Happy Friday!

 Happy Friday!

Wow!  Fall is definitely here!  The temperatures have definitely dropped.  

Class Dojo

• We started Class Dojo this week.  If you would like to connect with your student, the link is in the email I send today.
• This will be similar to stickers that are used in the classroom.  Students can earn Dojo points for being safe, respectful learners on Zoom.

Seesaw

• In my email is the link to connect to your student's Seesaw account if you would like.  This allows you to view and comment on student's work.

Friday Feedback

• While virtual, we will not be doing Friday Folders.  Starting this week, I will individually email parents bi-weekly to update them on their student's behavior, work completion and overall how things are going with school.  You will receive your first email today.  :)

Important Upcoming Events

• Non-Chicken BBQ Week
• Tuesday, October 6: Slim Chickens Fundraiser (20% of sales come back to RBE with flyer)
• Wednesday, October 7: Andy's Frozen Custard (all locations)Fundraiser ($1 for each treat sold comes back to RBE with flyer)
• Thursday, October 8: Angelo's Pizza and Steakhouse Fundraiser (10% of sales come back to RBE with flyer)
• Silent Auction: Here is the link for all the items available at the online silent auction

Reminders for Virtual Learning

• First reminder, as always is a huge thank you to everyone who is helping students get on Zoom, get their work completed and helping them to stay focused!
• Please try to get your student on Zoom on time.  I know it can be hard with school at home, but it is important for students to attend Zooms and to be on time, just as if we were in the building.
• Some students have been creating a virtual background.  As long as the virtual background isn't distracting and stays the same, I am fine with it.  Sometimes the students "disappear" into the background and it makes it hard to see them.  Please reinforce the with your students.
• It is helpful when students have their supplies near them for Zoom.  These supplies include Monster Book, Fundations whiteboard, plain whiteboard, dry erase marker, Math Journal, Reading Notebook (yellow), writing notebook (white) and science notebook (green).  Next week, they will also need their Plants and Animals "magazine" for reading.  I have a tub that sits on my desk and it's great because I know everything I need is in there.  :)
• Again, ending with this because I cannot say it enough times.  Thank you so much for all your support!  I know this is a difficult time, you are truly making easier for all of us with your support!

Next Week's Learning

• Reading
• Students will need their "Plants and Animals in Their Habitats" magazine that came home in the first supply pick up.  Here is a picture.
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• We will start learning about main idea and detail in a nonfiction piece of writing.
• Writing
• We will focus on informational writing for our first unit.
• We will focus on note taking next week.  Students will learn to read articles and take notes as well as watch short videos and take notes.
• Our first piece will be over penguins.
• Math
• We will wrap up Unit 1 next week.
• We will be looking at skip counting and patterns and then will test on Friday.  
• The students have been working super hard in math, I am so excited for them to get to "show off" on Friday.  
• Science
• We will continue studying habitats next week.  We will be identifying which animals live in which habitats.  
• We will also be looking at maps and identifying where the habitats are located around the world.
• Fundations
• We will learned all the glued/welded sounds next week and discuss how when tapping out a word, a glued sound only gets one tap because it is one sound.
• Our trick words for next week are both, talk, walk.  They can also practice this week's trick words of shall, pull, full.  Trick words are tricky since you can't tap them out. 

Have a fabulous weekend!

Happy Fall Friday!

 Happy First Friday of Fall!

I hope you had a fabulous week!  We had another wonderful week!  The kids are working so hard, participating and staying focused!  

If your student is participating in a sport, I would love to try my best to come see them play.  Please send me their schedule and I will try my best to come out and support them!

On Sunday early evening, I would love to have a whole class read aloud.  I have a book that I feel fits perfectly with how every one is working together to support our students and would like to share it with your student and your family.  If you would like to join us, please login to our Zoom link (same Zoom link students use for class) at 5:00 p.m. on Sunday and we will share the book together.  This is completely optional and I understand if you are not able to come, I just wanted to invite everyone. 

