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.

A Short but Jammed Packed Week

So the craziness of Missouri weather has begun.  With Martin Luther King Jr and a snow day this week, we have had a shortened week, but LOTS of learning went into our three day week!

100th Day of School

I cannot believe that we will have been in school for 100 days next week!  Thursday, January 25 will be school day 100.  We will have a few fun activities planned for this day.  If you would like for your child to design a t-shirt or something special to wear on this day you can.  Below are a few options.  Also, your child can bring in a fun snack of a 100 of something.  It can be a junky snack, but it still needs to peanut/tree nut free.

Parent/Teacher Conferences

Since we are getting close to the 100th day of school, it is also time to start thinking about 2nd trimester Parent/Teacher Conferences.  Coming home on Monday in your child's homework folder, will be a Parent/Teacher Conference request sheet.  We are extending our conference times over two weeks (like we did in November) to allow both of us (Mottaz & Ross...aka Moss) to meet with every family.  Please make sure to read the directions and mark your first three choices.  Also, if you have multiple siblings at RBE, please mark all your children's name.  If you would like conferences on the same night with all your children, Thursday, February 15 might be the best option.

Box Tops 

Remember to keep sending in Box Tops with your child.  Please make sure that you are clipping all the way around the box top and double check the expiration date.

Field Trip

On Wednesday, we went to the planetarium at Rock Bridge High School.  We got to watch a short movie called "Earth's Wild Ride" and learned about how water flow can impact the Earth's geography, and also got to experience what a solar eclipse looked like from the moon - a great connection to what happened in August!  We also got to look at the night sky.  We learned about the constellations Orion the Hunter, the 7 Sisters, Taurus the Bull, Big Dog, and Little Dog.  Tomorrow (Saturday, January 19) will be the next public show at the planetarium, and the schedule of events is below.  You can reserve tickets for the show and check out the planetarium's website by clicking here.

• 2:00 pm - Magic Tree House Space Mission (for younger audiences)
• 3:15 pm - Hubble Vision (for older audiences)

What's Happening in 2nd Grade

• Math: This week, we learned about adding 10 and 100 to numbers, and using an open number line.  What is great about an open number line is that you do not start at 0 but you can start at your first number - which is a good thing as we are adding bigger numbers!  We discovered today that the kiddos liked this number line because you also do not have to make all the hash marks in between the numbers.  Below are a few examples of an open number line. Next week, we will be working on solving word problems or number stories.

• Writing: This week, we started publishing our informational writing for our animal research project.  We will continue to work on publishing next week also.
• Reading: This week, we introduced the idea of making inferences by having the kids dig through "trash" (it was actually just pictures).  The kiddos had to think about the evidence that was in the trash bag to infer where the trash bag came from.  Some examples are: a trash bag that had a diaper and a baby food jar you could infer that that a baby lived in the house, or a trash bag that had a popcorn bucket, candy boxes and drink containers you could infer that the trash bag came from a movie theater.  We talked about to make an inference that you have to use evidence from the text and schema from your head.  Next week, we will focus on making inferences while reading difference texts.

 

• Word Study: Next week, our focus will continue to be on long o vowel patterns of "oa", "ow" and CVCC.  Next week's words: loan, road, glow, slow, poll, told, cold, ghost, both & bold.
• Social Studies & Science: This week, we focused on learning about Martin Luther King Jr's life and accomplishments.  We read two different books on his life My Brother Martin by Christine King Farris and A Picture Book of Martin Luther King Jr. by David Adler.  We compared these two books as a whole class.  Then today, the students partner read another book about his life.  They had an opportunity to make a reading response either about what they would do if they met Martin Luther King Jr. or to tell about his life.  Next week, we will focus on learning about the different ecosystems that animals live in.  We will be tying in our ecosystem project to their animal research.

I am looking forward to a warmer spring like weather this weekend as opposed to the freezing cold last couple of weeks that we have had!  I hope that you have a chance to get out enjoy the weather!

Fun Filled Week!

We have had a fun filled week of learning!  This was supposed to be our first full week back, but the weather made it a little tricky.  Please know that we appreciate all your communication if your child is going home a different way.

Colonial Day

Today, the kids enjoyed Colonial Day!  They look AMAZING in all their Colonial attire.  Thank you for taking the time to help your child dress for the day!

