Fantastic Friday

We had a fantastic Friday!! :)

Maker Space
Today, the kiddos enjoyed building in Maker Space.  They used magnetic panes, K'nex & Zoob Builderz to build a variety of things!

States of Matter in Science
We started our next unit in science this week.  It is learning about States of Matter.  We did a fun movement activity today to introduce solids, liquids and gases.

 First, they were a solid.  Since solids are very tightly packed, they were also.  More of them couldn't move.

 Then, they started moving just a little bit and became a liquid.  Even though they could move, they had to "take the shape" of their container, which meant, they had to stay on the carpet.

Then, they became gases and moved around the room.  We discussed how heat can go almost anywhere it wants to go.  It takes the shape and stays in the container if the container is sealed, but if it isn't, the gas can "come and go as it pleases."

We had a brief discussion about how adding or taking away heat can cause a change in state of matter.  We "added heat" and "took away heat" and the students had to move from a gas to a liquid to a solid with their body.  We will revisit this again next week.

Spelling Words
We discovered this week that our spelling words have 2 oddballs (a words that does not fit the pattern of short & long vowel).  We will be testing on these words at the end of next week since this week & next week are short weeks.  Our spelling words for November 1-November 10 are:

• Short Vowel Words: which, lots, spend, club 
• Long Vowel Words: vote, safe, wipe, space (long vowel)
• Oddball Words: tall & rule

Halloween Pictures

Also, I love the pictures that I received of your child dressed up for Halloween!  We have them on display in our classroom.  If you have not sent in a picture but would like to you can send me an email with the picture attached.  The kiddos love to be able to show off their costumes & see their friend's costumes! :)

No School

As a reminder, we do not have school on Tuesday, November 8 due to Election Day.  We also, do not have school on Friday, November 11 due to conferences.  

Veteran's Day Assembly

We have a Veteran's Day Assembly on Wednesday, November 9.  The students will be performing at the 9:30 assembly if you would like to come.  Please have our student wear red, white and blue on Wednesday.

Conferences

I am looking forward to meeting with everyone at conferences.  Please check the conference time in your student's Friday folder.  All times have been confirmed, but I also understand schedules change.  If you are unable to make your scheduled time, please let me know and we will reschedule.  My goal is 100% attendance for conferences!

Book Fair

During Conference Week, we have the Scholastic Book Fair.  It will be in the media center again this year.  

• Monday: 7:30 a.m.-6:00 p.m.
• Wednesday: 7:30 a.m.-6:00 p.m.
• Thursday: 7:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m.
• Friday: 8:00-10:00 a.m.

We will be going on Monday for the students to preview the book fair and make wish lists.  These will be available in the library.

Library Field Trip

We will be going on a field trip to the Daniel Boone Regional Library on Wednesday, November 30.  We will be going in the morning and return before lunch.  The students get to see the different areas of the library and learn about different activities offered at the library.  They will also have an opportunity to get a library card if they fill out and return the form.  I will send the forms home next week and if you would like your student to receive a card on the day of the field trip, the form needs to be returned by November 15.  It is a fun field trip.

No Homework

Due to the shortened week next week, we will not have homework.  Even though we don't have official homework, I recommend still practicing math facts and spelling words.  

Pajama Drive for the Rainbow House

Food Drive

RBE Service Club is doing our annual food drive for Meals on Wheels.  The  Meals on Wheels Food drive will be happening November 7-29. Each grade level has a different item to bring in and then RBE Service Club will create "Snow Day" bags for Meals on Wheels recipients so they have food when Meals on Wheels isn't able to deliver food.  2nd grade's item is Peanut Butter (no crunchy please).  If you would like to donate, please send the peanut butter in with your student and they can put them on the tables outside the office.  Thank you in advance for your donations.  You can check out the list below to see what every grade level will be donating to be put in the "Snow Day" bags.