Important Upcoming Events

• Family Read Aloud: Sunday, September 27 at 5:00 p.m.
• Tuesday, October 6: Slim Chickens Fundraiser (20% of sales come back to RBE with flyer)
• Wednesday, October 7: Andy's Frozen Custard (all locations)Fundraiser ($1 for each treat sold comes back to RBE with flyer)
• Thursday, October 8: Angelo's Pizza and Steakhouse Fundraiser (10% of sales come back to RBE with flyer)

Non-Chicken BBQ 

• Our Chicken BBQ will look a different this year, but our wonderful PTA has been working hard to still have some parts of the Chicken BBQ happen.  :)
• We will have a silent auction and more information will be coming soon about it.  I have a fun ice cream outing available in the Teacher Town section.
• We will still have a raffle for a $250 Hyvee Gift Card.  You can sell raffle tickets to your family and friends for $1 a chance.  Simply collect the money for the tickets you sell. Turn in the money you collected for the tickets (checks payable to RBE PTA, or Venmo the RBE -PTA account with your student’s name, teacher’s name and number of tickets purchased) and the completed raffle tickets to the white drop box outside the office by Wednesday, October 7^th.  The winner will be drawn and announced on Thursday, October 8^th.  Here is the form.

We have 3 Family Eat Out fundraisers planned the week of October 5.  They are listed under Important Upcoming Events.  

Next Week's Learning

Reading

• We will be reading a nonfiction book and discussing how we know it is non-fiction as opposed to fiction.
• We will also be working on visualizing and making a picture in our head while reading/listening to a book.
• We will learn about story elements and making connections in books. 

Writing

• We will start writing a narrative next week.  We will discuss the characteristics of narrative writing.
• We are still working on complete sentences with capital letters and punctuation.
• The first narrative will be about a time they experienced a storm.  

Fundations

• We will be starting unit 2 next week.  
• This unit introduces r-controlled vowels.  During this unit, we will focus on reading words with r-controlled vowels, but not yet writing them.  
• Our trick words for next week are full, pull, shall.  Last week's words were you, your, was, said, one, they.  You can still practice these words also.

Math

• We will be learning a new game called Fishing for 10 and being able to quickly identify combinations of 10.
• We will introduce the quarter.  Please practice skip counting by 25's with your student.  This can be tricky for them at first.
• We will also be learning how to determine if the number is even or odd.

Science

• We will be comparing habitats and ecosystems next week.  Students will get to go on PebbleGo and learn about 2 different ecosystems and then compare them. 

Have a fabulous weekend!

Happy Friday!

 Happy Friday!

We are finding a routine and I am so proud of the students!  I am so excited to get to read their dream pet writing and also see their self-portraits.  I am going to print off their portraits and hang them around my work area so I get to be surrounded by them!  If you are not linked to your student in Seesaw and would like to be, please let me know and I will get you the link.

Thank you to everyone who picked up the supply bags yesterday!  I hope these supplies make learning from home a bit easier.  

Another HUGE thank you to all the families, friends and day cares for helping get the students on Zoom and making sure they have the materials they need to be successful during our school day.  I know a virtual school day seems longer than a "normal" school day.  I also know I really enjoying getting to know the students more and more each day and seeing their personalities come out and couldn't be more proud of how hard they are working!

Just a reminder, Wednesday is a teacher work day, so students will not have class on Wednesday.

Mrs. McKinzie has set up a plan for library check out while we are virtual.  Here is a link to the video.  I shared this video with the students on Monday and I think some have already requested some books.  Please make a plan to pick up books once you receive an email stating your books are ready.  Once your students have finished reading their books, there is a red book return by the parent pick up doors.

Next Week's Learning

Math

• We will be looking at the number grid and identifying patterns that we see and discussing how we can use those patterns to help as when we use the number grid as a tool.
• We will be creating multiple number sentences for the same number (example: 1+4, 2+3, 5+0 all equal 5).  

Reading

• We will be working on identifying the author's purpose (to inform, entertain or persuade).
• We will be discussing the difference between fiction and non-fiction.
• We will be identifying the characteristics of a poem.

Writing

• We are going to continue building our stamina for writing next week.  We are also making sure we have capital letters, punctuation and complete sentences.
• We will also be working on rhyming words as we look at poetry.

Fundations

• We will be learning the rule for when to use c, k or ck when making the /k/ sound.
• We will start identifying how many syllables are in a word and then labeling our closed syllables.
• Our trick words for next week are they, said, one, you, your, was.  These are words that cannot be tapped out and need to be memorized.

Science

• Next week, we will be learning about birds and their beaks.  We will learn about how birds eat different foods based on their beaks.  

