Moving Up Day!

I'm sure you're probably as surprised as I that today we had the 1st graders visit our classrooms to see a small sneak peek of 2nd grade.  Students shared things that we do in 2nd grade that they enjoy and are different from 1st grade.  It's a little surprising to think that these students are almost 3rd graders!!! They were very helpful "big kids".  I was impressed with how they all behaved.  Here a few pictures of our classroom helping out their 1st grade "buddy".

Hershey Trolley Trip

We had a wonderful time on our trip!  I wanted to add a few pictures to show you all!  I think the students learned a few things and enjoyed the trip.

Next Week

Parents and Families,
We seem to be winding down the year.  I can't believe we only have 14 days left!!!  For next week, I'll be keeping the schedule consistent with how we've been doing things all year. 

In reading, we'll begin :Unit 6 Week 4- Cowboys.  The question of the week; What can we learn from cowboy traditions? Other reading skills are; phonics- suffixes and comprehension- sequencing.

In Math we've finished Unit 11 which is the end of all new skills taught.  Unit 12 is a review of all 2nd grade skills.  We'll work through Unit 12 and finish off with an end of year assessment of all skills taught in 2nd grade.

We are finishing up writing with using all skills taught for final narrative and expository writing pieces.  And we are continuing to work through cursive writing.  The students love learning cursive.

We will be going on the Trolley tour on Wed. May 28th.  No chaperons are needed.

Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!  See you next week!

Finishing up this week!

Although it's HUMP day, I thought I'd touch base on activities for this week.  We'll be finishing up Unit 6, week 2- learning about how people celebrate / honor the flag.  We're also reviewing main idea and details as our comprehension strategy and practicing with abbreviations.  We will have a weekly reading and spelling test on Friday.
In writing we're finishing up a couple of expository pieces as well as a narrative.  We also had our end of year writing benchmark yesterday.  I'm very impressed with how the students have progressed as writers!
We're continuing to work through Unit 11 in math.  Students seem to be breezing through it.  We'll probably finish unit 11 next week.  Once I've planned out the week I'll let you know exactly when our Unit 11 test will be given.
The insects seem to continue to grow even with my best efforts to ignore them.  Yikes!!! You'll have to take a look at them when you come in for YLN. 
Tomorrow is library- please remind your child to bring his/her library book, and Friday will be gym.  Have students wear their sneakers.
Thank you!  That's all for now!

Hershey Story field trip

Two weeks ago, the class went to the Hershey story with the help of Mrs. Mehaffie, Mrs. McMullen, Mrs. DeBoer, and Miss Waskow.  We took the bus due to the weather but had a great time!  Some things the students like were; learning new things about Milton Hershey, going on the scavenger hunt around the museum, getting the "cool" tickets with their pictures on it, and making/ printing the newspaper with their personal names on it.  I was unable to get pictures of the students because I was in charge of a group myself.  Hopefully I'll get some that were taken from other staff and parents, if so, I'll definitely post them.  Thanks so much to the parents who took the time to volunteer to help us on this trip! 

Working Hard for YLN!

Students have been working hard to get ready for Young Learner's Night.  We hope that you are able to come see a sample of their work.  They've progressed so much this year!  I will be in the building but not in the classroom.  The administration wants us there but would like us to have a chance to see what other teachers and students are doing in their classrooms.  You may see me in the hallway if so, please stop and say Hello. 
Also, please remember to bring a smart device that has a qr reader on it.  The students will help navigate through a QR scavenger hunt to view their work.  Hope you enjoy it.  If you don't have a smart device, there will be ipads available to use in the classroom.
*Remember- Young Learner's Night is tomorrow night, Thursday, May 15 from 6:00- 7:30pm!

Question for students

Please answer the question in complete sentence and reply to a friends post.

What is your favorite insect and what have you liked about learning about insects?

Next Week

For next week, we'll begin Unit 6 in Reading.  We'll start with a story called Just Like Josh Gibson which is a realistic fiction story.  Skills we'll be working on are; sports traditions in our country, comparing and contrasting, capital letters, inflected endings and writing realistic fiction. 
We'll also begin Unit 11 in math.  Skills for  Unit 11 are review of whole number operations.  Everyone did very well on the Unit 10 math assessment. They will be coming home early next week. 

In writing, students are writing an informational piece on insects as well as a narrative about an amazing egg.  They've really improved in their writing this year.  I'm excited to see their end product.

Today is Priyanka's birthday!  Happy Birthday, Priyanka!!! Next Sunday is Ziva's birthday!  We're looking forward to celebrating with her as well.

We'll be starting Junior Achievement soon.  Our volunteer will be teaching about community. 

