2nd Grade - Brunson's Bulletin

Brunson's Bulletin

WELCOME BACK

We are back in  our routine and our days are running smoothly.  It is so nice to have your child back .  Everyone  seems  to of  had a relaxing break.

Thank you for a wonderful classroom party.  Our room parents , Mrs. Ballentine and Mrs. Cake ,did a fabulous job  coordinating that event. Thank you for the many donations  that were brought in  so that we could have a festive time.

 About 3/4 or our classroom completed the Winter Break Challenge.  There will be another one given out for Spring Break.    The following students met our  2nd grade challenge of reading  at least 9 AR books at 80% comprehension: Luke Ballentine, Evan Cole, Keegan Fabien, Asmina Mama, Morgan Maurer, and Lauren Spivey. 

ACADEMICS

Our third quarter begins with  3 digit addition with regrouping.  We will then go into 3digit  subtraction with regrouping .  Many of these skills build on  skills that were covered our last nine week period. 

In reading , I am trying to convey to students that their written answers need to have more details  included.  Many students  are showing great improvement in this area. This is such an important skill in 3rd grade also.

Our writing is  also revealing great gains.  Students are adding more descriptors to their writing and seem to be enjoying the whole writing process more. It is so exciting to watch their writing skills grow and grow.  The writing genre for this grading period is informational writing.   We will use our informational writing skills   for a project  later on in the grading period.

Our Social Studies  for this grading period is the civil rights  movement.  Students will be studying the Georgia Heroes, Martin Luther King and Jackie Robinson.

Please remember to keep ASP accounts updated.  If you have any questions or concerns, please notify Bonnie Baker , Julia Brought0n, or Becky Dodd.

A new reward program will be started for  Study Island.  This will be done school wide.  Currently our  top 5 blue ribbons  students for Study Island are: Moriah Hardy, Gianni Lugo, Sam Banks, Brian Dinh, and Kayla Nguku.

Mrs. Mills , Von's mother, has an appetizing blog that  will create a lot of fun in your kitchen.  kitchenfunwithmythreesons    You will be amazed at all of the creative  recipes.

The timelines are some of the  best  I  have ever seen. What a creative classroom of students!!!!

Thank you for turning those in on time. 

SPECIAL EVENTS

January 23  Otter's Chicken

February  2  Family Night at Publix

 

Brunson's Bulletin

 The days are winding down before the holidays. Students are so excited about the up coming holidays.  Please remember  to get your child in bed early this week.  We have  benchmark testing in Math, Language Arts, and Science.  

In Language Arts we have begun to study the skill of inference.  We are also working on how to response to literature in our writing.

Our High Touch High Tech program was very informative. Students have a good grasp on forces, motion, and energy now .  Remember that  the Science benchmark test will be given  on Thursday. 

I received such good reports on the behavior of our classroom when I was out for surgery.  Your children did an awesome job on keeping on track.

Our holiday party is Thursday, December 21st at 8:15-9:15.  Please help out with donating items for our party if you can.  Mrs. Ballentine and Mrs. Cake have been working very hard to plan our special celebration.  They have also done a  wonderful  job with coordinating our holiday ornaments.  The students will have some wonderful ornaments to take home.

The Santa's Workshop was a huge success. Thanks to all that participated

December 13  Still  Barnes and Noble Night and West Cobb

December  21  Holiday Party

December 23- January 9th  Winter Holidays

January  10th  Students return to school to start our 3rd nine weeks

 

Brunson's Bulletin

Subtraction is coming along in all classes.    Our main problem seems to be subtraction facts.  Many students are making careless mistakes on simple facts.  Please remember to review these at home also.

In reading we are now working on main idea. This can be a difficult skill and one that we will work on all year.  Please continue to read every night .

We have finished studying Tomochichi and James Oglethorpe.   We learned that these two men  were very important in  the early beginnings of our state.We know that Oglethorpe started the first Georgia colony ,Savannah, with the help of Tomochichi.  Today we discussed another important person who help start the first colony.  Mary Musgrove, an interpreter, helped  Tomochichi and Oglethorpe communicate with each other. 

I enjoyed talking with everyone at conferences.  Thank you for the goodies that were sent in to make my week easier. 

The Fall Festival is this Friday.  Our class has the spooky haunted house.  Please get in touch with Mrs. Ballentine if you are able to volunteer.  If you have never been to one of Still's Fall Festivals, you are in for a real treat.

Square  1  Art  orders are due Friday, Nov 11. Please place white payment envelope in the black box in the front lobby.

The Veteran's Breakfast is this Friday also. Invitations were sent out earlier.  If you are still interested, please let the front office know.

 Special Events

Nov    11              Veteran's  Breakfast

Nov  11                Fall Festival

Nov  16                Stevie Bs Night

Nov  21-25         Thanksgiving Holidays

Dec   1                  Science Night

 

 

Brunson's Bulletin

In math we are working on strategies for learning subtraction facts. We will be going into subtraction with regrouping very soon. This is a difficult skills for many students.

The book reports are fabulous!!! They are displayed in our classroom for your viewing during conference week. We are presenting them in class and hopefully students will learn some new books to read from their peers. The book reports also go along with our writing focus this 2nd 9 weeks--- response to literature.

