Mrs. Dranove

Week 20

It was nice to have a full week of school.  We began our study of fractions on Monday.  The children did well with identifying the names of the fraction pieces. They enjoyed making their own set of fraction strips and using them to compare fractions. Today, the children created “Picture Pie” pictures using many different fraction pieces. Ask your child about their picture.

We continued working on our informational writing. In the Computer Lab, the children went on Pebble Go and began taking notes on their topic. In the Media Center, they checked out books on their topic and explored other web sites for information. After they have gathered all their information, they will be putting it together in a book.  We worked on pronouns this week. The children were able to identify the pronouns and the words they replaced. We will be doing more with pronouns.

Hansika was our Kid of the Week.  It was nice to get to know her better. We enjoyed the things she brought in to share. On Wednesday, we celebrated Natilee’s half birthday. We enjoyed the cupcakes she brought to share. On Thursday we celebrated Kailey’s birthday (which is Sunday).  Everyone enjoyed the delicious cookie cake her mom made! On Friday, we celebrated Ryan’s birthday.  The red velvet cupcakes were delicious!  WOW - lots of sugar and celebrating!!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Week 19

Well, we had another busy four day week! We continued our study of solid shapes. We focused on learning about the faces, edges, and vertices of various shapes. The children enjoyed creating paper solid shapes and making the solid shapes booklet. We also explored combining solid figures to make new ones.

We continued learning about Martin Luther King, Jr. and his fight for civil rights. The children are learning the meanings of words related to this period of time, such as boycott, prejudice, protest, discrimination, and nonviolence.

We visited the Computer Lab and the children explored the site Pebble Go. They chose a topic for their informational writing. We will be doing our research and writing at school, but your child is more than welcome to find additional information about their topic at home,  either on the web (with your assistance) or by checking out books from the public library. The children will be learning how to “take notes and write a report”. The children were given their week 14 words today. They are written on next week’s planner page.

Andrew was our Kid of the Week. We enjoyed learning more about him. Sarah Kreider joined our class this week. She moved here from Mississippi. We are happy to have Sarah with us.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Week 18

Happy New Year!  I hope you all enjoyed the break. The kids came back with lots of stories to share about their vacation and it’s been fun catching up with everyone!

We got right back into the swing of things this week. We began our unit on solid shapes in math. The children are identifying edges, faces, and vertices of various solid shapes.  Today we had fun creating our own solid paper shapes!

In social studies, we are learning about another American hero, Martin Luther King, Jr. We will focus on the contributions he made to the Civil Rights movement and our country.  

We began an informational writing unit this week. We discussed some of the differences between fiction and non-fiction books. In the next week or so, the children will be choosing a topic and begin an informational writing piece of their own. The children also received new words of the week, which were written down in their planners. There will be a quiz on these words either next Thursday or Friday. Look for the exact day in their planner next week.

On Wednesday, Mrs. Bengtson came in and read Chicken Soup with Rice. What a perfect story since the weather has turned so cold – it’s great soup weather!! The children also made a “hot chocolate ice cream cone” and enjoyed a delicious snowman treat made with doughnuts and a Reese’s Pieces candy! On Thursday, Mrs. Loppnow sent in our Welcome to 2012 treat. It was also a snowman, but it was made with a cookie and marshmallows. I guess everyone has snow on their mind!           

I hope you have a wonderful three day weekend!

Week 17

Our holiday party was fantastic!! The children had a great time making cards and filling bags with hot chocolate, mints, fruit bars, and either playing cards or a Sudoku puzzle book for our soldiers. They also enjoyed putting together their present for you (hot chocolate mug) and having a snack of juice and munchkins! They played “Winter” BINGO and everyone was a winner!! I hope your child told you all about this great day when they got home. Thanks so much to Mrs. Midha, Mrs. Khan, and Mrs. Kurkoski for making our holiday party so wonderful. Thanks to all the parents that sent in the items used at the party.

The children also had a great time decorating their gingerbread houses on Tuesday. Thanks to Mrs. Midha and Mrs. Kurkoski for assembling the houses and to Mrs. Midha, Mrs. Bengtson, and Mrs. Loppnow for helping during the decorating! Again, thanks to all the parents for sending in the items used for the gingerbread houses.

Our Kid of the Week was Jennifer. We enjoyed her poster and hearing about her trophies. We also enjoyed meeting her new kitten!

I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy holiday season and a happy and healthy New Year. I’m looking forward to 2012 and all the activities and learning it will bring. See you back at Timber Ridge on Tuesday, January 10.

