February 3, 2020 Dear Parents, Wow! The past two months have been a whirlwind! The biggest hurdle was making sure everyone finished the School City end of term posttests by last Thursday (Everyone did!) and the 2nd semester pretests. (Five still need to finish, but we have until the end of this month.) Another big challenge was trying to teach my class how to do 3-digit subtraction where you have to regroup twice. I tried helping some in a small group setting, but the majority of the students couldn't do it on their own, so I kept having to teach the whole class going over and over the process step-by-step. They'll have to know how to do this for the next math benchmark test, so I'll make sure to review it with them periodically.
Last week, the Hogle Zoo came and did a presentation in all the 2nd grade classes. Each table was given a tub full of objects and pictures such as jars of soil, casts of animal tracks, animal pelts, feathers, and branches. The students had to take on the role of a scientist and sort everything according to what environment in Utah it came from - the wetlands or the desert - using all their senses (except for taste). It was a great exercise, and everyone enjoyed the visit!
Don't forget we'll be having SEP conferences next Monday and Tuesday. Please sign up for a conference time if you haven't already.
Thanks for the Clorox wipes donations! If you still want to send some in, that would be great - we could always use some more!
Lastly, some of you may have heard that I might retire at the end of the year. I wish it were true, but it's not. I'll be around a little longer - at least until I'm 105 or 106 or so. (Your child may have told you I'm 104:-D)
November 26, 2019 Dear Parents, I humbly apologize for not posting in a long while! My goal was to update my newsletter at the end of each month, but it was so hectic on Halloween that I didn't have the energy. Every week after that seemed to be crazy as well, so I kept putting it off. Finally I have some time on this short day before our Thanksgiving break as I still have my night class to look forward to later on this evening!
Last week was a lot of fun as we got to do some experiments with gravity. Hopefully, students will remember that most objects, no matter the size, will fall at the same rate on Earth except things that are so light that they can be blown away by the wind such as a tissue or a feather. A key factor we learned was that gravity can be affected by air.
We have five students who consistently win prizes every week for having the most reading minutes in grades K-3 in Road to Success Utah. Congratulations to Summer, Morgan, Hallie, Everett, and Jaden! Now I know a lot more students in our class put in quite a few reading minutes, but for one reason or another they don't get to log their minutes in RTSUtah. I was hoping they could add their minutes taken from their weekly planner pages while they were on their Chromebooks. Unfortunately, we've had a lot of our Chromebooks taken away for repairs - 16 out of 28 in fact! We have no idea when we'll be getting them back. Now I'm thinking of doing it for those who don't have their Chromebooks, but I don't have everyone's login information. Next week, I'll be sending home the original RTSUtah login instructions. There's a place on it where you're supposed to write down the password after getting on initially. If you can just write down your child's username and the new password, I'll go ahead and help add his or her minutes. Hopefully, many more students will be able to earn some prizes!
I have to tell you that, even though there are days when the class just drives me crazy, I absolutely love my students! Last Tuesday our second grade team had our bi-weekly collaboration meeting, so we were gone the first two hours in the morning. During the meeting and much to my surprise, I started missing my class! when I walked back in my room at 11 o'clock, a lot of students ran up to me and gave me a big hug as if they hadn't seen me in a long time! It was very heart-warming:-)
Wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving! Until next time!
October 2, 2019 Dear Parents, Thanks for coming to SEPs last week! I enjoyed meeting each and every one of you and letting you know how your child's doing after six weeks of school. This is definitely a lively bunch!
During Back-to-School Night, I told you about ClassDojo and how there would be a drawing for prizes at the end of each month for students who earned the most points. Yesterday, we had our first drawing. I decided to be more generous, and I told the class that everyone who had at least 75% positive points could be in the drawing. When I looked at their percentages, only one student was just below the mark, so I said that just this one time, I would let him be in the drawing. I pulled the names of fifteen students. You could've heard a pin drop! Congratulations to everyone for making their goal this month!
This week's "I Can" statement is I can tell how an animal's body features help it survive in its environment. Monday and Tuesday we learned about penguins and how they have blubber and two layers of feathers to keep them warm in their icy habitat. We also learned that they do not live in the North Pole but in South Pole and areas in the southern parts of South America, Africa, and Australia. Wednesday and Thursday, our focus is on bats and how they use echolocation to find their food. It's been a fun unit!
Please continue to record your child's reading minutes on Road to Success. As of last Wednesday, we had six students in the top 10% of the school with the most reading minutes. They are Everett Archibald with 530 minutes, Summer Scott with 425 minutes, Hallie Thomsen with 320 minutes, Morgan Bugni with 305 minutes, Jaden Winn with 215 minutes, and Eva Carter with 170 minutes. Congratulations to these students! Keep it up!
Please come to our first Cultural Night tomorrow from 5:30 to 7 PM. We'll be starting out with dance performances representing the cultures of Latin America, Ireland, Polynesia, and Native American. There'll be a lot of displays to see as well as some fun arts and crafts including Origami, dream catchers, and Chinese calligraphy. Come hungry and check out the food trucks which will be serving Mexican and Polynesian cuisine! It should be a great evening!
August 19, 2019
Dear Parents, It was nice meeting many of you at our Back-to-School Night last Thursday! If you haven't already done so, please have your child return the Student Registration card, the green sheet for volunteers, and the yellow "Tell Me about your Child" page.. Please read the Student Registration card carefully and correct or add any information, and then sign at the bottom. On the backside, please sign each of the 7 sections.
The first day of school went by incredibly fast! We got a lot accomplished, especially going over classroom and recess procedures as well as taking some pretests to see what they know coming into second grade. We also did a few fun activities including some singing and one that helped students get to know each other a little better.
Thank you for all the donations of schools supplies! The wipes and tissues are especially welcome! I'll provide crayons and gluesticks to anyone who doesn't have them. We do have a class set of scissors, so students don't have to bring their own unless they want to. Some students brought in their own homework folders today. I'll be putting their names labels on them tomorrow as well as the Return and Stay Home stickers.
The first Weekly Planner page will be sent home starting next week.
It's going to be a great year! Thanks for the privilege of being your child's teacher!