Crazy Hair Day

Our next RBE spirit day is November 18.  Be thinking about what "crazy hair" your kiddos might enjoy having for the day! :)

Have a wonderful weekend! :)

Monday reMinders :)

I hope that that your child is enjoying his/her day off from school!  I have just a few things that I wanted to remind you about:

• Spelling: Due to a variety of activities that we had planned for Friday, we did not get last week's spelling test completed.  The kiddos will have a chance to practice their words tomorrow & we will test on Wednesday.  Last week's words are: June, rude, shut, plus, flute, huge, tune, cute, cut & put. This week's spelling words will actually be for the next two weeks since we have 2 short weeks in a row.  Our next spelling list will have a combination of CVC & CVCe words.  These words are: CVC: which, lots, tall spend, club & CVCe: vote, rule, safe, wipe, space
• Parent/Teacher Conference: Please make sure to look over the yellow sheet of paper that has your child's Parent/Teacher Conference date/time on it.  Please return the bottom portion of this sheet with your child by Thursday to confirm our conference together.
• Online Reading: Columbia Public Schools provides a variety of online reading opportunities for the students.  MyOn & Follett Shelf are two of the online websites that are provided.  I hope that you and your child are remembering these as options for reading at home.  These subscriptions provide a wide-range of book choices for your child.  For the month of September, Avery was the top reader on MyOn for 2nd grade.  This means that she logged the most reading minutes of all the RBE 2nd graders!  Way to go, Avery!!!  The MyOn Super Reader sign (below) is outside the library & has her picture on it.  I wonder who will have logged the most minutes in October?  
  

Have a wonderful safe night!  Remember to email me a picture of your kiddo in his/her costume!

Happy Fall Harvest!

We had a great fall (even though it felt more like summer) day!

Our day started off with our Adjective Parade.  The parade was a complete success!!!  All of the kiddos did such an amazing job with their article of clothing.  We got SO many compliments today.  Thanks for helping make our first adjective parade a success!!! :)  Here are pictures as promised. and a link to Mrs. Ross's page. :)  After the parade we had a gallery walk to be able to see all of the different adjectives & then we wrote about what our favorite adjective was and why (opinion writing).  We will be turning these into a classroom book, with pictures of all the kiddos dressed up! :)

We then had Makers Space - we got to program robots & make mazes for Ozobots.  Super fun!!  Here are some pictures.

We also taste tested candy corn with Mrs. Reynolds and Ms. Ragsdale's classes.  We then made a bar graph about which candy corn was our favorite - the original won by a landslide!!!  We also practiced our adjective skills by describing the candy corn.  Look at all the fun we had!

A humongous thank you to all the parents that helped to put our party together by either donating items or helping out at the party!  I didn't get any pictures taken - sorry, but we went on a nature scavenger hunt and had lots of delicious fruits, vegetables, and a couple of sweets.  Lots of fun and yummies to go around.

Next week's learning:

• Reading: We will be working on asking questions.  It is important to ask questions before you start to read, while you are reading, and after you have read to help with comprehension.  Next week, we will be specifically talking about activating our schema by asking questions before we start to read.
• Science: This week we practiced researching about bats.  Next week, we will be researching about spiders. 
• Math: I cannot believe that first trimester is coming to an end!! We will be reviewing everything that we have covered so far this year, and taking our 1st trimester math assessment.
• Writing: We will be finishing publishing our personal narrative, and starting our second one.  This second personal narrative will be much more independent to see what the students are able to apply to their writing on their own.

Parent/Teacher Conference Dates/Times

Make sure that you check your child's Friday Folder for a yellow sheet that has a scheduled date/time for our Parent/Teacher Conference.  Please return the bottom portion of this sheet to let me know if this conference date/time will work for your family.  I want to meet with everyone so please let me know if you need something different!

Book Fair

The November Book Fair will be up & running during the week of Parent/Teacher conferences.  It will be set up in the Media Center.  Below are the hours of operation.  We will be visiting on Monday, November 7 and each kiddo will make his/her own "Wish List" in case you want to purchase a book for a special present or surprise.