                       

Weeks 15 and 16

As I did not write a letter last week, I will include some highlights of that week in this letter.  Last week in math we worked on telling time to 5 minutes.  Everyone did fine telling the time between the hour and 30 minutes past. Where we run into a little bit of confusion is when the time is, for example, 7:50. Many of the students will say that it is 8:50. We talked a lot about the placement of the hour hand and that when it is 50 minutes past 8, the hour hand has to be past the 8 (almost at the 9), but it is difficult for many to grasp this concept. It would be very beneficial if you would practice this at home. This week we moved on to counting back change. This is also a difficult skill for many, and can be easily practiced at home. Please make sure your child starts counting back with the smallest value coin. For example,  if they are counting change to $3.00 and the “item” cost $1.23, they should start with a penny and write (or say) $1.24, then another penny, $1.25, a quarter, $1.50, another quarter, $1.75, and another quarter, $2.00, then a one dollar bill,  $3.00. Of course, this is just one example of the coins they could use to make the change. We will be working on this skill again in the 3^rd and 4^th quarters of the year.

Our focus in writing this quarter has been response to literature. We read Ira Sleeps Over and, together, came up with a story map. This includes the title, author, characters, setting, problem, and solution. In the Computer Lab, the children worked on the Kidspiration program and began putting this information into a web. Dr. Doe visited us on Thursday, and read Dubs Goes to Washington. She connected the story to her trip to Washington, D.C., where she received the National Blue Ribbon School award. I hope your children shared this experience with you.

Last Thursday, the children participated in the High Touch High Tech program, “Force, Of Course. The enjoyed all the activities they worked on.

Emilie K. was our Kid of the Week last week and we enjoyed learning more about her and meeting her cocker spaniel, Dusty. This week Ryan was the Kid of the Week. She shared her poster and some of her beautiful trophies. Lawson was Caught with Character for Citizenship. Way to go, Lawson!! Natilee and Kendall presented the weather on TRNN this morning. They did a fabulous job!! We also celebrated Kendall’s ½ birthday on Monday. Her birthday is June 11. We enjoyed a delicious cookie cake at lunchtime. On Wednesday, Mrs. Roberts came in for Adventures in Reading. The children listened to the story Gingerbread Mouse and made their very own felt mouse with a candy cane for the tail!!

We’re looking forward to an exciting, fun-filled week next week! Have a great weekend.

Week 14

I hope you all enjoyed the week long Thanksgiving break. I know I did!  On Monday, it was great hearing the kids talk about what they did during the week. They all seemed to have a great time.

We got right back into the swing of things as there is so much to do in the next few weeks. We continued our geometry unit in math. We learned how to identify different angles (right, acute, and obtuse). We also explored combining and separating shapes.  We reviewed estimating (rounding) and how to decide which 10 a number is closer to. We also reviewed subtraction. Many of the children are making mistakes because they do not know their subtraction facts. Please practice these at home.

In social studies, we finished reading about James Oglethorpe and wrote about him in our American Heroes Journal.  We also began reading about Mary Musgrove. The children did some more practice with making words plural. They seem to be getting the hang of it. It is not only important for them to know how to make isolated words plural, but to apply the skill in their everyday work.

With the weather getting colder, please remember to send a jacket to school with your child. We try to go out for recess every day.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Week 13

The week before Thanksgiving break has been very productive. We began our math unit on geometry. The children are grasping the concepts we have learned up to now and are using the appropriate vocabulary (plane shapes, sides, angles, corners, vertices) They also  had lots of fun with Smart board activities that helped reinforce these skills.

We read about James Oglethorpe and are learning why he was so important in Georgia history, and how he showed the character traits of liberty, civility, and compassion.  I hope your children are sharing with you all they are learning about the American Heroes we are studying.

In language arts, we continued working with plurals.                  We also began writing a letter to the author of Dear Mr. Blueberry, as part of our response to literature writing unit.

 On Wednesday, we celebrated Emily B.’s birthday, which is actually on Sunday. The children enjoyed the delicious cupcakes she brought in for them. Jack was our Kid of the Week. We enjoyed learning a little more about Jack and meeting his dog Shadow!  It was very nice to see so many of you at “Celebrate Families Lunch “. I know the children enjoyed sharing the delicious Thanksgiving meal with their families. Your support of these types of functions is greatly appreciated. The children also enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving snack sent in by Mrs. Hughes. They gobbled up the peanut butter apples!

We met with our buddy class on Monday afternoon. The children listened to the story ‘Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving and made an edible turkey out of cookies, frosting, a Hershey kiss, and candy corn. It’s so cute to see the second graders being big helpers to their kindergarten buddies!!                  

I wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving Break. We all have so much to be thankful for. Have a great weekend and week. See you back at school on Monday, November 28th.

Week 12

We’ve been busy this week at school. In math, we have continued working on subtraction with regrouping. We learned how to use addition to check our subtraction.  We also worked with Venn diagrams. The children are doing a good job with classifying, comparing, and contrasting items using Venn diagrams.

