Pajama Day!

It was PJ Day today!!  The kids looked adorable in their comfy pajamas. 











Elizabeth Ide Book Drive
Families are being asked to donate any gently used books to our book drive!  All books will be donated to Whitehead Elementary School, Mr. Lazar's former school.  We will accept donations until Feb. 27th.  What a great way to not only clean out your bookshelves, but share literacy with others.  

Scholastic Book Order
If you plan to order books from Scholastic, I will finalize the order on Wednesday, Feb. 11.  You may order online, or send a check to school with a paper order.  

Dates to Remember

Wed. Feb. 4 - Jumprope for Heart Assembly
Feb 9 & 10 - Parent Teacher conferences
Thurs. Feb. 12 - Classroom Valentine Party  2:00
Fri. Feb. 13 - No School due to P/T Conferences
Mon. Feb. 16 - No School  Presidents' Day
Fri. Feb. 27 - Dr. Seuss Day - Wear backwards or mismatched clothes and 
                    bring your favorite Dr. Seuss book to read.

Volunteers are needed for the Valentine Party on Thursday, Feb. 12.  If you would like to help with the party, please contact  Mrs. Harvat.  We would love to have you join us!

Valentines - The students will be exchanging valentines on Thurs. Feb. 12. Please have your child sign their name to the back of 19 valentines.  No need to address them.  Send them to school anytime.  

Six Flags Reading Logs - If you are participating in Six Flags Read to Succeed program, remember to record your reading on the gold student reading log. They must be returned by Monday, Feb. 23, to qualify for a free ticket.  Any questions, let me know.  

Our class has won the Boxtop Treat Day Reward - We collected the most boxtops of all the 2nd grade classes!  YEAH!!  We have earned a treat, and the class has voted to have donuts next Friday, Feb. 6.  Thank you for sending in boxtops and remember ~ the contest is not over.  Final winners will enjoy a pizza party!  Keep collecting!  

Volunteers are needed for the Valentine Party on Thursday, Feb. 12.  If you would like to help with the party, please contact  Mrs. Harvat.  We would love to have you join us!

Valentines - The students will be exchanging valentines on Thurs. Feb. 12. Please have your child sign their name to the back of 19 valentines.  No need to address them.  Send them to school anytime.  

Positive Paw Winner - Gage
Student of the Week - Charlie
Estimation Jar Winners - Joseph, Alyssa, Ashlyn, and Ariella 

Google Maps - Our class used Chrome Books again and this time we searched National Monuments as a follow up to our Social Studies lesson on monuments. The kids enjoyed exploring some of our nation's famous monuments up close! 

Math 
We will continue to work with adding and subtracting three digit numbers this week.  We'll practice this skill in vertical format, with mental math, and by estimating sums and differences.  

Reading
This week we'll 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.  

Jan 26 - 30

Dates to Remember                                                                     

Thurs. Jan. 29 - Literacy Night
Fri. Jan. 30 - Reading Incentive Pajama Day 
Feb. 9 & 10 - Parent Teacher Conferences
Thurs. Feb. 12 - Classroom Valentine Parties
Fri. Feb. 13 - No School 
Mon. Feb. 16 - No School  Presidents' Day

Valentine Mailboxes
Each child will be decorating a shoe box for our valentines.  Please send in a shoe box (and an extra if you have one) and put your child's name on the inside. Thank you!  

Estimation Jar Winner - Cam
Positive Paw Winner - Marifer 
New Student of the Week - Aidan

Math - This week we'll move on to topic 11, Three Digit Addition and Subtraction.   Fact Fluency, as you know, is very important.  Students who need to improve their subtraction accuracy and speed will have additional homework sent home to practice during the week.  Heads up for that paper to come home from time to time.  It doesn't need to be timed at home, just completed and returned as homework.  

Several good websites are listed on our classroom blog under Student Links (to practice math facts). Any of them are great practice.  

Website - This week we went on a new math site, Jonnie's Math Page, and the kids asked me to share the link.  It's also linked to our blog under Student Links.  It has tons of games to practice different math skills.

