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May 9

                  Welcome to the Caterpillar Blog!

                 We’re looking forward to performing for you on Tuesday, although we still have a lot of work to do. (Some students still don’t know their lines!) Please help your child to learn, not only his or her own lines, but also the lines that come before them.  That will be their clue to speak. We will be working on that at school as well tomorrow and Monday.  We will start promptly at 8:30 Tuesday morning.  Don’t be late!

Field Day was a big success again this year.  Everyone seemed to have a good time.  The weather was perfect and we were busy all day.  Were your children as tired at the end of the day as I was??  If you haven’t yet seen some of my pictures, scroll down after reading this blog.

Our class was well represented in the second grade spelling bee today by Max Pool and Tatiana Henriksson, both very good spellers.  They did a great job and Tatiana was the runner up of the whole thing.  Congratulations, Tatiana!

Thank you so much to all of you who have sent in items for our auction.  The children are getting pretty excited about it.  After the play, I’ll put all the items out so the children can see and decide what they might want to save for.   

Reading/Writing:  We’ll be spending most of our Language Arts time working on our Bare Books.  It takes a lot of work to write a book!!   We’ll also do some more reading about Australia.

Phonics/Spelling: Spelling Unit 30, our last unit………Students may need lots of practice with Georgia and Marietta!

Math: If we can get far enough along in our books, we’ll go back to the Smart Board for some fun math games.

Social Sciences: Australia

Dates to Remember:                                                        

                    May 13  Class Plays   8:30am

                  May  14  Book Report Due

                    May 15  2^nd Grade Awards Day   8:15 am   (Note time change) 

                                     Reading logs due                                                                                                                                                                                        

                 May 23  Last Day of School!

                              

Specials Rotation:  Music     Music     PE     PE     Art                  

Helper Parent:    Monday:  Charmaine Roberts

                      Wednesday:  Ginger McCoy

Story Parent:  Susanne Geldart

                          Have a great weekend!                                             

Field Day Fun !!

Here are some pics from our morning Field Day Activities!

5/2

Welcome to the Caterpillar Blog!

Our days just keep getting busier and busier!  We’re trying to practice at least one of our plays each day.  We also have a lot of writing to do in order to fill up our Bare Books!   We’ll have time for two more class spelling bees next week, as we try to determine our best spellers who will represent our class in the Second Grade Spelling Bee next Thursday.   Plus, we have Field Day next Wednesday!  We haven’t done much with Australia, just yet, but we will!  (I’m just not sure when!)

I’ll be sending home a paper tomorrow explaining a behavior management plan that I like to implement during the last weeks of school.   Please take a look at it.  I hope you’ll be able to help.

Also, look for a flyer mid week next week explaining our plans for the last week of school.

I’ve told the students, that I’ve decided to combine April and May reading logs.  That last reading log will be due Thursday, May 15.

Today, I gave the end of the year math test—a very, very long test (63 questions over 8 pages front and back!) that covered everything that was taught this year.  Every single child in the class got and E or a G!!   I can’t wait to tell them tomorrow morning!   You won’t see this test as it has to go in their portfolio that stays at the school, but you can believe them when they tell you how well they did!!

Reading/Writing:  Pretty much the same as this week……..We’ll have silent reading every day.  I’ve told the children to bring their biography book to school so they can take advantage of that time.  We’ll also be writing, for our Bare Books. We will finally begin to enjoy books by Mem Fox,a  wonderful Australian children’s author.

Phonics/Spelling: Spelling Unit 29

Math: We’ll be practicing some problem solving types of problems and get into a little bit of division next week.

            Mad Facts: x8s

Social Sciences: Australia

Dates to Remember:                                                        

                    May 7    Field Day

                    May 8   Second Grade Spelling Bee   8:15

                    May 9    Field Day Raindate 

                   May 13  Class Plays   8:30am

                  May  14  Book Report Due

                    May 15  2^nd Grade Awards Day   9:15 am    

                                     Reading logs due                                                                                                                                                                                        

                 May 23  Last Day of School!

