Two Posts in One Day :)

We had such a great day that one post wouldn't suffice.  :)

Object for Tomorrow
Adjectives were introduced to the kids today.  We discussed that adjectives describe a noun (person, place, thing or idea).  We originally planned to walk around the outdoor classroom and use adjectives to describe things because today was Outdoor Classroom Day, but the weather didn't allow that.  We ended up describing some items in the classroom.  To continue this discussion tomorrow, the kids can bring in an object from home (please see note or this link for specifics) for us to describe using different adjectives tomorrow.

Social Studies and Reading
Today, I read two books to the students.  I read The Other Side and White Water.  Both books are set during the segregation era in the south.  We had a wonderful discussion and then we compared the books.  Our venn diagram is below.  I have to brag on the students about what a fabulous job they do with our discussions and how much they are learning about history through out historical fiction read alouds.  They are so interested in these topics and picture books are a great way to introduce them.  Next time you're at the library, I recommend looking into some historical fiction picture books to read with your child.

Chicken BBQ
Another push for the Chicken BBQ.  I know I post about it a lot, but it is our PTA's big fundraiser and they do so much for our school.  This year they are paying for the tickets to see a TRYPS play in the spring.  They also have purchased apps on the iPads for the kids to use.  We are very lucky to have such a generous PTA and the BBQ is where they make the majority of their money.  BBQ ticket orders will be picked up 3 times next week if you would like to pre-order.  As a reminder, adult tickets are $9, youth are $7 and child tickets are $5.

ST Math
I sent home the directions for ST Math on a tablet last night and this morning some kids were still having difficulties with it.  After talking with Mrs. McKinzie, I think the problem has been solved, so students should be able to access ST Math on a tablet at home now.  If there are further problems, please let me know.

Counselor
Mr. Smith, our school counselor, came in today and did a lesson on ways to stay calm or get calmed down if they get upset.  They read a book about a kid named Jace Kelly would gets very upset and "pops."  They discussed ways to avoid "popping" when you get upset.  Ask your student about some of the strategies.

Have a wonderful evening and let's hope for dry weather tomorrow so the kids can get outside!

Mrs. Ross

Quick Thursday Morning Post :)

Just a quick post with a few things yesterday.  :)

ST Math
I sent home directions for logging into ST Math on a tablet at home yesterday.  It is different than when the kids use a tablet at school, so this was creating some confusion.  Hopefully these directions clear that up.  :)  Here is the link.

Beginnings "Song"
We wrote and revised our beginnings today and as promised, here is the video of the kids singing the beginnings "song."

We took our Math Wizard test yesterday.  The students are noticing as they get to subtraction, it is a bit harder.  Please continue to practice these facts at home!

Have a fabulous day!

Mrs. Ross

McTeacher Night it Tonight! And Happy Tuesday!

Happy Tuesday!

Just a few reminders on this gorgeous Tuesday afternoon!

McTeacher Night
McTeacher Night is tonight at the Nifong McDonald's from 4 p.m.-8 p.m.  A percentage of the sales will come back to RBE!  I will be there from 4:30-5:00.  Every little bit helps!

Homework
I greatly appreciate all the support at home with homework.  The students are doing a nice job getting their homework completed nightly and keeping track of it all week.  Please have your students complete the math section in pencil.  This allows for them to make any necessary corrections simply by erasing.

Library Check Out
We have library check out tomorrow.  Please help your students remember to bring their library books back to school so they can get new books tomorrow.

CD Player and AA Batteries
We are using individual CD players for our reading intervention.  We currently have 8 CD players for the students to share.  If you have any individual CD players at home that you aren't using and you would like to donate to the classroom, we would greatly appreciate the donations.  Along with the CD players, we go through quite a few AA batteries as the CD players are used daily.  If you would like to donate AA batteries to the classroom, again, those would be greatly appreciated.

Chicken BBQ
The Chicken BBQ is 11 short days away.  If you would like to purchase tickets ahead of time, a Ziploc bag came home a few weeks ago, but if you have misplaced the bag, you can send in a list of how many tickets you would like to purchase with the money needed.  Adult tickets are $9, youth tickets are $7 and child tickets are $5.

Also, below are the pictures that will be available through the Teacher Town section of the auction.