Social Studies - We'll begin the week with a review and chapter test over our unit Our Country Today.  We've been learning about our local, state, and federal government.  

Reading - We'll be doing a writing workshop this week and focusing on Opinion Writing.  We'll be reading Hey, Little Ant and I Wanna Iguana.  We'll learn how to write an opinion statement and support it with reasons and details.  Our final activity will be to write a paragraph after choosing our favorite canine character, Gloria or Aero.  

                    

Jan 19 - 23

Dates to Remember

Mon. Jan. 19 - No School  Martin Luther King b-day
Tues. Jan. 20 - Sign up online for Conferences
Fri. Jan. 23 - *  Progress Notes 
                          sent home with students not meeting grade
                          level expectations
                           *  PTO Trivia Night
Thurs. Jan. 29 - Literacy Night at Ide 6 - 7:30 pm
Fri. Jan. 30 -  * Pajama Day
                    * PTO Bunko Night

Parent Teacher Conferences
Conferences are held on an "as needed" basis.  If you receive an invitation email on Tuesday, Jan. 20, please follow the link to sign up at your convenience.  If you have any questions, let me know.  

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 or have a concern, feel free to contact me.  

Valentine Mailboxes
We will be decorating valentine mailboxes in a few weeks!  Each student needs to bring in an empty shoebox, preferably one with a separate lid.  Please write your child's name inside the box and send it anytime.  Thank you!

Math
This week we will be skip counting by different amounts using a number line as well as using patterns to identify the next number.  We'll also be comparing 3 digit numbers and we'll end the week with a topic review.  

Fast Facts - We will now move on to subtraction fast facts.  Continue to work on fact fluency at home with all the math facts.  Timed tests are given to the students weekly.  
This week's fast facts:     12 - 2       11 - 2       10 - 2       9 - 2
                                      8 - 2          7 - 2        6 - 2        5 - 2    

Reading
Our story this week is Officer Mike and Aero.  It is a nonfiction story about a police officer and his canine companion.  Our comprehension strategy is inferencing.  Grammar focus will be on prefixes and suffixes.  


Positive Paw Winners - Lindsy & Ashlyn

New Student of the Week - Alyssa

Estimation Jar Winners - Gage, Aidan, and Alyssa

January Birthdays - Alyssa  Jan. 4
                             Mikella - Jan. 29

Let It Snow!!

Dates to Remember

January 12 - 16 - Benchmark Testing ~ Reading and Math
Thurs. Jan. 15 - Vision and Hearing Screening
Fri. Jan. 16 - Early Dismissal  SIP Day
Mon. Jan. 19 - No School  MLK b-day
Thurs. Jan. 29 - Literacy Night at IDE  
Fri. Jan. 30 - 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'll continue our story, Officer Buckle and Gloria, this week.  We'll focus on summarizing, main idea, and contractions.   Students will also be taking the Benchmark Reading and Math tests this week.  Please be sure they get appropriate rest and eat a good lunch/snack this week.  

Math

Our week will begin with a new topic, Place Value to 1,000.  We'll begin by determining the value of a digit in a 3 digit number.  We will also read and write numbers to 1,000 and add tens and hundreds to a given number.  

Fast facts this week will be "Add 9".  After this week, we'll move to subtraction fast facts.  

Positive Paw Winner - Lindsy
Estimation Jar Winners - TJ and Filip

December 22 - January 9

I count it a privilege to work with these sweet kids each day.  They are such a great group!  Happy Holidays to all of you!  

Thank You to Mrs. Harvat for organizing a wonderful holiday party!  Thanks also to Mrs. Bende, Mrs. Jonuskas, and Mrs. Murphy for helping with games, ornament making, and treats.  We had a great afternoon!  

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!

Dates to Remember

December 22 - January 4 - No School  Winter Break

Mon. Jan. 5 - School resumes

Week of Jan. 5 - MAPS Testing 

Week of Jan. 12 - Benchmark Testing

Reading - We will begin a new unit in Reading, Neighborhood and Community.  Our first story is Officer Buckle and Gloria.  We will focus on main idea/details, and determining the story summary.  Our grammar lessons will focus on contractions.  

