Dec.16-20

This Week In...
Reading: Review (compare & contrast, cause & effect, sequencing, author's purpose)
Math: Geometry; Addition and Subtraction with and without regrouping
Language Arts: Review (Verbs- singular & plural, linking, tenses)
Science: Weather
Social Studies: Holidays Around the World

Homework...
M: DEAR Log, Math Practice 12-8, MClass Math
T: DEAR Log, MClass Math
W: DEAR Log, Topic 12 Study Guide
Th: DEAR Log

Reminders...
-Our Christmas party will be on Friday at 1:30p...Please send in donations if you signed up. Reminders were sent home last week if you signed up to donate. I am also looking for 2 more people to donate. I need one person who is willing to provide a snack such as Cheez-Its, Goldfish, or pretzels. I need one person who is willing to donate a healthy snack such as grapes, Cutie oranges, or string cheese. Please call or email me if you are willing to help with this. 

-Christmas Break is scheduled for December 23rd-January 6th.

Christmas Program = TOMORROW

This Week In...
Math: Geometry; Addition and Subtraction with and without regrouping
Reading: Fact and Opinion; Inferring
Language Arts: Linking Verbs
Social Studies: Holidays Around the World
Science: Weather 

Homework:
M: DEAR Log, MClass Math, Math Practice 12-4
T: DEAR Log, MClass Math, Math Practice 12-5
W: DEAR Log, MClass Math, Math Practice 12-6
Th: DEAR Log, MClass Math, Math Practice 12-7
F: Get behavior card signed by an adult and return to school on Monday


Reminder: 
The 2nd grade Christmas program is tomorrow night. It will begin at 6:30p in the gym. Students MUST ARRIVE AT 6:15p and report to their classrooms. Students should dress nicely and wear Christmas colors. A Christmas hat or headband is also encouraged. Students are required to attend unless they are absent from school on Tuesday. This is part of their Music grade.
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Back in November we helped our friends in Mrs.Forthofer's Life Skills class package the dog bones they made. Last week, we got to actually assist them in making the bones from scratch! The ingredients are whole wheat flour, corn meal, Parmesan cheese, eggs, and water. The ingredients were already mixed together, but the rest was up to us!!

First all students had to do a practice round of kneading the dough. 

 Alyvia digs right in, but Aiden doesn't seem quite sure at first...

When he gets his turn, he sees it isn't so bad...maybe even a little fun (even though the smell of the dog bone mixture is not the greatest)!

While students wait for everyone to get their turn at the mixing bowl, some entertain themselves by playing Rock, Paper, Scissors together.

Now Mrs. Forthofer tells us what to do at our stations! Each table had a mound of dough to roll out. The students used cookie cutters to make the dog bones. Next the bones had to be topped with Parmesan cheese, and last they were laid on a pan for baking.

Sebastian, Connor, Ashton S., Josalynn, Sage and Ashtin C. work at one station.

Uh-oh...a table of all boys! Ben, Cameron, Timmy, Giovanny, Kaleb B., and Ruebyn work hard at rolling out the dough to make their dog bones.

Kayden, Delaney, Alexis, Syndee, Kaleb P., Logan, and Alyvia all work together to get the job done!

Mrs. Forthofer helps one group get their dough ready!

Nadia, Leslie, Aiden, Mrs. Forthofer, Kyle, Logan, Havannah, and Abby take a break from working to smile for the camera!

LOOK AT ALL THOSE DOG BONES!!!

We've really become great friends while helping one another!

And the girls just LOOOOOVE adorable, little Wyatt!

Welcome to December

This Week In...
Math: Geometry; Addition and Subtraction with/without Regrouping
Reading: Sequencing; Predicting
Language Arts: Verbs (singular & plural; past, present, & future; irregular)
Social Studies: Holidays Around the World
Writing: Descriptive Winter Writing

Homework:
M: DEAR Log, MClass Math, Math Practice 12-1
T: DEAR Log, MClass Math, Math Practice 12-2
W: DEAR Log, MClass Math, Math Practice 12-3
Th: DEAR Log, MClass Math, Math Practice 12-4
F: Get behavior card signed for this week and return to school on Monday

Madelyn and Ashton were absent when the class dissected owl pellets, so these two were on their own for this experiment! They did such a fantastic job working together to dissect the pellet and identify the bones they found hiding! 

Ashton proudly shows off a rodent skull that he dug out of the pellet.

 Madelyn holds up a rodent hip bone that she found while dissecting.

And congratulations to our November Student of the Month, Ben! 

I know I can always count on Ben to do the right thing 

even when others are not. 

We had an "owlsome" time!

We have been learning about owls and food chains this week. We found out that owls swallow their prey whole, but their stomachs cannot digest the bones and fur. After eating, owls will cough up a pellet. 

On Thursday we dissected some owl pellets. 

Students pulled apart the pellet to find lots of hair and bones! 

They used bone charts to figure out what their owl ate. 

Syndee and Logan begin pulling their pellet apart.

Ben and Kyle are working hard!

