March 19th

Dear Parents,

         This week we finished our unit on 3-digit addition with regrouping. The students did a fabulous job. We also took a test on number sense to the hundreds. We had fun in math figuring out how big Abraham’ Lincoln’s cabin was in inches, feet, yards, centimeters and meters. This week we are starting on subtracting 3 digit numbers with regrouping. Your child may need a little help at home on this concept.

         We have been working on a weather unit and are making a weather book in Science. Our goal is to complete the weather book and pretend to be a meteorologist and predict the weather in a big city of the continents we have been studying.

         I am sending home word list of the first phonic principles with some students who have not mastered the first part of the phonic evaluation. If your child brought one of these list homes will you please review it with them.  If you get a list we already have gone over it and they did pass it in class, but it is one of the word patterns they missed on the phonic evaluation.

         We are still to working on our Twisted Fairy Tales. The students have had an excellent week being respectful. We had the heart light on and they have earned lots of money for their behavior.  It is such a pleasure to be their teacher.

P.S. We are hopping to have a visit from the Leprechaun. 

He has visited my class for 28 years.

March 3rd

Dear Parents,

This week each student was evaluated on their understanding of phonics and reading strategies using a multiple-choice test and writing short answers. We then went over the test and tried to learn good test taking strategies.  We determined that the best strategy to work on right now is to go back to the text and find the answered rather than just guessing.  We read several different plays that were twisted fairytales than we started writing twisted fairytales.  In math we started addition regrouping to the hundreds. The students really caught on fast. We had our feast of canned beans, corn and fruit cocktail for our study on Antarctica. 

Feb. 17th

We have had a fun week reading many different folktales from around the world. I told them we were going to write a folktale together for writing, but they all wanted to write their own. Some of the topics they came up with were “How Raccoons Got Their Mask”, “Why Flower Smell”, and “Why Elks Got Their Horns”. In math we have been reviewing number sense in preparation for learning 3-digit addition.  We also have started to publish or writing papers on the similarities and differences of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.  Thank you to Mrs. Fielding and Mrs. Jones for planning a fantastic Valentines Party.

Feb. 10th

Dear Parents,

Thank you for coming to Parents Day. I really enjoyed visiting with each one of you. We have finished our unit on subtraction, but we will be continuing to review it. We have started a unit on measurement. As part of our unit we are making life size portraits of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. We will compare how tall each of the students’ are to our President’s portraits.  We will be having a Valentine Party on Tuesday. We will make paper sack folders to put our valentines in. Some student still like to make boxes at home. You can do this, but it is not required. There are 20 students in our class. It is quickest to just have your student write their name on the Valentine, but I sent home notes for those who want to address each individual student.

Feb 3rd

This week in writing we wrote about goals and related them to a Chinese Proverb of planting a tree. WE also wrote winter poems. We are nearing the end of our double digit subtracting with regrouping and will be taking the test sometime this week. Please take a moment to check how well your child understands this concept.  We are starting a unit on “The Presidents- George Washington and Abraham Lincoln” and the study of the continent Antarctica.  I have not sent any extra credit homework home in a while. If you are interested will you please circle the yes or no below.   I have signed up all students for a Parent Teacher Conference slot. If these times don’t work out for you I would love to have a phone conference or 

Jan. 29

We are in the middle of our subtracting with regrouping math unit. For some children it is very hard. Please take sometime and check to see how your student is doing with regrouping 2 digit subtraction problems.  We made a collage of a winter forest for art this week. It went right along with our guided reading book that talked about the Rocky Mountains and the different levels of trees and animal life.  We had our feast of fried rice, noodles and won tons with sweet and sour sauce. We watched a power point of Mrs. Kitchen’s trip to China and Thailand. We were also very lucky to have Truman's dad came and talked to us about Russia. We will finish our unit on the continent Asia this week. Please sign up for Parent Teacher Conferences. I really love to visit with every parent. I love teaching your children.

Jan. 6th

We have had a great start to the year 2017.  We have started a unit on Human Rights by experimenting on how it feels to not be allowed drinking water in class. We also are starting units on Matter and the continent Asia. In math we have been working on regrouping 2 digit numbers and in reading our focus has been on expository text about weather and using text features as a comprehension strategy.

