Extreme field trip!

Thank you to all of the chaperones that joined us on this memorable field trip! You helped keep us safe and moving along. Our first stop was to Sally Corporation.

Part One: Sally Corporation Field Trip on PhotoPeach



Afterwards, we went on a tour of Jacksonville's City Hall and some of the students met Mayor Alvin Brown. He invited the students into his office and the press conference room for a tour. The children were thrilled that they got to sit in his chair!

Part Two: Meeting the Mayor on PhotoPeach



Our great adventures ended with lunch in Hemming Park and an awesome performance from XPogo.


Part Three: Hemming Park and Extreme Pogosticks on PhotoPeach

Special Guest

Today, we had a senior from Fletcher High School come to visit our class. She spent time teaching our students American Sign Language. The children learned to sign the alphabet, how to sign "I love you" and "turtle."  Some of the students even got to try signing their first name. All of our students were completely enthralled in learning how to sign. We are very grateful to have such wonderful, young role models come share their talents with our children. Ask your 

little one to share what they learned.  

The Butterflies Are Coming!

Today, we received 33 caterpillars for observation. Our students are so excited! Stay tuned for more pictures to come and watch our learning grow.

Dear Friend: Please Read Me

We recently began the Lucy Calkins Units of Study in Opinion Writing where students began the unit by writing letters to classmates about their favorite books. 

In the first bend of this unit:

• the students drafted letters about their favorite characters in a book, and
• included opinions with reasons and evidence from the text that supports their opinions. 

The second bend emphasized that students

• write "long and strong," 
• examine pictures in their books to help them form an opinion, and
• retell parts of the story to help the reader understand their opinion.

The letter written and shared by the student in the video below is an example of the magnificent and powerful results we have been witnessing thus far. Just listen to this persuasive letter about the story Dogarella by Maribeth Boelts. We bet that you will want to read it, too!

    

100th Day of School

Happy 100th Day!!!

 

   

We had so much fun at our Readers to Leaders celebration with Mrs. Phillips. Students were able to play BINGO for reaching their goal for the second nine weeks. Way to go readers!

Ordering Rectangles

Ordering Rectangles

Students were given a set of nine rectangles and asked to put them in order from biggest to smallest. When everyone finished, we discussed the order that was decided for each group. Most groups ordered the rectangles based on height. This is a misconception that most second grade students have at the beginning of this lesson.

Each group of students were given a set of color tiles. We told students to imagine that the rectangles were chocolate bars. If you were able to pick a chocolate bar, which one would you choose? None of the students picked the rectangle that they believed to be the biggest. Now that students had this image in their head, they were asked to put their rectangles in order from biggest to smallest again. Students used the tiles to cover each rectangle and counted how many tiles were on each rectangle.

You can find the area of the rectangle by covering it with tiles. Now we know rectangle G has the biggest area. Our students can divide rectangles into rows and columns of same-size squares. Way to go mathematicians!





 

Spotlight on Writing

 Wow! We are so impressed with our amazing writers. 

Our students have now completed Bend 1 for opinion writing. What does this mean? 

Students have learned to make their writing long and strong. We can do this by writing about a character we have fallen in love with, keeping our audience in mind, and using a checklist to edit our letters. When we uncover our opinions about books, we can study characters, favorite parts, and pictures.

Yesterday, our writers were sad Writer's Workshop had come to end. Can you believe that? They did not want to stop writing. Students learned that they will become stronger writers by picturing their audience and writing with that person in mind. For example, a friend wrote that I should read The Gingerbread Man because she knows that is my favorite cookie. How smart! Of course, I want to read a book that features my favorite cookie. Way to keep your reader in mind!

Ways we think about our reader: 

• We can include details we know the reader will enjoy.
• Retell interesting parts.
• Make sure not to give away the ending!

Don't forget to celebrate your little author!

Award ceremony/ Flag Raising

This Friday, we will be celebrating all of our students hard work for the second nine weeks. The award ceremony will begin as soon as our students return from flag raising. If you would like to join us for flag raising, you are more than welcome to do so. Flag raising will be cancelled if it is raining or it is too cold. If you get to our classroom and we are not there, then we are at flag raising.

We look forward to seeing you all on Friday. 

JCA field trip

Tomorrow is our field trip to the JCA. We are going to see The Promise and we can not wait. Please make sure your child is on time. The bus will be leaving at 9:10 am. Your child will need to bring a lunch in a disposable bag.

Make sure to check back for pictures!

Non Fiction Reading Clubs

We are so excited about our non fiction reading clubs. Did your little one tell you what topic they are learning about in their reading club?