Please reach out if you have any questions.  I will do my best to answer them!  

Have a wonderful weekend!

Happy First Friday!

 Happy Friday!

I hope you have had a wonderful week! I am really enjoyed getting to spend my days with your students.  

I know learning over a screen is not ideal and can be difficult, but the kids are doing amazing!  The participation is awesome!  A huge thank you to everyone who is helping students get on zooms!

Next Week-More Content

Next week, we will start with teaching content.  We will be spend about 20-25 minutes teaching a lesson and then students will then have independent practice based on our lesson.  It can be tempting to start a break a little early or have an extra break when they sign off Zoom, but it is important for students to use the rest of the allotted time to do the assigned activity whether it is in Seesaw, Benchmark Universe or St Math.  I will stay on Zoom for the rest of time (for example if I sent them off to do math at 10:05, I will stay on Zoom until 10:25 when our break starts) so students can log back in if they have questions.  

Electronic Library Options

Mrs. McKinzie taught the students about our electronic library options today.  There are multiple options under the Electronic Library folder on ClassLink.  Students can also access Epic Monday-Friday from 7:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. for free using our class code, wek7430.

Next Week's Learning

Math

• We will start our first unit in math on Monday.  This first unit is more of a review of different concepts.  Next week, we will focus on number lines and counting coins.
• Students will have assignments to complete in Seesaw for math.  They will also be completing some pages in their math journal and then taking pictures to upload to Seesaw.

Science

• Our first unit of science is Plants and Animals.  Next week, students will complete an activity that focused on classifying animals by similar characteristics.  

Fundations

• We will be using the students letter tiles they cut out this week and their page protector/cardstock whiteboard.  If students are missing something from their Fundations kit, please let me know and I will make sure it gets in their bag at supply pick up next week.
• The first unit of Fundations focuses on spelling with digraphs and blends.  We will practice building and writing words. 
• Trick words are words that can't be "tapped out" or sounded out.  They just need to be memorized.  Our trick words for next week are have, come and from.  

Reading

• The first few weeks of reading will focus on learning routines as a reader. Next week, we will start writing reading responses to books that are read aloud.  Your students will receive a reading response journal at supply pick up.  For Monday and Tuesday, students will simply need a piece of paper and a pencil to write their response.   

Writing

• Next week, students will just get some practice getting back in the routine of writing.  They will receive a writer's notebook at supply pick up on Thursday.
• We will focus on capital letters, punctuation and spelling words following Fundations rules.  

Important Upcoming Events

• Tuesday, September 15: PTA Meeting via Zoom
• Thursday, September 17: Supply Pick Up from 2:30-5:30 p.m.
• Students will be receiving their school supply kit (if ordered, if you didn't order, you can bring $27 check or cash to purchase one), Stylus, reading notebook and writing notebook.

I have thoroughly enjoyed spending my week with your student and I am very excited to get to spend the year with them!

Have a fabulous weekend!

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday!

I hope you have had a wonderful week! We are down to 6 more days which is absolutely crazy!  The end of the school year is always bittersweet.  We know the students are ready for 3rd grade and we want to continue to see them grow, but it's also sad to see them go.  This year has been amazing!

Thank yo to everyone who attended our Lunch Bunch and Writing Celebration.  Wow!  We had such a great turn out.  These kids are lucky to have such supportive family and friends!  Be sure to check out Twitter to see pictures from the event.  We will be sending their book home next week.

Rock Bridge State Park Hike

• We will be walking to Rock Bridge State Park on Wednesday, May 22.  
• Please make sure your student wear tennis shoes.  
• If you would like to apply bug spray before they come to school, you may, but we can't apply bug spray at school.
• If you would like to walk with us or meet us at the park, please let me know.

Variety Show

• The Variety Show is Thursday, May 23.
• We will be attending the Variety Show at 9:30.
• Parents, guardians, family and friends are welcome to attend.

Memory Books/Yearbooks

• We will be creating Memory Books at school next week.
• It is always fun to see what memories stand out the most to the students.  
• If your student ordered a yearbook, it will come home on Tuesday or Wednesday (depending on the day they get delivered).  Please have them bring them back on Friday so they can sign them.  
• We will sign yearbooks and memory book on Friday, May 24.  