Next weeks specials are; Mon- day 6, Tues- day 1- Wed- day 2, Thurs- day 3, Fri- day 4.

This week

Parents and Families,
I apologize for not posting last week.  We got our new Macbooks and I've been having difficulty logging onto my blog, and getting use to the differences between this and a pc. 
This week, we'll be doing a unit 5 review in reading.  No new spelling words will be given this week.  We'll also continue with Unit 10- place value, in math.  Our Unit 10 test will be on Wed. or Thurs of this week.
In writing, we're continuing a narrative process writing piece about an amazing egg.  The students have some great ideas and I think we'll have some really well written stories once we finish.
We also have our field trip to the Hershey Story on Wednesday.  Mrs. McMullen, Mrs. DeBoer, and Mrs. Mehaffie have volunteered to help.  Thank you, parents.  We will not be walking due to the impending rain.  We will be transported by bus.
Our specials this week are; M- day 1, T- day 2, W- day 3, Th- day4 and Fri.-day 5. 
We also will be having a guidance lesson on Wednesday with Mrs. Ocker.
I think that's it for now.  As always, if you have questions, please email me.
Thank you.  I can't believe it's almost May!!

Hershey Theater field trip

Today we went to the Hershey Theater. Students had a wonderful time learning about the history of the theater and all the interesting facts.  Here are a few pictures from our trip.

Weather Assembly

Yesterday we had a visitor from the Franklin Institute teach us about weather.  The students loved the assembly.  Lydia and Ani were picked as volunteers.  Here are a few pictures from the assembly.

Grant didn't want his picture taken.  :)  ( I think he really did) I guess he got his wish. I tried to load it to this blog but it won't go through.  :)

Spring Party!

We had a wonderful Spring Party this afternoon.  Thank you so much Mrs. Moniak ( Kate's Mom) and Mrs. Mc Mullen ( Lydia's mom) for helping us and for all of the other parents who volunteered supplies, food,etc... Here are a few pictures of our party.

Question for students

What fun things do you like to do over your Easter weekend?  Share a few things that are special for this holiday and comment on another students post.

Next Week

Parents and Families,
As I told you in an earlier post, with a short week next week, we'll not have a reading or spelling test.  We will beginning Unit 5 week 5 in reading but continue it through the following week.  Reading and spelling tests will be given on Friday, April 25th. The question of the week is; How can we be responsible when we make a mistake?  The phonics skills are; au, aw, augh, al spelling pattern.  Comprehension skills are main idea & details, and inferring.
In writing, we'll continue to learn and write about egg laying creatures through both fiction and non-fiction writing pieces.
In math, we'll continue to work through Unit 10 learning about money, dollars and cents notation, as well as extending place value concepts.
Monday- we will have a regular schedule- special is Day- 6 gym
Tuesday- we'll have our weather assembly at 12:30 so students will miss writing and math- Day 1- Computer
Wednesday- Field trip to the Hershey Theater- 9:00am.  We won't have reading on Wed.-Day 2- library
No school for students on Thurs. April 17 thru Mon. Apr 21. 
Tuesday, Apr. 22- late start

Have a blessed and relaxing Easter weekend!

Sharing

Last week, Priyanka and Ani shared projects that they've been working on for another classroom.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to take a picture of Ani's wonderful presentation, but here is one of Priyanka sharing her presentation on the Brain.  We all learned a lot!  Well done, Priyanka and Ani.

Spring Party!

Parents,
Tomorrow is our Spring Party.  If you signed up to help or send in a treat please make sure to do that.  If you're unsure, please contact Mrs. McMullen.  She has the list of volunteers.  The students are very excited about the party tomorrow!  They can't wait! :)

Working Hard

If you haven't already heard, we've been working on a fun writing assignment.  Students have been using an app called Book Creator as well as Google Earth to write an informative piece on Hershey.  Students were to write about some places they like in Hershey giving facts and details.  They found pictures of these places using Google Earth, then put the entire project into the form of a book.  It's been challenging but they are coming up with some great ideas. 
Some students have finished and have saved their books into their Box account.  It can be opened as a PDF if you don't have the app Book Creator on your ipad. Ask your child about it and please take a look at them.  I'm very proud of the work they're doing.

The germs got me!!

Well, I'm sure you've heard that the kids have had a substitute on Monday afternoon and today.  It's going to be one more day.  I have strep.  I am on antibiotics but I'm still not feeling up to teaching all day.  I plan on being at school on Thursday. I've received reports that the kids are doing great!  Thanks. It helps me to rest easier when I know they're okay.