Reading logs for December should be returned on Monday, Jan. 5.  Our class has voted to have a popcorn party for everyone who returns a completed log.  I hope everyone can join us!

Math - We will review two digit subtraction when we return from holiday break and take a chapter test.  We'll then move on to our new topic, Place Value to 1,000.  

Continue to practice math facts at home.  This week's fast facts will be +8 (again).  Many of the students had not mastered these facts when they were tested mid December, so we will be working on them again.  Students should no longer be counting on their fingers.  It's important that they memorize the facts.

New Student of the Week -  Aleck

Positive Paw Winner -  Joseph

Happy Holidays

Dates to Remember

Monday, Dec. 15 - *  Holiday Caroling at Fairview
                                      Village   Bring a sack lunch today!
                               *   Wear a Santa Hat if you have one!
                               *   Holidays Around the World

Tuesday, Dec. 16 - Early dismissal  12:00

Dec. 17, 18 - More Holidays Around the World

Friday, Dec. 19 - Classroom Holiday Party  2:00 

Dec. 22 - Jan. 4 - No School  Holiday Break

Week of Jan. 5 - Benchmark Testing

Reading
During our reading block this week, all second grade students will take part in Holidays Around the World.  Students will have a chance to learn about how people in different parts of the world celebrate holidays.  Students will have a passport and travel to the different 2nd grade classrooms as they learn about holidays in Sweden, Poland, Mexico, Israel, and China.  Look for your child’s Holidays folder to come home on Thursday. 

Students should continue filling in their reading logs through the end of December.  Return them to school on January 5.  

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

Math
No Fast Facts this Week.
We will continue working with subtracting 2 digit numbers with and without regrouping.  We'll learn to use addition to check subtraction and finish the week by solving two question problems.  The students have really done well learning this difficult skill.  Thanks for your support at home.  It's important that parents check homework and give encouragement when needed.  

Mitten Tree

We will continue to collect hats, mittens, and scarves for our Mitten Tree.  Donations will be made to local families in need.  

Positive Paw Winner - Ashlyn
December Birthday - Ashlyn   December 17
Estimation Jar Winners - Gage and Lindsy

Stocking Stuffers - Many children could use new markers, colored pencils, dry erase markers, etc to start the new year!  If Santa is coming to your house, maybe you could tell him to add some supplies to your child's stocking!  

Have a wonderful holiday with your families!  

December 1 - 5

Dates to Remember

Dec. 11 & 12 - Holiday Shopping at Ide

Mon. Dec. 15 - Holiday Caroling at Fairview Village
                      * Bring a sack lunch

Fri. Dec. 19 - Holiday Classroom Party 2:00
                    Silly Sweater Day

Dec. 22 - Jan. 4 - No School  Holiday Break

Week of Jan. 5 - Benchmark Testing

Reading

We will conclude our Friendship unit this week by comparing several different texts.  We'll summarize our ideas and write an opinion piece about the special qualities we think are important to have in a friend.  

Our grammar lessons will focus on verbs, past and present tense. 

Math

This week we'll begin Subtracting Two Digit Numbers.  We'll start by using base ten blocks to decide if regrouping is needed.  We'll then move on to subtracting with and without regrouping.  We'll be explaining our steps and write story problems to match a number sentence.

Junior Achievement

Mrs. Jonauskas has been volunteering through the Junior Achievement program to teach the class about communities.  We've learned about different jobs, what it means to have a skill, and what a businesses does for the community.  We've done several fun activities.  Ask your child about it!

Science  

We have finished our unit on Natural Resources and will have a test on Monday. Your child brought home a study guide with vocabulary words highlighted. Please go over that information prior to our test.  

Positive Paw Winner - TJ
New Student of the Week - Marifer 
Estimation Jar Winner - Aleck

Mitten Tree  - Elizabeth Ide is collecting hats, mittens, and scarves for local families in need.  If you are able to donate items, please send them with your child to be added to our Mitten Tree in the library.  Thank you!