Coming up...

I just wanted to touch base about a few things coming up:

* Tomorrow, Wednesday, October 1, is picture day.  

* Friday, the 3rd, is the day for flu shots if you've signed up.

* Friday is also pajama day in our room!  We have earned pajama day by earning 9 baseballs.  The class earns baseballs for having exceptional behavior or receiving compliments from other staff in the building.  I do not typically give them a baseball as they do not get them for doing what is expected.  They have earned them for compliments for walking quietly in line, for working together, and helping each other.  Your child may wear their pajamas (watch the weather) and bring a small stuffed animal.  They can also wear "comfy" clothes if they like (yoga type pants, sweatshirts, sweat pants, etc) or their regular clothes.  I'm very proud of them for earning this early in the year!

* I will be sending home a Scholastic flyer and information for ordering if you'd like to.  I'll send it home Friday.

* Next Thursday, October 9, is an early release day with dismissal at 12:30.

* Next Friday, October 10, is our Social-Emotional morning.  You will meet with staff from our school first in the auditorium and then join us for morning meeting.  It's 8:30-9:30.  

Week ending 9/26/14

Definitely felt like Fall today!  Have you been apple picking yet?  We went last weekend and it was so great!  I hope everyone had a nice day off from school and wonderful day of family and friends if you're celebrating.  We've really been getting the routines in place, especially in reading and writing workshop.  Students know what to expect and are working really hard!
Important information:

• If there is a dismissal change, please let me know.  Students who usually take the bus and aren't  or those who usually go to extended but don't, may not remember what they are doing and I don't want to put them on a bus if there's no one to get them or keep them when you're waiting for them.  Also, if you're taking a child from another class, be sure that the other teachers know where that student is going.  If not, we may be calling you.  Thanks for your cooperation!
• Picture Day is Wednesday, October 1st.
• Flu Clinic is Friday, October 3rd.

3, 2, 1 things from room 250…

3 skills we practiced this week: We practiced our number combinations with addition and subtraction by playing various games and activities during math time.  We've worked on making clear, descriptive, and specific observations during science and set up our science notebooks with a cover, table of contents, and writing with sketches.  During writing, we continue to work on telling a story across 5 pages and have started rereading our work to be sure it sounds right, looks right, and makes sense.

2 things to ask your child:  What does I PICK mean when choosing books?  This is something (along with the 5 Finger Rule) that we will work on all year as we choose just right books.  I PICK stands for: I can choose just right books based on Purpose, Interest, Comprehension, and Knowing the words.  Also, ask your child which books they've been reading during reading workshop.  

1 thing coming up: Next week, we will start our social studies unit on the United States, map skills, and a focus on where we are in the world.

Have a great weekend!

Megan

Week ending 9/19/14

Hi Families,
I hope you've been able to get out and enjoy the fall weather!  It's beautiful!  I'm glad many of you could come in for Open House.  I hope you found the evening informational and helpful.

A few things to remember:
* All the Open House items that would have been passed out are now on my website under "Open House".  Please take a look when you can.
* Thursday, there is no school.  Enjoy the day with your families.
* A reminder about dismissal…please send a note in the morning or tell me the day before if your child will have a change in how they go home.  It's really important, for all the students' safety, that I know where they are going after school.  Sometimes a parent will want to take a friend, yet there's been a miscommunication, and the parent shows up to get the child.  It can make everyone worried until it's worked out.  We don't want that to happen.  Any child going home with someone different (unless you've told me otherwise), will need a note or I'll be calling you.  Thank you so much for your help with this.
* Picture day is October 1st so be sure to sign up online or send in the form.  Thanks!
* I've been having a glitch somewhere on my blog so it's not posting correctly.  The most current one may post but then one from January as well.  I'm working with the IT person to fix this!

I'm going to try something different with my blog posts…it's a 3, 2, 1 format.  Hope you like it!

3 skills we worked on this week: We worked on reading a thermometer and telling the temperature.  We practiced making connections to the read aloud story, Sheila Rae the Brave by Kevin Henkes.  We started working on our small moments narrative writing and we're focusing on telling the story across 5 fingers to be sure we have enough but also talking about the details that are really important.

2 questions to ask you child: What are some words you can use to describe (any object you choose) if you were observing it?  What is our morning meeting greeting we've been doing lately?  (Hint: What's the news?)

1 thing to try at home this week: The penny plate game we learned in math is a great way to work on addition skills!  Hide 10-15 pennies (be sure to tell your child how many) under the plate.  Have your child turn around and then put some pennies on top of the plate.  Now, ask your child to say how many are on the plate and how many are hiding.  Now your child hides pennies for you.  It's a great activity for addition and subtraction skills and number sense.

Enjoy the weekend!
Megan

Just testing again!

Open House Schedule

Below is our schedule foe Open House this year:

6:00-6:25          PTO meet and greet- Gymnasium

6:30 to 6:55 PM:  Principal and PTO Welcome- Auditorium 

7:05 to 7:35 PM:  Grades 1: in the first grade classrooms

                     Grade 2: in ART room - then back to our classroom for a few minutes

                     Kindergarten: in Auditorium

7:05 to 7:35 PM:  Grades 3-5 families meet with Special Area teachers

• In Library       Art, Library, Music, P.E.H.W
• Room 210         Special Education Teacher, Speech & Language Therapist, Psychologist, Social Worker and Inclusion Facilitators
• Room 216         Curriculum Resource Center- Literacy Coach and Math Coach

7:40 to 8:10 PM:  Grades 3: in the third grade classrooms

                      Gr. 4: in Room 203

                      Gr. 5 in Auditorium

7:40 to 8:10 PM: Grades K-2 Special Area teachers in library

• In Library       Art, Library, Music, P.E.H.W
• Room 210         Special Education Teacher, Speech & Language Therapist, Psychologist, Social Worker and Inclusion Facilitators
• Room 216         Curriculum Resource Center- Literacy Coach and Math Coach  

Questions to ask your child….

