February 1 - 5

Dates to Remember                                                                                              

Mon. Feb. 1 - January Reading Logs due
Tues. Feb. 2 - Jump Rope for Heart Kick Off
Wed. Feb. 3 - Early Dismissal
Fri. Feb. 5 - 100th Day of 2nd Grade!
Thurs. Feb. 11 - Classroom Valentine Party - Please have your child bring 20 valentines for their classmates by Wednesday.  We will deliver them to each other on Thursday.  No need to address them.  Simply have your child write their own name on the back.
Fri. Feb. 12 - No School
Mon. Feb. 15 - No School  Presidents' Day
Thurs. Feb. 18 - Spring Pictures
Sat. Feb. 20 - Snowflake Ball
Tues. Feb. 23 - Six Flags Reading Logs due

Valentine boxes - If you have not sent in a shoe box, please do so this week.  We will be decorating them for our Valentine mailboxes.

We need a few donations for supplies to decorate our mailboxes.  Supplies like foam stickers, ribbon, and sparkly gems would be much appreciated.  Thank you!

Reading - The students will begin working on a shared research project featuring a country in My Librarian is a Camel.  Students will be researching facts about a foreign country and read to find out how people access books in their community.  They will then use Chromebooks to develop a digital slide showing these facts.   

Math - Our focus will be on money again this week.  We'll begin by looking at the dollar ~ showing the value in a variety of ways.  Then we'll move on to making change.  Continue to practice counting small collections of coins at home.  

New Student of the Week - Jack B.
Estimation Jar Winners - Sophia, Ken, Emily
Positive Paw Winner - Kate

January 25 - 29

Baby It's Cold Outside!!    

Dates to Remember
Jan. 25 - 29 - Aimsbweb and Benchmark Testing
Thurs. Jan. 28 - Spelling test  Note the date change
Fri. Jan. 29 - Author Visit 
                     Reading Incentive Pajama Day
Wed. Feb. 3 - Early Dismissal  SIP Day
Fri. Feb. 12 - No School  due to P/T Conferences
Mon. Feb. 15 - No School  Presidents' Day
Week of Feb. 15 - Parent Teacher Conferences
*  The winter conferences are being held on an "as needed" basis.  If you don't receive an invite but would like a conference, please contact me.  

Shoe Boxes Needed - Please send in a shoe box with your child's name on the inside.  We'll be decorating them to use for Valentine mailboxes!  

Volunteers Needed - If you are available to help cover our shoe boxes (the week before Valentine's Day), please let me know!  I SO appreciate your help.  

Reading - We're reading 2 texts this week, Biblioburro and My Librarian is a Camel. They are both nonfiction stories about traveling libraries that bring books to children in faraway villages in many different ways.  Some children receive books by mail, boat, bus, camels, donkeys, and even elephants!  

We will be discussing the comprehension strategies of understanding key details in a text as well as using text features to locate facts. 

Vocabulary words:  access, biblioteca (library), burro, cuento (story/tale), isolated, remote, impassable, and obtain.

Grammar focus will be possessive nouns.

Spelling Test will be taking place on Thursday instead of Friday next week due to our unusually busy day next Friday (Paul Orshoski, poet author visit, pajama day). 

Math - We'll continue working with money this week.  We'll review on Monday and take a chapter test on counting coins and ordering them by value.  If your child is struggling with this concept, please take time to practice at home.  

Our next chapter in math will focus on money as well, but this time we'll be learning about using money.  We'll begin by comparing amounts of money and problem solving using money amounts in word problems.  We'll finish the week by adding and subtracting amounts of money.  

January Birthdays

Sara - Jan. 13
Jack W. - Jan. 17
Jack B. - Jan. 28
Christine - Jan. 29
Emily - Jan. 31

New Student of the Week - Christine
Positive Paw Winner - Ava
Estimation Jar Winners - Jack B., Jania, Ariana, Ken, David, and Ben

January 18 - 22

Let it Snow!!

Dates to Remember
Mon. Jan. 18 - No School  MLK bday
Thurs. Jan. 21 - last day to preorder author books
Fri. Jan. 22 - Progress notes
                      sent home with students not meeting
                     grade level expectations
Mon. Jan. 25 - Yearbook Orders and payment due
Fri. Jan. 29 - Reading Incentive Pajama Day
                     Author Visit
Wed. Feb. 3 - Early Dismissal

Six Flags Reading Logs are due on Feb. 23

Valentine Boxes Needed
Each student will be decorating a valentine box in a few weeks.
Each child needs to bring in a shoe box (preferably with the lid separate from the bottom) with their name marked on the inside.  Send them in anytime.  Thank you!