                              

Specials Rotation:   Art    Technology    Field Day    PE     PE                  

Helper Parent:    Monday:  Susanne Geldart

                      Wednesday:  ?? Anyone want to help with our scenery?? 

Story Parent:  Sue Anderson

                          Have a great weekend!                                             

4/25

  Welcome to the Caterpillar Blog!

    Testing is over!  Thank you so much for helping your children       to get to school on time, be rested and prepared.  They all seemed to have had a good attitude and were very cooperative and attentive as we worked our way through the tests.  Behavior and patience were wonderful !

   Now, we can move on to more enjoyable activities.  Next week, we will begin working on our “Bare Books” which will not be bare when your children are finished with them!  We will also begin a wonderful unit on Australia. Play practice will take up a good bit of our time, as well.  Please, please help your children learn their lines!

Reading/Writing:  We’ll have silent reading every day.  I’ve told the children to bring their biography book to school so they can take advantage of that time.  We’ll also be writing, first the rough draft and then the final copy of each page in our Bare Books. We’ll begin to enjoy books by Mem Fox, a  wonderful Australian children’s author.

Phonics/Spelling: Spelling Unit 28

Math: We’re basically finished with math, with exception of 3-digit subtraction, a lot of review and some assessments.  There may be some homework, but probably not every night.

            Mad Facts: x7s

Social Sciences: Australia

Dates to Remember:                                                        

                        May 7    Field Day

                    May 8   Second Grade Spelling Bee

                    May 9    Field Day Raindate 

                   May 13  Class Plays   8:30am

                    May 15  2^nd Grade Awards Day   9:15 am

                  May 23  Last Day of School!

                              

Specials Rotation:   PE     Music     Music     PE     PE                  

Helper Parent:    Monday:  Janet Goolsby                                                                                                         

                      Wednesday:  Beth Wills                                                                                         

Story Parent:    Charmaine Roberts                           

                          Have a great weekend!                                             

4/17

Welcome to the Caterpillar Blog!

        Next week will be very different, of course, due to the CRCT testing.  Please try very hard to get your children to school on time.  Students will not be allowed into the classroom if testing has already started.  We have been told to start right at 8:00am.  Also, please make sure your child comes to school well-rested, well-fed, and in a good mood!  Then, your child will be as prepared as he or she can be to do his or her very best.   

        Your children have probably told you that we’re having another play—two actually!  We will perform “Bunny Rabid”, a humorous play about the food chain, and several “playlets” of Aesop’s Fables.  We also have a couple songs we’d like to sing for you.   Our plays and songs are tentatively scheduled for May 13 at 8:30am.  We hope you can come.  We will be practicing next week after we’re finished with our testing, so please help your child learn his or her lines. 

        In case your children haven’t said anything to you, I have told them that I’m retiring.  It’s no longer a secret!  I told them I’d see them again, probably when I sub in their third grade class.

       

Reading: Bring a book for silent reading

Phonics/Spelling:  None next week

Math:  We will continue to review early in the week.  There will be no new math lessons.

            Mad Facts: x10s

Social Sciences: We will have the Life Cycles test on Tuesday.

Dates to Remember:

                              April  23-25   CRCT Testing

                           May  7 Field Day

                           May  8  Second Grade Spelling Bee   8:15am

                           May  9  Field Day Raindate

                           May  13  Last Class Play      8:30am

                           May 14   Birthday Book Club

                            May  15   Second Grade Awards Day   9:15

                           May 23   Last Day of Second Grade!!

                             

                              

Specials Rotations:  PE    PE    Art    Technology     PE

Character Word:  Character (again!)

Helper Parent:    Monday:    Janet Risey

                    Story Parent:    Janet Risey

                                    

                          Have a great weekend!                                             

        Welcome Back After Break!

