Patti Slade

March 9

Parents,

My last day before maternity leave is Tuesday, March 10.  I sent home a note in the agenda on Monday.  Mrs. Worth will begin with the class on Wednesday. I will return for visits during my maternity and bring in the baby for the class to meet the newest addition to our family. I will miss the class, but know they are in good hands.

A Few reminders:

If you would like to speak to Mrs. Worth before 7:50, please arrange a meeting ahead of time.  She will be getting to know the kids and has many duties that need to be taken care of in the morning. Meetings need to be arranged when students are at specials or after school. If you have a note in your child's agenda, please make sure your child is responsible to take the note to the teacher. If you would like to eat lunch with your child, please  meet us in the hallway by the cafeteria. Classroom instruction should not be interrrupted to meet us for lunch.  Students need to remain focused during instruction and having visitors un-announced impacts all the class. In the coming weeks, we will be practicing for the CRCT and the class needs very few interruptions to prepare for the "real thing" in April. Lastly, please be sure that transportation changes are made in writing and your child gives the note to the teacher immediately in the morning.  Lately, several students have had no note for after school changes.  Mrs. Worth may not have the time to call you and your child is not supposed to go to the office to use the phone.

My blog will be updated every two weeks.  Please check content for 4th quarter through the Cobb County website, using Picasso.

Thanks and please email me with any questions,it may take me a few more days than it used to respond, but I will do my best to pass along any questions you have to Mrs. Danielson and Mrs. Worth.

I want to thank you for supporting me this year as we move ahead to get ready for third grade. The class has made remarkable improvements in reading, writing, and spelling. With your continued support, each child will continue to succeed. I will miss the class, as well as the many parents that have helped me make this year a success.

March 3, 2009

Update:

As many of you have been asking, I wanted to let you know that my supply teacher, Sheri Worth, will be taking my position while I'm out to have the baby. The baby is due at the end of next week, I can't believe how the time has flown.  Tammy Danielson will still also be in the room with the class for the majority of the day. Routines and procedures that we have put into place this year will continue and be a smooth transition for the class. Please let me reassure you that during my absence your child will be taken care of and through technology, I will be able to stay in touch with you, Mrs. Danielson, and the supply teacher. With such a strong and dedicated second grade team, I know the supply teacher will be well cared for and guided through the curriculum.

Letter from Mrs. Worth:

Dear Parents,

          I am so honored to be taking Mrs. Slade’s place during her maternity leave.  Teaching has always been my deep passion. I am excited to meet the class and get started.   Before being a full time mother of two I spent six years teaching in various elementary grades.  I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Education with a minor in Early Childhood Education and a major in Elementary Education.  I hold a permanent valid teaching certificate in the state of New Jersey for grades K-8.  I am currently pursuing my certificate in Georgia.  I have been substituting in various Cobb County Schools since November. I also just completed a long term position in the second grade at Dowell Elementary.  I look forward to being a partner with you during the weeks ahead.  Please feel free to contact me anytime.  Sheri.Worth@cobbk12.org

                                                                                                  Sincerely,

                                                                                                   Sheri L. Worth

Math

This week we will be taking our pre-test to determine placement for the last quarter of the year.  We've been reviewing concepts of money, time, place value, and comparing numbers.  The end of the week and next week will be reviewing for our post-test for this quarter which will be next week.

Spelling:  Please continue to check nightly spelling homework for accuracy. Spelling test grades were much improved from last week.  This week we will not have spelling homework and instead are devoting time to writing a friendly letter and identifying its five parts.

Next week we will continue Sitton spelling.  We continue to look at spelling in all written work for accuracy.  If you see spelling errors at home for homework, please have your student make corrections before turning in assignments.

Writing

We will be working on our final persuasive piece of writing before beginning our last unit of writing which is responding to literature.

Science

We are wrapping up the Sun, moon and stars unit in preparation for our life cycles unit, which is our last science unit.  Again, our field trip was a good introduction to this unit.

Social Studies

Government and Human rights will be our focus for the next couple of weeks before going into Personal Finance, our last social studies unit.

Upcoming Dates:

March 10 - Chick-Fil-A Night

March 16 - Stevie B's Night

March 19 - Report cards go home

February 11, 2009

Thank you for attending conferences, it was wonderful to speak to each family individually.  I can tell that AR has been discussed with your child, we have kids always taking tests and at the media center.  Thank you!   Our AR moms reward students on Friday's.  As an added incentive, if your child takes and passes 6 tets by the first Fri. of March, I will give out a FREE HOMEWORK coupon!!

