Another full week of school. Yeah! It would be nice to think spring has finally arrived, but this is Iowa, and so we better not hold our breath! In reading, we have been working on asking questions to help us understand our stories better. Wow! Second graders can ask really good questions about what they read!

In math, we have started our unit on counting money and my second graders have amazed me again. They are doing a super job counting money, deciding whether they have enough money, and figuring out change.

We finished up Friday by reading Scrambled Eggs Super by Dr. Seuss. We made scrambled eggs, and even the kids that didn't think they liked scrambled eggs tried them! Way to try new things, Second Graders!

Next week will be a busy one. We will be celebrating Dr Seuss' birthday on Wednesday, and we are making pillows on Tuesday for kids in our hospitals. If you have sewing skills, we could sure your help. Even if you don't, we could use parents to help cut, tie, and generally supervise kids. Our project begins at 1:00, so come and join the fun!

Lastly, conferences are happening soon. We will be sending notes home, but we generally keep the times and days the same as your fall time, unless you let us know differently. Please give us a call, or send a note if you need any changes.

Week of February 7, 2011

Well, we finally had a full week of school, and we are getting back in the swing. We have been learning how to talk to our book with sticky notes in reading. We have done an excellent job writing questions, making predictions and writing about what we think.

In Math we are getting ready to finish up regrouping with addition and subtraction, and we will be moving on to money and time. Parents, whenever you can, have your child count the change in your pocket or bill fold. It is great practice.

One of our highlights this week, was the trip to the Civic Center in Des Moines. We saw puppeteers preform three book from the author Leo Lionni. We really enjoy seeing the performances there and want to especially thank the generous gifts we received to be able to do this.

Kids, don't forget your Valentine's boxes tomorrow - it's party time!

Week of January 24th and 31st

Well, another snowy week is keeping us off track in our learning. We have missed over two days this week because of the snow. But, we are doing a very good job in our math with regrouping when we subtract. Hopefully, if we can keep the snowstorms away, we will be finishing up this unit very soon.

In reading, we have done very well in our MAP computer testing. We continue to work on comprehension and reading skills.

We did have time for some fun last week. It was our 100th day of school. We went around in small groups to several centers. We built with 100 Lego's, we played 100 bingo, had a hundreds race on the overhead, and many other activities. Our celebration would not be complete without our annual 100 balloon stomp. Second grade was the winner among first and third grade in stomping our balloons in the shortest amount of time.