I hope you all had a wonderful break!  Ours was actually very relaxing!  (How different it is when the kids are gone!)   I do hope your children are ready to get down to work.  We have a lot to do in just six short weeks!!   For the next week and a half, however, we’ll be doing a lot of review.  Hopefully our Smart Board will cooperate (It was not responding to touch before break!).  I hope to use a lot of review games to help us prepare for the CRCTs.  We will not have spelling next week, but instead we’ll have a series of spelling bees. These will not only help to review for testing, but also help students practice for the second grade spelling bee on May 8.  (Two winners from each second grade class will compete.)                      

Reading/Writing: The Butterfly House by Eve Bunting   We will use this book for reading and writing mini lessons each day next week.  We’ll be visualizing, creating story maps, summarizing, and writing a reading response, among other things. 

Phonics/Spelling: No new spelling words or phonics lessons

Language Arts: We will continue to work on dictionary and thesaurus skills.

Math: We will finish the chapter on division this week (test on Tuesday or Wednesday), and then we’ll begin reviewing some of the more difficult lessons from the year, such as double and triple digit addition and subtraction.

            Mad Facts: x6s

Social Sciences: This week, as we continue our “Life Cycles” unit, we’ll focus on the butterfly, and then, we'll review the other life cycles we’ve studied.

Dates to Remember:                                                        

                    April 16   Birthday Book Club

                   April 23-25    CRCT Testing!    (Don't be late!!)

                   May 7    Field Day

                    May 8   Second Grade Spelling Bee

                    May 9    Field Day Raindate

                    May 15  2^nd Grade Awards Day   9:15 am

                              

Specials Rotation:  Technology   PE   PE   Music    Music   (I think)                                                                 

Character Word:  Character

Helper Parent:    Monday:            Please check your schedules.   

                                                                                    

                    Wednesday:      It appears I’ve left mine at school!                                                                                         

                    Story Parent:     ???                             

                          Enjoy your last day of break!                                             

3/30

        Welcome to the Caterpillar Blog!

At last the blog is back!      

Hopefully, class will be back to normal this week!  We will be reading a short novel for most of the week.  It’s somewhat challenging, vocabulary wise, but a wonderful lesson in how it feels when you’ve treated someone wrongly……..  I will try tomorrow to sign up for a library visit so your children can have books for vacation………My next blog may or may not be ready before vacation, so please let me wish you a wonderful week, wherever you may be.  When you get back, we’ll be racing to the end of second grade!   All of a sudden, time seems to be going way too fast!   

Reading: The Hundred Dresses

Phonics/Spelling: ng & ing endings, contractions, compound words

Math: We will finish multiplication and move into division this week.

Language Arts: We are going to focus on dictionary and thesaurus skills this week.

            Mad Facts: x5s

Social Sciences: We’ll continue studying our plants, as well as experimenting with them.  If the weather cooperates, we’ll take a hike to our habitat area and study the rotten logs, and the decomposers and fungi that cause them to rot.  We will finish this unit the week after spring break as we study the life cycle of the butterfly.

Dates to Remember:                                                        

                    April  5-13  Spring Vacation !!

                  April 16   Birthday Book Club

                   April 23-25    CRCT Testing!

                              

Specials Rotation:  Music     Music     PE     PE     Art

Character Word:  Accomplishment

Helper Parent:    Monday:  George Wilson                                                                                                

Story Parent:    Kathleen Wilson (Thurs.)

                                    

                          Have a great weekend!                                             

        Welcome to the Caterpillar Blog!

        I hope your children enjoyed the ballet last week.  It was really quite delightful, and I was very relieved since it was written as a romantic tragedy!  There was nothing tragic about what we saw, however, and I was very impressed with the way things were explained to the children and how their questions were answered.

        During the next 2 weeks, and, probably, after spring break, we’ll be reading several of Aesop’s fables.  If the children choose to, and I think they will, we’ll even present some of them for you.  If we do this, it will  be during the week after spring break. It will also be very impromptu, with the children being responsible for their own costumes and props. (minimal props—lots of imagination)  I’ll keep you posted.

