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When you are eating your Halloween candy, or maybe just throwing it away, please save the wrappers for us. We will be using them for a writing activity the first week in November.
If you would cut them so that the name of the candy is visible it would help save time.
Thank you.................Linda
Hi Everyone,
I forgot to mention in the blog about an extra math program we are doing with the second grade. It is called Academic Math League. We did it last year and came in first in the country!!!!
Anyway, it is an online math league where problems are sent to us to print out. The children work on these 3 times during the year. Scores are sent to the company and they keep track of how well everyone does.
A form is coming home today. Please sign it and return by Monday. I will only be using your child's first name, as we have no repeating names. You can use the website on the form to check scores of your child once we get started.
Linda
What a wonderful performance we all experienced on Wednesday!!! Thank you for coming and for helping your dragon memorize their part. Did you receive a copy of our November plays? They came home today. Note that the date is the Thursday before Thanksgiving at 8:30am. We had some families leaving town the next week, and I wanted to include all. Our first practice will be Thursday.
In math this week we will finish unit 7 on addition and then move into the first 3 lessons in unit 10, as they are on addition also. Our timed tests will change next week, as we will end addition with 100 problem addition timed tests. The dragons will have 7 minutes to do 90% or more of the 100 problems. We will start on Monday and continue through Thursday.
Since it is Halloween week, we will read Swamp Monsters and learn about pronouns. There will be no Wednesday Reader on Wednesday....Happy Halloween.
We will visit the computer lab on Monday to work on Cornerstone and then visit the library on Tuesday. The computers in our room are wonderful. Did you notice them when you were in the room on Wednesday? Having the days divided for students to take AR tests is working well. Each student needs at least one test a week. Ask your dragon which day they test.
Fire Safety will continue this week. Our fireman will take us to the Fire House on Friday. During this visit, we will learn how to escape a burning house.
Academic/Behavior reports begin again on Monday. 
Have a great weekend.
Linda Dressel
We have been rehearsing for our first production next Wednesday, October 24th. Most everyone knows their part, but really needs to work on expression and loudness of voice. This is the first time that the Dragons have performed, and I appreciate all of the extra help that you are providing them. We talked again individually about costumes, and all seem to know what they are wearing. They are to bring their costume to school the day of the play. We will see you at 8:30am, and please feel free to bring relatives, if they are available.
We all seemed to enjoy our field trip to New Echota. Our guide was very knowledgeable and taught us many things about the Eastern Woodland Indians, especially the Cherokees. Thank you to Sydney for being our volunteer during our visit!!! A special thank you to Mr. Shockley, who drove all the way out to New Echota to take pictures of us. How could we forget Mrs. Newhouse, our chaperone and all of the snacks she brought us? We will continue for the next few weeks with our study of the Native Americans from the Eastern Woodlands area and the Plains. This will tie into our study of Plymouth.
Unit 7 in math continues our regrouping of addition, so we will move through it quickly, as most are understanding the concept well. Do remember to help your child with their timed tests, as scores have gotten much lower and children seem not to be studying their facts. As you know, this is the most important part of math.
I will be out of town for the next few days, so I will not be available for emails until Sunday. Hope that you have a great weekend. Hope that many of you will participate in the Foundation's Bingo Night on Friday. It really sounds fun. Linda Dressel
Happy Columbus Day!!!!! We started practicing for our plays yesterday. Started a little rusty, but today went much better. Most everyone knows their lines PRETTY well, but please keep up the practice. The children are in need of working on expression and loudness of voices. We will see you on the 24th for our first big production!!!!
Next week is a very busy week. In social studies we will begin our study of the Native Americans. The hook for this unit will be a field trip to New Echota. Our class will go on this trip on Tuesday. We will leave the school at 9:00 and return around 2:00. Children may buy a sack lunch from school or bring a lunch from home. (in a throw away sack only) Mrs. Newhouse is our volunteer for the trip, and Mr. Shockley is kind enough to drive up to New Echota and take pictures of the class. The Dragons have the best parents!!!!
On Wednesday we have Early Release Day. During the afternoon hours, the school will be receiving our new computers. We will then have 3-4 up and running computers in our class room!!! At that point, we will be doing Accelerated Reader tests in our class. This should start the week of October 22nd. This will allow us to spend more time in the computer lab on our Cornerstone Grammar Program. Starting October 22nd, students #1-5 will test AR on Mondays, #6-9 on Tuesdays, # 10-13 on Wednesdays, #14-17 on Thursdays, and # 18-21 on Fridays. What this means is that on your assigned day you must have an AR book on your list in your notebook ready to go. I will now start keeping individual records of these, and everyone must take at least 1 test a week.
Hope that your dragon is having fun reading their Halloween book report. These are due on the 17th. Remember no Wednesday Reader this week because of the book report. Don't forget to record your book on the reading log for October.
I just got information from Mrs. Newhouse that the gift wrap orders are coming in next Wednesday TOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Yikes!!!! They will be delivered to our classroom that day. Please pick yours up before or after school on Thursday or Friday next week. They will be labeled. Thank you for your support with this project.
Monday is the last day of the grading period. Report cards will be coming home on Monday the 22nd.
Have a great weekend. Linda
Have you seen the class pumpkins? They are all on display in the media center. All will be auctioned off on Saturday at our Octoberfest. Hope to see you all there. Don't forget to bid on the teacher outings. This too will benefit the Foundation.
We will start practicing for our play on Tuesday. Please make sure that your Dragon knows their entire part.
Can you believe that report cards are coming home on October 22nd? The school year just flies by.
In math next week we will begin unit 6. This skips unit 5, which we will come back to later. Our timed tests are on the +8's. Our social studies unit on landforms will end with a study on communities. We will introduce possessives and continue to work on topic sentences, detail sentences, and closing sentences in our writing exercises.
Our EIP teacher, Mrs. Dingness, will start coming into our classroom next week. Because of this, the EIP students will only have to leave the room on Fridays. I think that this will benefit all. The confusion of coming and going is hard on all. I am delighted that all of the students will benefit from Mrs. Dingness' visits.