Winter Conferences
Parent Teacher Conferences for this trimester are scheduled for Feb. 16 & 17.  These conferences are done on an "as needed" basis.  If you receive an invitation email on Friday, Jan. 22, please follow the link to sign up at your convenience.

If you are not sent an invitation, that just means that I don't have any specific concerns right now.  As always, if you would like a conference, feel free to contact me.    

Reading - This week's text is That Book Woman.  It's about a boy, Cal, and his family that live in the Appalachian hills and they have little access to books.   A "book woman" arrives on her pack horse to distribute books and magazines to the rural families and changes Cal's mind about reading.  We'll focus on illustrations in a text and how they help us make meaning of the story.  

Grammar focus will be on reflexive pronouns.

Math -  We will continue working with coins this week.  Please use every opportunity to help your child count collections of coins at home (or in the car!).

Positive Paw Winner - David
New Student of the Week - Kate
Estimation Jar Winners - Ava, Ben, Olivia, and Jania

January 11 - 15

Happy New Year!!                                          

Dates to Remember                                                                     

Jan. 19 - 22 - MAPs Testing 
Fri. Jan. 15 - Early Dismissal  SIP Day

Jan. 25 - 28 - Benchmark Testing 

Mon. Jan. 18 - No School  MLK b-day

Thurs. Jan. 21 - Deadline to order book for author visit

Fri. Jan. 29 -  Poet visit 

                    Reading Incentive Pajama Day

Reminder

If your child wears boots to school, please send gym shoes in their backpack to change into.

We have PE each day and gym shoes are necessary.  

Reading
We will be doing a reading writing workshop this week.  Our focus will be on fact
and opinion.  We'll be doing both shared writing and individual writing stating
our opinion about a topic, then supporting it with details.  

Grammar focus will be on adverbs.

Math
Next week we will continue to work on solving and writing story problems.  
Our next chapter will focus on money.  I would like each student to bring
in a small container with the following coins:
10 quarters
10 dimes
10 nickels
20 pennies
Please mark the container with your child's name.  The coins will be stored
at school and will be sent home when we are finished with them.  Any questions,
please let me know.

A very special THANK YOU to Mrs. Hines for organizing a wonderful holiday

party before Christmas.  Several parents volunteered to play games, 

serve refreshments, and help the kids with a fun craft.  Thanks to Mrs. Miski,

Mrs. Rizzo, and Mrs. Flannery.  We had a wonderful assortment of food as well. 
Thanks to everyone who sent in treats!  We also received 3 new games to use
during indoor recess.   They have been a huge hit.  Thank you to everyone
who contributed toward them.  

Positive Paw Winner - Dane 

New Student of the Week - Caitlin

Estimation Jar Winner - Jack W.

Author Paul Orshoski is visiting Elizabeth Ide!!

Author's Visit - Friday, January 29riday, January 29, 2016

With the support of our PTO, our Ide Literacy Committee and Ide Staff are excited to welcome author/poet Paul Orshoski to our school on January 29.  The children will attend an interactive and informative assembly that focuses on "getting the students to laugh, to be entertained, and to learn a thing or two about the writing process, while also developing an understanding of how important it is to become good readers"~Paul Orshoski.  Ide families will have an opportunity to order books ahead of time in order for the books to be signed by the author.  Attached is an order form.  Please send in orders to your child's classroom teacher by Thurs. Jan. 21.  The author is asking for CASH ONLY.  Please send order and cash in an envelope marked AUTHOR VISIT and your child's name and classroom teacher.   

Any questions please contact Elaine Riadi eriadi@ccsd66.org or Gina Nessling gnessling@ccsd66.org 

January 4 - 8

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays to each of you!  Have a wonderful, relaxing time with your family over the holiday break.

Thank you to all the parents who sent in cookies and appetizers for our annual cookie exchange.  The treats were delicious and I took home a wonderful assortment of yummy cookies.  Thank you very much!  

