Happy Friday!

Happy Friday!

I hope you have had a wonderful week! We are down to 6 more days which is absolutely crazy!  The end of the school year is always bittersweet.  We know the students are ready for 3rd grade and we want to continue to see them grow, but it's also sad to see them go.  This year has been amazing!

Thank yo to everyone who attended our Lunch Bunch and Writing Celebration.  Wow!  We had such a great turn out.  These kids are lucky to have such supportive family and friends!  Be sure to check out Twitter to see pictures from the event.  We will be sending their book home next week. 

Rock Bridge State Park Hike

• We will be walking to Rock Bridge State Park on Wednesday, May 22.  
• Please make sure your student wear tennis shoes.  
• If you would like to apply bug spray before they come to school, you may, but we can't apply bug spray at school.
• If you would like to walk with us or meet us at the park, please let me know.

Variety Show

• The Variety Show is Thursday, May 23.
• We will be attending the Variety Show at 9:30.
• Parents, guardians, family and friends are welcome to attend.

Memory Books/Yearbooks

• We will be creating Memory Books at school next week.
• It is always fun to see what memories stand out the most to the students.  
• If your student ordered a yearbook, it will come home on Tuesday or Wednesday (depending on the day they get delivered).  Please have them bring them back on Friday so they can sign them.  
• We will sign yearbooks and memory book on Friday, May 24.  

Last Day of School

• The last day of school is Tuesday, May 28.
• We will dismiss at 12:10 p.m.  Please let me know if your child is going home a different way than normal.
• If your student will not be at school this day, please let me know.  
• We will me watching the movie Matilda this day.  It is rated PG.  We will be comparing it to the book which we are reading right now. 

Our Learning Next Week

• Reading
• We will be working on reading non-fiction text as we learn about different body systems.
• Writing
• We will be reflecting on our school year as we create our memory books.  It's so fun to see what they choose to write about and also how much they have grown this year as writers!
• Math
• We will be reviewing concepts next week.  We will work on time, money, addition and subtraction.
• Health
• We will be learning about body systems next week.  We will learn about a different body system each day.  Be sure to ask your student what system they learned about each day.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Happy Field Trip Friday!

What an amazing field trip that we had today!  Thank you to parent chaperones and donations of water and ice cream money.  The kiddos had a blast!!  Check out Twitter for pictures-I am still getting pictures from parent chaperones - so as I get more I will be making new videos. :)

On Thursday, we met as a grade level, with administration, to look at our reading and math data.  The students have grown SO incredibly much!!!!  The growth that we have seen has been AMAZING and we hope that you are able to see this growth when reading and talking with your child at home!

Important Upcoming Events

• Field Day: May 15
• Lunch Bunch and Writing Celebration: May 17
• All Library Books Due: May 17
• Crazy Hair Day: May 17
• Variety Show: May 23
• Last Day of School: May 28, dismiss at 12:10

Field Day

• Field Day is May 15.  
• 2nd grade will participate in the afternoon session.
• Please send in a FULL change of clothes (including underwear and socks) for your student as they may get wet during Field Day.
• Here is the link for supplies if you would like to donate anything for Field Day.
• Ms. Moore would like all the supplies by Monday.  Below is a list of items that are still needed.  Please sign up if you can!  Field Day is always so much fun & one of the kiddos favorite memories!! :)
• Water balloons – the kind you can fill up 100 at a time – (20+)
• Watermelons – small  (45+)
• Cheetos – puffs  (20+ bags)
• Baby shampoo  (15+)
• Whip cream – in a can  (20+)
• Gummy worms  (lots)
• If you would like to volunteer for Field Day, here is the link.

Which is Better Project

• The students have worked extremely hard to publish their Which is Better writing.  All writing should be completed on Thursday - check in with your child on how s/he is doing.
• On Monday, the students will be writing their Which is Better presentation and practicing.
• On Tuesday, the students who are finished with publishing their book and presentation will start their projects.  We will continue to work on these Wednesday and Thursday.
• We will be sharing this writing at our writing celebration on May 17.
• Students will get to create a project to accompany their book.  The projects will be created at school.
• If students would like to bring in supplies from home, they are welcome to do so, but IT IS NOT REQUIRED.  We will have tissue paper and construction paper for students to use at school.
• Here is the information sheet sent home with some ideas of the projects they can create.

Lunch Bunch/Writing Celebration - Friday, May 17

• We will be celebrating all the students and their hard work on Friday, May 17 during a Lunch Bunch/Writing Celebration.
• Parents or special guests are welcome!! :)
• We will be eating lunch in the pavilion on Friday from 11:00-11:30.
• You are more than welcome to go with your child to recess 11:30-11:45.
• 11:45-12:15 we will have an open house style of our Which is Better books and projects.
• An information sheet came home last week but if you need additional information - please ask!

Library Books

• Our final library check out of the year was yesterday.  All library books are due on May 17.  As soon as your child is finished with his/her library book, we will start turning them in.  We will appreciate any help that you can give us in getting 100% of the books returned by next Friday!

