This week

There are lots of activities this week. Tomorrow morning at 9:00am we will be walking to the high school for the 5th grade band and orchestra concert.  Please have your child wear appropriate clothing for the walk. 
We will be having our Unit 3.2 reading, spelling tests and Unit 5 math tests on Thursday as well as our Winter Party.
On Friday, we have a schedule assembly as well as a school wide sing along.  This will be an exciting fun-filled week. :)

Conferences

Parents and Families,
Thank you so much for coming in to discuss your child's progress during conference days.  It was wonderful to meet with all of you.  If you have any questions or concerns please email me and I'll do what I can.  Again, thank you.

Next Week

We will be continuing to work on our Unit 4 week 1 concepts in reading and spelling.  Our tests will be on Friday, December 6th.
We'll begin a new math unit this week too.  This unit will be dealing with geometric shapes.  Please have your children practice their math facts on the Reflex site.
One more thing... don't forget that Tuesday Dec. 3rd is a late start day.  School will begin at 10z;35.
Thank you and have a wonderful holiday break!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Parents and Families,

I wanted to wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!  Enjoy the time with your family and friends.  I'm looking forward to some time with my own kids and extended family.
Blessings to all of you!!! :)

Next week

Parents,
We are anxiously preparing for our Thanksgiving Plays!!! We are so excited to perform for you.  The performance is on Tuesday, Nov 26 at 1:15pm in our classroom. 

Due to the short week, we will be doing our reading lesson Unit 3 week 1 over the next 2 short weeks with our reading and spelling tests given on Friday, Dec.6th.

Our Unit 4 math test will be given on Monday, Nov. 25th.  We'll not have homework in math next week although we'll be reviewing skills we've learned in Unit 4.

*Just wanted to remind you that students have an early dismissal on Wednesday, Nov. 27th at 11:30.  No lunch will be served.

 Have a wonderful weekend!!  And as always, if you have questions or concerns, please email me. Thank you.

I'm back!!!

Parents,
I'm back from my trip out west! It was a great trip but I'm glad to be home.  I received glowing reports from my substitute.  I'm very impressed with the students! 
This week we'll be doing a review of all the reading skills we've learned in Unit 2.  We will conclude this with a Unit 2 reading test on Friday.   I'm confident the students will do well.  There will not be any new spelling words this week. Please have your student review ones from Unit 2 that we've already learned.

We will be finishing up Unit 4 in math this week although we will review and won't have the test until next week. 

Tomorrow we will begin a math fact fluency program.  I sent home a letter of explanation and your child's username and password information.  Please contact me if you have any questions.

Next Tuesday is our Thanksgiving program!! We're anxiously practicing our lines so that we can perform for you.  We're hoping everyone can make it. 

Also a quick reminder that next Wed. Nov. 27th school will be dismissed at 11:30 and when we return on Tuesday, Dec. 3rd, it's a late start.  School will begin at 10:35 that morning.

I think that's it for now!!! Please feel free to comment anytime on any of my blog posts.  Happy Monday. :)

Thanksgiving Program

Good Morning, Parents!! I'm sure you've heard the buzz about Room 28 having a Thanksgiving program so... I wanted to share the details.  The students will be performing 2 Reader's Theater's plays for you all on Tuesday, November 26th from 1:15- 1:45.  We hope that all parents are able to come.  The plays will be performed in the classroom and we're hoping to have a few refreshments following the small performance.  The students are very excited to perform for you all and are actively practicing their parts.  Thanks for considering joining us!!! An invitation will be sent home today with the same information.  Again, Thank you for your support!

Next Week

We've had a busy week but the students have been doing great!  I'm sure you're as pleased as I am to see how well your child is doing with Class Dojo. 
For next week, we will be in school on Monday, Veterans Day.  We'll do a few activities to celebrate the day. We will also be working on Unit 2 week 5.  Our phonics focus is the a vowel patterns, and in comprehension it is comparing and contrasting texts.  For writing we are continuing to work on details in our writing but also looking at informational writing and beginnings in narrative writing.
We've slowed down a bit with math because we've been buzzing through the units.  We'll continue with Unit 4 next week.
I will be out on Thursday and Friday of next week. I am taking 2 personal days to fly out to Seattle to help my sister in law as she is battling breast cancer and going through chemotherapy.  The substitute is Julia Ritchey, a recent Hershey graduate and student teacher.  I'll leave her detailed lessons as well as my computer so that she can access the use of the Smartboard.  The students will be in good hands.

As always, if you have questions or concerns please email me.  Have a great weekend! :)

This Week!

