February 22 - 26

Picture Day!!

What a great looking group of 2nd graders!!

Dates to Remember

Mon. Feb. 22 - COGAT testing in the am
Tues. Feb. 23 - Six Flags Reading Logs due
Fri. Feb. 26 - Dr. Seuss Day
Tues. Mar. 1 - February Classroom Reading Logs due
Thurs. Mar. 3 - End of 2nd Trimester
Fri. Mar. 4 - No School  Institute Day
Tues. Mar. 8 - Report Cards go home
Fri. Mar. 11 - Yearbook Orders are due

Reading - We'll conclude our unit on Neighborhoods and Community this week by reading The Big Orange Splot.  It is a funny story about a man named Mr. Plumbean.  Mr. Plumbean lives on a very neat street where ALL the houses look exactly the same. One day a seagull drops a can of orange paint on Mr. Plumbean’s roof. From that point on, nothing is the same in Mr. Plumbean’s neighborhood.

We'll be doing a close read of the story, discussing point of view and how words and phrases provide meaning to the text.  

Students will be presenting their digital slideshow this week.  We've worked on the Chromebooks several times and their projects look great!

Vocabulary words:  hawser, splot, mush, and belfry
Grammar focus: articles (a, an, the)

Math - We will continue our chapter on telling time this week. We'll be describing times of events as A.M. or P.M. as well as learning about elapsed time and learning about time relationships in terms of days, weeks, months, and years.

New Student of the Week - Ava
Positive Paw Winner - Ben
Estimation Jar Winner - Aili

Feb. 15 - 19

Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a great party this afternoon!  Thank you to Mrs. Mastny, Mrs. Waitkus, Ms. Mueller, and Mrs. Hines for planning and helping with games, food, and fun!   The kids enjoyed a great snack provided by Ms. Williams, Mrs. Bauer, and Mrs. Hines.  The kids made a fun handprint craft and rotated through 4 game stations.  

Thanks also to the families that sent in supplies for our Valentine boxes.  The kids had such a fun time decorating their boxes and of course passing out Valentines!    

Dates to Remember
Mon. Feb. 15 - No School  Presidents' Day
Thurs. Feb. 18 - Spring Pictures
Sat. Feb. 20 - Snowflake Ball
Fri. Mar. 4 - No School  Institute Day

Reading - We'll be reading City Green this week.  It is a fictional text about citizens working together to improve their neighborhood.

Vocabulary Words -  excitement, schedule, area, heap, stems, halfway
  
Comprehension Strategy - Students will use a graphic organizer to retell the story.  We will also be writing a narrative about a time something happened in our own neighborhood using temporal words (first, next, then, finally) to describe the event.

Math - We will be working on telling time for the next 2 weeks.  Students should already know how to tell time to the hour and half hour.  We'll be focusing on telling time in 5 minute intervals as well as telling how many minutes are before the next hour.  

   

New Student of the Week - Dane

Positive Paw Winner - Dane

Estimation Jar Winner - Ariana

February 8 - 12

It's 100 Day!!                                           

Valentine Boxes - Thank you to Mrs. Durkin, Mrs. Waitkus, and Mrs. Kosinski for covering our shoe boxes. The kids can't wait to decorate them this week!!

Dates to Remember

Thurs. Feb. 11 - Valentine Classroom Party

Fri. Feb. 12 - No School

Mon. Feb. 15 - No School  Presidents' Day

Thurs. Feb. 18 - Spring Pictures

Wed. Feb. 24 - Erin's Law Presentation

Reading - We will continue to work on our research project this week.   This is a shared research project about a foreign country and how children in remote areas access books. We gathered our research from text as well as a digital source.  Mrs. Sulima is working to help us transfer our research into a slide show on Chromebooks.  When we're finished, we'll be presenting them to the class.

In addition to our research project, we will be learning about different kinds of poetry.  We'll spend time reading and writing poetry.

Reading Reward - We enjoyed lunch in the room on Thursday as our January reading reward.  We voted to work toward a Stuffed Animal Day for completed logs in February.

Remember to return your Six Flags Reading Log if you want your child to earn a ticket to Great America this summer.  The deadline is Feb. 23.  

Math - We will finish our chapter on money and take a chapter test mid week.  Our next focus will be on telling time.   Continue to work on counting collections of coins at home.

Estimation Jar Winners - Christine and Sophia

New Student of the Week - Jack W.

Positive Paw Winner - Jake

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