Monday, Nov. 7: 7:20 am -6:00 pm

Tuesday, Nov 8: Closed

Wednesday, Nov. 9: 7:20 am -6:00 pm

Thursday: Nov. 10: 7:20 am -7:00 pm

Friday, Nov. 11: 8:00-11:00 am

Emily Arrow Literacy Night

Don't forget about our upcoming Literacy Night at Woodcrest on December 7th at 6pm with Emily Arrow!  This is for RBE students and families only.  Student can pre-order a Kazoo or album, which she will sign.  Orders are due by November 18th!  Emily will also be with us during the school day on December 9th. 

STEAM Bus Fundraiser: A Note From Craig Adams (CPS STEAM Coordinator)

Come out this Saturday to the Columbia Mall to support the STEAM Bus at Barnes and Noble bookstore!  While you’re there, check out some of the cool things that kids are making at our “Maker Faire” in the Target wing.  Students from all over CPS will be displaying some of the projects they are currently working on!  A percentage of that day's sales will be donated to help fund further STEAM Bus and Makerspace projects all around Columbia Public Schools.

United Way Total

I am so proud of all the 2nd graders.  They (and you) have been so incredibly generous and have donated $382.09 to the United Way.  Thank you for all of your wonderful support!

Junior Achievement

JA will continue next week.  This will be our fourth session out of five.  I am so proud of how much the kiddos are learning about economics!!

Have a wonderful safe 3 day weekend (no school on Monday).  Send me a picture of your child dressed up in his/her costumes - I would love to see them!

Happy Thursday!

I hope you have had a fabulous day.  I'm loving this weather!  It was gloomy this morning, but the the sun is out this afternoon!

United Way Fundraiser

WOW!!!!  2nd grade is ROCKIN' the United Way fundraiser.  As of today, second grade has raised $354.27.  Tomorrow is the last day to donate.  I wonder if we can reach $400.  This has tied directly into our math and counting money this week.  Each day, we have been counting the money raised for that day and adding it to our total.  The kids are excited about the possibility of earning an ice cream social, but we have also talked about the importance of raising money for a good cause.  I'm extremely proud of the students and thankful to all the families that have donated to our fundraiser!

Adjective Parade

The Adjective Parade is tomorrow!  I loved all the "items" brought in for the parade today.  It is going to be an awesome parade!  We made signs today for the students to wear as we parade around the school.  I will take pictures and post them tomorrow.  The students have worked so hard, this will be a great way to celebrate their hard work!

Veteran's Day Assembly

Mrs. Sharp and the students have been working very hard on the Veteran's Day assembly.  It will be on November 9.  There will be 2 assemblies, our class will be performing at the 9:30 assembly.  All students are encouraged to wear red, white and blue for the assembly.  

Fall Harvest Party

Our Fall Harvest Party is tomorrow at 1:45 p.m.   Thank you to everyone who has signed up to bring in items or help with the party.  The kids always love the parties!

Halloween Costumes

Students are not allowed to wear their Halloween costumes to school, but if your student does dress up for Halloween, I would love to see a picture.  I talked to the kids today and told them I would love to see pictures of them.  If you have printed copies, you can send them in or if you have electronic copies, you can email those to me.  I just love to see the kids all dressed up.  :)

Parent Teacher Conference Times

In Friday folders tomorrow will be conference times.  Please check to make sure the time works for you and return the bottom portion of the confirmation sheet.  If the time doesn't work, please indicate that and we can schedule a different time.  I am looking forward to meeting with everyone!

Have a fabulous evening!

Wonderful Wednesday!

It was a rainy day!  At both recesses the kiddos were outside playing & then the rain started.  It is not supposed to rain tomorrow - so hopefully we will get both full recesses!! :)  At the first recess time, it is only supposed to be 49 degrees - so make sure to send your child with a jacket tomorrow!!

Adjective Parade!!

Please remember to send your child in with his/her adjective article of clothing tomorrow (Thursday, October 27)..  I really appreciate your support in this fun learning celebration.  Mrs. Ross sent an email to the school to let them know that our Adjective Parade will be happening & everyone is SUPER excited!! :)

Math Wizard Board!!

As promised I have gotten up our Math Wizard bulletin board!  Look at all the Addition Math Wizards!  The next time you are in our hallway take a look at our Math Wizards.  Keep practicing those facts!! :)

Have a wonderful evening!

Monday reMinders :)

We had a great Monday!