In language arts, we worked on plurals. The children have done well remembering to add s to most words and es to words ending in s, ch, sh, x, and z.   Now they must also remember what to do when words end in f or fe, a consonant and a “y” and the irregular words (i.e.,man – men)! We will continue to work on this skill throughout the year.

We began learning about James Oglethorpe. We will explore the contributions he made to Georgia.

Lawson was our Kid of the Week. We enjoyed seeing his poster and meeting his dog, Shadow. Lawson also shared some of his favorite things with us. We celebrated Emilie K.’s birthday on Wednesday. We all enjoyed the delicious cupcakes she brought to share.

The children and I enjoyed Adventures in Reading this week. Mrs. Khan came in and read If You Lived in Spain and Ferdinand. The children created a bookmark to take home. Thank you, Mrs. Khan for coming in to our class.

 We all enjoyed celebrating Timber Ridge today. It was fun to see everyone dressed in “blue”. We also enjoyed Blue Bell ice cream at lunch. Thanks for your help in supporting Timber Ridge and helping to make it a first rate school!

Have a fabulous weekend.

Week 11

It’s hard to believe that it is already November. The children had a lot of fun participating in different Halloween activities on Monday. They especially enjoyed the popcorn snack and candy necklaces sent in by Mrs. Burnett! We also had a surprise visitor on Monday. Mrs. Elia stopped by, dressed as the Queen from Snow White, and read I Was a Penguin Zombie!  The children enjoyed the story.

We continued our study of two digit subtraction with and without regrouping.  We are now showing the regrouping as we write the problem. Please have your child use the paper tens and ones that were sent home to show regrouping when they practice. Please also practice subtraction facts, as knowing the facts are a big factor in getting the correct solution. We also worked on knowing which vocabulary words help us decide whether to add or subtract when we have a word problem.

We visited Andy’s Garden on Wednesday and observed the trees.  We discussed how they changed from when we looked at them in the summer. Ms. Salmons came in on Tuesday for Classroom Guidance. The lesson focus was making something good out of a mistake.

Adam was our Kid of the Week. We enjoyed looking at his poster and seeing a real boomerang. We also got to meet his new puppy, Cadbury, a labradoodle. Harrison and     Emily B. presented the weather on TRNN this morning. They did a great job!! Jamie was Caught with Character for responsibility. Way to go, Jamie!

Have a wonderful weekend and don’t forget to “Fall Back” on Saturday night!  Enjoy the extra hour; I know I will!!

Week 10

I enjoyed meeting with each of you at your child’s conference this week. I hope you found the conference to be informative and worthwhile.

Even though our days were short, they were busy ones!  We worked on place value into the thousands. The children seemed to get the “hang of it”,  but we will revisit this skill throughout the year. We also began our study of subtraction with regrouping.  We are using manipulatives (tens and ones) to help us understand the concept of regrouping in subtraction. The children also need some practice with their subtraction facts.  I am sending home a few subtraction fact Mad Minutes for you to use at home. You can make copies of them or laminate them so they can be reused.

The children had fun wearing different items to show their support for “Red Ribbon Week”. In conjunction with Red Ribbon Week, we learned about drugs, alcohol, and tobacco and their effects on the body. The children learned that all medicines are drugs, but not all drugs are medicines.

Jordan was our Kid of the Week. We enjoyed looking at her poster and hearing about all her favorite possessions that she shared with us during the week. We especially enjoyed the visit from her pet fish, Angel!

We had fun visiting our Buddy Class on Thursday morning. The children cut out a jack o’ lantern while listening to the story “The Little Orange House”.

It was great seeing so many of you at the Monster Mash on Thursday night. What a fun evening! The children are so excited about Halloween. Please keep in mind the safety rules when Trick or Treating.

I appreciate the books that were donated to the class during Book Fair week. Thank you to all that donated books. We have been busy reading the wide variety of stories.

Week 9

We’ve had a very busy and productive week. In math, we worked on counting groups of coins, showing the same amount in different ways, and showing amounts using the fewest amount of coins. We also practiced writing amounts of money using the cents sign and the dollar sign and decimal point.

The children began working on their personal narratives. They are writing about a personal experience. We are working through the writing process.

In social studies, we learned about the Creek and Cherokee Native Americans.  We talked about how they lived in the past, how we live now, and compared the two.

We also started reading the biography of Sequoyah. We will be focusing on how he demonstrated the character traits of compassion and patience.

Jamie was our Kid of the Week. We enjoyed looking at her poster and meeting her English bulldog, Belle! Mrs. Findley came in for our first Adventures in Reading. She read the book Possum Magic, written by an Australian author, and presented a slide show related to the story. She also brought in vegemite sandwiches and chocolate Caramel Koalas for the children.

There will be picture retakes next Thursday, October 20. I you were not happy with your child’s first set of pictures, you may have their picture taken again.

Have a wonderful weekend.