Dec. 16th

This week we took a math test on Graphs and one on Money. There are a few children still working on passing the money test.

We invited David’s mom to come in and tell us about Germany and Norway because she had lived in both places for a few years. We were excited to learn about the castles and the fjords. We also liked the yummy German cookies and to hear the Norwegian language. We found out that we could call our Christmas Store a Flea Market. We also had a feast from different foods from Europe. The favorite was spaghetti and the least favorite was sauerkraut. We also wrote a letter to Santa letting him know of our wants and needs and why we deserve them. You may read them in the hall along with our research on different European traditions.

For part of our class Christmas Party we are going to decorate edible Christmas Trees. I will supply the sugar cones and frosting but would appreciate help with small candy like M&M’s, Skittles, Nerds, Gum Drops Etc.  If you wish to donate please have them at our class by the 21^st so I know what I need to purchase. Our class would really appreciate any donation for this activity.

For our school Christmas sing we would like the entire second grade to dress up in their best clothes and if they want they can wear a Santa hat.

Dec. 9th

The highlight of our week was Genius Hour. The students are working in groups to create a new game. We hope to have them finished before Christmas vacation so we can play them for part of our Christmas party. We would like to thank Mrs. Colburn for coming in and sharing with our class some of the traditions from Belgium. It was exciting to see her dress, wooden shoes, and eat spice Speculoos cookies.

Every student has finished his or her adobe voice and I sent them to each parent via email. I hope you enjoyed this project.

Our class store will be Monday Dec. 19^tth.

For part of our class Christmas Party we are going to decorate edible Christmas Trees. I will supply the sugar cones and frosting but would appreciate help with small candy like M&M’s, Skittles, Nerds, Gum Drops Etc.  If you wish to donate please have them at our class by the 21^st so I know what I need to purchase. Our class would really appreciate any donation for this activity.

Dec. 2

We have had a busy week doing STEAM projects. Since it is a testing week for Language Arts we do not do our normal routine for reading.  The students take what they have learned in the previous weeks reading lessons and researched about animals, while Mrs. Kitchens test. The students got to choose 1 of 5 ways to present their information. They made a display of their project by folding paper different ways to make a flip chart.

In Social Studies we are studying about cultural, traditions and the Continent Europe. The student each chooses a country in Europe and wrote about the countries Christmas traditions.

We just finished our place value unit and started money.

You can check skyward for all the new reading test scores and the math Place Value test. The student’s words per minutes for reading made drastic improvement. Please ask your students questions about what they are reading. This will help their comprehension.

We are front loading our economics unit by earning money for our Christmas store. There have been some very busy 2^nd grade producers bringing in very clever items to sale. Our class store will be in 2 weeks. The students got their first paycheck for hard work at school. The also had to subtract what they got charged on their visa card for not being on task. The students are working hard on earning enough class money to buy Christmas gifts at our class store.

Nov. 22

There are no spelling or vocabulary words because every 6^th week in language arts we take unit test and do unit projects.  So, just enjoys reading with your child this week.

We have had a fun few weeks. We ended our study of the continent “Africa” by eating rice, beans and a mixture of flour and salt, which we fried. We started our traditions and cultural unit off by having Nataanii’s mom come and speak to us about her Navaho culture. We also had pumpkin pudding and read stories about the first Thanksgiving. This month we wrote poems on gratitude. We took a unit test in reading and are almost ready for our math test on place value.

In about one week we are starting our “Consumers and Producers” unit in Social Studies. I give the children class money for the work they do in class. They use this money to buy items at our Christmas store. We get the items to sale and buy for our store from things no longer needed at home. The students can start to bring items that you would throw away or give to the D.I. to use at our Christmas Store. Students can also be a produce and make pictures or simple items to sale at our store. The rules are:

1. No baked items

2. They cannot spend real money on items to bring items to our store.

3. The items need to be in somewhat good condition.

4. The items have to be something no longer needed at home.

Some examples are:

I cleaned out my closets and found stuffed animals, old scarfs and some jewelry that I no longer want so I am brought them to sale. Once I had a boy make rock paperweights and he painted and glued eyes on them or necklaces from plastic beads.

