Voting for our favorite SSYRA Jr. book! 

Experimenting with force, velocity and traction using hot wheel cars! 

What LEARNING and GROWING went on in room 217 this week:

Academics

ELA:  syllables, point-of-view, completed Lesson 3 Wordly Wise vocabulary,  finished class novel – The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes

Writing:  Editing

Math:  Completed Geometry and Fraction Concepts and took test

Science:  Forces and Changes in Motion

Social Studies:  Wants/Needs

 

Students of the week:

Caenan and Emi

4/14:  No school

4/17:  Typed opinion pieces due for students who chose to type final drafts at home.  If your child did not bring home their opinion rough draft, they chose to write their final draft in class.

4/18:  Lighthouse field trip from 9:30-10:30.  We will eat in the cafeteria during our regular lunch time so there will be no need to send in a bagged lunch.

4/24:  Interims sent home

4/26:  D.E. Reading Test

4/28:  D.E. Math Test, scholastic orders due

5/8-5/11:  Swimming Days

5/11:  Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast

5/19:  Variety Show- 3:00 – 5:00

5/24:  Last day of school, Report Cards sent home

Reminders:

• HELP NEEDED!!!  It is that time of year again!  Our students will begin computer based testing in April.  We need volunteers to serve as proctors during our testing sessions.  Please consider signing up for a session (or more!).  Proctor training only takes 10 minutes.  You are not responsible for any of the test materials.  You are simply another set of eyes in the room!  If you have any questions, please contact our School Counselor, Tricia McElhone or our Instructional Literacy Coach, Heather Eyestone.  We cannot thank you enough for all you do for our students.  Our goal is to provide your children with a testing environment that will allow them to show what they know!   Thanks to the support of our families, we know our students continue to shine! 

Sign-Up Genius link:    http://signup.com/go/KrpPMH

• Don’t forget to sign and return swimming field trip forms.
• Please have your child wear their RB Hunt shirt on our field trip Tuesday if one is available.

Happy Birthday, Ennis!

Enjoying yummy popsicles on this HOT day!

Happy birthday, Emi!

What LEARNING and GROWING went on in room 217 this week:

Academics

ELA:  Compound words, inferences, introduced Lesson 3 Wordly Wise vocabulary,  began class novel – The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes

Writing:  Continued Opinion Writing with accountable talk :

Math:  Began Geometry and Fraction Concepts

Science:  Forces and Changes in Motion

 

Students of the week:

Cassidy and Ennis

4/14:  No school

4/18:  Lighthouse field trip – free for students, $8.75 for chaperones.  If you plan to chaperone, please meet us at the Lighthouse at 9:30 and bring your $8.75 for admission at that time.  I will not be collecting any money for this field trip.  🙂

4/24:  Interims sent home

4/26:  D.E. Reading Test

4/28:  D.E. Math Test, scholastic orders due

5/8-5/11:  Swimming Days

5/11:  Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast

5/19:  Variety Show- 3:00 – 5:00

5/24:  Last day of school, Report Cards sent home

Reminders:

• HELP NEEDED!!!  It is that time of year again!  Our students will begin computer based testing in April.  We need volunteers to serve as proctors during our testing sessions.  Please consider signing up for a session (or more!).  Proctor training only takes 10 minutes.  You are not responsible for any of the test materials.  You are simply another set of eyes in the room!  If you have any questions, please contact our School Counselor, Tricia McElhone or our Instructional Literacy Coach, Heather Eyestone.  We cannot thank you enough for all you do for our students.  Our goal is to provide your children with a testing environment that will allow them to show what they know!   Thanks to the support of our families, we know our students continue to shine! 

Sign-Up Genius link:    http://signup.com/go/KrpPMH

Thank you to the Leth and Gassert families for donating books from the book fair to our classroom library!  Students are P-U-M-P-E-D to read them!

Magical finds during recess! 

James and the Giant Peach was phenomenal!  Great job, MMS!  Students enjoyed comparing the book to the play.  There were SO many differences!