Next week

Hi Parents and Families,

Next week we'll begin a new story in Reading Street; Bad Dog, Dodger!  We will be learning how to be responsible pet owners. Our phonics skill for the week is kn, wr, mb, gn; and our comprehension strategy is plot and theme. 
In writing we're continuing to write about our community and students will try to make their stories more detailed and elaborated.  We've looked at our community on Google Earth and students were to pick one of their favorite places in our community to write about.
We'll finish up Unit 9 on Measurement, Area and Perimeter at the end of the week.  Our Unit 9 test will be given on either Thursday or Friday of next week.

As the weather starts to turn warmer, please make sure to check because as we all know the weather can be very sporadic in the  spring and students will go out to recess so we'd like for them to be dressed properly. Thanks for helping with this.

Question

Students have been asking me to post questions that they could reply to so...

What do you like to do after school and in the evening for fun?

Students please reply to this and comment on one other students post. Remember to post using correct sentence form.

Back to normal

It looks like things are getting back to normal with school days. The students are doing really well! We've had some great learning going on in the classroom so far this week.
We went to the computer lab to do Reflex today so students shouldn't need to do it at home tonight.
There are still some nasty viruses flying around our classroom. Students have been out with the stomach bug and lots of colds.  I'm trying to combat that with lots of hand washing.😁
Today we'll be doing explorations of area, perimeter, and measurement.  It should be an enjoyable learning experience.
Miss Autenrieth , a junior block student from LVC, is back in our room this semester.  She will be here on Wednesdays.  Yesterday she taught our writing lesson. It went very well.
In writing, our theme is Communities.  We'll be talking, reading, and writing about communities.
In Science, we're awaiting the arrival of our insects so that we can begin learning about the life cycle of an insect.
Please remember to make a free educreations account for your child so that I can teach and create with them in that format.
Also, thanks for all the tissues and wipes.  We could still use a few more of each.
I think that's it for now!

Next Week

Parents and Families,
We enjoyed a great , uninterrupted week last week. We're looking forward to another one this coming week. We will be starting our Unit 5.2 in reading. The question of the week is-how can being responsible help others?
The skills for the week are; prefixes, cause and effect, and pronouns
In writing, we're continuing to work on the narrative writing process.
In math we're continuing with measurement in Unit 9. As I told most of you, we'll be trying to do math more like centers to optimize differentiation for all students.

This week

Parents,
Hopefully we'll have a "normal" week, this week.  We are starting Unit 5 in reading. The big idea question for the unit is: What does it mean to be responsible?  And our question of the week is; Why should we be responsible for doing a good job?
For phonics, we'll be working on the suffixes; ly, ful, or, er, ish.  Our comprehension strategy is fact and opinion ( which the students know well) and in writing we're working on summarizing and process writing.

In math, as I told many of you, we'll be finished up Unit 8- fractions on Tuesday with our Unit test.  We'll begin area and perimeter and measurement on Wednesday. Please ask your child how we will have changed the lessons for math.  Hopefully it will be more beneficial for all of the students.

Specials this week are; M- day 4, T- day 5, Wed- day 6, Thurs.- day 1, Fri. - day 2

One final note- on Tuesday our schedule will be changed to help accommodate 3rd grade PSSA testing.  We wont have lunch recess at 11:35-12:35.  We'll have lunch at 12:45-1:15/ recess 1:15-1:45.  Please have your child bring in a snack on Tuesday to help he/she get through the long morning.

Thank you.

A few pictures

I wanted to share a few pictures that I took while Miss Waskow was teaching.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Hi Parents!
Today we celebrated St. Patrick's Day in the classroom with a fun treat from Lydia and from Ashley.  We also watched an informative video about the history of St. Patrick's day. 

A full week ahead!!!

Parents and Families,
I'm back to teaching full time.  Miss Waskow has moved on to another placement.  This week we'll be reviewing all skills we learned in Unit 4 reading.  We'll have our Unit 4 reading test on Thursday and Friday.  There will be no new spelling words this week.
In writing, we're learning about how to write about weather.  This week, we began with learning to research information about thunderstorms.
We're continuing to learn about fractions, equivalent fractions and fractions of a set.  We'll have our unit 8 test next week.
Today we had art.  Students made "bugs".  Artistic bugs????

* Just a reminder; students have an early dismissal on both Thursday and Friday due to Parent/ Teacher Conferences.  We can't wait to meet with you.  ( Allie Waskow will join me in conferences on Thursday)  If you're unsure of your conference time, please email me.
* FYI-  I will be out on Wednesday.  I'll be at a conference in Philadelphia learning about "flipped" classrooms.

