October Already!?!?

I cannot believe that it is going to be October next week!  This school year is flying by!  It has bee a wonderful week for Team Moss!  The students have been working very hard!

Friday Folders

• Home Links Unit 2
• Unit 2 Test will be the week of October 8.  The Home Links are extra practice to do at home if you would like.  They are not required at all.  They are on the bingo board though, so if they do one, make sure to put the date on the bingo board box.  
• Fundations Unit 4
• We started Fundations Unit 4 on Tuesday.  We have been focusing on suffixes this week.  There is practice on suffixes in the packet.  There is also practice on vowel teams.  These also are not required, but can be used as extra practice if your student would like to practice at home.  
• Book It
• From October-March, we will be participating in the Pizza Hut Book-It program.  
• In your student's Friday folder is a letter about the program.
• For student's to receive a free personal pizza coupon, they must read for at least 2 hours each.  There is a reading log included in the Friday folder.  The log must be filled out each month and initialed by parents.  To receive their coupon, they need to bring us the filled out reading log by the first day of the following month (For example: To receive the October pizza coupon, they need to bring their log to us by November 1).  Students may bring in their reading log anytime during the month once they have 2 hours of reading completed.
• This program isn't required, it is just another way to encourage reading.  
• Chicken BBQ Gift Card Donation
• PTA is going to be selling gift cards at the Chicken BBQ Silent Auction again this year.
• Each class is raising money for the gift cards.
• If you would like to donate money to purchase the gift cards, please put it in an envelope labeled "Gift Card Donation."  Please only send in cash, no checks.
• This is simply a donation if you would like, it is not required. 

Important Dates

• October 2: Flu Clinic (forms were sent home in Friday folders a few weeks ago)
• October 10: Bird Day Field Trip
• October 12: Western Day - wear your Western attire
• October 13: Chicken BBQ
• October 16: Early Dismiss at 12:10
• October 17: Picture Re-takes

Spirit Days

RBE will have a special Spirit Day each month.  This is an opportunity to encourage school spirit and a fun time for the students.  Below are the list of Spirit Day for this school year:

• October 12 - Western Day
• November 30 - Pajama Day
• December 14 - "Ugly Holiday Sweater Day"
• January 18 - Hat Day
• February 8 - Decade Day
• March 22 - Sport's Team Day
• April 12 - RBE Shirt/Color Day
• May 17 - Crazy Hair Day

Temperature

• As the temperatures start to cool down (well for this week, not as much next week), it is time to start thinking about jackets.  
• At RBE, we have a temperature guide for when students are expected to wear coats.
• We reviewed the guide with the students this week and have started to tell them the feels like temperature before we go out to recess.  You can click here to see what to wear expectations.
• Please make sure your student has a light jacket with them each day.  Once winter is here, please make sure they have a winter coat.
• Many times, we have not reached the high temperature at our recess time, so students can get cold at recess.

Veteran's Day Assembly-From Mrs. Sharp

Here is the blurb you will see in the newsletter:

**

This year, to honor Military Veterans who are family members of our current RBE staff and students, we will be creating a “Wall of Honor”.  Please see the instructions below to know how to submit a photo to be included in the RBE “Wall of Honor”.

1. Paper copies of photos of Veterans (5 x 7 or smaller) will be accepted as they will not be returned to you. NO ORIGINAL PHOTOS PLEASE!  
2. All paper copies of photos must be turned in to your child’s classroom teacher, Mrs. Sharp or the office by 3:00 p.m. on November 5th, to be included for the “Wall of Honor”.
3. The following information must be written on a “Veteran’s Information Sheet”. These are available in this newsletter (print and fill out), from your child’s classroom teacher, Mrs. Sharp or the office.
4. Please attach the “Veterans Information Sheet” to the photo with a paperclip and place them in an envelope to return to school.
5. If a paper copy of a photo comes in and the “Veterans Information Sheet” is not attached, it may not be included on the “Wall of Honor”.