What LEARNING and GROWING went on in room 217 this week:

Academics

ELA:  Prefixes, Open and Closed syllables, sequence of events/cause and effect, Lesson 2 Wordly Wise vocabulary test,  finished class novels – Gooney Bird Greene by Lois Lowry and James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl.

Writing:  Opinion Writing with accountable talk :

Math:  Took Data test and began Geometry and Fraction Concepts

Science:  Life Cycles

Social Studies:  Economics

Students of the week:

Leta and Jaxon

4/14:  No school

4/18:  Lighthouse field trip – free for students, $8.75 for chaperones.  If you plan to chaperone, please meet us at the Lighthouse at 9:30 and bring your $8.75 for admission at that time.  I will not be collecting any money for this field trip.  🙂

4/24:  Interims sent home

4/26:  D.E. Reading Test

4/28:  D.E. Math Test

5/8-5/11:  Swimming Days

5/11:  Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast

5/19:  Variety Show- 3:00 – 5:00

5/24:  Last day of school, Report Cards sent home

Reminders:

• Please return your signed report card envelope if you haven’t already done so. 
• HELP NEEDED!!!  It is that time of year again!  Our students will begin computer based testing in April.  We need volunteers to serve as proctors during our testing sessions.  Please consider signing up for a session (or more!).  Proctor training only takes 10 minutes.  You are not responsible for any of the test materials.  You are simply another set of eyes in the room!  If you have any questions, please contact our School Counselor, Tricia McElhone or our Instructional Literacy Coach, Heather Eyestone.  We cannot thank you enough for all you do for our students.  Our goal is to provide your children with a testing environment that will allow them to show what they know!   Thanks to the support of our families, we know our students continue to shine! 

Sign-Up Genius link:    http://signup.com/go/KrpPMH

 

Taking advantage of the beautiful weather and eating snack outside!

Happy birthday Nolan!

Game Day Fun!  Students who met their AR goal for third quarter had a blast during game day! 

What LEARNING and GROWING went on in room 217 this week:

Academics

ELA:  Prefixes, Wordly Wise lesson 2 vocabulary,  began new class novels – Gooney Bird Greene by Lois Lowry and James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl.

Writing:  Poetry – figurative language and similes

Math:  Data

Students of the week:

Saylor and Noah

3/27:  Report Cards Sent home

3/28:  James and the Giant Peach field trip

3/30:  Book Fair visit at 1:00 – 1:30

4/14:  No school

4/18:  Lighthouse field trip – free for students, $8.75 for chaperones.  If you plan to chaperone, please meet us at the Lighthouse at 9:30 and bring your $8.75 for admission at that time.  I will not be collecting any money for this field trip.  🙂

Reminders:

• For our field trip to the amphitheater, please make sure your child wears their R.B. Hunt shirt (if available) and comfortable walking shoes.  We will eat lunch as soon as we return to school.
• We are in need of healthy snacks for students who forget to bring something in.  Examples are pretzels, raisins, crackers, etc.
• A note from Jo Ellen Parkey regarding James and the Giant Peach:

Good evening!

I have an opportunity for any of your parents who wanted to go to James and the Giant Peach, but were too late to sign up to go with the class: we need ushers. J

If any of your parents are willing to come to the Amphitheatre a little early and stay to help load the busses at the end, I could sure use the help.

They would not be able to walk over or walk back with R. B. Hunt, but they get to just sit and enjoy the show, so that will be nice.

The sign up link is: http://signup.com/go/xdXrhi

Thank you!

Jo Ellen

We had a busy and productive week!  Check out some of the highlights!

SO much fun at Field Day!  We had a blast!

    

Happy Birthday to Caenan!

Magnificent Musicians!  I’ve got rhythm, yes I do! I’ve got rhythm, how ’bout you?!

Congratulations to the following students for having PERFECT attendance for the month of January:  Belle, Cassidy, Gaby, Stella, Emi, Ennis, Brooke, Noah, Nicholas, Caenan, Leta.  These students earned extra recess on Thursday!  Way to go!

