Mrs. Raper

Week33

Well, believe it or not, this is the last Weekend Journal letter of second grade! It’s amazing how fast the year has gone! Your child has grown both socially and academically this year. Just take a look at the first few journal letters your child wrote! I hope the journal provides many happy memories of second grade for you and your child.

Tuesday was Field Day. The children had a great time despite the cool weather! I hope they told you all about it. Thanks to Mrs. Davis, Mrs. Dengler, Mrs. Ho, and Mrs. Leonard for sending in the tasty watermelon for our special Field Day treat. We released our butterflies today. The children were very excited to see them fly away!

We celebrated Hayden’s birthday on Wednesday with delicious donut holes. On Monday, we will celebrate Eric’s birthday, which is actually Sunday, May 22^{nd  .} Happy Birthday, Hayden and Eric! Kaleb and Jack presented the weather on TRNN this morning. They did a fabulous job! On Tuesday, we will celebrate the end of the school year with a pizza lunch. The children may bring a drink of their choice.  If your child doesn’t eat or like pizza, they may either purchase a lunch at school or bring a lunch from home. All students will have the opportunity to go through the lunch line if they wish to purchase anything extra.      

A special thanks to all the parents that volunteered their time this year. No matter what you did – field trip chaperone, Thursday Folders, Friday Helper, Great Artists, Adventures in Reading, sending in items or snacks for the class – I truly appreciate it more than you’ll ever know. A very special thanks to Mrs. Barber and Mrs. Peterson for taking on the job of co-room reps. They did a fabulous job!!

 As this school year comes to a close, I will be retiring after 33 years of teaching.  I have enjoyed working with your children this year, but am looking forward to the next phase of my life!

 I hope you have a wonderful summer. Please remember to have your child read and practice math facts (addition and subtraction). A few hours a week will do wonders!!

Week 32

Only 8 days of second grade left!! Boy has the year flown by. We are continuing to review various skills learned in math and language arts. 

 The children participated in a Wellstar program yesterday called “Wheel Wise”. They learned about bicycle and car safety.  The presenter stressed the importance of wearing a helmet when riding a bicycle, and the proper fit of a seatbelt. She also told the children the height and weight they need to be before they can travel in a car without a booster seat.

 Mrs. Morris came in for Classroom Guidance this week. She read the book Who Moved My Cheese for Kids. The children talked about dealing with change and moving on to third grade.

 Wednesday was Career Day. The presenters in our class were Mr. Dengler, a mechanical engineer, Mr. Trainer, an attorney, Mrs. Barber, a nutritionist, and Mr. Garber, an accountant. The children enjoyed learning about these careers.

Congratulations to Hayden for winning the Dazzling Diamonds for Mom contest, sponsored by David Douglas Diamonds and Jewelry!!  Hayden’s mom will be honored with a gemstone of her choice! Way to go, Hayden!!

  On Thursday we celebrated Kenzie’s birthday with a personalized cookie cake. It was delicious!! Today we celebrated Cole D.’s birthday.  The children enjoyed his birthday treat at lunch.

Mrs. Vaughan read Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs during Adventures in Reading on Thursday. Each child then put stickers of their favorite foods on clouds.

 Next Tuesday, May 17 is Field Day for grades K-2. Please put sunscreen on your child before he/she leaves for school.  The kids may also bring a water bottle, hat, sunglasses, etc.

 Thanks to all that wrote such beautiful notes to me last week for Teacher Appreciation Week. I teach because that is what I love to do, but it’s nice to hear that others appreciate all the time and effort that goes into my job!

Week 31

Hope you are enjoying the beautiful weather. We are reviewing many concepts in math. Making change, graphing, adding and subtracting with and without regrouping, and telling time are just a few of the areas we’ve been working on.

 The kids had a great day last Friday during Arts Jubilee Day. The artists were informative and entertaining. Thanks to the parents that volunteered during the day. I know your help was greatly appreciated.

  We continued learning about life cycles. Our beans grew nicely and the children were amazed at how fast they grew roots, stems, and leaves. We also learned about the life cycles of frogs, butterflies, and some mammals. We received our caterpillars last week and they have already formed their chrysalides. They are now in the butterfly house and the children are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the butterflies!

 Last week’s Citizen of the Week was Kaleb. We enjoyed looking at his poster and seeing all of his favorite things that he shared with the class. His bracelets and rock collection were neat. Caroline was this week’s Citizen of the Week.  We enjoyed seeing her conch shell, trophies, and poster.  Stephanie was Caught with Character for accomplishment. Way to go, Stephanie!  We celebrated Cole M.’s birthday today with delicious cupcakes. Sunday is actually his special day.