 Kayden and Giovanny are showing off some of the bones they found!

 Cameron holds up what we think is a rodent hip or leg bone.

Brooklyn looks cute as ever while dissecting!

Josalynn and Alyvia work together to find bones in that hair! They used tweezers and sticks to help. 

Students were allowed to wear gloves, but most of the kiddos ended up ditching the gloves so they could dig in easier!

Connor and Alexis show the skull they found in their pellet.

Aiden is dissecting while Sebastian is studying a bone chart.

The wonderful Jamey Pavey from Shelby County Soil & Water helps Nadia and Delaney identify their bones.

Here is part of a rodent skull we found. If you look closely, you can see the bottom jaw and the little teeth on it.

We tried to use charts like this to help us identify what bones we found.

The students had an absolute blast in the Science lab! Two students who were absent will be dissecting a pellet next week so I will post pictures of their Science adventure soon!

Have a great weekend! :)

Reminders:

-Students have school next Monday and Tuesday. There will be no school Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday. Happy Thanksgiving!!

-PLEASE PLEASE send in donations for our soldier care packages. I know it is a time of year where many different groups are requesting donations, so I really appreciate your help with our service project. 

Nov. 18-22

This Week In...
Math: Mental subtraction; Two-digit addition and subtraction with/without regrouping
Reading: Compare and contrast; Summarize
Language Arts: Verb tense- past, present, future
Science: Owls; Food chains

Homework:
M: DEAR Log, Math Practice 7-2, MClass Math
T: DEAR Log, Math Practice 7-3, MClass Math
W: DEAR Log, Math Practice 7-4, MClass Math
Th: DEAR Log, MClass Math
F: Get behavior card signed and return on Monday; Finish Family Turkey project and bring to school on Monday, November 25th

Reminders:
-Grandparents' Night is tomorrow from 6:00-7:30pm 

-Send in donations for our Christmas care packages! These packages will be sent with student-written letters to troops who have to spend the holidays overseas. Contact me if you need a list of suggested items. Thank you for your support!

America, helping others, and MORE!!!

We've been growing pumpkin plants! (and a couple bean plants!) We also are conducting a seed experiment. In each finger of a plastic glove, students placed a different seed (corn, bean, watermelon, marigold) with a wet cotton ball. We taped them to the window so they could get sunlight. Now we are waiting to see which seed grows fastest!

Classroom Buddies

We went on an autumn nature walk with our 4th grade classroom buddies. Buddies had a list of various items from nature that they had to collect together. We had a blast and only got a little lost on the trails once!

Our November Mystery Reader was a Marine who read the book America's White Table. It is a story about the table that is set in military chow halls and formal events to remember those who are POWs or MIA. After we read the book, students got to set the table. Each item on the table represents something.

We learned about American symbols this week. Students read about the bald eagle, Liberty Bell, Statue of Liberty, White House, American flag, and Mount Rushmore. Then each student made a page about their favorite symbol to go in our class book. 

We've had quite the patriotic week! Students are also working hard to finish their letters that we will send overseas to service members who are away from home on the holidays.

Cameron is wearing our X-Ray Glasses to edit his letter. 

When we wear the pink glasses, we are looking for punctuation mistakes. 

Delaney, Connor, Kyle, and Sage (Ashton and Alyvia in the background) are working on their letters. 

  Madelyn helps Logan with his letter writing. 

Josalynn and Aiden are hard at work!

Alexis is using our American symbols chart to help her draw a patriotic picture to go with her letter.

What are YOU having for Thanksgiving dinner????

We did some persuasive writing last week. Students wrote in the point of view of a turkey. They had to plead with the farmer and give him reasons why he shouldn't eat turkey for Thanksgiving. Some reasons we came up with-- Chicken tastes better; Vegetables are healthier; Pigs are fatter and will give you more food; If you eat me, I'll tickle your belly from the inside; If you try to eat me, my army of turkey friends will take over your farm and eat your Thanksgiving feast!

Hanging under the turkey writing are our Halloween stories. These came home today. Be sure to read your student's spooky story!

We also talked about how it is important to use verbs that have MUSCLE! Why use a boring verb like eat when you can use devour or gobble instead?  

Check out some of the serious muscle-man faces!

Alyvia, Connor, and Alexis

 Brooklyn, Kayden, and Nadia

Syndee and Madelyn

 Delaney, Aiden, Ashton, and Ben

Sebastian and Kyle

On Tuesday we helped Mrs. Forthover's Life Skills class with a project. They made dog bones on Monday to give to people who have dogs as pets. Our class helped them decorate and assemble the bags. The two classes worked together first at stations and then on an assembly line. What fun!

Last but not least--- A reminder to send in donations for our Christmas Care Packages that will be sent to troops overseas. We've almost filled a box, and if you've already donated THANK YOU! Let's see how many more boxes we can fill! Last year the 2nd grade collected enough to mail 16 boxes, divided among 4 different troops. Let's try to do even better this year! 

Thank you for your help with this amazing service project!