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Mrs. Sharp

**

Our Learning

Reading

• This week in reading, we worked on defining the word "character."  The students decided that characters are the "who" of a story.  They are the important people, animals or things in a story.  They were also able to identify examples of characters that were people, animals and things.
• Next week, students will be identifying character traits.  We started this discussion this week.  Next week, they will get with a partner and identify character traits for characters in books that have been read aloud books.  

Writing

• We continue to move along with our personal narrative.  This week, we made a descriptive setting, identified characters and wrote our 3 main events.
• Next week, we will rewrite our story to allow us room to add details.  We will also work to add transition words and a conclusion.
• Our goal is to finish our first personal narrative the 2nd week of October.  

Science

• We have been focusing on students being able to describe the three states of matter.  We have learned that states of matter have shape, mass and volume.  Your child should be able to draw what the molecules look like in a solid, liquid and gas.  One of the "I can" learning objectives on our proficiency chart is "I can describe the three states of matter."  The students are doing really well with this objective! 
• Next week, we will be talking about what makes a bird a bird to help us get ready for our Bird Day field trip in a couple of weeks!

Math

• This week in math, we learned about the turn-around rule.  Students learned that the turn-around rule works for addition, but they proved that it doesn't work for subtraction.  Students were able to count backwards on a number line into the negative numbers.  
• Next week, students will come up with multiple ways to represent a number by creating "Name Collection Boxes."  They will also get to identifying what "rule" applies when given a group of numbers and how they have been changed.  
• We will be testing over Unit 2 the week of October 8.

Fundations

• We started Unit 4 in Fundations this week.  We have been focusing on adding suffixes this week.  Students learned when to add -s or -es to a word.  They also learned that -er and -est are used to compare.  They learned that you add -ed and -ing to the end of action words.
• Trick words were sent home in their Take Home Folder with the bingo board, please be practicing these trick words at home.
• Trick words learned so far this year are: please, again, animal, goes, they, said, full, pull, both, one, was, talk, walk, pretty, you, your, done, shall.

Intervention

• Reading intervention starts on Monday.  Be sure to ask your student which teacher they go to for intervention.  Below is a brief description of what his group is working on.
• Ms. Mottaz and Mrs. Ross: We are working with students on Sound Partners.  This is a program that focuses on phonics and decoding skills.
• Mrs Blumberg: She is using a program called Read Naturally.  This program focuses on reading fluently and comprehending what is read.
• Ms. Holbrook: She is working with the students to think deeper about what they have read.  They will also be working on researching topics to create projects to teach others about what they learned.  

I hope that you have a wonderful weekend and get a chance to get out and enjoy this beautiful weather!

Almost Fall!

Happy Friday!  I cannot believe that tomorrow is the first day of fall!

We have had a wonderful week!  Make sure that you check out Twitter for pictures or look at the sidebar to the left of the blog.

Flu Clinic

• The student flu shot clinic is October 2.  Flu clinic forms went home last week, if you would like your student to get the flu shot at school, we need the form back by next Wednesday, September 26.

No School on Monday-September 24

Friday Folders

• Unit 3 Fundations Information
• We started Fundations Unit 3 this week.  In the Friday folder is the parent letter as well as some activities for the students if they choose to complete them.  They do not have to do these activities, but they can be used on their homework bingo.  We send them home so parents have an idea of what they are working on in Fundations.  

• Zones of Regulation Sort
• We have been reviewing the Zones of Regulation this month.  This is a program we started teaching last year.  It allows students to monitor their emotions and identify which zone they are in and how to get back to the green zone.  This week, they did a sort with different actions and emotions and put them in the correct zone.  I recommend going over this sort with your child and having them explain the zones to you.  

• School Eat Out Night
• September 25 is the first RBE Eat Out Night at Chipotle from 4 p.m.-8 p.m..  This is a great excuse to not cook dinner and also support RBE.  33% of the profits from the night come directly back to RBE and our PTA uses the money to support the school in a variety of ways.

