Classroom News: Winter Concert and Blogging!

Second and third graders did an amazing job performing at the Winter Concert on Thursday!  I was also proud of their polite audience behavior throughout the performance.  Nice work, team!

This week, we worked on our blog entries during our technology integration time with Ms. Arlyn.  I read the book, The Matchbox Diary, aloud to the class.  Then, students wrote a blog post on Kidblog about an object they would choose to save if they were keeping a matchbox diary.  They are doing a great job describing their objects and explaining why they are important reminders of a special time or activity.

Report cards are coming home in Friday Folders.  Please let me know if you have any questions about your child's progress.

Upcoming Events and Reminders:

Thursday, February 4th:  Our House personal safety presentation (Please return permission forms by Monday.)

Friday, February 5th:  No School for Students (Teacher In-service)

Monday, February 8th:  Scholastic Book Orders due

Wednesday, February 17th:  5:30-7:00 pm: EMES Celebration of Learning

Classroom News

Winter Concert

On Thursday, January 28th, our class will participate in the K-3 Winter Concert.  The concert will begin at 2:30 pm.  Families are invited to attend this special event.  The concert will be about 45 minutes long.  Please help your child dress nicely for the concert.  You do not need to buy anything new.  Please let Ms. Gelfon know if you have any questions. 


 R.I.F. Book Give Away!

On Thursday, everyone had a chance to pick a book to take home as part of the Reading Is Fundamental (R.I.F.) book give away!  A big thank you to Shaline Bridal Boutique and Sewing Studio and rb Technologies for sponsoring this event!



Second Grade Math and Homework

We will continue to work on subtraction strategies over the next few weeks to improve fact fluency and strategy use.  Mrs. Fitch and I will be including games and worksheets in the homework to provide extra practice at home.  I let second graders know that the last page of this week's homework is a bonus page. 

If second and third grade students finish homework early, they are always encouraged to keep reading and practicing math facts.

Classroom News

What a great start to 2016!  Our class was excited to welcome a new student as we returned after the holiday break!  Everyone also seemed ready to get back to work.

In Literacy, we have been learning about informational texts and exploring ways to think about and talk about our learning.  We discussed the importance of reading all parts of a text, including text features.  We have also been working on asking questions to help us "grow our knowledge" as we read these interesting non-fiction books.  In our second and third grade writing classes, students have been creating their own informational texts.

We also continued our Lego Robotics work with our partners as we created programs that included a loop, motor directions, and a math problem.  Students shared their programs with each other.

Upcoming Events and Reminders:

Tuesday, January 12th:  Our first Winter Wellness afternoon!

• Please remind your child to bring outdoor clothing so he or she can participate in our fun Winter Wellness activities!  Morse Farm and Winter Fun at EMES groups will both be staying at EMES on Jan. 12th due to snow conditions.  Students should still come prepared for spending time outdoors.
  
  Bolton:

  • Snow pants, snow jacket, gloves, face mask (if preferred), long socks
  • Ski helmet
  • Goggles are preferable, but not mandatory
  • Equipment if bringing your own
  • An afternoon snack and plenty to drink (water bottle preferable)

  Ice Skating at Civic Center:

  • Beginner skaters should wear snow pants
  • Waterproof gloves and a warm jacket
  • Helmet (bike, hockey, skating, etc.)
  • Skates if bringing your own

  Cross Country/ Snow Shoeing at Morse Farm:

  • Snow pants/ski pants, warm jacket, waterproof gloves, hat
  • Equipment if bringing your own

  Winter Fun at EMES:

  • Snow pants, warm jacket, waterproof gloves, hat, boots
  • Sleds if bringing your own

Monday, January 18th:  Martin Luther King Jr. Day- No School for Students 

Thursday, January 28th:  Music Concert at 2:30 in the gym.   Families are invited to join us!

Wednesday, February 17th:  5:30-7:00 pm- EMES Celebration of Learning

Classroom News: Lego Robotics, Chex Mix and E.C.O.

We have been keeping very busy during these past few weeks! Our class has been working on a Kindness Challenge.  This week, students reflected on their actions and wrote about ways they were kind to others on pieces of paper.  We each shared our "acts of kindness" and then each paper was added to a paper chain that is decorating our bulletin board.

During our Technology time with Ms. Arlyn, we have had the opportunity to work with our partners to build the Cheering Fans robots.  Students also collaborated to create programs for these robots that use motion sensors and solve math problems.  Ask your child about his or her programs!

Ms. Arlyn also introduced us to the newest robot at EMES, Bee-Bot!  We had a great time learning to program Bee-Bot to move in a big square on a mat.