They had so much fun applying all their hard learning on Colonial times to six different stations.  They played 9 pin and marbles like Colonial kids did.  They made butter and enjoyed their hard work on a piece of bread.  They also made cornmeal dough to play with.  We had learned that in Colonial times that they kept warm under quilts, so today each student designed a quilt square and we made a classroom quilt.  Finally, all the students made a silhouette picture of themselves.

You can check out all the pictures of the fun that was had today here!

A huge thank you to everyone who sent in supplies and to the parents who came to help - this day would not have been a success without you!

Field Trip

On Wednesday, we will be going to Rock Bridge High School to visit the planetarium.  The students will get to watch a video on the rounded screen in the planetarium.  They will also get to look at the stars and learn about constellations.  We will leave at approximately 9:15 on Wednesday morning and will be back at school around 10:45 a.m.

Six Flags Read to Succeed

The Six Flags Read to Succeed paper came home on Monday.  Students are encouraged to read 6 hours and log their reading.  If they read 6 hours,  fill out the form (and get it signed by parents) and return it to Mrs. McKinzie by March 1, 2018, they will receive a free ticket to Six Flags.  We have one student who has already turned in their form.

Brrr....It's Cold

Weather turned super cold last night and it will continue to be cold all next week.  Please make sure that your child has a coat, gloves, hat, scarf, etc.  We will not go outside for recess if the temperature or wind chill is 10 or below, but we try to go out whenever we can.  Even if we don't go outside for recess your child needs to be bundled up to walk to and from the building!

Chat and Chew

Coming home in your child's Friday Folder are two yellow sheets for Chat and Chew.  This is a club that meets during the day to encourage reading!  Second grade options for for Chat and Chew are Ready Freddy: Tooth Trouble, Freckle Juice, and Humphrey's Treasure Hunt Trouble.  If your child would like to join the club, they will ask be asked to read their assignment at home and meet during lunch with a parent volunteer to discuss the book.  This will begin in February and end in April.  To participate, please fill out the enrollment form and return to school by next Friday, January 19th.  If you have any questions you can contact Jen Medley (3rd grade teacher).

What's Been Happening in 2nd Grade

Math: 

• This week, we learned to use an open number line to help solve word problems.  An open number line is blank and the students only fill the numbers needed to solve the problem.  We briefly introduced them this week to the concept of finding out how much change they will get back.  Next week, we will be working on strategies for adding and subtracting 10 and 100 from a number.  
• We did send home the Home Links for Unit 5.  Please know that we are only half way through Unit 5, so students have not been taught all concepts and may not be able to complete the Home Links.  Also, Home Links are simply another resource for students to use as homework if they would like.  They are not required to complete them or bring them back to school.

Writing:

• This week, we identified text features that would be helpful to add to our writing.  Next week, we will start the publishing process.  The students were so creative as they made their headings this week.  I can’t wait for them to share their writing with you.  Once this writing is finished, we will start our next informational writing which will be a Who Would Win book where they compare two similar topics and choose the “winner.”

Reading:

• The students did very well making text-to-text and text-to-self connections this week.  They were even able to make some text-to-world connections as well.  As students are reading at home, ask them about connections they have made while reading.  They can also make connections to tv shows and movies to practice this skill.  Next week, we will start working on inferences.  Inferences using schema (background knowledge) and information from the text to figure out how the character is feeling or why they are acting a certain way.  We will introduce this idea by digging through the trash.  😊  It will all be clean “trash” and the students will have to make inferences about where the trash came from and how they know.

Word Study:

• Due to the shortened week, we will not have word study words next week.  The spelling practice has been removed from homework, but students can still practice past words if they would like.

Science:

• We wrapped up our study of Colonial America today with Colonial Day.  We will be switching to science for our next unit.  Students will be learning about different ecosystems.  They will be learning about how animals and plants survive in these ecosystems and focus on how they get water.  We will also be tying this into our writing unit as well and the students will be creating a visual that shows the ecosystem where their animal lives.

A Great 2 Days!

We have had a great 2 days back from break!  I cannot believe that it is already 2018 and we are halfway through your child's second grade year. 

Fun Activity!

On Tuesday, we have a fun activity planned for the students.  They don't know about it, but make sure they are wearing tennis shoes and comfy clothes that they can easily move in.  We will post pictures of our activity in next week's blog!

