The Weber Weekly

We had a short, but very busy week last week.  Big thanks to the families of Marty and Carrie for being our Snazzy Snack shoppers for the month of February.  The kids loved making "Berry Good Pizza".  I can't believe we only have a few recipes left before our books are complete.  The kids are going to be so excited to share their recipe books with you at the end of second grade!  Check out a couple of our pictures:

 
In reading we continued using a biography chart to track important information while reading biographies.  Some facts that we charted included the person's birth, early life, education, family, important accomplishments, and death.

The kids have been working very hard on their cursive letters in writing.  I'm amazed at how well they are doing!  We're also working on another expository writing piece.  Your child should now be able to write an introduction, three ideas with supporting details, and a conclusion for their expository topic.  They will be bringing home their writing this week; you will be so proud!

Our measurement unit is still in full swing.  Last week we learned all about weight, including ounces and pounds.  This week we're moving onto telling time. 

We began our living & nonliving science unit last week.  The kiddos are learning the traits of living things and how they connect to our environment.  This week we'll be exploring the life cycle of plants and animals.

Don't forget to return your conference preference form at your earliest convenience.   Remember that you must check whether you'd like to have a phone conference or a conference at school.  As soon as I get all the forms back, I will be able to send home your scheduled spring conference time. 

The Million Minutes and February homework calendars are due Thursday. 

Did you hear we took 2nd place in the Creekside Cares Food Drive?!  I'm so proud of the giving second graders we have in our class.  Your child earned a certificate as well as a free dinner coupon for Pepe's Mexican.  Way to go!!

The Weber Weekly

Wow, what a special week in second grade!  Everyone had a ball passing out their Valentine cards and treats on Thursday.  Love was definitely in the air in Room 201!  Once again the kids amazed me with their thoughtfulness and generosity.  I had fun reading all the sweet love notes and cards; the chocolates and gifts weren't too bad, either!  I continually thank my lucky stars for being blessed with such an amazing class.  I love each and every one of my kids so much and I'm already dreading the day that I have to send them off to third grade.  I couldn't have picked a more perfect class or group of parents.  Thank you for all of your continuous support, kind words, and sweet gestures.  You are truly the best!

Thank you to Mrs. Kraulidis for leading the Valentine's Day party and to all the other parents that helped out.  Mr. & Mrs. Besich, Mrs. Coldwater, Mrs. Roark, Mrs. Martin, and Mrs. Mahalik - - we couldn't have done it without you!  Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to ensure that we had fun.  We even had a surprise visit from Miss Tsevas; what a great day!      

I'm very pleased with how hard the kids are working on our measurement math unit.  They have been having a great time estimating and then taking measurements of objects around our classroom.  We'll continue working on measurement this week.

Shared reading was all about biographies last week.  The children learned the characteristics of a biography text while reading a big book about an extraordinary artist named Grandma Moses.  We used a biography chart to track our information which could then be used to retell and write summaries.  We also did a lot of work with base words and affixes.  I'm really impressed with how quickly everyone is grasping word parts.

Have you heard about our new "Walk-To" model for Word Study?  Every second grader now switches classes during this time to work with their second grade peers on spelling patterns and word sorts.  Both teachers and students alike are loving this new approach.

Market Day orders can be placed online until 11:00 p.m. on February 18th.  Please visit www.marketday.com to enter the site.  The Grand Prairie account number is 3119.  Market Day now accepts the LINK card at pick-up.  Did you know that 10% of your pre-tax Market Day purchases are tax deductible?  Market Day pick-up is on February 21st from 4:45 - 6:00 PM in the school gym.

Yearbooks have gone on sale for $16.00 each.  Order forms and payment are due by Friday, March 15h.  Additional order forms are available in the school office.  

The deadline has been extended to turn in your nomination for PTO Awards.  The new deadline is February 22nd.  Please take a moment to nominate a special parent, staff member, or any worthy person for a job well done.  We would like to recognize specific individuals' time, effort, and dedication to making Grand Prairie a success.  Informational forms are available in the school office.

Have you had a chance to take the 5Essentials Survey yet?  From now until March 31st, all District 202 parents are encouraged to take part in this survey.  Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts about our school.  The survey can be found here:  https://survey.5-essentials.org/illinois/

The 1st Grade Musical, "Go Fish", will be held on Tuesday, February 26th.  Performances will take place in the school gym at at the following times:
5:30 p.m. - Mrs. Lindner’s and Miss Eskridge’s classes
6:30 p.m. - Mrs. Toohey’s, Mrs. Krippelz’s and Mrs. Sloan’s classes

The 5th Grade Student Council will be sponsoring a Bake Sale during the 1st Grade Music Program on February 26th.  Please consider baking or donating store-bought baked goods for this event.  If you are willing to help out, please contact Mrs. Young at (815) 474-7566/dyoung@psd202.org or you can send a note to school (include your name, contact information, and your child's name) to the attention of Mrs. Young.