Chicken BBQ

• Chicken BBQ is October 13 from 4:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m.
• Pre-sale ticket information went home last Friday.  If you would like to order meal tickets or game tickets in advance, you can send in the order form and payment and we will send the tickets home with your student.
• This is PTA's fundraiser for the entire year.  We are very lucky to have such a wonderful and supportive PTA, so please come out and support them at the BBQ.
• Mrs. Ross and I will be working at the drive thru from 4:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m.  Be sure to stop by!

Next Week's Learning

Math

• This week, we worked on different addition strategies.   They learned about doubles facts (both addends are the same; 4 + 4 = 8), combinations of 10 (the two numbers add up to 10; 4 + 6 = 10), making 10 (break apart one number to make a 10 with the other number; 9 + 4 = 9 + 1 + 3 = 13) and helper facts (finding doubles facts near the problem to help solve it; 9 + 8, you can use 9 + 9 = 18 - 1= 17, 9 + 8 = 17).

• Next week, we will learn about the Turn Around Rule or the Commutative Property of Addition.  This property says that you can switch the addends around in an addition problem and still get the same answer.  The students will then have an opportunity to test if the turn around rule works with subtraction.  This lesson will be the two day re-engagement lesson.  This allows for students to go back and correct their work after a discussion.

Reading

• This week, we learned about making predictions.  The students learned that when making a prediction, you need to support it with information from the book (we focused on the cover this week) as well as information you already know about things you see on the cover or that you know from reading other similar books.  We also talked about the importance of your support matching your prediction.  We then read the books they made predictions about and told them that even if their prediction wasn't correct, that doesn't mean it was bad.  It is a good prediction as long as it is supported.
• Next week, we will focus on characters.  We will discuss the difference between main characters and supporting characters.  Then we will learn about character traits and how we use the character's actions to identify the traits.  We will make a list of positive and negative characters traits.  

Writing

• This week, we focused on the setting of our personal narrative.  On Tuesday, the students wrote their setting and had a partner draw a picture of their setting.  They learned it is very important to have good details in your setting because the pictures their partners drew didn't match the setting the students thought they were describing.  We went back and added more details to their setting.  On Tuesday, students will have an opportunity to pair up again and draw each other's settings.  These pictures should match the setting much better because they worked hard to add extra details.  
• Next week, after we finish their setting, we will focus on the characters.  We will be discussing the character traits the students want to show in their personal narrative and find actions that match the character traits.  
• The students have really been enjoying their free write notebooks lately also.  Be sure to ask your student what they have been writing about in their free write notebook.

Science/Social Studies

• This week, we introduced proficiency scales.  This is a chart (pictured below) for students to know and understand the learning objectives for the unit.  It has it broken into different levels of understanding.  The teaching will mainly be in the level 2 and students apply this knowledge in activities to be a level 3.  A level 4 is going above and beyond what is expected of a 2nd grader in this unit.  Students were reintroduced to states of matter this week.  They turned their bodies into each state of matter (see twitter for pictures).  They also were introduced to vocabulary that will be used in the properties of matter unit.  This week, they wrote what they think the words mean and will make corrections throughout the unit.
• Next week, students will continue learning about states of matter.  Students will learn that matter has state, volume and mass.  They will be testing out different objects to determine their state.

Intervention

• We will start Reading Intervention next week.  We are doing grade level wide intervention this year.  Students will be going to one of the four 2nd grade teachers to work on specific reading skills.  We will have intervention for 25 minutes each day.  Next week, we will practice traveling to different classrooms (all 4 2nd grade classrooms will be used) and reviewing expectations.  We will start the reading intervention instruction on Monday, October 1.  Be sure to ask your student next Wednesday which teacher they have for intervention.  

Have a fabulous weekend!

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday!

We have had a wonderful week!  We had Dot Day and our first field trip of the year!  The students had SO much fun at the MU Volleyball Elementary Day event and we want to say thank you to our AMAZING RBE PTA for providing funding for the buses.  

We are definitely off to a great start for the #BestYearYet!  If you haven't started following us on Twitter, make sure that you check out all the pictures from this week - you can look at the sidebar on the right of this blog. 