Reading - When we return from holiday break we will be discussing an article titled, Little Free Libraries.  Our essential question for the week is, Can small acts bring a community together?  We'll be doing a close read of the article, looking for text evidence to support our answers, and working with new vocabulary:  stunning, encourage, contain, public, and variety.  

Reading logs for December are due on Monday, January 4.  The students voted to have a Crazy Clothes Day as their reward for completing their home reading logs.

Math - Our next math chapter will focus on problem solving and story problems.  The students will be using drawings to create a story problems.  Continue to work on math facts over the holiday break.  Many students need lots of practice.  

Dates to Remember

Dec. 21 - Jan. 3 - No School  Holiday Break

Mon. Jan. 4 - School Resumes

Fri. Jan. 15 - Early Dismissal

Mon. Jan. 18 - No School MLK Holiday

Positive Paw Winner - Chistine

New Student of the Week  - David

Estimation Jar Winners -  Jack W. and Grant

Junior Achievement Day - Mr. Jose Gonzalez, a training facilitator for McDonalds Corporation, spent Tuesday morning with us.  He did a fantastic job not only telling the students about his interesting job at McDonalds, but teaching about jobs in the community, taxes, and money.  Mr. Gonzalez taught us about working together as a team and why that is so important.  

  

December 14 - 18

Dates to remember

Dec. 14, 16, 17 - Holidays Around the World                         

Tues. Dec. 15 - Jr. Achievement Day

                       Early Dismissal  11:30

Fri. Dec. 18 - Silly Sweater Day

                    Classroom Holiday Parties

Dec. 21 - Jan. 3 - No School Holiday Break

Holiday Traditions Project
The students will be sharing their holiday traditions next week!  Your child has been assigned a day to share.  If you have any questions, let me know.  

Holidays Around the World
During our Reading block this week, all 2nd graders will take part in a Holidays Around the World unit.  Students will be learning how people in different parts of the world celebrate holidays.  They will have a passport and travel to the different 2nd grade classrooms as they learn about holidays in Sweden, Israel, Mexico, France, and Italy.  Look for your child's Holidays suitcase to come home on Thursday!  

Students should continue filling in their reading logs through the end of December.  Return completed reading logs on January 4.    

No spelling lists or test this week.  We'll continue our Word Studies in January.  

Math - We will continue working on measurement this week.  We'll learn about area and perimeter.


December Birthdays - Aili  Dec. 17
                                Olivia  Dec. 21      

Estimation Jar Winner - Jack B. and Olivia

Positive Paw Winner - Jack B. 

Peppermint the Elf - Thank you to the Flannery family for bringing us some holiday cheer via our new elf, Peppermint.  If you haven't heard about his appearance, check out your child's iPad.  They've been taking pictures!

December 7 - 11

Fuzzy Friend Day

I'm so proud of these kids!  Everyone brought back their November reading log and was able to celebrate by bringing a stuffed animal to school!  We also celebrated earing 10 class PAWS and had a popcorn party!  Fun day in 2nd grade!!

Dates to Remember
Thurs. Dec. 10 - Holiday Shopping at Ide
Dec. 14, 16, 17 - Holidays Around the World
Tues. Dec. 15 - Early Dismissal and Jr. Achievement Day
Fri. Dec. 18 - Silly Sweater Day and Classroom Holiday Parties
Dec. 21 - Jan. 3 - No School  Holiday Break

Positive Paw Winner - Alyssa
Estimation Jar Winners - Caitlin and Ariana
New Student of the Week - Kenneth

Holiday Tradition Project
Students are bringing home information today about a holiday project.  The paper explains all about it as well as a page for the students to fill out.  This project is due on Monday, December 14.  If you have any questions, please let me know.

Reading - We will be reading Aero and Officer Mike this week.  It is a non-fiction story about a police officer, Mike, and his K-9 partner named Aero.  We will be comparing this selection to Officer Buckle and Gloria.

We will continue to work on recognizing the main idea and details in a story and we'll focus on identifying the author's purpose in stories we read.

Everyone has been given a December reading log.  The students voted to have a Crazy Clothes Day for their reading reward.  This should be interesting!

Grammar focus will be on irregular verbs.

Math - We have begun a new unit on Measurement.  This week we'll be measuring to the nearest inch, foot, and yard as well as centimeter and meter.  We'll also learn to make reasonable estimates.

Reminder - I'm still missing a few report card envelopes.  Please return it if you have not done so.  We'll use them again for next trimester's report card.