Last Day of School

• The last day of school is Tuesday, May 28.
• We will dismiss at 12:10 p.m.  Please let me know if your child is going home a different way than normal.
• If your student will not be at school this day, please let me know.  
• We will me watching the movie Matilda this day.  It is rated PG.  We will be comparing it to the book which we are reading right now. 

Our Learning Next Week

• Reading
• We will be working on reading non-fiction text as we learn about different body systems.
• Writing
• We will be reflecting on our school year as we create our memory books.  It's so fun to see what they choose to write about and also how much they have grown this year as writers!
• Math
• We will be reviewing concepts next week.  We will work on time, money, addition and subtraction.
• Health
• We will be learning about body systems next week.  We will learn about a different body system each day.  Be sure to ask your student what system they learned about each day.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Mrs. Ross

Happy Friday!

What an amazing field trip that we had today!  Thank you to parent chaperones and donations of water and ice cream money.  The kiddos had a blast!!  Check out Twitter for pictures.

On Thursday, we met as a grade level, with administration, to look at our reading and math data.  The students have grown SO incredibly much!!!!  The growth that we have seen has been AMAZING and we hope that you are able to see this growth when reading and talking with your child at home!

Important Upcoming Events

• Field Day: May 15
• Lunch Bunch and Writing Celebration: May 17
• All Library Books Due: May 17
• Crazy Hair Day: May 17
• Variety Show: May 23
• Last Day of School: May 28, dismiss at 12:10

Field Day is May 15. 

• 2nd grade will participate in the afternoon session.
• Please send in a FULL change of clothes (including underwear and socks) for your student as they may get wet during Field Day.
• Here is the link for supplies if you would like to donate anything for Field Day.
• Ms. Moore would like all supplies by Monday.  
• Below is a list of supplies still needed:
• water balloons, small watermelons, Cheetos puffed, whipped cream in a can, baby shampoo and gummy worms
• Field Day is always fun and students always remember all the fabulous activities.
• If you would like to volunteer for Field Day, here is the link. 

Which is Better Project

• The students have worked extremely hard to publish their Which is Better writing.  All writing should be completed on Thursday - check in with your child on how s/he is doing.
• On Monday, the students will be writing their Which is Better presentation and practicing.
• On Tuesday, the students who are finished with publishing their book and presentation will start their projects.  We will continue to work on these Wednesday and Thursday.
• We will be sharing this writing at our writing celebration on May 17.
• Students will get to create a project to accompany their book.  The projects will be created at school.
• If students would like to bring in supplies from home, they are welcome to do so, but IT IS NOT REQUIRED.  We will have tissue paper and construction paper for students to use at school.
• Here is the information sheet sent home with some ideas of the projects they can create.

Lunch Bunch/Writing Celebration

• We will be celebrating all the students and their hard work on Friday, May 17 during a Lunch Bunch/Writing Celebration.
• Parents or special guests are welcome!! :)
• We will be eating lunch in the pavilion on Friday from 11:00-11:30.
• You are more than welcome to go with your child to recess 11:30-11:45.
• 11:45-12:15 we will have an open house style of our Which is Better books and projects.
• An information sheet came home last week but if you need additional information - please ask!

Library Checkout

• Our final library check out of the year was yesterday.  All library books are due on May 17.  As soon as your child is finished with his/her library book, we will start turning them in.  We will appreciate any help that you can give us in getting 100% of the books returned by next Friday!

Next Week's Learning
Math

• We are finishing up our last math unit.  This is a review from year, and introducing subtraction with stacking (borrowing) and multiplication.  We will be taking our last end of the unit math test next week, and then we will focus on areas that we feel the students need a little extra reinforcement.

Writing

• This week, we finished publishing our Which is Better book
• Next week, we will be writing our presentation and then making our Which is Better projects.

Fundations

• Next week, we continued to work on the /ou/ sound with the vowel teams "ow" and "ou".  The students have a good understanding of this concept and we will test over the long o and the /ou/ sound. 

Reading

• This week, we talked about author's purpose for writing.  An author might choose to write to persuade, inform or entertain (PIE).  The students have a great understanding of this!!  It is important for the students to be able to explain why they chose whether the book is to persuade, inform or entertain using evidence from text.

Science

• This week, we talked about how plants and animals protect themselves and then reviewed food chains/webs.  The students are doing great with this concepts and were able to show off at Runge today!
• Next week, we will review at erosion and how to set up experiments.  