Curriculum Chat

• 2nd Grade Curriculum Chat is Tuesday, September 18 from 7:45 a.m.-8:15 a.m.
• We look forward to sharing all the awesome work your students have done since the beginning of the year.  They have even written a book to share with you about "A Day in the Life of a 2nd Grader."
• We sent home an RSVP form on Wednesday.  This just lets us know about how many people will be attending.

First Math Test

• We took our first math test this week.  It came home yesterday and we would like them signed and returned.  This lets us know that parents reviewed the test with their student.  If you haven't seen your student's test, be sure to ask them about it.  
• We do have a pretest and post test score.  The pretest is yellow and the post test is green.  This allows for you to see the growth of the student throughout the unit.

Homework Bingo

• We have enjoyed eating with students the past 2 Fridays (we didn't this week due to our field trip) who have completed 8 homework activities in a row to get a Bingo.
• As a reminder, homework is not required in 2nd grade.  If students would like to work on their Bingo board, they may do so.  There are a variety of activities on the board.  There are academic activities as well as activities to help them be a good citizen.  Once students get 8 activities in a row, they can bring in their board and we will eat with them the Friday of that week. 
• As a reminder, students may only do one activity per night, but they are allowed to do activities on the weekend as well.  
• Homelinks and the Fundations practice sheets will come home for students who would like to complete them, but they are not required.  This is more information for parents to know what the students are working on at home and if they want to do extra practice, they can.  The Homelinks are on the Bingo board.  

RBE Chicken BBQ

• The RBE Chicken BBQ is coming!!  It is Saturday, October 13 from 4:00-8:00 pm.  
• Coming home in your child's Friday Folder is their RBE Chicken BBQ Bag.  Inside the bag, there are a variety of information - make sure to look through it!  You can order meal & game tickets, buy raffle tickets (included), and donate pies.
• There are also a variety of ways to help out to make the RBE Chicken BBQ a success!
• Volunteer for a variety of shifts
• Donate & bid on auction items
• Donate items to the country store
• Sell meal & raffle tickets
• Donate pies
• Invite friends and family
• The Moss teachers & Ms. Holbrook will be working the drive-thru during the 4:00-6:00 shift & would love to see you there!

Bird Day

• We had our first field trip today and we are already planning our next field trip.  Our next field trip is October 10 and we will be going to Audubon Bird Park off Fairview.  
• This field trip is funded by the CPS Science Department as well as the Audubon Society.  Since it is funded by these sources, we will not be taking chaperones on this field trip.
• Students have the opportunity to observe different birds in their natural habitat while traveling to different stations.  
• We will be eating lunch at the Audobon Bird Park, so students will need a sack lunch (or they can order from the cafeteria) like they had for volleyball.  All containers needs to be disposable as we will throw everything away.  
• The Bird Day permission slip will be sent home on Monday with additional information.

Our Learning Next Week

Reading

• In reading, we will be working on predictions.  This week we introduced the idea of predictions.  We talked about using clues from the book (the cover or what they have read) and also their schema (background knowledge) about the book or the topic of the book.
• We will practice this in whole group read alouds and then students will transition to making prediction in their independent reading books.  

Writing

• We took a break from our personal narratives to write our "A Day in the Life of a 2nd Grader" books.  Next week, we will pick up where we left off with our personal narratives.  We will be working on giving good character descriptions as well as giving a detailed description of our setting.  We have a fun activity for the students to do with a partner to practice their adding details to their setting.

Math

• We started Unit 2 today.  Unit 2 focuses on addition strategies.  The students will be learning different ways to solve an addition problem and picking their favorite strategy that works best for them.  When practicing facts at home, have the students explain the different strategies they use to solve the problems.