In math, we talked about how you can use repeated addition to solve an array.  

This array has 3 rows of 6.  The repeated addition sentence for this array would be 6 + 6 + 6 = 18.  We also, continued to practice counting coins.  

The homework this week has the kiddos practicing writing the skip counting for 2 different amounts of change, and identifying the rows and columns of an array.  We have talked about "Rows go side-to-side" and "Columns go up-and-down."  

In reading, 

• The students started a Story Element Haunted House for the book The Ugly Pumpkin.  The students are working on identifying the characters, setting, problem, solution and major events in the story.  
• The kiddos were also costume designers and had to draw a costume of what I should be for Halloween.  Then they were using all their knowledge of adjectives and describing their costume.
• We also learned about short and long u words for our spelling this week.  We also discovered that put is an oddball word (word that doesn't fit the vowel pattern).  Our words this week are cut, plus, shut (short u), June (J MUST be capitalized to get full credit), rude, flute, huge, tune, cute (long u) and our oddball word of put.
• The kiddos are also completing research on bats.  We watched a short video on bats (we found out LOTS of information) and then they read about bats.  They practiced taking notes on what they learned.

In writing, we worked on editing our small moment story by making sure that all of our sentences start with capital letters and end with punctuation.  We then had a partner read through our writing to make sure that each piece of writing had correct capitalization and punctuation.

Coming home with your child today is his/her school pictures.  Picture retake day is on Wednesday (October 28).  If you would like for your child to retake his/her picture & you ordered pictures you MUST send back in the pictures.  If you would like for your child to retake his/her pictures and you did not order pictures the first time you MUST send in an order form & money.  

As a reminder, our Fall Harvest Party is this Friday, October 28, at 1:45.  If you have not had a chance to look at the Sign-Up Genius for our party - please do so (we are still needing some fruit to complete our special treats for our party).

Please remember to be sending your child with a HEALTHY snack to school every day.  According to the article, "What Are the Benefits of Children Eating Snacks During School," children need to be able to refuel throughout the day.  The refueling helps to maintain focus and their energy.  Healthy snacks boost energy but sugary/junk food are not helpful.  Providing a healthy snack option for your child begins to build a foundation of making good food choices.

Some great healthy snack choices are: fruits, vegetables, crackers, cheese, popcorn, etc..  Please do NOT send in candy for your child's snack because the candy does not help your child to refuel.  Also, please remember that we are a peanut free classroom.  We are running a little short on extra snacks in case someone forgot their snack - so if you are at the grocery store and can pick up a box of crackers, or another option, I would appreciate it!

Have a wonderful evening!  The weather this afternoon is absolutely BEAUTIFUL - so I hope you have a chance to get out enjoy it tonight!! :) 

Fantastic Friday! :)

We had a fantastic Friday! :)  All the kiddos looked so SUPER cute in their western wear!!!

This morning we had Lexi's mom come in and read to us!  

She read us 3 really fun books!!  2 of the books were in a sequel of...

  and 

the kiddos LOVED these books!  She even brought mustaches in for us to have! :)

United Way Penny War
I am SO proud of our class and their wanting to help out the United Way.  With Mrs. Ross's class the kiddos have donated $142.25!!!!  WOW!!!  That is absolutely amazing!! :)  At this point, 2nd grade is in first place among all the other grade levels.  Our Penny War has been extended until next Friday.  So keep sending in your coins - it really does add up!!

Today in math we worked on counting all the money that was brought in today.  We talked about the importance of sorting all the coins so that we can count them easier.  We practiced skip counting by 5's when we counted the nickels and skip counting by 10's when we counted the dimes.  We also talked about making stacks of 4 quarters because 4 quarters equals $1 and stacking the pennies into stacks of 10.  Below are some pictures of our quarters and pennies.  We formed the stacks into an array so that we could easily skip count to figure out how much money we had!