If your house is like ours, asking your child "What did you learn today?", may get you a "Nothing" or an "I don't remember."  I can tell you that we really did work and learn all day!  Asking questions about their day is a great way to learn how their day went and what they're learning.
Here's some questions to help get you started from Creativefamilyfun.net and other ideas …

• Who did you sit by at lunch?
• Who did you play with at recess?
• What did you do in your special?
• What math skill did you practice today?
• What activities did you do in morning meeting?
• Did you have science or social studies today?  If yes, what did you do?
• Did anything surprise you today? 
• Tell me something nice that you did for someone today.
• Did someone do something nice for you today?
• What did you write about today?
• What book did your teacher read to you today?  What do you like about that book?
• What book did YOU read (or listen to) today?
• Did anything make you sad today?

Week ending 9/12/14

Hello families!  We've had a great first week!  We continue to take time to get to know each other, learn classroom routines and expectations, and start working on our academic skills.
Important information you need to know:

• Open House for parents is on Tuesday starting at 6:00 with meeting with the PTO followed by our principal and vice principal, then meet with classroom teachers in K-2 (GRADE 2 will be in the music room near the auditorium to start, then we will come back to our room for a few minutes to do an activity for your child), followed by 3-5.  I have added the important documents typically given out to my website, under the Open House tab.  Also added there is 2nd grade classroom policies and common language informationPlease see them there as they will not go home.  
• Our specials each week are: 
• Monday is library - bring your books back
• Tuesday is PE - remember your sneakers
• Wednesday is PE and music - remember your sneakers
• Friday is art - wear clothes that can become artsy
• If you haven't added yourself to my blog updates, please do on the blog page under "Follow me by email".  Thanks!

What's been happening in room 250?

We've worked a lot this week on coming together as a community.  We've written our hopes and dreams for the school year and they've been placed on the bulletin board so we can see them all year.   The class brainstormed classroom rules and each one of us signed them to be recognize we all agree to try our best to follow them.  I've also introduced our "rest stop" area.  This is a calming station in our room where students may go if I ask them to sit there after repeated redirection or they may choose to go when they're feeling sad, tired, frustrated, or upset.  Ask you child what they can do in rest stop and strategies for getting themselves ready to get back on task.

In literacy, we've started talking about why we choose different books (by genre, author, topic, etc.), the places we love to read, types/genres of books, and expectations of reading workshop.  We've also been building our reading stamina by reading to ourselves and charting the number of minutes we are a all reading.  The most we've read is 35 minutes!  We've talked about how reading is reading the words and "reading" the pictures.  This helps the students feel successful no matter where they are in their reading journey.  Next week, we'll talk more about how to choose a book that's just right for them.  

In math, we've worked on number scrolls, math boxes, coins, dollars, and telling time.  Much of unit 1 is practice to be sure we're all ready to continue on after the summer.  Next week, we'll be working in groups and with partners to practice our money  and addition skills and review temperature.

During writing workshop, we've been writing about our summers and next week we'll start talking about tiny seed stories to start our narrative writing unit.

Hope to see you all at Open House!  Enjoy the weekend!

:)

Week of 9/5/14

Hello families!

Can you believe the first week of school is over already!  It's gone by so fast!

Important information:

* Thank you for your help at dismissal.  I've been giving the kids a high five before they can leave so they have to tell me that you are there.  Doing that helps me learn your faces and assures the children are leaving with an adult.  

* If there are any changes at all to dismissal, please send in a note and have your child place it in the red box, "Notes for Ms. DeKing".  Emails can work as well if you know in advance, but sometimes the day of can be hard if I can't check the email or there is a connection issue.  Thank you for your help with this.  

* Open House is Tuesday, September 16th.  The schedule is: 6-6:30 PTO open house for families in gym, 6:30-6:55 Principal, Assistant Principal, and PTO welcome, 7:05-7:35 meet with K-2 in classrooms (3-5 families meet in library with special area teachers), and 7:40-8:10 3-5 classrooms (K-2 meet in library with special area teachers).  I hope you can join us!

* Thursday, September 25, there is no school.  

What's happening in room 250?

I think we are off to a great start!  We've been learning each other's names, the classroom routines, the schedule, getting morning work and morning meeting underway, and meeting new staff and friends.  It can take a few weeks for the routines to be solid in place and for things to run smoothly and faster.  Right now, as we learn new expectations, where items are in the classroom, how to use different materials, and adjust to a new year...things can take awhile to get done.  Once the routines and expectations are in place, things just fall into place and we all know what to expect and we accomplish ALOT!  

This week, we started talking about coins and the calendar.  We wrote about our week in 2nd grade, listened to many read alouds, worked on  portraits, and wrote our hopes and dreams.  Next week, we'll begin Fundations (phonics review), review clocks in math, and write our classroom rules.  We write our rules based on our hopes and dreams for the school year.  In order to meet our hopes for the year, which rules are most important for us to have?  We work together to create rules that are appropriate and easy to understand.  

During the month of September, we will be reviewing math topics learned in first grade, assessing reading to be sure they are in a guided reading group that is appropriate for their strengths and needs, and assessing their writing skills.  The assessing now, will help me understand where the students are in their learning and guide my instruction.  

Thank you for helping your children feel positive and excited about school!  I can see their excitement and it's wonderful!

If you ever have any questions, don't hesitate to  let me know!

Mrs. DeKing