Red Ribbon Week

Monday:
Oct. 26 “PUT A CAP ON DRUGS”
Wear your favorite hat or cap!
Tuesday:
Oct. 27 “ SOCK IT TO DRUGS”
Wear crazy socks & bring some NEW socks to donate!
Wednesday:
Oct. 28 “DRUGS ARE UNBEARABLE”
Bring your favorite bear!
Thursday:
Oct. 29 “TOO COOL TO DO DRUGS”
Wear your RCE T-shirt for the Red Ribbon Pep Rally!
Friday:
Oct. 30 “SAY BOO to DRUGS”
Wear your Halloween T-shirt!

Writing Contest

Olive Garden is offering a writing contest for grades 1 through 12. It began on Oct. 19 and ends December 11. Students respond to the following prompt: “Describe a teacher who has inspired you in school and how they have impacted your life.” The submission should be between 50 and 250 words. Entry forms are at the Olive Garden. The student can also submit online: OliveGarden.com (click on “community” than on “Pasta Tales.”)

Parodies

Today we spoke of Parodies. A parody is a literary or musical composition imitating the characteristic style of some other work in a nonsensical manner. Parodies are fun to write, read or sing. I read an example of the popular Christmas tale – ‘Twas the Night before Christmas” before asking the kids to come up with one of their own.

‘Twas the night before Halloween
And all through the school,
Not a creature was stirring,
Not even a ghoul
The principal’s office was locked up tight.
There was just one custodian on duty that night.

Ola’s Version:

‘Twas the night before Guinndalyn’s Birthday

She was the scary skeleton of all.
She is the one that the vampires love
Most of all.
She hates the people of that Skeleton Town
She is real I tell you….
BOO!

Michael’s Version:

She was afraid of the dark
When heard a loud bark
From the three headed dog
And there came a nasty fog.

While she was cooking her toast,
She saw that evil ghost.
She was making a sandwich
As she saw that ugly witch,
Along came a black cat
Who quickly turned into a vampire
And was set on fire!

She made a new rule,
That there would be no ghoul
There that night
And he gave her a big fright!
By the way, she survived that scary, scary night!

FLIP Cameras

I am so excited to let everyone know that our FLIP cameras have arrived. This next week, I will be putting together a schedule where the kids can "check" them out to interview parents, grandparents, etc. about specific writing topics.

Modeled Drawing

Today, we were treated with a special guest. Ricky Mikelman, our Math SIS, came in and helped the class with a "comparative" problem solver. The kids were EXCELLENT! Here is an example of one of them - without the answer statement written.

Also - here is what some of the children said when they were asked to share their solutions to the problems:

Test 2

This is a test to see if Francine gets an email stating that I posted this.

Test

This is just a test to see if I receive an email after posting this.

Ice Cream Party

Today, the class had a special treat. We were, along with Mrs. Brasher's class, the winners of the Confetti Egg Contest. The kids celebrated with vanilla ice cream and their choice of all or some of the following:

• Chocolate Syrup
• Caramel Syrup
• Sprinkles
• Whip Cream
• Cherries

It was well loved by all!

School House Rock

We had such a fantastic time at the play this morning. A huge Thank You goes out to Rummel Creek! If you are looking for some favorite songs - you can find them on all on You Tube.

Ruler Scale or Teaspoon?

Disclaimer: I have not taught this game to your child!

Skills: Measurement / Linear Measure / Weight / Capacity / Brainstorming / Categorizing

In first grade, your child learned about length, height, weight and capacity. In second grade, you child continues to work with these measures and recognizes their differences.

Make a set of playing cards, each labeled with a phrase that identifies a measure of length, height, weight, or capacity. Use the following phrases to get started and have fun brainstorming others.

Length: 15 foot giraffe, 3 inch mouse, mile-high city, 40 yard dash, 4 centimeter noodle

Weight: 20 pound watermelon, 85 gram candy bar, 103 pound porpoise, 65 pound child, 12 ounce bag of pretzels

Capacity: 12 cups of popcorn, 6 teaspoons of sugar, 2 gallons of lemonade, 7 tablespoons of flour, 1 liter of juice

Shuffle the cards and set aside face down. Put a ruler, scale and teaspoon, or a sign representing each on the table.

Sit beside your child. Alternate turns. Draw a card from the pile, read the phrase, and state whether the item is a measure of length, height, weight or capacity. Place the card directly below the ruler for length and height, the scale for weight, or the teaspoon for capacity. The game ends when all the cards have been drawn and categorized.