Junior Achievement
Mr. McGowen was back again to teach Junior Achievement this afternoon.  Today we learned about why a community needs to have lots of different businesses.  The kiddos are bringing home a map of our  Junior Achievement community.  They enjoyed putting the stickers on! :)

We learned about why we have to pay taxes: pay salaries to government workers (police, firefighters, teachers, librarians etc.) and keep up roads, bridges and public building.  Today the kiddos got "paid" for their work from last week of making donuts.  They were paid $5...which made them happy!

However, we had some not-so-happy-campers when they had to pay their taxes of $2.  Your kiddo is coming home with their money today.

Picture Retakes
Picture Retake day is Wednesday (October 26). If you ordered school pictures these will be coming home next week.

Next Friday!
October 28 is going to be a fun-filled day!

• Adjective Parade: Please continue to think about what adjective your child will be on Friday.  Remember that you are to decorate one clothing items to show what your child's adjective is.  We will be parading around the school right after morning announcements.  Please fill out the adjective form that came home yesterday, so that I know what adjectives we will have.  Also, please send in your child's adjective article of clothing on Thursday, October 27.  We will be making adjective signs to wear.  If you are having trouble with this activity PLEASE let me know - I want everyone to be able to participate, so I will help ANY way that I can!
• Fall Harvest Party: We do NOT dress up in Halloween costumes for our party.  If you have not already had a chance to look at our classrooms Fall Harvest Party Sign-Up please do so.  There are a few slots that still need to be filled up: fruit for treats & a couple of more adults to help with making the party a success!  Thank you in advance for your help with this - parties are always something that the kiddos remember.

Parent/Teacher Conference Request Forms
WOW!  Thank you so much for the great turnout of returning your child's Parent/Teacher Conference Request form from yesterday!  I had wrote Friday Folder comments last night so please ignore my comment about returning the forms if you returned them today.  If you haven't had a chance to fill out the form, please do so and return by Wednesday.  I will send home a scheduled date/time for your child's conference in Friday Folders next week.

No School
Monday, October 31, is a Teacher Work Day to complete progress reports and get ready for conferences, so the kiddos do not come to school.  I hope that you have a chance to enjoy Trunk-or-Treats on Sunday, and get an early start on trick-or-treating on Monday, so that the kiddos are ready for learning on Tuesday! :)

Fall Weather is Here!!
Please make sure that you child is coming to school in appropriate clothing/jacket/coats for the weather.  Our 2nd grade expectations for what to wear outside is below.  This morning when we went to recess it was 44 degrees but the wind chill was 39 - that is really chilly (especially on our playground)!!!

Homework
Please make sure that your child is using pencil when completing the 2 sections of math.  This will be an expectation throughout your child's math education.  It is easy to make a mistake in math & using a pencil allows for easy erasing.  Thank you for helping your child with this.  If you need a pencil at your house for homework please let me know & I can give your child one to be kept in his/her Homework Folder.

A Note From Mrs. Sharp:

Dear Parents,

       Each day in music, classes can earn one beat of rhythm for their positive behavior. When 8 beats are completed, the class earns a celebration. I’m happy to report that Ms. Mottaz’s class has completed their song!

     On Monday, October 24^th, the students may bring an individual snack and a stuffed animal that fits in their backpack, to music. We will have a short extra recess at the beginning of music. Then we will watch a video and enjoy their snacks. Please allow them to bring a snack and small stuffed animal to school on Monday, the 24th. Thank you! Mrs. Sharp

Next Week's Learning

• Math: We will be continuing to work with counting coins and arrays.  Next week we will be starting to draw arrays and also learning how to figure out how many objects are in an array by       using repeated addition.
• Reading: We will be looking at story elements: characters, setting, problem/solution, and the main events of the story.  We have a fun project that we will be doing with this next week.
• Spelling Words: Next week our spelling words are short and long u.  Short u words: plus, shut, cut Long u words: June, rude, tune, flute, huge, cute and we have an oddball word this week (a word that doesn't fit our pattern): put.
• Science: We will completing bat research during Reading Stations and be turning our research into a project at the end of the week.
• Writing: We are going to be working on editing our small moment story on Monday - CUPS and then on Tuesday we will be working on revising our writing - ARMS.

Have a wonderful weekend.  Stay warm at Homecoming House Decoration tonight and the parade tomorrow if you are going! :)