What is a reading club?
*It is formed around books that relate to one another in some way.
*Partners read and discuss their texts in their reading clubs, and then they ponder questions, develop ideas, celebrate discoveries, and so on.
*Reading clubs allow students to become experts on a topic and increase familiarity with different kinds of texts and reading strategies.

We love reading clubs because it gives students a chance for collaborative conversations. Students are having accountable talk and being active participants. They are asking their classmates questions and using evidence from the text to discuss.  Reading clubs are very powerful! Ask your little one what they learned about reading clubs.

Non Fiction Stop and Jots

Non Fiction Stop and Jots

Good non fiction readers stop and think when they are reading. 

Then, they jot about:

• the main topic of a section.
• what the author really wants me to understand.
• something that confuses me.
• something that surprises me. 
• how they feel based on what they read. 
• important information. 
• a caption they would like to add. 

STOP, THINK, JOT!

Welcome Back!

One of my favorite songs from my campfire days is,

Make new friends but keep the old. 

One is silver and the other gold. 

...Across the land, across the sea. 

Friends forever we will always be.

Here is to our friends that have moved. 

You will always have a piece of our heart.  

And here is to our new friends. 

We are so glad that you joined our Chets Creek family!

Happy New Year!

Mrs. Chant and Ms. Hawas

Hurry back. We've missed you!

We can not wait to see you all back in school on 

Monday, January 5, 2015. 

Thank you!!

Thank you to all of our parents for donating towards our winter celebration! We enjoyed pizza, chips, juice, and cookies for lunch. Happy Holidays!! Thank you Ms. Smith, Ms. Quedado, and Ms. Miller for all of your help!!

                                                       Love,

Ms. Hawas and Mrs. Chant

Celebration Time!

We are so proud of our little scientists! They wrote the most amazing lab reports. To celebrate all of their hard work, we decided to build a target for them and let them aim away using the catapults they built for their experiments. We had a 

BULLSEYE of a time!

 

Frankenstein's Hand

Looking for a fun experiment to do with your child? You're in luck! Last week, students worked together to answer the essential question during Science Workshop. What are the properties of gases?  They formulated their own hypothesis and shared during firetalk. As a class, we followed the procedures listed and recorded our data. We analyzed our data and came up with conclusions. As an extension, we will explore physical and chemical changes in matter this week. Stay tuned!

You will need

• 3 tablespoons vinegar
• drinking glass
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• rubber glove

Pour the vinegar into the drinking glass.  

Put the baking soda into the glove. You can draw a face on the hand to make it look like Frankenstein's face. 

Pick up the glove and see what happens.

Why does this happen? Baking soda is a chemical base, which reacts strongly with the acetic acid in the vinegar. As more gas is produced, the pressure increases and inflates the glove gently.

Have fun being a scientist with your little one! Ask your child what they know about matter and the properties of matter. You will be impressed! Feel free to leave a comment with their responses. :)

Interactive Math

Working together in teams to solve problems

Students checking each others answers to make sure they all agree with each other

Carefully checking answers

Yellow = 1 pt      Pink =2 pts     Green = 3 points

Wow! Mrs. Chant and I are very impressed with all of the hard work we have seen from our mathematicians this nine weeks. They have truly grown from the first week of school. Students have learned to solve problems independently and with teams. They have learned the importance of using more than one strategy, explaining their thinking, carefully checking their answers, and so much more. 

To prepare for our end of unit test, we worked together in teams to solve math problems. Students were able to pick the number of points they wanted to earn as a team. Each category was worth a different amount of points.

We hope your little one liked playing this game to review for their test. Make sure to check the grade portal to see your child's score in mathematics. :) 

Literary Pumpkins

Every October our front lobby is decorated with the most beautiful pumpkins. Our classroom chose the book Twenty One Elephants And Still Standing by April Jones Prince. Did you know that this is our Book of the Month for October? If you haven't heard this story yet, you are missing out!

We used pumpkins as the base for the Brooklyn Bridge and each student worked in pairs to decorate an elephant. We had so much fun making this book come to life and can not wait for you all to see the finished product!

Thank you, Kelly Quedado!! We truly appreciate all of your help with this wonderful Literary Pumpkin Display.  

Our Book Nooks

A book nook is a quiet place to read. In class, we rotate our book nooks between the girls and the boys. One week the girls will find a book nook and the next week it will be the boys turn. We love having book nooks because it gives us a place to stretch out and really enjoy our books. Does your child have a book nook at home? Leave a comment and tell us about their favorite place to read. It may be under the sheets with a flashlight, in a hammock outside, or on top of their favorite chair.

FUN RUN TIME.COM

What an amazing time we had running, dancing, 

and laughing together 
during our Fun Run! 

Don't forget that pledges are due  by September 5, 2014.