The Day on the STEAM Bus will also be included in the Teacher Town section of the auction.  As a reminder, if parents would like to pool their money together to bid as a group, that is fine.  The winning student's entire class will get to spend a day on the STEAM Bus.

Writing

Today, we reviewed the 3 things that need to be included in a beginning.  They are lead, setting and characters.  We taught the kids arm movements to go with each part.  Ask them tonight to see if they remember them.  :)  We will review them tomorrow and post a video of the kids showing off their moves.  :)

Have a wonderful evening and I hope to see you at McDonald's tonight!

Mrs. Ross

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday!

I hope you have all had a wonderful week!  We have been very busy in Room 27!  There is a lot of information in this post, please take the time to read over it.  :)

Chicken BBQ
The Chicken BBQ is just 2 short weeks away.  Our PTA has been working very hard to get everything set up.  If you would like to purchase tickets, please send in the order form (sent home a few weeks ago in Friday folders) with your student and PTA volunteers will return the bag with tickets included.  I will be sending home a list of all the fabulous auction items when I get it.  :)  This is our big fundraiser for PTA and we are very lucky to have such a wonderful and generous PTA at RBE.

Books Read
The students asked me to make a "Books Read" section of the blog, so I created a page and will update it weekly of all the books that have been read aloud to the students.  I love sharing wonderful books with them!  Here is our list so far. If you have fabulous picture books you think I should share with the class, please let me know!

Custodian Day
October 2 is Custodian's Day, so we celebrated today, since the 2nd is on Sunday.  The students each created a key that said something they appreciate that Mr. Jim (our custodian) does around the school.  Then we glued them to a big key and the kids sang a cute song to tell Mr. Jim thank you for all his hard work!

Crayon Day
We were very colorful today for Crayon Day.  One of the kids had the idea to hold their hands up like the top of a crayon.  They are so creative!

Fabulous Front Teeth (or a fabulous gap if they are missing)
As promised, here is our class and Ms. Mottaz's class showing off their pearly whites.  :)

Veteran's Day Assembly
We will have a Veteran's Day assembly on November 9.  I will send out the time once it is finalized.  The students will be performing a song at the assembly.  Please your child wear red, white and blue to school on November 9. Also, there will be a slide show of veterans.  If there is a veteran in your family that you would like recognized in the slide show, please send a picture of teh veteran as well as their name, your child's name and how they are related to Mrs. Sharp.  Her email is esharp@cpsk12.org.

Maker Space
Today in MakerSpace, the students made duct tape bookmarks today.  They made two bookmarks, some students are bringing both home, others are bringing one home and kept one at school.

Book It
In your student's Friday folder is the Book-It note as well as the calendar to keep track of minutes read.  The goal for 2nd grade students is to read 300 minutes during the month.  If they do their normal homework plus 5 minutes a night, they will reach their goal.  They can, of course, read more than 300 minutes a month if they would like.  To receive their pizza for October, they need to have their reading completed in October and have their calendar turned in by November 2.

McTeacher Night
McTeacher Night is Tuesday, October 4 at the Nifong McDonald's.  This is a fundraiser for the schools.  Rock Bridge Faculty and Staff will be there throughout the event which runs from 4 p.m.-8 p.m.  I will be there from 4:30 p.m.-5:00 p.m.  It's a great way to raise money for RBE and then you don't have to cook dinner.  :)


Bird Day
Our Bird Day field trip is October 12. Thank you to everyone who has send in the form about lunch that day.  If you haven't, please send back the form so I can let the cafeteria know how many lunches we will need from them.  It will be a very fun day for the students and they learn a lot about birds from the Audubon Society.

Social Studies
Today, we challenged the kids to define culture, civics, history, geography and economics.  At the meeting I went to on Monday with the Social Studies coordinator for Columbia Public Schools, he discussed the importance of students knowing a common vocabulary in social studies from elementary school all the way through high school  We first showed them the words and they discussed with a partner, then showed them pictures and they discussed, then labeled the pictures with the 5 vocabulary words and they changed their definitions and ultimately came together to create definitions for each word.  I am so impressed with how hard the students words.  They did an awesome job creating these definitions.  As we were discussing geography, we looked at Google Earth.  The students absolutely loved  it, so they may be asking you to get on Google Earth at home.  :)

History: something that happened a long time ago (in the past), items or events that are really old
Culture: things that represent different countries, differences among countries, people of different countries
Geography: study and use of maps, land
Civics: government
Economics: study of money

Next Week's Learning
Math
Next week in math, the students will continue working on money identification and value.  They will work on a project called "T-Shirt Factory" where they apply their knowledge of place value to determine how many boxes are needed to ship t-shirts.  The students are doing a fabulous job with place value and I can't wait to see them apply this knowledge!

