Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Cogat Testing
Cognitive testing will take place September 27th, 29th, and 30th this week. These tests are about an hour long each day so please make sure your child has a good night's sleep and eats a nutritious breakfast each day!
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Two Mystery Readers
Last week we were lucky enough to have two mystery readers during the week. We had so much fun with Samay's Aunt who read, Sammy the Seal. She was visiting us all the way from India. We also welcomed Mrs. Elliott as a mystery reader.She read to us, The Tales of Beedle the Bard. We were very interested in this Harry Potter Book! Thank you both for visiting us in 2B!
Read to Someone
I am very excited to announce that 2B is up to twenty minutes with practicing read to someone! We have worked really hard these past two weeks to build up our stamina. KEEP IT UP 2B!
Friday, September 16, 2011
The Happenings of 2B
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the parents for coming to Curriculum Night. It was a great opportunity for me to share with you what your children will be experiencing this year in Second Grade. I enjoyed meeting all of you and look forward to working closely with you this year in order to help your children be successful learners.
This week students worked very hard and learned a wealth of knowledge. During Daily 5, I was extremely impressed with the students as they worked towards building stamina for Read to Someone. Students achieved 15 minutes of stamina. We are currently up to 21 minutes for Read to Self and will continue to work next week on meeting our stamina goals. It was wonderful to observe students talking about what was happening in the books they were reading, checking for understanding and even laughing when arriving at a humorous part of the story. I was a very proud teacher! Next week will be learning a few other ways to Read to Someone and we will also be introducing Listen to Reading.
During our Literacy Block students have been engaged in a myriad of activities. Students learned about the following strategies: Monitor and Fix Up, Voracious Reading and Using Background Knowledge to Connect with Text (Text-to-Self Connections). These new tools for reading will continue to be a focus as students are reading independently throughout the year. Mrs. Ensign worked with students during our Literacy Block time this week so that I could take time to read with students and identify their levels. The assessment given will help me to identify the needs of each student. It will also give me a glimpse of whether students will need to focus on comprehension, accuracy, fluency or expanding vocabulary for their initial reading goals. Students continued to work with words and focus on specific patterns through the use of Words Their Way. This week the focus was on sorting their words and placing them in the correct categories. The students also independently wrote their word sorts in their words study notebook. Students are improving in this area and seem to be learning the routines very quickly.
The students participated in their first Explorations lesson and did an amazing job for their first time. Students got to practice some of the routines that they will need to know as we begin Guided Math. Students also began reviewing for the Unit 1 test by playing Jeopardy. Next week we will start Guided Math.
In Science, we have wrapped up our mini-unit on the Scientific Method. We learned the 7 steps of the Scientific Method: and even did some fun experiments! We did a paper towel experiment and learned that Bounty paper towels are not very absorbent and Clarissa paper towels are the most absorbent! We also experiemented with how to make our teachers spin. On Wednesday, we did an egg drop experiement, which resulted in an egg explotion!
In Writing, we have been brainstorming ideas for Writer’s Workshop. We went on an idea hunt around the school and outside to collect ideas. We are very excited to start writing next week!!!
This week students worked very hard and learned a wealth of knowledge. During Daily 5, I was extremely impressed with the students as they worked towards building stamina for Read to Someone. Students achieved 15 minutes of stamina. We are currently up to 21 minutes for Read to Self and will continue to work next week on meeting our stamina goals. It was wonderful to observe students talking about what was happening in the books they were reading, checking for understanding and even laughing when arriving at a humorous part of the story. I was a very proud teacher! Next week will be learning a few other ways to Read to Someone and we will also be introducing Listen to Reading.
During our Literacy Block students have been engaged in a myriad of activities. Students learned about the following strategies: Monitor and Fix Up, Voracious Reading and Using Background Knowledge to Connect with Text (Text-to-Self Connections). These new tools for reading will continue to be a focus as students are reading independently throughout the year. Mrs. Ensign worked with students during our Literacy Block time this week so that I could take time to read with students and identify their levels. The assessment given will help me to identify the needs of each student. It will also give me a glimpse of whether students will need to focus on comprehension, accuracy, fluency or expanding vocabulary for their initial reading goals. Students continued to work with words and focus on specific patterns through the use of Words Their Way. This week the focus was on sorting their words and placing them in the correct categories. The students also independently wrote their word sorts in their words study notebook. Students are improving in this area and seem to be learning the routines very quickly.