Time

Today we discussed time. I asked the students what they understood about Time. here is what they came up with:

• The numbers on the clock skip count by 5's.
• The large hand points to the minute.
• The little hand points to the hour.
• The clock shows the numbers 1 - 12.
• The hour hand moves when the minute hand passes 12.
• A year = 365 days.
• A week = 7 days.
• A day = 24 hours.
• An hour = 60 minutes.
• 1 Minute = 60 seconds.
• AM / PM
• Moon changes throughout the month.
• Sundial can be used to tell time.
• Sometimes, there are Roman Numerals on the face of the clock.
• Digital & Analog clocks are used to tell time.
• There are 4 seasons in a year.

For 2 tickets tomorrow, I asked the kids to research who developed the concept of time.

You could help your child at home with telling time. Just ask them to take a glance at your clock and to report the time to you. Remind them that they can also skip count by 5's to figure it out!

Imagine, Crop, & Create: Chicken Soup for the Roadrunner's Soul

I wanted to let you know that I am a proud recipient of the J. Landon Short Minigrant. This past Tuesday, I was honored at the Spring Branch Board Meeting and presented a check for $500.00. Imagine, Crop, & Create: Chicken Soup for the Roadrunner's Soul is a captivating opportunity for students to seamlessly integrate technology throughout the curriculum being taught. I will be in search of some great deals for a Flip Camera (takes video) and a Digital Camera that the students will be able to check out and use. Here is a brief synopsis of what I hope to accomplish:

The students will participate in a metamorphosis from a technological novice to an expert gaining an in depth understanding of Web 2.0 tools. By using technology, like a digital camera & software, FLIP camera, and scrapbooking supplies and techniques, students will be able to go further in depth in the writing process. This activity, which will take the year to complete, will thrive on the students’ creativity and transform it into a collaboration of memoirs that will become a timeline of their experiences during the school year. It will enhance their learning experience as they learn how to take digital photographs and manipulate them to fit their needs. They will also learn how to use a FLIP camera to capture special celebrations so that they can journal them in their scrapbook, adding detail where needed and with more descriptive words. Most of the work will be completed with our learning buddies in hopes that the use of technology will not only trickle down throughout the rest of the grade levels, but also become the “hook” into Web 2.0 skills.

Guided Reading Questions

· This (character or place or event) reminds me of… because….
· I like / dislike this part of the book because…
· A question that I have about this book is… because….
· If I were this character I would…
· If I could talk to one of the book’s characters, I would (ask or say to them)…
· I predict that… because…
· I did not understand the part of the story when…
· This book reminds me of another book I have read.
· I think the author wrote this book to…
· The author got me interested when…
· The title of this book says to me…
· The most important (word or phrase or idea or illustration) in this book is…
· The genre of this book is… because it has (name some characteristics in the book found in that genre)
· If I were the author, I would have changed the part of the story when…
· To summarize the text, I would say…

Secret Pal Gift

Thank you so much for the AWESOME bookmark and Lavender Hand and Body Lotion. I just love using both of the treats!

Spelling & Handwriting

Good Afternoon!Second grade is a transition grade where kids go from early childhood to “big kids.” More is expected of your kids this year. This is one of the first times they are getting number grades and are actually associating those grades with how hard they need to work. They are figuring it out and I promise you, most of them already have started noticing how much harder they need to work! On that note, two of the easiest areas for you to work on with your kids at home are spelling and handwriting. And it's easy to incorporate both of those areas together. If you have your kids write their spelling words, have them SLOW down and use their best handwriting to write them. Mrs. Squillante found this website a couple weeks ago when a parent had asked how their child could improve on spelling. I encourage you to read over it and use what you can!
http://www.ldonline.org/article/6192

Remember- handwriting is something that they will continue to develop as the year goes on. This is when we are asking them to take their fine motor skills to the next level. Here are two websites (recommended by Mrs. Squillante) that give some ideas on how to strengthen fine motor skills in young children.
http://kidslovelearning.blogspot.com/2008/10/improving-fine-motor-skills-part-ii.htmlhttp://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/fine-motor-skills-activities-for-children.html

Let me know if you have any other questions! The kids WILL get better at this eventually, but here are some tips to speed up the process! :)

School House Rock Fieldtrip

We have our first field trip Friday, October 9th at 9:00. We will head to Memorial High School to see their performance of the 70's/80's Saturday morning show "Schoolhouse Rock." This is a great opportunity and we are so excited! We will take a bus and be back at RCE before lunch.
The kids can wear a Rummel Creek t-shirt. We are so lucky that we got to add this field trip to our schedule! This is going to be a great opportunity for the kids! Please sign and return BOTH sides of the permission slip as it comes home today!