Friday, November 20, 2015

November 23 - December 4

Too Much Noise 


The kids worked so hard on their songs and I thought they did a great job!  Look at their happy faces!  What a terrific group!  

Dates to Remember
Tues. Nov. 24 - Grandparents Day at Ide
Nov. 25, 26, 27 - No School  Thanksgiving Break
Tues. Dec. 1 - November Reading logs are due

Positive Paw Winner - Emily 
Estimation Jar Winners - Sara and David
New Student of the Week - Sara

Reading - We are starting a new unit in Reading, Neighborhood and Community.  We'll begin by reading and comparing two texts, Officer Buckle and Gloria and Office Mike and Aero.  Our focus will be on identifying the main idea and details of the stories, as well as drawing conclusions.  

Grammar 

Math - Students will use "skip jumps" of 1, 5, and 10 to reach a given number on an open number line.  We will be estimating large collections of sticks by regrouping into hundreds, tens, and ones.

Continue to practice math facts at home.  This week we will do our monthly 5 minute fact fluency tests.

Happy Thanksgiving
I told the kids today how thankful I am that we have a wonderful school to come to each day.  I'm so grateful for the abundant resources we have, happy children, and supportive families.  I hope you all have a great holiday celebrating the gifts we have in family and friends.  



Friday, November 13, 2015

November 16 - 20

Veterans Day

We celebrated our veterans several ways this week!  Our class was assigned a veteran, Matthew Parris, who is a former Marine, stationed in Japan and Hawaii.  We wrote letters of appreciation to Mr. Parris.  He is now a Darien Tri-State firefighter!  The students got to see pictures of him both in action and with his family and learn a little about him.

I'm so thankful for our veterans ~ such courageous men and women who love our country and are willing to fight for us!  Thank you to Matthew Parris and so many others this Veterans Day Week!

Dates to Remember
Wed. Nov. 18 - Picture Retakes
Thurs. Nov. 19 - 2nd grade concert at Lakeview  7:00 pm
                           Students are asked to wear a solid brown shirt and jeans
                           Please be at Lakeview by 6:45
Fri. Nov. 20 - Movie Night at PV  Inside Out
                     End of 1st Trimester
Tues. Nov. 24 - Grandfriends Day 
                          Report cards go home
Nov 26, 27, 28 - No School  Thanksgiving Holiday

Positive Paw Winner - Sophia
Estimation Jar Winner - Ariana
New Student of the Week - Alyssa

Reading - We will finish our Unit 1 assessment and work on collective nouns and irregular plural nouns.

Math - We will finish our chapter on 2 digit subtraction focusing on problem solving with tables as well as story problems.

Parent Teacher Conferences - I sincerely apologize for having to cancel some of our conferences this week.  I value our conference time, and without a voice, that would be difficult.  So, on Monday, I will send out another Sign Up Genius invitation for those of you who I did not meet with.  I'm planning to have times afterschool on both Tuesday and Wednesday.  If these days are not convenient for you, please contact me and we will schedule something else.



Thursday, November 5, 2015

November 9 - 13

School Board Appreciation Day ~ Mon. November 9


We appreciate our school board members!

Dates to Remember
Fri. Nov. 6 - No School
Mon. Nov. 9 - No School  Institute Day
Nov. 10, 11, 12 - Parent Teacher Conferences
Wed. Nov. 18 - Picture Retakes
Thurs. Nov. 19 - 2nd Grade Musical  7:00 pm at Lakeview


Thank you to the following families that sent in food, drinks, and paper goods for the Halloween party last week: Clinton/Williams, Dewart, Miski, Flannery, Durkin, and Kosinski families!

Thanks also to Mrs. Hines, Mrs. Spencer, Mrs. Pecoraro, and Mrs. Hanneman who volunteered to help with the party.  We had a great time playing games, having our picture taken with a special Halloween frame, and eating!  Great afternoon!

Positive Paw Winner - Ariana
Estimation Jar Winners - Olivia and Ariana
New Student of the Week - Jake

2nd Grade Musical is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 19 at 7:00 pm.  Please read the following letter from Mrs. Brockman regarding "costumes" and help needed.

Dear Second Grade Parents:
The musical is approaching very very quickly now and we are still in need of a few volunteers to help organize costumes.  The costumes are not very difficult but do require a little bit of time.  As you know, each class is a different animal.  Instead of doing full animal costumes we are just making headbands with the appropriate colored ears and accessories.  To be on the safe side, we need 25 headbands for each class.

Mrs. Onorato's class are Black Dogs.  Black and white floppy ears (think Dalmatian spots) would be perfect.

Mrs. Walega's class are Red Hens.  I believe there are yellow foam visors in the music cabinet from a previous show.  If someone could glue some red feathers and doctor them up a bit, I think they would work great for the Red Hens.

Caroline Durkin and Pam Hines have volunteered to lead the charge for Mrs. Oliver's class, but they could use some help getting the Brown Horses put together.  Please talk to them about how you can help.

Michelle Brown is organizing the White Sheep ears for Mrs. Schultz's class. Once again, if you can help her out I'm sure she would appreciate it.

And finally, Tracy Moriarty has agreed to help make the Gray Donkey ears for Mrs. Holtrup's class.  This is the largest class and I know she would appreciate another set of hands to make their headbands.

The kids are doing a fabulous job and are going to sound wonderful.  Now we just need to make them look as great as they're going to sound!!  Thank you in advance for helping us out!

Amy Brockman


 Reading - This week we will be doing a Unit 1 Assessment on skills learned during our Friendship Unit.  We'll also be working on collective nouns (flock of sheep, gaggle of geese).

We will also read a story called Chick 'n' Pug, as part of a Nearpod presentation on our iPads.

Reading Logs - Nearly every student was able to participate in show and Tell Day for returning their reading logs.  Thank you parents for encouraging them to read and helping to complete the reading logs.  For November, the students voted to have a Stuffed Animal Day as their reward.

Math - We will continue working on 2 digit subtraction with and without regrouping.  We will also be estimating differences and learning to check our answers with addition.