Our E.C.O. lesson this week focused on winter survival.  We imagined that we were young bear cubs who needed to learn how to build our own dens to prepare for a cold winter.  Students worked in pairs or small groups to create their own bear dens.  It was busy, messy, and lots of fun!  Thanks again to Karen for helping with this lesson!

On Thursday, we prepared Chex Mix for our fundraiser to benefit the WORLD Santa Project.  This fundraiser was a great opportunity to extend our Kindness Challenge outside of the walls of our classroom.  Mrs. Christy and Mrs. Christiano helped groups of students mix the Chex Mix.  Thank you to everyone who donated ingredients!

A big thank you to Carolyn, Mrs. DeForge, and Mrs. Phillips who helped with mixing, baking, bagging, and cleaning up!

Gifts for Giving is this Monday, December 21st.  It would be helpful if students can bring a paper shopping bag or shoe box to help them safely carry their gifts home on this day.  

We will have our holiday party on Wednesday, December 23rd from 2:00 to 2:50 pm.  Please note the change in time.  (I forgot that it was a 3:00 dismissal day!)  Families are welcome to join us for this special event.  Thank you to Guili for coordinating and to everyone who volunteered to contribute food, drinks, and paper products!


Lego Robotics

Introducing Bee-Bot!

Building "Bear Dens"

WORLD Santa Project:  Making the Chex Mix

Classroom News:

Important Information and Reminders:

Homework:

Students will not have "official" homework until after the holiday vacation.  Mrs. Fitch and I know that the holiday season is very busy for many families.  Please encourage your child to read and practice math facts as often as possible.

E.C.O.:  Tuesday, December 15th

We have E.C.O. this Tuesday.  Please help your child bring appropriate clothing and footwear for spending the afternoon outdoors. 

Students should have:

• a jacket or coat
• gloves or mittens
• a hat
• warm socks
• boots

Chex Mix:

We will be making and baking the Chex Mix on Thursday, December 17th and selling it on Friday, December 18th.  

The donations of cereal and other ingredients for our Chex Mix sale have begun to arrive at school, but we definitely still need more ingredients.  Please remember that the ingredients do not need to be name brand, but do need to peanut free.  We are unable to use any products that may contain peanut or nut products.  Thanks to everyone who has contributed so far!

We are still looking for volunteers to help bake the Chex Mix on Thursday afternoon.  Please email me at lgiammusso@u32.org if you are able to help.


Gifts for Giving:  Monday, December 21st

It would be helpful if students can bring a paper shopping bag or shoe box to help them safely carry their gifts home on this day.  

We are still looking for volunteers to help with this special event.  Please check out the link to sign up if you are able to help with Gifts for Giving.

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0a4aacab2daa8-gifts

WORLD Santa Project: Chex Mix Sale

CHEX MIX

Second and Third Grade Community Service Project

For many years the students in our classes have completed a community service project during the holidays.  The project is THE WORLD newspaper’s “SANTA PROJECT”.  This project collects money and buys new coats, hats, boots, and mittens for Central Vermont children.  This year, we will once again, make and sell “Chex Mix” as a fundraiser for this project.  We will make the mix on Thursday, December 17 and sell it on Friday, December 18to students, staff and families of EMES.  The cost will be $.75 per bag.

In order for this project to be a success we are asking families for donations of mix supplies.  It is truly amazing and fun for the kids to see all the great contributions we receive each year.  We need many, many boxes of cereal it can be Chex or a generic variety, it doesn’t matter the brand!  We cannot accept any nuts or products that contain any honey-nut ingredients.  Please check ingredients before sending in contributions, pretzels can be especially tricky!  Following is a list of types of cereals, etc. we can use:

• Wheat Chex                    Goldfish style crackers
• Corn chex                    Cheez-it style crackers
• Rice chex                    Small pretzels
• Cheerios (no honey nut)            Mini melba toast           

We will supply the spices, butter and baggies for the project.  Please send in your donations by Wednesday, December 16th so we can plan accordingly.

Thank you for your generosity in this important event.  We know how expensive groceries are, so we really appreciate your help in teaching this important lesson of giving to our students.

Please don’t hesitate to call or e-mail us with any questions!  If you can help bake or bag the mix the afternoon of December 17th, please let your child’s teacher know.  THANK YOU!!

Sincerely,

Jennifer Fitch and Laura Giammusso

E.C.O.: Becoming Squirrels!

On Tuesday, we learned about ways that squirrels meet their needs to survive winter, such as collecting and storing food.  Carrie taught us that squirrels need to eat 7.5% of their body weight every day in order to survive.  We discussed how that would be like a 50 pound kid eating almost 3.75 lbs of food every day!   Next, we acted like squirrels and tried to gather enough food for one winter day.