Reading
Next week in reading, we will be working on strategies to use when they come to an unknown word.  I will have a book mark for students to use at home that has all the stratgies on it.  Please encourage your student to use these strategies when reading at home.  It is very important for them to know what to do when they come to an unknown word because if they don't have strategies for unknown words it can cause them to not comprehend what they read.

Writing
We finished our final lead today.  They have created a sound lead, talking lead, question lead and an action lead for their story.  On Monday, they will get with a partner to pick the best lead for their story and then write the beginning.  The beginning of their story should have a lead, introduce characters and the setting.  After they have completed their beginning, we will start our middle.

Science
We will be learnin all about birds next week in science.  We will learn about different adaptations birds have that allow them to survive.  The students will also learn about different types of beaks and what type of food the different birds eat based on their beak.  This will get them ready for bird day!

Intervention
We will start our Reading Intervention next week.  This is a 30 minute block of time each day where all students will be working on reading.  Some will be working independently and some will be working in small groups.  Some students will be in a group with myself and some will be in a group with Ms. Mottaz.  We will be working on decoding strategies (strategies for unknown words), fluency (not reading like a robot and using expression) and comprehension (understanding what they read).

Have a fabulous weekend!

Mrs. Ross

Happy Thursday!

Happy Thursday!

I hope you have had a wonderful week so far!  We have been very productive in Room 27!

We lost more teeth today!  Three kids lost teeth today and the funny thing is two of them are the same ones that lost teeth on Tuesday.  Those tooth fairies must be busy.  :)I meant to get a picture of the entire class so we could compare toothless smiles, but didn't get around to it.  It will be in tomorrow's post.  :)

Spirit Day

Tomorrow is our first Spirit Day.  It is Crayon Day.  If your student would like to participate, they can wear as much of their favorite color as they would like.  :)

If you would like to start planning for other Spirit Days, here is the list for the year.  

Chicken BBQ Tickets

The kids and I talked about Chicken BBQ today.  We talked about the auction items and also buying tickets.  There are three prices for tickets.  Adult tickets are $9 and include half a chicken, youth tickets are $7 and include 1/4 chicken and child tickets are $5 and include chicken legs.  Each meal has green beans, apple sauce, a roll and a piece of pie.  This is our BIG fundraiser for PTA.  They do so much for our school and they have the funding for everything mainly from the Chicken BBQ, so if you're able to come out and support the PTA on October 15, that would be great!  We do have a drive thru available if you're short on time.  :)

The auction has a lot of great items again this year.  When I get a list of the items, I will be sending it home in Friday folders as well as on the blog.  We worked on our Teacher Town auction entries today.  :)  I will finish them next week and will post pictures.  We also discussed the STEAM Bus as part of the auction.  The STEAM Bus is a bus that has a lot of different science, technology, engineering, arts and math activities on it. Craig Adams is the coordinator for the STEAM Bus and he has donated a full day on the STEAM Bus for one class.   The kids and I discussed today that if parents are interested, they can pool their money together (from the same class) and try to win the day on the STEAM Bus for a class.  The winning student's entire class will get the enjoy the bus.  If you would like more information about the bus, you can visit the website here.

Your student should have brought a Ziploc bag home a few weeks ago to purchase tickets, if you don't have the bag, but would still like to order, you can send in a note with how many tickets you would like to purchase and the money for the tickets.  Tickets are also available the day of at the BBQ.

I look forward to seeing everyone there!  I will be working the Drive Thru and then walking around with my family.

Bird Day Forms

Thank you to everyone who has returned the forms about Bird Day.  If you haven't returned the form, please do so.  This will allow me to let the cafeteria know how many lunches are needed that day.  