Our Creek presentation was very informative and FUN. I hope you learned more about the Creek Indians from your child.

Our Performing Arts trip is this Friday on composer Gershwin.

I am looking forward to conferences next week. I can't wait to tell you about the wonderful things happening in our classroom. Your children have worked very hard this 9 weeks. They are in the routine of 2nd grade and making great progress.

Mrs. Ballentine did a great job facilitating our pumpkin decorating for the media center.. We now have an out of this world pumpkin. Come by the media center to see it displayed.

We have 8 students that met the reading challenge of 6 books with 80% or more accuracy. Those students are: Evan C., Luke, Skyler, Keegan, Moriah, Von, Morgan, and Elijah. I know everyone can reach their challenge goal this grading period. Remember students need to read 9 books this time ( one book a week ) Mrs. Cake has done a great job of being our AR parent and encouraging students to READ.

Special Events

Oct 24-28 Conference Week Early dismissal Remember to check out the Book Fair

Nov 2 Make up picture day

Nov 11 Fall Festival and Veteran's breakfast

 

 

 

 

Brunson's Bulletin

Our PTA performance is tonight.  Please have your child dressed in red, white, and blue.  I am sure it will be a great performance.  

Pleases remember to return all Performing Arts forms.  Many, many are still missing.  Your child will not be able to attend an off campus performance until  permission is granted.   A  field trip form was sent home in your child's Thursday folder.  Please look over this and return as soon as possible.

We are reviewing all math skills for this 9 week grading period.  Please remember to review subtraction and addition facts  also. 

In reading we revisited cause/effect relationships  with an emphasis on relationships in matter.  Students seem very busy with their book reports.  I can't wait to see them when they are due October 17th.

We are learning a lot  about matter through science experiments.   Students are so curious about  matter and how it changes.

We are finishing up with this 9 week grading period.  Conference forms will be sent home Monday.  If you are unable to attend on the time and date listed,  please send the form back and  I will get back to you  as soon as I receive all forms.

Important Dates

Oct 6  PTA performance

Oct 17  Book Reports due

Oct  12   Field Trip forms due

Oct  19  In house Creek Indians field trip

 

 

 

 

Brunson's Bulletin

In reading we are studying problem-solution. Please continue to read with your child nightly. Many students are struggling with fluency rates.   Fluency rates are  reading the way you talk.READ. READ, READ!  The  most important  homework your child has is reading every night. Here are some questions you can ask your child while they are reading:  Who are the main characters?   Where is the setting?  Is there a problem in the story?  How do you think the main character is going to solve the problem?  Could  the main character  solved his problem differently? Can you name a cause/ effect relationship in the story?

On the weekly sort test, I am taking a spelling grade and a phonics grade.  You may see two grades  on  this test.  A spelling grade at the top and a phonics grade on the bottom where the  students are to sort the words correctly by writing them under the correct heading.

In math we have begun addtion with regrouping of two digit numbers.  Students seem to be  understanding the concept of regrouping ones as tens when a number is more than 9.  Please continue to work on addition facts.

We will take our Social Studies benchmark tomorrow.  Study guides were sent home today in the Thursday folders.   This concludes studying  the regions,  rivers , and  how the Creek and Cherokee lives.  We will begin Science on Monday by  looking over what is MATTER.

In writing we finished studying the 5 stages of the writing process.  We have many great writers in this class as I stated at Open House.  Next week we will discuss how to add juicy color words  and other adjectives to our writing to make our writing more interesting.  We will be writing a personal narrative.

We have collected many, many cereal boxes.  One more is needed so that every students has one for their book report.   Information concerning the book reports requirements  will be distributed next week.  Don't worry.  Your child will understand the requirements. 

Information about the new Study Island program was sent home  giving you an ID  and password .Many students  have already checked this program out at home. 

Star reading levels and  AR test information  were sent home this week also. Remember--- students need to read and take at least 6 AR tests for this grading period.

Up coming events and activities

October 6 2nd grade PTA 6:30

October 24-28  Conference week

Brunson's Bulletin

Thanks for being so patience with  my blog problems.

We had a wonderful Open House .  I enjoyed talking with you and meeting those who I haven't met before.

In math we  have moved on to counting money and addition with regrouping.  Our experience with place value will help with regrouping.  It is important for students to be able to explain the process of addition not just perform the algorithm.

Our reading groups have started .  Students are becoming  acquainted with the workshop process  when others are in reading groups.  They are gaining independence by working on material when others have my attention.   

We have learned so much about Georgia  in just a few weeks.   Students know what region they live in and that Georgia has 7  major rivers.  We will now be moving into the Creek Indians life and how they impacted our state.

I will be emailing a Thursday Tidbits  every week.  Hopefully, this will keep us all updated.  Blogs will continue to be posted for further information.

Please remember to sign and return the Thursday folder with the signed Behavior sheet inside. It is always a good idea to   check over your child's homework to  make sure the assignment was completed correctly.

Special Events

Sept  13  Picture Day

Sept   15  Ident-A-Kid

Oct      6   2nd grade PTA performance