  I hope to see you at the 2^nd Annual “Kick Out Cancer” kickball game this evening. It begins at 6:00 PM. I will be selling lots of yummy things to eat, so please stop by the concession stand and say hello!!

 I wish all the mothers a very Happy Mother’s Day!!

                                               

Week 30

Happy Earth Day! We’ve explored the life cycle of the plant. We’re watching and waiting for a bean seed to germinate. When it does, we will be able to see the various parts of a plant. We also looked inside the bean seed and were able to see the seed coat, stored food, and embryo. We’re looking forward to learning about other life cycles.

 Math finds us reviewing time to 5 minute intervals, and place value. We also worked on addition and subtraction with and without regrouping. Please keep practicing those math facts!!

We are also reviewing multiplication and division.

We’re continuing our work with persuasive writing. The children are doing a good job of writing convincing paragraphs.

 We celebrated Adam’s birthday on Thursday with delicious cupcakes. Happy Birthday, Adam! Derek was our Citizen of the Week. We enjoyed the photographs on his poster, souvenirs from China, his baseball trophies, and his coin from the Philadelphia Mint.  Lillian and Alice presented the weather on TRNN this morning. They did a great job! Cole D. was caught with character for commitment. Way to go, Cole D.! Thanks to Ms. Leonard for our delicious Earth Day treats.

 Mark your calendars for Chick-Fil-A night, next Thursday, April 28^th. Proceeds from your purchases help to benefit the Timber Ridge Foundation. I will be serving free ice cream between 5:30 and 6:00. Hope to see you there.

 Have a wonderful weekend

Week29

It’s been a beautiful week!  In anticipation of the arrival of our butterfly larva, we have begun learning about the life cycle of the butterfly. It will be so much more meaningful when the children actually observe the various stages of the life cycle.

 We are continuing our study of multiplication and division. The children seem to have a good understanding of these concepts. We are also focusing on place value in the thousands.

 In Social Studies, we concluded our unit on Jimmy Carter and government. We discussed the roles of the President, governor, and mayor. The children are also able to identify our state and national capitol buildings in Atlanta and Washington, D.C. They can also locate the capital of Georgia and the United States on a map.

 The children are doing a good job with their persuasive writing.  They wrote a paragraph persuading me to promote them to third grade!  We will continue to focus on persuasive writing for the next few weeks.

 Our Citizen of the Week was Sammi. We enjoyed looking at the photos on her poster. She enjoyed sharing her ribbons, gemstones, owl statue, and other favorite things. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

 

Week 28

We had a very busy week. We continued working on multiplication. We reviewed arrays and groups. This week we focused on using the multiplication table and number lines. We also worked on dividing numbers into equal groups and repeated subtraction. The children are very excited about these topics.

 During social studies, we continued to read about Jimmy Carter. We discussed his concerns for equal rights and humanity and how it has impacted our state, country, and world.

 Our writing focus these nine weeks is persuasive writing. The children enjoyed the book I Wanna Iguana. They identified examples of how the boy in the book tried to convince his mom to let him have a pet. As you can imagine, most of the children could really identify with the boy!!

 This week Jordyn was our Citizen of the Week. We enjoyed learning more about her as she shared some of her favorite things with the class. Thank you for sharing your beautiful water color paintings, trophies, music box, and pillow pet. On Monday, we celebrated Alice’s birthday with delicious cinnamon muffins. Her actual birthday was February 25. Today we celebrated Stephanie’s April 2^nd birthday with a variety of types of doughnuts. Happy Birthday Alice and Stephanie! Riley also participated in the Science Fair last week. Her exhibit was Rocks. Great job!

 I wish all of you a restful and fun Spring Break.Have a great weekend and week.

Week 27

This has been an eventful week. I hope you enjoyed Technology Night, the Book Fair, and the Science Fair. It was so good to see so many of you on Monday night. The children were very excited to show you their Photo Story and power point! Congratulations to  Alice (Friction with Sandpaper), Maddie (Rocks), and Cole D. (Static Electricity) for participating in the Science Fair.  All the children are very proud of their work.

 We began working on multiplication.  We are learning the meaning of multiplication. We’ll use a variety of approaches to help the children master this, including repeated addition, skip counting, arrays, and multiplication tables. This week we’ve focused on arrays and equal groups.