McTeacher Night

Next Tuesday, October 4, is McTeacher Night at the Nifong McDonald's from 4 p.m.-8 p.m.  McDonald's donates a portion of profits made during this time back to RBE.  RBE faculty and staff will be working in different shifts throughout the night.  I will be working from 4:30-5:00 p.m.  It's a way to raise money for RBE and not make dinner.  :)

Word Study

We discussed "Magic e" yesterday and today and the students have a good understanding that CVC (Consonant, Vowel, Consonant) words (example: mad or rob) make a short vowel sound and CVCe (Consonant, Vowel, Consonant e) words (example: made or robe) make a long vowel sound.  We learned the pattern yesterday, then today we created a list of CVC and CVCe words, then they worked in their word study packets.  As a reminder, the spelling words this week and next focus on short & long a words:  Short a Words: glass, fast, last, snap, and sack. Long a Words: make, page, face, same, and came.

Book It

Coming home in Friday Folders is a Book It! form.  Book It! is a reading promotional program through Pizza Hut.  I will be discussing this with the class on Friday, but wanted to go ahead and let you know that we will be participating in the program this year.  The goal that the second grade teachers has set is for each student to read 300 minutes each month at home (they would be able to meet this goal if they read 5 extra minutes each night for homework, or read for 15 minutes 5 nights instead of 4 nights).  Your child's responsibility is to fill in the number of minutes read each night & then add the total minutes for the week.  October's Reading Log is due by November 2nd.  

I will post again tomorrow with what our plan is for next week!

Have a wonderful evening!

Mrs. Ross

Chicken BBQ and Picture Day Fun!

Happy Tuesday!

I hope you are all enjoying this BEAUTIFUL weather today!  I wanted to share some fun pictures we took today.  :)

Picture Day
All students had their pictures taken today.  They all looked so nice.  I love seeing the kids all dressed up for picture day!  If you didn't order and would like to, your student has a blue paper they brought home with directions for ordering.

Also, I have never had kids loose teeth before on picture day and today, we had 2 that lost front teeth.  :)  Definitely will make for a cute 2nd grade school picture.  :)

Chicken BBQ

The Chicken BBQ is right around the corner, which is crazy!  PTA volunteers will be coming around to pick up BBQ ticket orders tomorrow (in addition to many other times between now and the BBQ), so if you would like to purchase tickets, please send in the order form with money and the tickets will be sent home.  In addition to ticket sales, the other large part of the fundraiser is the silent auction.  Our PTA has been working very hard to get donations from local businesses.  In addition, we have a Teacher Town portion of the auction.  This is where classes has items for auction.  I will give you a sneak peak below of our items for the BBQ.  In addition, I will have a pizza party for the winning student and 2 of his/her friends at lunch time.  I will provide pizza, dessert and a drink.  :)  Thank you in advance for your support of RBE and the PTA.  We are very lucky to have such wonderful parents who support the school!

Weather Expectations

I went over the Recess Weather Expectations with the students today.  They know the expectations and we talked about bringing a light jacket as it gets cooler even if they don't end up wearing it at recess.  It's better to be prepared than be cold.  :)

Color Day

On Friday, September 30 is our first spirit day for the year.  If they choose to participate, they can wear as much of their favorite color or as many colors as possible.  :)

Freedoms Poster

We wrapped up our study of the Constitution, symbols and freedom today by creating a poster.  The students did a fabulous job on their posters.  They will be hanging in the hallway.  Come check them out.

Have a wonderful evening!

Mrs. Ross

Happy Monday!

I hope you have had a wonderful start to the week and the kids enjoyed an extra day off.  :)

I went to a meeting about social studies this morning and came back with some fun ideas for activities to use with the students!

I just wanted to send home a few reminders since we had the long weekend.

Picture Day is Tomorrow!

• Tomorrow (Tuesday, September 27) is Picture Day.  Please send in your student's picture packet and/or receipt from online if you are purchasing pictures tomorrow.  All students will have their picture taken even if they aren't ordering pictures.

Spelling Words for the Week (and next)

• Due to the shortened week, we will not be testing over these words until next Friday (October 6).  We are focusing on long a and short a words this week
• Short A: glass, last, fast, snap, sack
• Long A: make, same, came, page, face

Cooler Weather

• Please make sure your student is dressed appropriately for the weather.  We definitely had a cold front come in and the fall temperatures are here.  It can be chilly at our morning recess, so please make sure you student has a jacket.  
• We have Grade Level Weather Rules for what the students need to be wearing at recess.  Please check them out. :)

Enjoy the rest of your evening and I look forward to seeing the kids tomorrow!

Mrs. Ross