No homework over Spring Break –  enjoy your time with family and friends!  Return relaxed, refreshed and prepared to make 4th quarter the best yet!

What LEARNING and GROWING went on in room 217 this week:

Academics

ELA:  Biographies, completed/took lesson 1 Wordly Wise Test, 2 class novel quick reads – Horrible Harry and the Goog, Horrible Harry and the Triple Threat by Suzy Kline.

Writing:  Poetry – focusing on sound and action

Math:  Wrapped up length and took test, we will begin Data after Spring Break

Students of the week:

Gaby and Nicholas

3/10:  End of 3rd 9 weeks, Field Day, Spirit Night at Marble Slab (I will be there from 4:30 – 5:00), Field Trip forms DUE!

3/13 – 3/17:  Spring Break

3/20:  Teacher Planning Day – No students

3/21:  Students Return

3/23:  Book Fair Preview

3/23:  Game Day for students who met their A.R. goal 3rd quarter

3/27:  Report Cards Sent home

3/28:  James and the Giant Peach field trip

4/14:  No school

4/18:  Lighthouse field trip – free for students, $8.75 for chaperones.  If you plan to chaperone, please meet us at the Lighthouse at 9:30 and bring your $8.75 for admission at that time.  I will not be collecting any money for this field trip.  🙂

Reminders:

• Thank you for sending in pencils!  We are set for the year!
• Students are welcome to bring in games from home for meeting their A.R. goal.  Please make sure games are clearly labeled with their name.  No electronics. 

Congrats to Emi and Nicholas for completing Math Facts Mastery for Addition and Subtraction in the month of February.  They are PUMPED about multiplication!

Awesome first week back with students!  We had a smooth transition and jumped right back in with academics.    I appreciate all your love and support!  Thank you!

What LEARNING and GROWING went on in room 217 this week:

Academics

ELA:  Comparing fiction and non-fiction, contractions and compound words, began 3rd grade wordly-wise, and a class novel quick read – Horrible Harry takes the Cake by Suzy Kline

Writing:  Poetry

Math:  Measurement

Science – Life Cycles

Students of the week:

N/A

3/3:  Vocab journal due

3/9:  Extra recess for perfect attendance, Music Performance 9:25 – 10:05

3/10:  End of 3rd 9 weeks, Field Day, Spirit Night at Marble Slab (I will be there from 4:30 – 5:00), Field Trip forms DUE!

3/13 – 3/17:  Spring Break

3/20:  Teacher Planning Day

3/21:  Students Return

3/23:  Book Fair Preview

3/27:  Report Cards Sent home

3/28:  James and the Giant Peach field trip

Reminders:

• For the musical performance on 3/9, please arrive in enough time to check-in with the office and wait outside the Music Room door for our class to arrive.
• For Field day on Friday, 3/10, please have your child wear tennis shoes, shorts, a t-shirt, and have hair pulled back.  It will be H-O-T.  Sunblock and bug spray should be applied at home.
  
• Jaxon, Honora, and Caenan were the first to turn in field trip forms with parent request to be a chaperone that have not attended a previous trip.  Please send in an additonal $5 to be a chaperone by 3/10.  If you have not had a chance to chaperone a trip, have no FEAR!  We have more field trips planned.
• Classroom Need:  We are out of pencils!

 

Hello!  My name is Scarlett! 

Good Morning Families!  I will OFFICIALLY be back in the classroom starting tomorrow, March 1st!  I appreciate you giving me the time to spend with my baby girl.  Scarlett has a NATURAL mo-hawk and is an absolute DOLL!  Kenzie is an incredible big sister and we have had a lot of fun bonding as a family of 4.  I am looking forward to seeing the students tomorrow and getting back into our rituals and routines.  Thank you to Robin Streit for taking such good care of them and “holding down the fort!” while I was out.  We will be VERY busy the last (WHAT!) quarter of 2nd grade and have a lot of fun activities planned! 

Looking forward to seeing your sweet children’s faces bright and early! 

Mrs. Saxon

 

We had a very informative lesson on Native Americans Thursday!

Thank you to Leta’s Mom, Shannon Poole for coming to read to us today!  We enjoyed having you!

What a SUPER SURPRISE!  Thank you so much to my sweet, sweet, families for my class baby shower today!  It was so much fun to open gifts, eat treats, and to be able to talk about Scarlett’s arrival.  Your children will ALWAYS hold a special place in my heart – especially sharing special moments like these!  I can’t wait to tell Scarlett all about it and them when she grows up!  I feel like she already knows ALL their voices!  🙂

What LEARNING and GROWING went on in room 217 this week:

Academics

ELA:  We continued to read Mayor Hubble is in trouble by Dan Gutman this week for our class novel. This has been a great novel to reinforce political words such as candidate, election, debate, campaign, and podium.   Our reading block also continued its focus on spelling and spelling patterns as well as inferences and inflections.  We took a spelling test on some spelling patterns we have been studying as well.  Lastly, we began Lesson 9 Wordly Wise.

Writing:  Students took to the computer lab this week to publish the final drafts of the story they had been editing the week prior.  We will continue to practice typing our final drafts in Word documents.  The students certainly enjoyed seeing their work come to life on the computer and feel VERY official.  You can help your child at home by teaching them the basics of typing such as proper spacing, font, sizing, color, etc.

Math:  We took Chapter 5 Math test and continued our practice of subtraction with re-grouping and solving multi-step word problems.

Social Studies – Native Americans and Pilgrims

Students of the week:

N/A – Short week!

Important Dates:

11/22- Thanksgiving dessert at 2:00

11/22 – Mrs. Saxon’s last day before maternity leave.

11/23-25 – Thanksgiving Break

12/8:  Class Photos

12/15:  Holiday Luncheon – Students and Parents

12/16:  Holiday Concert

12/17:  Breakfast with Santa

12/22:  Winter Break Begins

Reminders:

• The “FUNK” is out there and certainly had a hold of our class this week.  I hope everyone is back and feeling 100% very soon.
  
• There will be no homework next week or over Thanksgiving break.  WOO! HOO!  Enjoy your time with family, play outside, READ!  I am so grateful for my wonderful family and class.
• Please don’t forget to send in your items for our class dessert on Tuesday, the 22nd!
• Mystery Reader Dates until I return (1:00 – 1:30):
• November 18th:  Shannon Poole
• December 2nd:  Carrie McCarthy
• December 9th:  Carol Alford (Belle’s Gramma)
• January 13th:  Julie Alford
• January 27th:  Kara Pound
• February 10th:  Ryan Held
• February 24: Serena Arbuthnot

 

Students enjoyed hands-on activities during the Colonial Presentation on Monday!

What LEARNING and GROWING went on in room 217 this week:

Academics

ELA:  We began Mayor Hubble is in trouble by Dan Gutman this week for our class novel. This is a hysterical novel that has students laughing out loud.  This book ties right in with the election and we are finding similarities and differences in Mayor Hubble is in Trouble’s election compared to the presidential election.   Students also chose new AR reading goals for the quarter and took a practice DE test in reading in math to see their growth since August.  I will send home scores with interims on the 16th.  Please keep in mind this was a practice test.  Our reading block also focused on spelling and spelling patterns as well as inferences.    Lastly, we took our Lesson 8 Wordly Wise test.

Writing:  EDIT. EDIT. EDIT.  Students picked a story from their non-fiction writing this week to edit.  This is certainly a process – we practiced adding punctuation, what makes a complete sentence, capital letters, and temporal words to help organize our writing.  We had peer reviews and will type (SO exciting!) our final drafts next week.

Math:  Math concepts cover this week were:  writing equations to represent subtraction, adding to find differences, and re-writing 2-digit subtraction.  These students took on this challenge with ease and I am so impressed with their growth and progress in subtracting with re-grouping!

Social Studies – Veterans and VOTING

Students of the week:

Liam and Emi

Thank you for being independent PROBLEM SOLVERS this week!

Important Dates:

11/11 – No school – Thank you to all our Veterans!

11/16 – Interims go home (only P’s or I’s are indicated)

11/16:  Picture make-up day

11/17 – Native American Presentation

11/22- Thanksgiving dessert at 2:00

11/22 – Mrs. Saxon’s last day before maternity leave.

11/23-25 – Thanksgiving Break

Reminders:

• Congratulations to Ennis King for being voted by our class for showing the character counts pillar of CITIZENSHIP this month – You rock!  Ennis also made it to MULTIPLICATION on math facts in a flash this week!  He has been working hard to reach this goal for weeks and we couldn’t be prouder of this SUPER STAR STUDENT!
• Turkeys turned out AWESOME!  They are on display in the hallway outside of our classroom.  If you get a chance, come check them out!
• Thank you to the McCarthy’s, Gassert’s, and my B.F.F (?!? not sure who this was ?!?!) for donating to our classroom library by purchasing books at the Book Fair on my wish list!  These books are already being read by students in our class and will be loved on for years to come!  🙂
• With colder weather approaching, please make sure names are written on all outerwear so it doesn’t end up lost FOREVER!  🙂

Fire prevention program at school on Monday!  Ask your child to show you the correct way to STOP! DROP! AND ROLL!

Thank you to Emi’s Mom, Elena Laguardia, for being our Mystery Reader this week!  We enjoyed having you!

What LEARNING and GROWING went on in room 217 this week:

Academics

ELA:  Students practiced STAMINA this week while reading their novels of choice for D.E.A.R.  We will continue our class novels next week.  Our reading block also reviewed alphabetical order and introduced dictionaries!  Students enjoyed scanning through to find new words and using guide words to help discover them quickly.  Some students shared they definitely preferred the Websters online dictionary over the “old school” way.  Ha!   We also read the Big, Bushy Mustache and compared and contrasted traits in a fictional vs. non-fictional story.   Lastly, we took our Lesson 7 Wordly Wise test.

Writing:  We continued to read some incredible fictional animal stories this week  such as Beardream and Ducky.  Students were challenged to write their own realistic fictional story including ideas from their own lives.

Math:  Whew!  Math has been interesting this week.  We began subtracting numbers that required borrowing from the tens place.  We have taken the advice from the Tortoise and Hare and remembered slow and steady wins the race.  Challenge your child with some subtraction facts this weekend that require regrouping such as:

23

-18

_______________________________

Social Studies – Native Americans

Enrichment:  We played a fun game from Tin Man Press called “Play by the Rules.”

Students of the week:

Stella and Nicholas

Thank you for showing kindness and extra effort this week!

Important Dates:

11/7:  Colonial Presentation – In school field trip

11/7:  Turkey in disguise take-home project due

11/11 – No school

11/22- Thanksgiving dessert at 2:00

11/22 – Mrs. Saxon’s last day before maternity leave.

11/23-25 – Thanksgiving Break

Reminders:

•   I am still missing 1 report card envelope!
• Turkey’s in disguise are due Monday, November 7th!
•  I hope you received the letter regarding my maternity leave.  Mrs. Streit is a certified teacher who previously taught 2nd grade.  She took a break from teaching in St. Johns County to help her husband with their farm in Costa Rica for part of the year.  She continued to sub when she returned to St. Augustine the second part of the year.  The students have worked with her a few times and I am certain she will do a phenomenal job until I return.  I spent A LOT of time and effort creating 12 weeks of plans to help keep our classroom running as usual.  As sad as I am to leave this great group of kids, I know this is an important time for me to be with my family.  I plan to return March 1st.
• Students have placed the remainder of  Wordly Wise vocab job directions in their journals.  They will be due the beginning of each month and will add the vocab they are currently working on that month.
• Congratulations to the following students for having PERFECT ATTENDANCE for the month of September:  Brooke, Ennis, Caenan, Nicholas, Leta, Nolan, Emi, Honora, Stella, Sam, Gaby!!  WOO! HOO!  October did not count due to the hurricane.