Shhhh… It’s a surprise!  This Thursday, the children will get “homework” that they will take home to read.  This “homework” will invite the children to a Polar Express party!!!  The children will get an invitation and a ticket.  Please have the children bring their ticket back to school on Friday!  We will have the conductor punch their ticket to enter the show!  The children will also be invited to wear pajamas to the party.  They can also bring a small blanket or towel to sit on.  We will be watching the Polar Express throughout the day, and we have some special treats of popcorn, hot chocolate and peppermint sticks for the children to enjoy!  We are really excited to share this fun day with the children!

Given that this week is a busy week, filled with many fun activities, we are not going to have spelling words, or focus on any new skills.  Instead, we will use the time to revisit some previous skills that were challenging to the children.

In the afternoon, the second graders will be rotating through three different activities, in all three second grade classrooms.  They will be learning about ice crystals, building catapults and mixing up some potpourri.  This should be a great experience for the children.

Last week in Wonders we read about force and motion in our reading groups.  As a fun culminating activity to this, we reviewed what we had learned about force, motion, friction and gravity.  Using what they had learned, the children created a sleigh for Santa, that could travel on the ground.  The children had to take into account the friction that both the ground, and the materials they chose, would create.  It was fun to see how they applied what they had learned in the creation of their sleighs.

Mrs. Wright brought in some beautiful paper white bulbs to share with the class.  We planted the bulbs, and have been observing their growth, since then.  The children have been excited to measure and record the growth of these bulbs.  We are hoping to see some blooms, before Winter Break.

The Candy Cane Calamity was a fun STEAM challenge, where the children had to create a package that would protect a candy cane from a drop.  The children were very thoughtful with their designs, and we had several successful designs.

I have set-up a sign up genius for parent/teacher conferences.  If you cannot find a time that works for your schedule, I am more than happy to find another time that works for you.  I have scheduled conferences for a half an hour.  If you feel like you need additional time, please either sign up for multiple slots, or let me know, and we will set-up a longer time that works for you.  I am so excited to share the wonderful progress that our second graders are making. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.  Thank you.

Yesterday, we started practicing telling time.  The children started with identifying the hands on a clock.  Next, we practiced telling times to the hour.  Today, we started moving on to the half hour.  I had the children do some physical movement to feel their body making a full turn around, a half turn around, and we even attempted the quarter turns.  The children used their arms like the hands on a clock, to demonstrate how they travel around the clock.  This was a pretty difficult task for many.  Any opportunity that you have at home for the children to read a clock, would be really helpful.  If you are looking for a holiday present idea, a clock would be a great idea… 🙂  We will continue to practice telling time to the hour, half hour, and quarter hour.  Some children have moved on to practicing time to the minute, and figuring out elapsed time.

This week, in addition to the following, we will be working on contractions.  We will be practicing replacing a vowel with an apostrophe.  The kids have practiced with the word, “is” and “not”, thus far.  We have also moved on to identifying verbs in a sentence.  The children have been pretty solid with identifying and writing nouns.  I have been impressed with how well the children have been able to identify verbs, that don’t show an obvious “action”.  Finally, we will be throwing in some additional practice with plural nouns.  This proved to be a difficult task for many.

As you are probably aware, the practice Evacuation Drill has been rescheduled for tomorrow.  We will be leaving the classroom, like a fire drill, and practicing walking to a secure location.  We will do our best to grab all of our jackets on the way out the door.  However, our primary goal is to get out of the building in a timely manner.  Please make sure that your second grader is prepared for a walk outside.

Thank you to Mrs. Bingham for getting us set-up with a theme basket theme.  Our class theme this year is LEGOs.  Please feel free to send in ANYTHING LEGO.  This can include lego sets – both boys and girls, storage containers, lego tape, figures, etc.  This is a really fun theme, and I am excited to see our basket all together.  You are welcome to send in donations at any time.  We will be collecting through January 19th.  Thank you, in advance for supporting the PTA, and our children.