We are four months into the Million Minutes Reading Challenge!  (The challenge runs through May 1st.)  After only four months, here are how things are looking:
We have read 240,995 minutes and have 759,005 minutes to go.  Second grade is in 1st place overall with 82,047 minutes.  Mrs. Watkin’s class is in 1st place with 17,233, Miss Cox’s class is in 2nd place with 17,025, and Mrs. Kulaga’s class is in 3rd place with 16,682 minutes read.  The logs will be due on February 28th.

April is Autism Awareness Month.  You're welcome to join us on Wednesday, February 27th from 4:00 - 5:00 pm to help plan and organize events and activities for our students, staff, and families.  Please contact Mrs. Dassinger, social worker, via email at bdassing@psd202.org or call at (815) 436-7000 ext. 208 if you would like more information.

Spring conferences are right around the corner.  Please fill out and return your conference preference sheet at your earliest convenience.  During spring conferences, you have the option of a phone conference.  Please indicate your preference on your conference form.  If you've already returned your form, but forgot to indicate your preference, please email me. 

Finally, if you made it all the way through this post, have your child whisper to me on Tuesday morning that I owe him/her a large Fuzzy.  Thanks for reading!!   

The Weber Weekly

Can you believe it's almost Valentine's Day?  This school year is flying by!  On Thursday we will be celebrating with our class party in the afternoon.  Your child needs to create a container to hold all his/her Valentines.  Also, if your child is creating cards, please make sure there is a card for every member of our class.  I can't wait to celebrate this special day with the kiddos!

I am truly amazed at the generous donations of our classroom.  We collected so much food and loose change for Creekside Cares.  Although I don't have the total of our donation yet, I do know we took second place in the whole school, just behind Mrs. Krupa's 4th grade class.  The kids felt so proud hearing our class announced over the intercom on Friday afternoon.  Thank you for supporting this wonderful organization!

We finished our graphing unit and have moved onto measurement.  The children are learning the attributes of measurement, including length, weight, and capacity.  This upcoming week we will focus on measuring length with nonstandard units, inches, feet, yards, centimeters, and meters.

We're having a blast learning how to read and write cursive!  This week we learned the letters:  e, l, h, k, and f.  The kids are excited about how many words they can actually write now.  Please remind them to only practice writing the letters we've learned thus far.

We learned some important new vocabulary while reading Blueberries for Sal during shared reading this week.  The kids practiced recording similarities and differences of characters using a Venn Diagram.  We also focused on root words with suffixes. 

Social Studies this week was all about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.  We'll continue with some President's Day fun this upcoming week.

A few important reminders:

• Six Flags reading logs are due on Monday.  Absolutely no late logs will be accepted.
• Do you have a few extra minutes?  Would you like to provide feedback on our school?  The district can really use your help!  We are asking all parents to take an online survey to help us get an understanding of the workings within our school.  The survey can be found here: http://www.psd202.org/survey/5Essentials.php
• Scholastic Book Orders are due Wednesday.
• There is no school on Monday, February 18th.  

   

 

The Weber Weekly

Because I was out Monday & Tuesday, it seems like we had a very short week.  I'll try to keep this a short post to make up from last week's lengthy one!  :)

This week has been all about nonfiction.  The kids have learned about the text features of nonfiction including:  glossary, index, captions, sidebars, headers, and bold words.  We'll continue our nonfiction genre unit next week.

In writing we brainstormed a list of things we love about our classroom and Grand Prairie.  Can you believe the kids were able to easily come up with 100 ideas?!  We will be displaying our ideas on the bulletin board in honor of 100th Day and Valentine's Day.

We continued collecting data and used the gathered information in various graphs this week.  The kiddos learned some important vocabulary this week, including:  maximum, minimum, and range.

On Monday we are having a change drive for Creekside Cares.  If you'd like to help support this wonderful organization, please send coins on Monday.  In addition to the coin drive, we're having another food drive.  The food collected helps feed more than 160 families in District 202.  All next week, we are accepting non-perishable food items.  The class that collects the most will receive a mystery prize!  Bonus points will be given for the following items:  peanut butter, jelly, hot cocoa, Mac -n- Cheese, canned veggies/fruits, rice, Ramen noodles, cereal, instant oatmeal, granola bars, pasta & sauces, and canned soups.  Please do not separate any of the items like the Ramen or granola bars.  Of course the most important thing I've told the kids is that it's all about giving to others, not the prize.  :)

 

  Thanks again to those of you who were able to come to Open House/Fine Arts Night.  It was great to see all of you!

Thanks to Ashlee's mom, Mrs. Clayburn, for being our Mystery Reader this week!  We still have dates available; shoot me an email if you're interested.

Upcoming events:

• February 5th - PTO Meeting in the Media Center at 6:00 pm
• February 7th - Spirit Day - Sports theme (wear jerseys or GP apparrel)
• February 14th - Valentine's Party (don't forget to send a container to hold cards)
• February 18th - No School (President's Day)