Monday, November 3, 2008

November has begun!

Thank you to all parents who donated supplies for the Fall Festival we had on Friday. The kids had a great time and we couldn't have done it without your supplies and the volunteers who came in to lend a hand! Thank you!

I have been beyond busy, so I am sorry for the missing updates! This week we are focusing on Fables in reading. Please email me at melanie.ladue@dysart.org if you are in need of the spelling words this week!

We continue to investigate Data, Graphing, and Probability in Math.

In Social Studies, students are starting to learn about Goverment and in Science we continue our learning with Solids and Liquids (but that's just about done!)

Report Cards went home today (Monday, Nov.3) Please email me if you don't receive your child's report card.

Also, students will be bringing home information of their Oral Presentations. These will be due and presented on Nov.26th. Students are to read a book, write a response, and present their book information on the 26th. Please email me with any questions!

Have a great week!
Mrs. LaDue :)

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Week of October 20, 2008

Whew! I can't believe conference week is here already!

There are quite a few things to note about the coming week:

Student-Led conferences are being held all week - please email me at melanie.ladue@dysart.org if you are not sure when your family's conference is. Make sure your child is with you. They are doing plenty of work to show you their accomplishments. You will stop to see me at the end of their conference - I will give you their report card and have you sign a few papers!

Wednesday, October 22nd - Fox 10 News Weather Helicopter lands at Mountain View!
Cory McCloskey will be doing his weather cast from Mountain View. We are asking that as many families and kids that are available come to the school no later than 7:45a.m. so we can show our support! I am sending home a letter with all of the details!

This week we are reading a story called Around the Pond. We will be working to Categorize and Classify as well as learning how to Monitor our reading to make sure we understand what we read. Spelling words this week all have double consonants: bell, off, all, mess, add, hill, well, egg, weill, grass, shell, kiss, across, skill. Reminder, students who get 100% on their pretest will be given a Challenge word list.

You may have started to notice that the Weekly Skills test is being given to students with an answer sheet rather than students bubbling in the test. This is going along with our "green" campaign. I will be posting the weekly skills test to the website in case you are interested in seeing which problems your child missed. If you would like to print them out at home, feel free!

In Math, we will be starting our study of Data, Graphing, and Probability. Be sure to ask your child about Pocket Day! We have a lot of fun counting our pockets! Pocket Day is sure to happen again soon! :)

We are working hard in Writer's Workshop to develop our IDEAS and CONVENTIONS. These are two of the 6 traits we will focus on in 2nd grade. Students are learning to develop ideas around a central idea or topic. They are also adding details to their writing to make their writing more interesting. They also need to make sure they use capital letters for the beginning of sentences and end marks on each sentence. If you can help support this learning in their spelling sentence homework, it is greatly appreciated!

Finally, we will be having a Harvest Celebration during the end of October. Please keep your eyes open for a letter coming home this week!

Thank you for your continued support at home!

Mrs. LaDue :)

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Happy Fall!

What a great four days off! With the weather being BEAUTIFUL this weekend, I finally feel like Fall is here! Please keep your eyes open for the Harvest Celebration letter coming home soon!

I want to thank Mrs. Smalley for volunteering in our classroom! She comes in every Wednesday and helps make classroom materials and copies and also works with kids during her time in the room. Mrs. Loncao has also completed the district volunteer program and will be joining our room soon!

This week is a short week, so students will not be reading a weekly story. Instead, we will be reading a Stellaluna Reader's Theater and reading in front of the other 2nd grade classrooms on Friday. We will also be working on the entire writing process during Writer's Workshop this week. Spelling words will be review words from previous weeks. Please check back Monday evening for the week's spelling words!

In Math this week, students will continue to work with adding and subtracting numbers. I would like them to be strong in their number sense before we head into other areas! Ask your child about Pocket Day....we'll be having another one soon!

The week of Oct.2oth will be student - led conferences. Please bring your child at your scheduled time. They will be walking you through their learning to this point in the year. We will not be sitting down one on one to disuss your child. If there is a need for an individual conference on my end, I will contact you!

Happy short week!

Mrs. LaDue :)

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Our Classroom week of October 6, 2008

Second grade families,

I am going to try to keep a blog rather than updating my site with a newsletter each Monday. Newsletters take so much time and quite frankly, a blog is SO much more 21st century! I will try to update by Monday afternoon at the latest. Please try to subscribe so you can be alerted each time I post (click on Follow this blog). Eventually, I hope to have students posting their thoughts and writing to a blog that will link to our class blog!

First announcement, I have a meeting at the District Office Thursday, October 9th. I will have a sub all day.

This week we will be reading the story Exploring Parks with Ranger Dockett. It is a non-fiction piece about a park ranger and his many jobs. Students will be identifying fact and opinion as well as evaluating how well the author stated facts and helped us understand Ranger Dockett's job. In Phonics, we are reading and writing words with consonant clusters such as spr, tr, sl, sc, br and st. Spelling words: glad, step, storm, club, frog, lost, trip, stone, nest, swim, space, slip, brave, next. Students who passed their spelling pretest have received Challenge words that also have consonant clusters in them!

In Math we continue to recognize and use doubles facts and fact families to help us with addition and subtraction.

Our student of the week last week was Azul Reyes. She is such a great shining personality to have in our room! This week's star student is Tanner Smith. I am so proud of Tanner because he uses his brain all day long and doesn't try to do the easy thing all the time! Way to go star students!

This week, both Megan and Nicholas are celebrating birthdays! Happy Birthday!

Be sure to ask your child about their parent/teacher conference sign up form! They went home on Monday and need to come back with your preferences ASAP. I will sign up your family for a time as soon as I get the form back! Conferences are student-led this year. You will need to bring your child with you so they can "conference" with you and show you all of their learning!

Lastly, in Science we have been studying Solids and Liquids and their properties. Have your child show you the "Change It!" game here: http://fossweb.com/modulesK-2/SolidsandLiquids/activities/changeit.html

It really is so cool (even for adults!) I guarantee a giggle or two!

Have a great week!

Mrs. LaDue :)