We ask for you to clearly label the mailbox with your child's name.