      

Reading: Aesop’s Fables

Phonics/Spelling: oi, oy, spellings

Math:  After we finish Chapter 15, midweek, we will go to Chapter 22 to begin multiplication! 

Writing:  This quarter’s writing focus is on reading response.  We’ll begin working on that this week.  (Although, really, my students have had a good bit of practice through their blue folder writings.)

            Mad Facts: x3s

Social Sciences: We’ve been learning about Plant Life Cycles this week. Next week, during our Science time, teachers will be rotating to a new class each day (Monday through Thursday) to teach the class about a particular kind of animal Life Cycle. Children usually enjoy this!  We teachers do, too.

Dates to Remember:

                March 18  Volunteer Appreciation Tea  (12:19)   

                                             

18    Birthday Book Club    

23  Chattahoochee Nature Center Field Trip

                    April  5-13  Spring Vacation !!

                              

Specials Rotation:  PE    PE     Music     Music     PE

Character Word:  ??  I couldn’t find it!

Helper Parent:    Monday:  Jennifer Risey   

                     Wednesday:  Betsy Porter 

                                                                               

Story Parent:    Mary Pool

                                   

                          Have a great weekend!                                             

Welcome to the Caterpillar Blog!

        Welcome to March!  Suddenly, this year seems to be flying by!  It was a busy and different week this week.  I think everyone enjoyed Career Day.  Perhaps your children came home asking if you’d purchased any stocks for them to pay for their college???  Our first guest was a trader, among other things, like starting a vending machine business with his 6 year old son, and buying, renting, and maintaining duplexes! We also had a LtCol in the Air Force whose job was in intelligence—lots of interesting questions for him. We danced with a jazz instructor and visited a lady trucker and her rig. I think everyone enjoyed the day.

        Also this week, children learned and practiced the different jobs in a Literature Circle.  Hopefully, we’ll be able to use those lessons as we have our own Literature Circles in the coming weeks. (Some children are trying to organize their own book clubs!)

Important Notices:

       Please have your children wear their class T-shirts for our field trip on Monday.

       If “Reviews” are necessary, they will now be going home on Mondays, instead of Fridays.  Having the weekend gives me more time to look through all the papers, especially those that are turned in at the last minute on Fridays.

     Children will copy their own assignment sheets from now on. 

     Next week is the last week of this quarter.  Please remind your children to read and take AR tests, if necessary.

        Lucky Book Club order forms will be going home on Friday.  If you'd like to order any books for your children, please write a check to Scholastic Book Clubs and send it, along with your order, to school by next Friday. 

       On a personal note, I want to let you all know, before the “secret” leaks out, that I am planning to retire at the end of this year.  There are several reasons but first and foremost is that my husband and I want to be able to spend more time with our boys, my husbands’ aging parents, and other family members, all of whom live far away. I will miss having my own class, but I couldn’t possibly leave Sope Creek completely.  It’s been a part of my life for over 20 years!  I will be back substituting next year. That way, I can still teach, visit my friends, and see my former students. I do hope I’ll be seeing your children in some of those classes next year. I have not told your children, yet, and I would rather wait awhile—at least until after spring vacation, or perhaps even after CRCTs.  Please do let me know if your children find out, however, and I’ll make an announcement right away.  I would rather them hear it from me.

Reading: Grandfather’s Dream

Phonics/Spelling: ou, au, al spellings

Math:  Chapter 19 “Compare Greater Numbers” is very short.  We will begin this Friday and test on it next Tuesday or Wednesday.  Chapter 15, “Customary Measurement”, will follow.

            Mad Facts:  x 2s

Social Sciences: We will have 1–2 more days of Japan next week as we finish writing our Haiku, review and assess.   Then, we will begin a Science unit on Life Cycles.

Dates to Remember:

                March 10   Performing Arts field trip (class t-shirts!!)

15    Fun Run

18    Volunteer Appreciation Tea

                                    

9    Birthday Book CLub

                 April  5-13  Spring Vacation !!

                         

Specials Rotations: