September 2009 Archives

The second grade students showed their school spirit at the MPA Homecoming Pep Assembly on Friday. It is always nice to get the entire school together for assemblies. Hopefully, some of you made it out for the Homecoming festivities. Saturday turned out to be a lovely day.

Highlights from the week:

Language Arts
Students read a story called Watch Out Ronald Morgan! It was a story about a boy who needed glasses. See if your child remembers what Ronald thought was going to happen when he got glasses.
Students are also working on a story about fall. First, the class brainstormed a list of things associated with fall. Then the students began working on a "sloppy copy" of their story about fall. They were allowed to decide if the story was real or fictional. After writing a sloppy copy each child signed up for a writing conference with Mrs. Baier. At the conference they read the story and talked about sentences and some second grade spelling. Look for these stories to appear on student lockers in the next couple of weeks.

Math
Students have continued work with numbers. They worked on comparing numbers last week and were introduced to the term "turnaround facts." Ask your child what a "turnaround fact" is. They also learned two new addition math vocabulary words-sum (the answer to an addition problem) and addends (the numbers being added in an addition problem). This week they will continue some work with addition facts. It is very important second grade student "know" their addition and subtraction math facts before the end of the year. Addition facts are the easier of the two. If you still have your triangle flash cards from Mrs. Meland last year (or other flash cards) it is a good idea to pull them out at least once or twice a week for quick review. Second grade students will do math fact quizzes starting later in October to help them demonstrate math fact knowledge. Flash card review will help the students with these quizzes.

Science
More time was spent on stars, the sun, and constellations this week. The students also learned the difference between meteors, asteroids, and comets. This week they will begin to learn about Earth and its atmosphere.

Notes and Reminders
• There is no school on Friday due to conferences. There is panther club available.
• Wednesday is library day this week.
• Please contact me or Mrs. Nordling in the lower school office if you have misplaced your conference time.

Have a great week!
Mrs. Baier

Another wonderful week of second grade has gone by.  This week ended with a great second grade/eighth grade pairing assembly.  The students of room 112 really enjoyed spending time with their eighth grade buddies.  They did a getting to know you activity and played their board games.  A good time was had by all!

Parent/Teacher conference times were sent home last Wednesday.  If you did not receive your conference time please let me know and I will get it to you right away.  I look forward to meeting with all of you the week of September 28th.

I have posted two new pages on the blog. One is the spelling letter sent home with the first spelling list.  The other is a fall guest reader schedule. 

This week in reading the students continued their work with the book Frog and Toad Are Friends.  The students should finish their study of that book early this week.  They will, however, continue their study of friendship through literature for quite a while. 

In math, the students continue to work on their number sense and some place value.  Next week will continue those two topics and possibly introduce some work on comparing numbers.

Next week
-Library Day is on Thursday.
-School Picture Day is on Thursday.
-Friday, September 25th at 2:45: Guest Reader- Mary I.

Have a great week!
Mrs. Baier

The students in Room 112 are really settling into second grade.  They are working hard to learn the routines of the classroom and are being introduced to all the second grade subjects.  The students turned in their first reading logs on Friday and I am happy to say that all 15 students brought back their reading log last week.  Thanks for your help in making that happen and your support of reading at home. 

 

Here are some academic highlights from the week:

 

Reading-  This week the students started reading and working with the book Frog and Toad Are Friends.    This book is the springboard for our second grade unit on friendship.

 

Math- The beginning of second grade math is set up to work with number sense, basic addition facts, and place value.  I am still looking for empty paper towel holders if you have them.  We will use them to make number scrolls, which the students will work on the entire school year.

 

Science-  Both second grade classes have embarked on their study of space.  Last week they talked about the sun.  Some key concepts learned were how the planets orbit the sun, how the sun is a star, and how the Earth rotates as it revolves around the sun.  Next week the students will continue to learn about the sun and other stars.

 

On Friday, the students brought home their first spelling list along with a letter explaining the second grade spelling program.  If you have any questions let me know.  I will post the spelling letter as a page on this blog in case you need to refer back to it this year.

 

 

Next week:

-Library day is on Wednesday.

-Thursday is the first turn in day for the magazine drive.

 

Have a great week!

Mrs. Baier

 

I met most of you on Back to School Night, but I wanted to let you know a little bit more about me and what I will be doing this semester.  I am in my final semester at the University of Wisconsin - River Falls.  I'm double majoring in Elementary Education and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).  This is my second semester of student teaching.  Last spring I student taught at Bruce F. Vento Elementary in St. Paul where I worked with third grade English Language Learners (ELLs) and Battle Creek Middle School in St. Paul where I worked with seventh and eighth grade ELLs.  In addition, I pre-student taught in second grade classrooms at Oak Park Elementary in Stillwater and Highwood Hills Elementary in St. Paul.

 

With Mrs. Baier's help, I will slowly start taking more responsibility in the classroom.  Eventually, I will be teaching the class full time.  This is tentatively scheduled from October 19 to November 13.  After that, I will gradually return classroom responsibility to Mrs. Baier.  I will also be observed teaching four times this semester by my university supervisor.

 

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact either Mrs. Baier or me.  I'm looking forward to getting to know you and your child, and I'm excited to be a part of the MPA community!

If anyone is interested in being a guest reader in the classroom this fall please let me know.  The following dates are still available:

 

Friday, November 6^th

Friday, November 13^th

Friday, November 20^th

Friday, December 4^th

Friday, December 11^th

 

Guest reader time is @2:45-3:05.  Please bring in books to share with the students. I will post the complete guest reader schedule as a page on this blog soon.

Thanks,

Mrs. Baier

What a wonderful first week of school we have enjoyed.  This year's second grade students are already settling into the new classroom and its routine.  The first week is always tiring for students (and teachers) after a summer of fun and relaxation but this year's group has done very well.  They are learning the way their second grade classroom works and seem to work very well together.

 

I know you have received a plethora of notices in your child's folder this week.  I will always try to post important classroom notices as pages on the blog in case you need it for future reference.  This week I am posting pages on the Top Dog Schedule, the Classroom Rules Sheet, and the "Get Your Paws on a Good Book" reading

program.  If you have any questions about these things please let me know.

 

This week was spent getting to know each other and working on things to allow me to get a general idea of each student's ability in different areas.  Next week we will hit the ground running with some second grade work.

 

Just a reminder for everyone that students are only to bring water bottles into the classroom that have flip top or sport top lids.  Please don't send water bottles with screw off lids or large openings for water.  Thanks!

 

If anyone has any empty paper towel rolls or if you collect some in the next week or so could you send them to school.  We will use them for a classroom project.  Thanks for your help!

 

On Tuesday, you will receive a turquoise blue conference scheduling sheet.  Please return that conference sheet to school as soon as possible.  Families with more than one lower school student will be given preference for scheduling on Thursday evening so teachers can try to get sibling conferences as close together as possible.  Our first parent/teacher conferences will be during the week of September 28^th.

 

Next week:

-Thursday is library day.

-On Friday, September 11^th there is an All School PA Mtg. with guest speaker Mary Sheedy Kurcinka at 8:30 a.m.

-Friday, September 11^th is MPA Night at the Dome at 7:00 p.m.

 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Mrs. Baier