Specials this week; Today- day 5- art, T- day 6- gym, W- day 1- computer, Th- day 2- library, F- day 3- gym
Thank you.

What a week!

Hello parents and families! We have had another great and full week!

Next week in reading, students will begin discussing how changes in the weather affect us. Students also finished their writing pieces about their houses this week. We loved the details and vivid descriptions they were using! In math, we began learning about fractions and will continue exploring them next week for the rest of our unit. We will also wrap up our science unit about different rollers next week with an exciting lesson in which we will create a class roller coaster! Here are the students exploring rolling cups and other rollers on ramps:

We began to prepare for “Read Across America” Week by celebrating with delicious “Cat in the Hat” cupcakes made by Mrs. McMullen, Lydia's mother! Thank you so much for the wonderful cupcakes, Mrs. McMullen!! The students loved them J Here are some pictures of them enjoying their special treat.

We loved the crazy socks, favorite hats, and favorite character school days! Here is a class picture of all of the fantastic character outfits that we saw today.

Just a reminder that Monday we will celebrate “Read Across America” for Dr. Seuss’ birthday, and Wednesday will be the International Fair! Hopefully, the expected snow won’t hit us too hard, and we will have another full week. If we are off on Monday and have a delay on Tuesday, then we will celebrate “Read Across America” on Tuesday, but will have the breakfast on Wednesday, before the International Fair. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Mrs. Brittain or me!

Also, be sure to check out our new class door. The rainbow is made up of all of the children’s hand prints!

I have had another fabulous week working with your children, and I am very sad to say that unfortunately, next week will be my last with them L Mrs. Brittain will begin taking back subjects gradually throughout the week. Thank you again for all of your support and enjoy your weekend!

Miss Waskow  

A great full week!

Hello Parents and Families!

By this point, I have started teaching your children full-time, and Mrs. Brittain has graciously allowed me to post in the class blog!

It was a fantastic week and our first full one in quite a while! This week, we wrapped up our reading unit on soil, and next week will begin discussing “Why are some changes difficult?” We will finish up our math unit on Monday and students will take their test on Tuesday. Their next unit will be on fractions. In writing next week, students will begin putting together their expository pieces about special places in their houses.

The class has loved learning all about spinning objects in science! I’ve included some pictures of their fun with tops, zoomers, and twirlers. (Sorry about some of the blurry pictures! While experimenting with different kinds of motion, the students are definitely in motion, as well J)

Next week is “Read Across America” Week to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday! We have some great centers planned, and Wednesday will be “Silly Sock” Day, Thursday is “Favorite Hat” Day, and Friday will be “Favorite Character” day. We can’t wait to see how your children come dressed to school! Also, as a reminder, on Wednesday we will be walking over to the high school to see the musical “Once Upon a Mattress” in the morning.

We ended the week with some great hairstyles for crazy hair day, and read a Scholastic News article all about penguins. I’ve included a picture of the class posing like penguins so that you could see some of the fabulous hairstyles! We also celebrated Isaiah’s birthday with some delicious giant chocolate chip cookies! Happy birthday Isaiah!

I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your and Mrs. Brittain’s support! I absolutely love working with your children and am truly enjoying this experience.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Miss Waskow

This week

Hopefully we'll have a full week this week!!! Keep your fingers crossed! Oops, just a reminder... tomorrow is a 2 hour late start.  Don't forget!!!

Today we took our Unit 4 week 2 spelling and reading tests.  Tomorrow we'll begin Unit 4 week 3. 

The story this week is called Soil.  Students will be reading a non- fiction story and learning about different types of soil.  The question of the week is; What Changes Occur Under the Ground?
Students will be learning the phonics sound and spelling of oi,ow, oy, ou.  For comprehension, students will be reviewing and finding facts and opinions in texts.  They will also be continuing to practice with adjectives as well as writing complete expository paragraphs using  complete introductions and conclusions.

In math, students will continue to work through Unit 7 with Miss Waskow's guidance.  The unit 7 math test will be given on Friday.

Thank you for continuing to encourage your students to practice their fact fluency using reflex.  Please keep that up.  Tomorrow we will not get to the computer lab due to the late start so please have your child get on in the morning if possible.

Thank you for all the well wishes and Valentine gifts!  We had a lot of fun showing our affection for eachother through passing out Valentine cards on Friday.

If you have any questions or concerns, please email me anytime.  Thankyou.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Today the students were so excited to pass out valentines to each other.  They also had the chance to do some fun "sweet" valentine math activities that Miss Waskow prepared for them.  Here are a few pictures of the kids as they are working on their valentine math centers.