The students participated in their first Explorations lesson and did an amazing job for their first time. Students got to practice some of the routines that they will need to know as we begin Guided Math. Students also began reviewing for the Unit 1 test by playing Jeopardy. Next week we will start Guided Math.
In Science, we have wrapped up our mini-unit on the Scientific Method. We learned the 7 steps of the Scientific Method: and even did some fun experiments! We did a paper towel experiment and learned that Bounty paper towels are not very absorbent and Clarissa paper towels are the most absorbent! We also experiemented with how to make our teachers spin. On Wednesday, we did an egg drop experiement, which resulted in an egg explotion!
In Writing, we have been brainstorming ideas for Writer’s Workshop. We went on an idea hunt around the school and outside to collect ideas. We are very excited to start writing next week!!!
Skate Night
On Tuesday, September 20, 2011 Gombert will be having Skate Night at the Aurora Skate Center. Skating will be from 6:30-8:30pm. The event is free to Gombert families but families are encouraged to bring gently used books to donate. Please make sure you accompany your child to the event or else they will not be able to skate.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
IPICK Rap
We have been learning about the IPICK strategy in order to help students choose good-fit books. Students have been practicing the IPICK rap, and we finally had the chance to videotape it. Some of us are quite the performers. Look out Hollywood!!
Mystery Reader
2B had their first mystery reader! It was very exciting to hear all the five clues and to try and figure out who the mystery reader was this week. The mystery reader this week was..............Mrs. Rangel (Lorenzo's Mom). She read I Wanna Iguana to the class. Thank you again Mrs. Rangel for volunteering as the first mystery reader.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Curriculum Night
Dear Gombert Families,
I hope you will join us for Curriculum Night on Thursday, September 15, 2011. Traditionally, curriculum night is an opportunity for parents and guardians to meet their child's teacher and to attend a presentation on the curriculum to be covered during the year.We have three sessions in order to accommodate families with more than two children as well as visits to specials and support staff. There will also be early sessions for parents of students in our ELL and bilingual programs and the Project Arrow program. In some classrooms, the third session may follow a question and answer format instead of a typical presentation.Parents may proceed directly to classrooms upon arriving at school, as we will not have an introduction session in the gym.
The sessions will be 25 minutes in length with 5 minute "passing periods" following this schedule:
6:00-6:25 Early session for our ELL and bilingual programs and the Project Arrow program
6:20-6:30 Parents arrive and head straight to classrooms
6:30-6:55 Session I
7:00-7:25 Session II
7:30-7:55 Session III
While we respectfully ask parents to attend the evening without their children, we know that childcare is not always possible, and we would prefer you attend with children than not attend at all.We hope to see you at Curriculum Night!
Respectfully,
Jeremy Ricken
I hope you will join us for Curriculum Night on Thursday, September 15, 2011. Traditionally, curriculum night is an opportunity for parents and guardians to meet their child's teacher and to attend a presentation on the curriculum to be covered during the year.We have three sessions in order to accommodate families with more than two children as well as visits to specials and support staff. There will also be early sessions for parents of students in our ELL and bilingual programs and the Project Arrow program. In some classrooms, the third session may follow a question and answer format instead of a typical presentation.Parents may proceed directly to classrooms upon arriving at school, as we will not have an introduction session in the gym.
The sessions will be 25 minutes in length with 5 minute "passing periods" following this schedule:
6:00-6:25 Early session for our ELL and bilingual programs and the Project Arrow program
6:20-6:30 Parents arrive and head straight to classrooms
6:30-6:55 Session I
7:00-7:25 Session II
7:30-7:55 Session III
While we respectfully ask parents to attend the evening without their children, we know that childcare is not always possible, and we would prefer you attend with children than not attend at all.We hope to see you at Curriculum Night!
Respectfully,
Jeremy Ricken
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Extra Long Weekend
Due to the heat there will be NO SCHOOL tomorrow. Also, there is no school on Monday, September 5th and Tuesday, September 6th. Enjoy your extra long weekend and I will see everyone on Wednesday, September 7th!!!
Brain Breaks
Combined with the heat, a rigorous pace through Daily 5 and math lessons, and "the wiggles", 2B has been taking time each day for Brain Breaks. Brain Breaks are short, 1-2 minute activities that sometimes challenge the brain and sometimes just get a little energy out. Some days we sing, some we run in place, others we play counting games, or just do "The Wave."
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