Hope everyone enjoyed a restful weekend!  We have a busy week ahead.  We'll be continuing to learn how we can work together in reading. This week we'll focus on plural words in phonics and the comprehension strategy is cause and effect.  In writing we're continuing to learn to write with elaborative details.  Math we'll continue to work through Unit 4. 
Specials this week are; M-gym, T-computer, W-library, Th- gym, F-music
Also please remember that the class will be visiting the Book Fair on Thursday morning at 9:00am.  In addition, I will have a substitute on Thursday morning due to some meetings I will need to attend.
Thank you.
Below are some pictures of the students playing math games.  We do that each Friday.

field trip

Thank you Mrs. McMullen and Mrs. DeBoer for joining us on our field trip to the Hershey Fire Station this morning.  All the students had a wonderful time and enjoying looking and getting inside those big trucks!! And it was a beautiful day for a walk. :)  Here are some pictures of our trip.

Fall Party

Thank you everyone who helped with donating time and treats for our Fall Party. It was a huge success!  As I'm sure you've heard, we had so much fun decorating our pumpkin pets and playing muscial chairs.  Below are a few pictures from our party.

 

Lancaster Science Factory and more

Thank you so much Mrs. Moniak, Mrs. Nambiar and Mr. Mehaffie for volunteering to come with us to the LSF.  We all had a wonderful time. The students really enjoyed learning and playing with Physical Science activities.  If any volunteers have pictures they'd like to share, please email them to me.  Below are a few that I was able to take but I wasn't able to get pictures of all the students in the class. :(
This has been a chilly week. Thank you for sending jackets with your children.  They will be going outside daily.  Please encourage them to dress appropriately.
Class Party is this Friday, Oct. 25th from 1-2.  Thank you to all that have volunteered to help or to donate items.  We're really looking forward to our first class party.
Students have enjoyed making a class scarecrow.  This week we're in the process of writing a descriptive paragraph about the scarecrow.
For next week, we'll be having several special activities.  On Monday, Oct. 28th we will have a Halloween Safety talk, on Tues. 29th, we'll be walking to the Fire house in the morning and on Wed. 30th we'll be having a bus safety assembly.  In addition, trick or treat will be on Thurs. night.  It should prove to be an interesting week.

This week

Parents,
Thank you for coming to BTSN.  It was a great evening to talk with you.  This week we will begin Unit 2 in reading.  There will be a spelling and reading test on Friday. 
We're continuing to learn the differences between fiction and non-fiction writing so that we would be able to write in both modes. We will begin brainstorming about our Scarecrow and then writing about him.
Today we had a severe weather drill. This was during music time. I'm sure the students did well.
Here are a few pictures of students with our scarecrow.

Back To School Night!

Hi all!
The students and I are hoping that you will be able to make it tonight to Back to School Night.  It's held from 6:00-7:30.  The students have worked to display some work,want to show you around our room, and explain what they do all day.  They especially want to show you our class Scarecrow.  It was a fun class activity and we're enjoying all of the other 2nd grade classroom scarecrows too!  Please stop by this evening and let your child "walk" you through his/her day!  Thanks.  See you tonight!!!

Test and Next Week

Parents,
I cleaned up the Box folders and now only your child's tests should be in his/her files.  If you still see another student's test results in your child's file please let me know and I'll go in and move it.  Students should have 3 reading and 3 spelling tests in their files; unit1, weeks 3,4,&5.  To view the questions for the Reading Street test, please log into RS with your child and go to their work.  You can pull up each test and review the questions with your child. In addition, if your child did not score well on a particular skill he/she will have activities under their "to do" folder which will review those skills. For extra practice, you may want your child to do those activities.

Also, next week we will be doing a unit 1 review in reading.  We will review all skills that have been taught this unit and we'll end with a unit test.  There will not be any new spelling words or a spelling test next week.
For math, we'll continue unit 2 addition and subtraction strategies.  We will begin our Weather unit in science and continue talking about autumn and the changes that come with it for writing.  Please make sure your child brings in the item assigned to he/she to make our classroom scarecrow.  It should be a fun activity which will enhance our writing process.

Our specials for next week will be; Mon-day5-art, Tues- day6-gym, Wed-day1-computer, Thurs-day2-library, Fri-day3-gym

One last thing; Back to School Night is on Thursday, Oct. 10 from 6-7:30. Hope to see you there.  I will have conferences and party sign ups out for you that evening.

As always, if you have questions or concerns please email or call me.  Thank you.

Finally I figured it out!

Hi Parents,
Thank you for your patience as I troubleshooted with this blogger account.  We are now back up and running.

• We have a few housekeeping things to take care of;
• we are still in need of 1 or 2 volunteers for the LSF trip on Oct. 22, you should have seen a note come home yesterday regarding items needed to make a class scarecrow.  Please send in those items by Monday. 
• We will have a Halloween Safety talk with Officer Kepple on Oct. 28th. 
• We have a bus assembly on Oct 30th
• We have a walking field trip to the Fire House on Oct. 29th.
• Our room parents are Lotte's mom and Lydia's mom

I think that's it for now.  Thank you again for being patient with me while I was fixing my blog issues.  Please continue to email me if you're having any difficulties or concerns that need to be discussed.  Thanks so much.