Math-We are busy measuring! The class has enjoyed the Mama Mia Pasta and the SIlly gummy worm activities.  Ask your child about the story of Mr. Three Feet too. Learning math and eating too!

Students need to be able to measure in inches, yards, centimeters, and meters.  We have been busy measuring lots around the room and seeing what is the best unit of measurment to use.  Next week, we will be measuring temperature and reviewing time. Please practice time at home, having an analog clock at home for your child to refer to is so helpful!

 

WRITING:

We are still working on our persuasive piece about animals.  We have put it in letter format this week.  The students are enjoying using fact and opinion in their writing. They did a great job on their research of their animals and have enjoyed using the resources.

SOCIAL STUDIES:

We're learning about Jackie Robinson, another Georgia hero.  We examined the similarities between our lives and his and we also looked at the differences. 

SCIENCE:

We will be continuing our unit on the Earth, moon and stars and how they relate to each other.  Last week we learned about shadows and what causes the change of seasons. This week we are beginning studying the phases of the moon.  We even enjoyed making a model using oreo cookies.

Misc.

Valentine's- students should bring in Valentine's for the whole class on Friday, along with a decorated box. We will exchange and have an activity at the end of the day with a few of our moms.

On Tuesday, your child brought home a permission form for a field trip to a park in Austell.  This is a science program for the life cycles of plants, a part of our curriculum.  The program is done by Parks and Recreation. The cost is only $2.00 for the buses.  We will either bring lunches or purchase sack lunches from the Still Cafe.  Please return the envelopes and permission forms by Feb. 20th.  The trip is planned for March 2th. 

Just a quick reminder:  The Six Flags reading logs will be due Feb. 17th, the LAST day to turn them in. If you lost it, just write on paper each time your child reads and initial the times.  They must add up to 600 minutes.

 

Jan.24

Parents, OOPS I forgot to send home behavior sheets on Friday.  I had collected them to grade but did not pass them out.  Students will be taking them home on Monday.  We will do treasure box on Monday too.  We had extra recess Friday due to nice weather and we did not have time for treasure box.  I think they class enjoyed the extra time outside instead!

Due to early release next week, we will not have spelling words for the week.  Students will have spelling homework Monday- Thursday.  Please check your child's homework for accuracy each day. Homework is a practice of what we learned and if your child is struggling with writing sentences, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation, please have your child correct his/her mistakes before returning the assignment. I am seeing a huge difference in writing good descriptive sentences from most of the class, but mis-spelling of words being used, still continues.

Conferences begin at 12:40.  I have a very tight schedule with lots of information to share with each parent in only 20 minutes.  If we run short on time, please let me know if you would like to set up another conference at another time. The district is taking a poll during conferences on whether you would prefer Oct. or Jan. conferences for future school years. There will be also be a short written survey after the conferences that can be turned into the front lobby area, near the water fountain and attendance office.  Please drop off your forms there after your scheduled conference.

Thank you to Ethan's mom for donating a supply of colored pencils and SHARPENED pencils for the class!  Students will be able to check out colored pencils from me to use as needed.  Several students still need their own scissors and glue sticks, please send new supplies in with your child so they are prepared in class.

See you next week!

Week of Jan. 20th

ACADEMICS

MATH:

We have been working on fractions and will be beginning place value of 3-digit numbers this week.  We continue to do timed tests on basic addition and subtraction.  Please continue to work on these facts daily with your child.  We re-visit time and money often in RAP so I would appreciate your continued work at home with these concepts.

WRITING:

We started our persuasive writing unit this week beginning with fact and opinion.  We are using opinion words such as "believe, feel, think and should" to state our opinion.  If a statement can be proven, then it is a fact.  For our next writing piece, we will be choosing an animal that we would like for a pet and using facts to support our opinion of why the pet would be a good choice.

SCIENCE:
The Earth, moon and stars unit is starting out to be a very interesting one for the students.  Ask your child about the constellation that he/she made.  This week, we watched a video called "Sunrise, Sunset".  We learned that the sun stays in one place and the Earth rotates around the sun.  That was a fascinating fact for many students.  This week we will be learning about shadows followed by the changing seasons.

SOCIAL STUDIES:

For the past 2 weeks, we have learned about Martin Luther King, Jr. and his nonviolent fight for equal rights.  We watched a video that took us through the major highlights of his life from boyhood on.  We learned how to take notes and had a grand discussion at the end of the video clip.  This week, we will begin learning about Jackie Robinson, another American hero from Georgia.  On Tuesday, we will watch the inauguration.