Science/Social Studies

• Science
• We started observing caterpillars.  When we got the caterpillars they varied in size.  We talked about what caterpillars need to survive and went on a trip to the Butterfly Garden in the Outdoor Classroom at RBE.  
• We also worked on writing like scientists.  This means that are pictures are realistic, colorful and have labels.  Also, we explain what is happening in the picture using scientific words.  This is something that we will continue to work on writing like a scientist for the rest of the school year.
• Social Studies
• We finished up learning about what a good citizen does by researching a famous person of our choosing.  Each student made a "baseball card" fact sheet.  On this sheet the students wrote about what their person did to make them a good citizen.  
• We then introduced what a timeline is and talked about where each famous citizen's birth year would fall on the timeline.  Our timeline with the famous citizens  "baseball cards" are on display on the bulletin board outside of our classroom.  When you are at RBE for the curriculum or the next time - you have to check out all of our hard work!  
• We started learning about different U.S. Symbols, what they mean and why we have them.  You need to ask your kiddo what they have learned about the flag, Liberty Bell, bald eagle, Statue of Liberty, White House and U.S. Capitol - you will be impressed!
• Monday, September 17 is Constitution Day.  We will talking about the U.S. Constitution.  We will be learning what it is and why we have it.   

Have a wonderful weekend - it's going to be a beautiful one for mid-September - so enjoy!

Happy September! :)

Wow!  I cannot believe that it is already September and we have already had 18 days of school!

Next week, we have two special days: Dot Day and our MU Volleyball field trip.  I am really looking forward to both of these days!

• Dot Day: Thursday, September 13
• Dot Day is a day where we will talk about how we can make our mark!
• We will love for all the kiddos to wear dots on Thursday.  If your child doesn't have clothing with polka dots - then maybe your child can make a special dot to wear that day!
• We have several fun activities planned.  One of our favorites is that we will be honoring the fire fighters who make their mark everyday!  
• We will be decorating sugar cookies and making a banner to give to them.
• Firefighters and a fire truck is coming out to school! 
• After we give them their treats, they will talk to us about the fire truck.  It is always a fun time!
• We do need your help with supplies to decorate the cookies for the firefighters.  If you are willing to donate supplies, please take at look at the Sign-Up Genius.  We appreciate whatever you are able to donate.

• MU Volleyball field trip: Friday, September 14
• Our first field trip of the school year is on Friday and it's to a MU Volleyball Match...we are super excited for this!! 
• We will love for all the kiddos to wear either MU or black/gold attire on Friday to support the MU Tigers.
• We will be leaving school around 9:30 and will returning around 2:00.
• If your child is bringing a lunch from home, please make sure that everything is able to be thrown away.  Please send everything in disposal containers in a gallon size bag with your child's name clearly marked on the outside.  

Just a visual :)

What We're Doing in 2nd Grade!

• Math
• This week, we continued talking about counting money, skip counting, identifying if a number is odd or even, and comparing numbers.
• Your child should be able to:
• Identify a penny, nickel, dime and quarter and tell the value of each.
• Skip count by 2's, 5's & 10's.
• Identify if a number is odd or even.
• Use >, <, or = to compare 2 numbers (example: 24 > 19).
• Next week, we will be taking our end of Unit 1 assessment, and then starting Unit 2.
• Writing
• We have been working extremely hard on our A Life of a Second Grader books.  We will be finishing these up next week and sharing them with you at our Curriculum Chat!
• Fundations
• This week, we reviewed that we add a bonus (double) f, l or s to the end of a word when the f, l or s come directly after a short vowel.  This is concept that can be tricky and often kiddos start over generalize and add ff, ll & ss to the end of lots of words.  We have also started talking about r-controlled vowels and the sounds that "ar" and "or" make.  
• Reading
• We have continued to work on writing a short summary about books that we have read this week.  Next week, we will be working on the comprehension strategy of making predictions.  Being able to make predictions helps the reader connecting existing knowledge to new information learned in the text.
• Social Studies
• This week, we have learned about what a citizen is, what behaviors that good citizens participate in, and we have started a small research project on a famous person and what they did to be a good citizen.  Next week, we will be finishing up our project (it will be displayed in the hallway - so check it out when you are at RBE for curriculum chat) and learning about famous U.S. symbols.

2nd Grade Curriculum Chat is on Tuesday, September 18 from 7:45-8:15.  The teachers will be sharing with you what happens throughout the school day and the students will have different items to share with you that they have done.  We are looking forward to chatting with you about 2nd grade!

I hope that you have wonderful weekend!