Week of November 15, 2010

What a week we have had. We are just beginning to learn how to regroup (all you oldies probably called it carrying) and will be adding using regrouping the week after Thanksgiving. We have begun our Flat Stanley projects. We read a story called Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown. Poor Stanley has a bulletin board fall on him and makes him flat as a piece of paper. He has many adventures, but our favorite one is where he goes to visit friends in California in an envelope. SO we mail our own Stanleys to friends and relatives across the United States (and to our epals in Australia). We can't wait to see what kind of adventures he runs into. We have also started a Flat Me project which we are making ourselves and writing biographies.

We had two cooking projects this week. We wanted to taste what it was like to be a Pilgrim coming across the ocean, so we made hard tack. We liked it okay, but decided it might not be so good weeks from now - especially if it had bugs in it. We also made deviled eggs after reading Chicken Sunday and watching Rechenka's Eggs by Patricia Polacco. We are pretty good egg peelers!

We will be creating our gingerbread houses later this month and could sure use your help. Our school no longer uses the little half pint milk cartons and this is what we use for our house. If you use those (whipping cream, half and half, buttermilk, etc. ), please rinse them out and send them to school. We could also use the pint and quart containers as they are the same size around, and we can cut them down. You are welcome to drop them off at the office and tell them it is for second grade. I did notice that buttermilk is only 33 cents.
Another thing we could use your help is with is our store. We have a store every other week where the kids are paid for the jobs they do in our room. They cash in their checks and total their credits. After making purchased, they complete their credit and debit sheet in order to keep track of their money. We could use any donations of items for our store - anything you think second graders would like to "purchase" - from candy bars, little cars, little notebooks, anything a second grader would like. It it a wonderful and fun way of teaching twenty-first century life skills. Finally, we wanted to remind you of a couple activities coming up this week. The kids are bartering on Monday and could use anything they can "sell" to their classmates. Secondly, our Thanksgiving Feast with the "Indians" (first grade) is Tuesday, and kids need a snack to share during our feast. Thank you, parents, for all you do. We could not do many of our projects without your help and donations! It helps to make learning fun!