Playground Survey

You may have noticed that RBE PTA has put up a new bulletin board by the front doors about the status of our playground.  There are several pieces of equipment that are broken, and they need your input on what your child likes to play on.  Please use the QR code below to take a quick survey so that your voice (and your child's voice) can be heard!

Colonial Day

Colonial Day will be next Friday!  A paper came home yesterday (pictured below) telling more about what we will be doing.  We are still in the need for a couple of volunteers and some supplies to make this day a success!  Please consider going to our classroom Colonial Day SignUp Genius and seeing what you can do to help out.

Field Trips

Wednesday, January 17, we will be going to the Planetarium.  The students get to watch a video on the screen in the planetarium.  Then at the end, they get to see the night sky and learn about constellations.  

Jumping ahead, on April 17, we will be going to the Daniel Boone Regional Library for a tour.  The kids always have fun learning different facts about the library.  As the field trip gets closer, we will send home information about library cards if you would like to get your child a library card.

Even further ahead, on May 15, we will be going to Runge Nature Center in Jeff City.  We love for parent volunteers to come on this trip.  We will send home more information as the date gets closer, but we wanted to give you plenty of time to take off in you were interested in attending.

Math Test

The Unit 4 Math Test is coming home on Monday.  Please look over the test (the post test is on green paper) and review it with your student.  We will continue to work on measurement and telling time throughout the year.  Overall, there was great growth from the pre-test to the post test.  Please sign and return the test by Thursday, January 11.

Six Flags Reading

Six Flags Read to Succeed is a program sponsored by Six Flags.  If students read and record 6 hours of reading (it must be signed off by a parent) by March 1, they can receive a free ticket to Six Flags to use during the summer.  The reading logs will come home on Monday.  As soon as they are filled out, the forms may be turned into Mrs. McKinzie in the library.  The completed reading log form must be turned in by March 1 to receive a ticket.

Homework Folder

There are a lot of papers coming home in the homework folder on Monday.  There will be 2 new games that the students have learned to play.  There is also their Unit 4 pre and post test.  Please look over these tests with your child, then sign and return them.  Please return them by Thursday, January 11.  The Six Flags Read to Succeed form is in the homework folder as well.  We will also start homework up again next week.  As a refresher, students are expected to read for 15 minutes each night, practice spelling words for 5 minutes and 10 minutes for math games or facts.  The homework needs to be initialed (both math and reading sections) each night and the homework is checked each morning.  We have added a table on the back for students to use to practice their spelling words if they would like.  This is not a requirement, just an additional way to practice if they would like to use it.

Our Learning for Next Week

Reading

We will be working on making connections next week.  We introduced this concept this week.  The students have learned about text-to-text connections (connecting two different books) and text-to-self connections (connecting something in their life to a book).  Next week, we will continue to work on making connections both in small groups as well as independently.

Word Study

We will continue to work on long vowel patterns.  Next week, we will focus on long o words using the vowel patterns CVCe, CVVC (oa) and (ow).  Next week's words are: froze, globe, close, roast, coach, roam, show, throw, know, grow.

Writing

We are getting close to finishing our first informational writing.  The students will be editing and revising their writing next week.  Once we start publishing, we will review text features and the students will add text features to their book.

Math

We started Unit 5 today, which covers money and addition.  Today, the students learned the game, Beat the Calculator, and learned that they have fact power and can solve basic facts faster than a calculator.  Check out Twitter @MossRBE to see a video of them celebrating their fact power.  Next week, we will be working on making different coin combinations for the same amount of money.  Please continue reviewing coins (both names and what they look like) and their values at home.

Here we are showing off our fact power pose!

Social Studies

We will be reviewing colonial times in anticipation of our Colonial Day next Friday.  The students are very excited about colonial days.  

Music Melody :)

In music today, the kiddos wrote their own song.  They were so excited to share their song with me when I picked them up.  Ask your kiddo about what they did in music!

Winter Weather

Please make sure your student has a winter coat when they come to school.  It was too cold this week to go outside (the feels like must be 11 degrees or higher), but next week the students will be able to go outside.  Even though it is going to be warmer, it is still definitely winter.  Please check the email from the office today regarding information if there is a late start due to weather.

Have a fabulous weekend!