Wow!  I was so spoiled with all the Teacher Appreciation gifts!  Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!  I can't believe the school year is almost over.  It has been amazing watching the students grow this year!

Have a fabulous weekend!

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday!

We have had a wonderful week in Moss World!  It is crazy to think we only have 3 more Friday blog posts this year.  There is a lot of important information in this post, so please make sure to read it.  :)

We have been working on end of the year assessments and to say we are blown away by the progress the students have made would be an understatement.  We are so proud of how hard they have worked and how much the students have grown this year!

Important Upcoming Events

• Final Library Check Out: May 9
• Runge Field Trip: May 10
• Field Day: May 15
• Lunch Bunch and Writing Celebration: May 17
• All Library Books Due: May 17
• Crazy Hair Day: May 17
• Variety Show: May 23
• Last Day of School: May 28, dismiss at 12:10

Final Library Check Out

• Our final library check out of the year is next Thursday.  Note the day change due to our field trip.  Please help remind students to bring in their library books on May 9 so they can get new ones.  All library books are due on May 17.

Runge Field Trip

• Our Runge Field trip is next Friday!  We will send home a reminder next week, but below is important information to remember.  
• Your student will need to bring a lunch from home, if they didn't sign up to get one from the cafeteria.
• All lunches need to be in all disposable containers.  We will not be bringing anything back to school, so please pack their lunch accordingly.  
• We will be providing a snack for your student, so they do not need to bring a snack for the field trip.
• Please check the weather and have your student dress appropriately.  Currently the forecast is for temperatures between 50-60.  We will be outside for the majority of the day, so they will probably want a light jacket.  Also, there is more rain in the forecast (not on Friday, thankfully), so it may be muddy at Runge.  Your student may wear boots or tennis shoes. Please make sure they wear shoes that can get dirty.
• We will leave school around 8:30, please make sure your student is on time so they do not miss the field trip.
• If you are chaperoning and would like to take your student home, you will need to sign them out with Ms. Mottaz or Mrs. Ross. We ask that you stay with us until your group gets to look through the museum/exhibits.

Field Day

• Field Day is May 15.  
• 2nd grade will participate in the afternoon session.
• Please send in a FULL change of clothes (including underwear and socks) for your student as they may get wet during Field Day.
• Here is the link for supplies if you would like to donate anything for Field Day.
• If you would like to volunteer for Field Day, here is the link.

Which is Better Project

• The students are working hard to publish their Which is Better writing.
• We will be sharing this writing at our writing celebration on May 17.
• Students will get to create a project to accompany their book.  The projects will be created at school.
• If students would like to bring in supplies from home, they are welcome to do so, but IT IS NOT REQUIRED.  We will have tissue paper and construction paper for students to use at school.
• Here is the information sheet sent home with some ideas of the projects they can create.

Next Week's Learning

• Math
• This week, we started to review 3-digit subtraction.  We used place value blocks to show how to exchange a ten for 10 ones, or a hundred for 10 tens.  After students understood the reason for borrowing, we also taught students how to stack and borrow.  This is a hard concept.
• Next week, we will
• Writing
• This week, we started publishing our Which is Better writing.  We looked a text feature examples of strong and weak work.  The students developed a list of what text features should have and they worked EXTREMELY hard on publishing their text features.
• Next week, we will publish the words in our book.
• Fundations
• This week, we focused on the /ou/ sound using "ow" and "ou".  We learned that the vowel team of "ou" only comes in the middle of a word.  The vowel team of "ow" comes at the end of a word and sometimes in the middle.
• Next week, we will do a mixed review of /ow/ and long o sound.
• Reading
• This week, we identified the main idea of a book or section of a book and the supporting details in a nonfiction book.  We compared the main idea and supporting details to a table.  The main idea is the table top and the supporting details are the legs.  A table top without legs would not have a purpose and vice versa.
• Next week, we be talking about author's purpose for writing.  An author might choose to write to persuade, inform or entertain (PIE).
• Science
• This week, we continued to learn about food chains and introduced food webs.  We also made conclusions on our marigold experiment.  Ask your kiddo what s/he learned about what a plant needs and what is most important!
• Next week, we will continue to focus on living organism.

Have a fabulous weekend!