 The class started reading about Jimmy Carter, our last American Hero. The children were surprised to learn that he is still alive!  There are still many interesting facts that we will learn about Jimmy Carter.

 Our Citizen of the Week was Maddie. She shared two softballs, an interesting fossil collection, and other treasures. We enjoyed seeing the pictures on her poster. We also celebrated her Feb. 24^th birthday this week with delicious doughnuts.

 Have a great weekend!

Week 26

It’s hard to believe, but today was the last day of the third nine weeks of second grade. We have accomplished so much, and still have a lot more to learn!!  This week in math we worked on three digit subtraction with and without regrouping, counting back change, fractions, and data. 

 Congratulations to Derek for being Caught with Character for Tolerance for the month of February. Way to go, Derek! Samantha was our Citizen of the Week. We enjoyed looking at her poster and seeing many of her favorite treasures. It was fun seeing the books she used in Chinese school and the fan displaying her Chinese Zodiac sign.

 I’m looking forward to seeing you and the children at Technology Night this coming Monday from 6-7 PM. The children are very excited about sharing their animal power points and Photo Story with you!

 Enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend!

Week 25

Wow! The children did a fantastic job in the performance last night.  It was so nice seeing so many of you. I hope you enjoyed it.

Kenzie was our Citizen of the Week. We enjoyed her poster, picture album of her little sister, pillow pet, and other treasures. Mrs. Trainer was our Adventures in Reading mom on Thursday. She read The Curious Garden. We also enjoyed eating delicious sunflower cupcakes. Thank you.

We have been busy counting back change for $5.00 and $10.00. They are doing a good job. We also are reviewing three digit addition and subtraction (with and without regrouping). Please continue reviewing math facts with your child.

Volunteer Appreciation Brunch is March 15 at 9:30. It is a small way we can show how much we appreciate all the help you give. Don’t forget we will have school next Friday, March 18. It is one of our makeup dates for our snow days.

Week 24

            The children are working hard for their upcoming PTA performance next Thursday evening. Today they had their first joint practice with the third graders.  I hope you have the date, March 10 at 7:00 P.M., marked on your calendars and are looking forward to a great performance. If you haven’t already done so, please return the blue slip stating whether or not your child will be participating in the performance. As a reminder, we would like the second graders to wear white shirts and jeans.

In math, we are wrapping up measurement and have begun working on three-digit addition and subtraction with and without regrouping. Most of the children are more comfortable with addition than subtraction, but they need review with both skills. Knowing their basic facts is crucial during this unit. I recommend that they spend some time each day reviewing these facts, particularly subtraction.

 In our science unit, we learned about how the Earth’s orbit around the sun and its tilt causes the seasons. We also talked about how Earth’s rotation causes day and night. We are working on a factual flip book about the sun, moon, stars, and Earth.

 Mrs. Morris’s classroom guidance lesson this week focused on honesty. The children watched a short video clip and discussed the importance of being honest.

 Will was our Citizen of the Week. The class enjoyed seeing his poster, trophies, medals, and other treasures. Maddie and Christopher presented the weather on TRNN this morning. They did an excellent job. Way to go!!

Have a great weekend!

Week 23

It’s hard to believe it’s already the end of February. We have been very busy this week. The children enjoyed our unit on fractions and especially liked creating Fraction Town. We began our measurement unit.  We learned about inches, feet, yards, and miles and how to measure with a ruler correctly. The children did well as they measured several objects found in the classroom. We will move onto the metric system next.

 The children have enjoyed checking the phases of the moon each day. We also learned about shadows. Wednesday we went outside at different times of the day and traced the shadow of a toilet tissue roll. The children found it interesting to see the changes of the shadow.

On Thursday we had a visit from Wellstar. The children learned about dental health from a program called “Smile Power”. They were given a brand new toothbrush to keep at home.

 Valentine’s Day was Riley and Christopher’s birthday. We celebrated Christopher’s birthday on February 14 and Riley’s on February 15. Kaleb’s birthday was Wednesday. The class enjoyed all the birthday treats. 

 The children had a great time distributing their valentines to their classmates and opening their boxes on Monday afternoon. Thank you, Mrs. Harris, for the delicious Valentine cookies.

 If you did not return the music performance note today, please send it back the day we return to school (Feb. 28). Mr. Savage would like to know, as soon as possible, which children will not be participating in the program.

 I’ve heard that many of you are traveling over the break. I hope you have a safe and fun trip. Those that are staying home – rest and relax! We all need to gear up for the last part of second grade

 Enjoy the weekend and have a great week off!!