Nov. 11th

Extra Credit Work:

I will not be sending home extra credit work unless you request it because no one has been turning any in. If you would like this at anytime I will be happy to email some to you.

Notes from Mrs. Kitchen:

We finished up our “Me on the Map” activity in Social Studies.  Everyone finally finished their moon projects. So, we celebrated by eating Moon Phase cookies. In genius hour the students are working on creating an adobe voice presentation on anything about Space. This usually takes a month for me to get to every student. When they finish their project I will email it to you so you can watch the video with your child. We have been working on place value in math and picture graphs. In reading and writing we have been doing Expository Text about animals.

         As always--- I have the BEST STUDENTS ever!!!!

OCt. 28th

We have been reading Fables all week and just finished unit 2 in math. It was on skip counting (2’s, 5’s, and 10’s), repeated addition, arrays, and odd We have lots of crazy hair, socks, outfits and fun for our Red Ribbon- Just say no to drugs week. Remember our Field Trip to the Bean Museum and Planetarium is Tuesday Nov. 1^st. TOMORROW!

Oct. 19th

Last week we finished filling out our passport on the continent of North America. We got the i-pad cart and did an interactive nearpod lesson on the phases of the moon and we wrote animal reports. This week is Red Ribbon Week: Tuesday is Twin Day, Wednesday is Red Day, Thursday is Crazy Hair and Sock Day, Thursday is Team Jersey or Superhero Day and Friday is Pajama Day. We should have a fun week! For part of our Halloween Day fun in math we will be sorting pumpkin seeds.  In order to do this I need about 5 large bags of pumpkin seeds. If you can will you please save, wash and dry the seeds from your pumpkins when you carve them. I can start collecting them this week in order for activity to work.

Oct.7th

We have been working hard on our Monster Stories for Halloween. We started our next unit in math on skip counting and have been working on fluency & finding details in reading.  We had our feast to finish off our study of United States as we learn how we fit on to the map of the world. Next we will move on to our first continent- North America. The students have enjoyed bringing back their pictures of the moon each night. We are watching to see if the moon is waxing larger.  Remember to sign up for Parent Teacher Conferences. I would love to meet with each of you.

Sept 30th

Notes from Mrs. Kitchen:

                  We have finished our first unit in Math and are preparing for our final test. In Language Arts we have been working hard on filling out graphic organizers to write Halloween Stories and we are taking our unit 1 test.  There are no spelling or vocabulary words this week because of the end of unit review. In Social Studies we are trying to finish up our study of United States, so we can have our feast of ‘Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and Lemonade.” We are also starting our first Science unit- “Observable Things in the Night Sky”. Each child will get a chance to bring the Moon Bag home and when they bring the Moon Bag home they need to look at the night sky and draw what they see. We hope they see the moon! It is important that you send the Moon Bag back to school the next day so every child gets a chance to take it home. I am looking forward to visiting with each of you at Parents Day. Please sign up for a time on the school web page.  We have had another great week.

Mrs. Kitchen

Sept. 23

The students are doing a fantastic job!  Remember to read on Raz-Kids. I have been tracking their minutes read and quizzes. I also can tell what questions they are having a hard time understanding. Homework is due on MONDAY signed by a parent. Remember if you want a reading button from Mrs. Chaves you will need to fill out the blue slip of paper and turn it in before the end of the month. Our class has integrity because each student has a desire to learn and do their best. It is so fun being their teacher!

Sept 16th

The spelling test were so impressive. The students came up with their own short vowel sounds with consonant clusters.  We finished talking about our community by drawing a map of American Fork and reading about different communities in the world.

Sept. 9th

Wow! I have never had a class pass off Fry Phrases and math drills so quickly.  Amazing respectful students. I am so proud of them.

Sept 2

The students are doing super. So impressed with how they are passing their math drills and Fry Phrases. Have a great Labor Day weekend.