OTHER:

There is a Wellness letter from Mrs. Kim Roberto posted on Still's website.  You may access it from the front page under the wellness button to the left.  This topic is one that is now mandated by the federal government.

LUNCH & LEARN

There will be a Lunch and Learn on Positive Parenting held at Still on February 5 from 11:30-12:30.  There is a flyer concerning this in your child's Thursday Folder.  Please consider coming to this event.

AGRICULTURE DAY

There is a contest for Georgia Agriculture Day.  Students might win up to $200.00.  The theme is "Georgia Grown--A Better Choice".  Second graders may make a picture to show this theme.  Entries are due by January 29.  If you are interested, please send in a note and I will send home the information to you.

UPCOMING DATES:

JANUARY 19 - MLK holiday & STEVIE B'S NIGHT

JANUARY 26-30-Parent/teacher conferences; students dismissed 2 hours early each day.

FEBRUARY 4 - Early Release Day; students dismissed 2 hours early

Jan. 8

MATH

Click on the following link to access the 3rd quarter parent letter which states the concepts that will be taught for this nine weeks.

Download 3qparentletter

**Behavior sheets did not go home today because of the short week.  I will send home sheets Friday instead.  Please return behavior sheets Monday.

**Report cards, school-wide, will be sent home at parent teacher conferences the week of Jan 26-30. Mrs. Danielson and I look forward to discussing your child's progress!

Thank you to the many students that have brought in new supplies for the New Year.  In math, students will be using colored pencils daily/weekly as we discuss fractions. A small pencil sharpener at home and at school is a great item to have because we are always in need of sharpened pencils.

Week of Jan 6- Happy New Year

Welcome back!  Please sign up for my emails to go automatically to your inbox.  It's easy to use and that way I'm sure that everyone is getting the information that is posted.

Thank you all for the gifts and cards for the holidays! Your thoughfulness was much appreciated and enjoyed.  We had a great Christmas party.  Huge thanks for the parent helpers making breakfast easy and yummy. Thanks to Mrs. Rosenberg, Mrs. Wellbourne, and Mrs. Cook . We defintely needed the help for the waffle maker!

Note: Student supplies are very lo w.  Besides needing sharpened pencils daily, many students need erasers, colored pencils or markers, high lighters and scissors. I have supplied these itmes in the past, but they are missing or have been consumed from all the hard work we've done for 2 quarters.  Please send in replenished supplies as well as a daily snack for your child.  Before the break more students than normal were without snack and there is not enough to pass around without your help.  Thank you in advance.

Conferences:  Conference times are being scheduled early this week for Jan. 26-30 (Mon- Thursday from 12:40-3:30). Please email or write me a note immediately if you have a certain day or time you are requesting.  Students are dismissed 2 hours early all week  to allow parents to meet with Mrs. Danielson and I. Mrs. Danielson and I will be holding conferences together until 3:30.  Conferences will run 20 minutes.  If you have specific concerns you want addressed, please write me a note before conferences so that I can gather any infomation that may be needed.  There is lots to go over during the conference.

We have many, many students who have siblings here.  Arrangements are made with sibling teachers first to have parents come one time for back to back conferences.  After that, the remainder of the class slots are filled.  Please try to adhere to the time being sent home because it is difficult to schedule siblings and all other requests.

Math: Quarter 3 begins Tuesday. We will be reviewing money this week and counting back change up to $2.00.  Throughout the next nine weeks we are still focusing on money and time.  Many students are having difficulty with time.  Specifically when the hour hand passes the six, students are confused and choosing the wrong hour.  We go through this concept daily, but both time and money needs practice outside of the classroom.  Any extra assistance at home is welcomed. In the next few weeks we will begin fractions. Math tests are given throughout the week in addition, subtraction, time and money. New concepts like fractions, will typically be tested on Friday's.

Science/ Social Studies:  We will be inter-changing science and social studies each week. This week we will start with Martin Luther King Jr. and what contributions he made.  After that, we will be discussing/comparing Jackie Robinsons contributions.  Next week we will introduce the sun and moon.  We will begin with what are stars and constellations.  Hands- on activities will be coming home in science throughout the nine weeks!

Dec. 15

We will not be having a spelling test this week or spelling homework as usual.  Homework will be a review of concepts we've learned this quarter.  We are working on finishing up any second quarter assssments for the remainder of the week in all subject areas.