Next Week's Learning

• Math
• We are finishing up our last math unit.  This is a review from year, and introducing subtraction with stacking (borrowing) and multiplication.  We will be taking our last end of the unit math test next week, and then we will focus on areas that we feel the students need a little extra reinforcement.
• Writing
• This week, we finished publishing our Which is Better book
• Next week, we will be writing our presentation and then making our Which is Better projects.
• Fundations
• Next week, we continued to work on the /ou/ sound with the vowel teams "ow" and "ou".  The students have a good understanding of this concept and we will test over the long o and the /ou/ sound. 
• Reading
• This week, we talked about author's purpose for writing.  An author might choose to write to persuade, inform or entertain (PIE).  The students have a great understanding of this!!  It is important for the students to be able to explain why they chose whether the book is to persuade, inform or entertain using evidence from text.
• Science
• This week, we talked about how plants and animals protect themselves and then reviewed food chains/webs.  The students are doing great with this concepts and were able to show off at Runge today!
• Next week, we will review at erosion and how to set up experiments.  

You spoiled me for Teacher Appreciation Week!  Thank you so much for the kind notes and gifts!  I cannot believe that the school year is almost over.  I have loved having each and one of your children in my class and I am looking forward to a wonderful last 11 days with each and everyone of them!

Have a fabulous weekend!

April Showers,,,May Showers...Oh My!

Happy Rainy Friday!  To say the least I'm about done with the rain!  I am hoping that Friday for our Runge field trip the rain stays away and the trails aren't too muddy!

We have had a wonderful week in Moss World!  It is crazy to think we only have 3 more Friday blog posts this year.  There is a lot of important information in this post, so please make sure to read it.  :)

We have been working on end of the year assessments and to say we are blown away by the progress the students have made would be an understatement.  We are so proud of how hard they have worked and how much the students have grown this year!

Important Upcoming Events

• Final Library Check Out: May 9
• Runge Field Trip: May 10
• Field Day: May 15
• Lunch Bunch and Writing Celebration: May 17
• All Library Books Due: May 17
• Crazy Hair Day: May 17
• Variety Show: May 23
• Last Day of School: May 28, dismiss at 12:10

Final Library Check Out

• Our final library check out of the year is next Thursday.  Note the day change due to our field trip.  Please help remind students to bring in their library books on May 9 so they can get new ones.  All library books are due on May 17.

Runge Field Trip

• Our Runge Field trip is next Friday!  We will send home a reminder next week, but below is important information to remember.  
• Your student will need to bring a lunch from home, if they didn't sign up to get one from the cafeteria.
• All lunches need to be in all disposable containers.  We will not be bringing anything back to school, so please pack their lunch accordingly.  
• We will be providing a snack for your student, so they do not need to bring a snack for the field trip.
• Please check the weather and have your student dress appropriately.  Currently the forecast is for temperatures between 50-60.  We will be outside for the majority of the day, so they will probably want a light jacket.  Also, there is more rain in the forecast (not on Friday, thankfully), so it may be muddy at Runge.  Your student may wear boots or tennis shoes. Please make sure they wear shoes that can get dirty.
• We will leave school around 8:30, please make sure your student is on time so they do not miss the field trip.
• If you are chaperoning and would like to take your student home, you will need to sign them out with Ms. Mottaz or Mrs. Ross. We ask that you stay with us until your group gets to look through the museum/exhibits.

Field Day

• Field Day is May 15.  
• 2nd grade will participate in the afternoon session.
• Please send in a FULL change of clothes (including underwear and socks) for your student as they may get wet during Field Day.
• Here is the link for supplies if you would like to donate anything for Field Day.
• If you would like to volunteer for Field Day, here is the link.

Which is Better Project

• The students are working hard to publish their Which is Better writing.
• We will be sharing this writing at our writing celebration on May 17.
• Students will get to create a project to accompany their book.  The projects will be created at school.
• If students would like to bring in supplies from home, they are welcome to do so, but IT IS NOT REQUIRED.  We will have tissue paper and construction paper for students to use at school.
• Here is the information sheet sent home with some ideas of the projects they can create.

Next Week's Learning

• Math
• This week, we started to review 3-digit subtraction.  We used place value blocks to show how to exchange a ten for 10 ones, or a hundred for 10 tens.  After students understood the reason for borrowing, we also taught students how to stack and borrow.  This is a hard concept.
• Next week, we will
• Writing
• This week, we started publishing our Which is Better writing.  We looked a text feature examples of strong and weak work.  The students developed a list of what text features should have and they worked EXTREMELY hard on publishing their text features.
• Next week, we will publish the words in our book.
• Fundations
• This week, we focused on the /ou/ sound using "ow" and "ou".  We learned that the vowel team of "ou" only comes in the middle of a word.  The vowel team of "ow" comes at the end of a word and sometimes in the middle.
• Next week, we will do a mixed review of /ow/ and long o sound.
• Reading
• This week, we identified the main idea of a book or section of a book and the supporting details in a nonfiction book.  We compared the main idea and supporting details to a table.  The main idea is the table top and the supporting details are the legs.  A table top without legs would not have a purpose and vice versa.
• Next week, we be talking about author's purpose for writing.  An author might choose to write to persuade, inform or entertain (PIE).
• Science
• This week, we continued to learn about food chains and introduced food webs.  We also made conclusions on our marigold experiment.  Ask your kiddo what s/he learned about what a plant needs and what is most important!
• Next week, we will continue to focus on living organism.

Have a fabulous weekend!