Monday, Sept. 23.

Hi all,
Today we celebrated Ani's birthday. Happy Birthday, Ani! We had computer class. Ani fixed a computer!  Way to go, Ani!  We played Beat the Calculator during math.  Students began their rough drafts of their Fall- non-fiction writing.  We also watched a video on how chocolate is made.
It was a full day in Room 28!

Test/ Box

Today we took our reading and spelling tests electronically.  Students were able to get their results and upload them into their folder on Box.  Please log into Box and review your child's test progress. If you have any difficulties please email me and I'll try to help you with that.
In addition we also learned more about Milton Hershey and graphed (and ate) our favorite Hershey's minature. 
We played math games and had a fun afternoon. 
Next week, we'll finish up our PA unit and begin our unit on weather.  Specials for next week are;
M- Day 1- computer, T-Day2- library, W-day 3- gym, Th-day 4- music, F-day 5- art.
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!  Happy Fall!

This and that

We've started learning how to write expository non-fiction.  Yesterday, we brainstormed ideas about Fall and things we do in the fall.  We will continue this process slowly and step by step in order to form cohesive writing pieces. 
In addition we celebrated Meyani's birthday yesterday.  Happy Birthday, Meyani!! Today we celebrate Ryan's birthday.  Happy Birthday, Ryan!!!
Students seem to be getting the hang of Class Dojo.  As they continue, if they earn a 95% or more for positive behavior they are able to put a sticker on their marshmallow/COCOA mugs.  As they earn 20 stickers their names will go into a drawing each month as our COCOA kids!  We're all so proud of the wonderful behavior these students display, especially them.
Yesterday permission slips went home for our first field trip to the Lancaster Science Factory.  Also a note asking for headphones went home as well.  If you didn't recieve these notes please email me and I'll make sure to send them home today.

My Reference Book

I apologize for the confusion with the math- MRB.  I explained to students that they could find it on the website but I think they were confused.  I walked through it again today with them more slowly so they know where to find it on the everyday math website.
We seem to be in the routine now.  Students are doing very well with Class Dojo.  If they earn 95% or above they put a sticker on their cocoa mug / marshmallow.  Once they earn 20 stickers they'll get another COCOA award.  They are doing awesome!!!
Below are a few pictures of the students doing a "brain break" to the Continental Drift.

Guest Speaker

I apologize for not blogging over the last few days. Things have been very busy.  Yesterday we had a guest speaker teach us about Steel and how it is made.  It was, Mrs. Taylor, reading intervention specialist for K-1 and also my sister.  The kids really enjoyed learning about her experiences working in a steel mill.

Today and Next Week

We had another good day.  We had our first reading and spelling test.  We'll be having these each Friday unless I let you know differently.  We also had a chance to practice math skills playing math games.  We had lots of fun!
Next week- we will continue with our routines. Specials are;  Mon- Day 3- gym, T-day4-music,
W-day 5- art, Th- day 6- gym, Fri.- Day1-Computer

Another Great Day!!!

Another great day in room 28!!!  We started exploring different communities on the Ipads.  We're learning about different places that we'd like to go to and what types of things we can see and do there.  We explored our MRB (my reference book) during math to see how it could be used as a tool to help us.  Mrs. Brittain took pictures of us working.  Hopefully she'll post them soon.

Homework

Room 28 will begin homework next week.  The policy in 2nd grade is to give math homelinkone as homework assignments as well as practicing spelling words.  It will be rare for students to have more than one sheet of homework each evening.  The math home link should not take them more than 20 min, to complete.  In addition students should practice their math facts and read each night for at least 15 minutes.  If you are finding that your child is taking longer to complete his/ her math homework, please notify me.  Thank you.

We started our Pennsylvania unit today and learned what states border Pa.We went to gym and played a game where you knock down the hula-hoop castles. We learned how to count money using 1,10,100.00. We played the Money Exchange Game.  We did several brain breaks.  Our favorite one for today was the Cha Cha Slide.  We also got to use the Ipads to play reading or spelling apps.

Tuesday, Sept. 3rd

We began reading our first story; The Twin Club. We learned how some people communicate with eachother from far away.  We also learned how to be good partners and played Addition Top it during math. We had Art class today and made our names out of paper.

Communication in Room 28 this year!

Parents and Families, I'm going to try something a little new this year.  I'm no longer going to be sending home weekly newsletters. Instead I'll be posting on this blog site with up to date information on what's going on in room 28.  If you need to know the specials schedule for the week, please check out my website on the district page. All other information will be posted here.

Great first week!

We had a great first week of school.  The students are learning the procedures and routines nicely.  I'm really enjoying getting to know everyone and I'm looking forward to a great year.  Please remember to email me with any questions or concerns you have and I'll answer them as quickly as I can. My email is lbrittain@hershey.k12.pa.us