Mrs. Danielson and I want to wish you a happy holiday season.  We will miss our students, but look forward to seeing them in 2009!

Happy Holidays!

Dec. 11

Behavior sheets did not go home today.  The class will bring their sheet home Friday to be signed.  Please return Monday. 

Thanks

Week of Dec. 8

Acdemics:

Math we continue to assess the skills from last weeks blog this week. The end of the week students will take the post test for second quarter.  A review sheet will come home Wed. for homework.  Please practice counting back change, time, angles, edges, vertices, faces, Venn Diagrams,  and geometric shapes with your child.

Social Studies- A study guide will be going home for the test on Oglethorpe, Mary Musgrove, and Tomochichi on Tues. The test will be completed on Friday.  Students may take home textbooks and worksheets to aide then in the studying.

****Please have your child make a secret goodbye card for Ms. Fitzgerald.  Her last day is this Friday. 

REMINDER:  If you would like to receive emails letting you know when I have updated the blog, please look to the right of my blog page. There is a tab that says  Pages"receive email updates."  Click on the tab and simply enter your email(s)that you would like the blog to be sent to.  It will then ask you to verify that you are the one doing it and ask you to type in a combination of letters to secure that you are the one typing.  After that you need to go to your email and  click on the confirmation email.  Then you will receive the updates!

Other news:

Our school is collecting gloves and mittens for those less fortunate.  We have a bin in our classroom designated for these and the fifth grade student council members pick them up each day.  Please contribute if you can.  Thanks to those who have already done so.

At this time of the year, your child should have accomplished 40%  of their annual AR goal. Please stress the importance of your child selecting books on their AR level and taking tests.  Also, remind your child that they need to practice reading nonfiction AR books as well as fiction.

On Monday, your child will bring home a letter with a designated number to go online to practice for the CRCT. Yes, it is that time already!  Please let me know if you have any difficulty logging in with the  number assigned to your child.

Upcoming Dates:

December 8 - 12 - Scholastic Book Fair (2:30 - 6:00 each day)

December 9 - Chick-fil-a night and science night

December 18 - Holiday party (9:00 - 10:00) Please see note that went home Friday.

December 22 - January 6 - Winter break

Week of Dec. 1

News:

The class had a lot of fun during High Tech High Touch this week. It was a great culminating activity for the unit on Energy.  The hands -on activities were all really neat and the kids were very attentive to the scientist. We are all looking forward to the Nutcracker performance Friday.  Students were asked to dress nicely or this event. Our class Christmas is now up, the class is very excited and we will be making ornaments for the tree on Friday after the field trip!

Our student teacher, Ms. Fitzgerald is finishing her student teaching next Friday.  We would like to sen dher off with a card from each student.  Please have your child make a card for Ms. Fitzgerald for next Friday.  I will collect the cards and we will give all the cards to her before she leaves.  Ms. Fitzgerald will be coming back for a final farewell for our Christmas party on Dec. 18.

Academic Updates:

Math-We are continuing our study on Geometry, both studying plane and solid shapes. Venn Diagrams are being used along with this concept. We have been discussing the angles: obtuse, acute, and right.  We will have an assessment early next week on this. We even look at the clock hands and distinguish the kind of angle the hands are on as we review time daily.

Please review papers daily.  Students are bringing home math papers daily in their agenda to help you see what we are doing in class.  Students will be asked to tell the faces, edges and vertices of a variety of geometric shapes for Friday. As the quarter is coming to a close we still review money, time, comparing numbers, Venn Diagrams, as well as geometry.  There is a lot to be covered in math and we review each concept often to achieve learning ofthe information. The class will be taking a math post assessment test next week on all skills learned this quarter.  The following week, students will be pre-assessed on skills for the third quarter.

Writing and Spelling:

We have been focusing on action verbs and strong verbs this week.  I have been modeling good story writing using both strong verbs and adjectives. It's taken some time, but some students are beginning to use better words in their writing.  Please encourage students to carry over what they have learned to their spelling homework. When students stretch a sentence, they should think to add descriptive words and strong action verbs to the sentence.  I am looking for good second grade sentences when turning in work.  Please help assist your student use the skills they are taught in class. You'll be surprised how clever they are!

Social Studies:

We have finished reading about James Oglethorpe and have begun our graphic organizer to begin writing in our American Heroes Journal. A Social Studies study guide will be coming home next week to help prepare for the test upcoming. We have done lots fo discussions on him and his contributions to Georgia. They are doing a great job remembering him along with Mary Musgrove, and Tomochichi.