Silly Pictures

 During our Christmas party today we took some time out to take some silly pictures with the props left over from The Polar Express Night!  I hope that everyone has a Merry Christmas and I will see you in 2013! 

Pajama Day!

On Friday morning we will be watching Polar Express to kick off Polar Express Night that is on Saturday.  Students can wear pajamas to school that day.  If they want to wear slippers I would send other shoes so they can change before going outside for recess.

2nd Grade Mails Santa Letters

On Friday our class walked down to the post office to mail our letters to Santa.  The students were all very excited to get their letters sent off for the North Pole. 

Christmas Party

On December 19th we will be having our classroom party.  If you would like to send treats please let me know!  We will also be doing a gift exchange.  A boy needs to bring a gift for a boy and a girl needs to bring a gift for a girl.  Please have them wrapped.  On the tag you need to write From: (your child) To: boy or  To: girl  If you cannot buy a gift please let me know as soon as possible and I can take care of it for you.  Thanks so much!

Box Tops for Education

Please save your box tops and send them to school with your child.  We are having classroom competitions to see who can bring in the most.  Each box top brought in is 10 cents for our school.  In the past the money has been used to purchase a new swing for our playground, help with field trips, and purchase items for classrooms from teachers' wish lists.  Thanks for your help!

Community Walk

Today we walked around town and looked at our community.  We stopped at the flower shop, bank, post office, and city hall.  At City Hall Carl talked to us about each of their jobs.  We also learned that long ago our town was a cattle town.  There were railroad tracks that ran through the middle of town.  We learned that it takes math and reading skills to run the city.  The city cop talked to us about being safe.  We enjoyed our walk around town and next we will be working on community murals. 

2nd Grade Field Trip by Mrs. Wright's class

Our class went to Pendleton's Butterfly Garden and Pumpkin Patch.  First we got to look in the butterfly garden.  We got to see monarch butterflies and swallowtail butterflies.  There were also caterpillars.  There was a chrysalis that was about to hatch at any time.  We learned many facts about butterflies.  We learned that you cannot touch a butterfly that is hatching from a chrysalis.  It will freeze in its spot.  Male butterflies have scent spots on their wings.  If a monarch butterfly is born in the summer it only lives for 2 weeks.  If it is born in the fall it lives for 6 months so it can migrate to Mexico.
Walker and Elijah helped release a tagged butterfly.  Elijah put it on Walker's head so it could warm up its wings.  It stayed for awhile on his head and then flew off to Mexico.  
We ate lunch while we were there. After lunch we got to play.  They had a corn bath, a pumpkin slingshot, a no left turn maze, and a tricycle track.  Lots of us had corn in our clothes from the corn bath.
After playing we went to the pumpkin patch and we each got to pick the perfect pumpkin for us!
We wished we could stay forever but we had to go back to school.  We had an awesome day!

October Book Order

Thanks to everyone who ordered books in October!  We were able to order 7 new picture books and 4 books with CD's with bonus points and coupons from parents ordering online.  I spent some classroom money and ordered the Junie B. Jones books and the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book too!  Thanks so much!  The students are always so excited to get new books on the bookshelf. 

2nd Grade's Crazy Pumpkins

Today we took some time and decorated the pumpkins that we picked from the pumpkin patch yesterday.  The students were very creative.  Some brought items from home to use and I had some things on hand.  They all turned out great!  Tomorrow we will invite classes to come in and vote on their favorite pumpkin. Here are just a few pictures from today.  I even got in on the fun and decorated my pumpkin with silver glitter.  Above:Sky concentrating while working.  Avery working hard on her pumpkin.  Ryan with his Planter's Peanut pumpkin.  Mrs. Wright's glittery pumpkin.

Daily 5 in 2nd Grade

During Daily 5 students are given options on what they want to work on.  For reading, they may read to self, buddy read, or listen to reading.  In this video Kaylynn and Lillie are buddy reading from the book, "Where the Sidewalk Ends".

2nd Grade Field Trip

On October 10 we will be taking our first field trip of the year to the Kaw Valley Market Butterfly Bio-Villa.  We will be observing butterflies, going through a maze, and picking out a pumpkin!  The cost is $3.00.  Parents are more than welcome to attend but the cost for a parent is $4.00 and $2.00 if you want a pumpkin for yourself.  We are only taking 1 bus so parents attending will need to provide their own transportation.  We will be leaving the school at 10:30 and returning around 2:00.  Please make sure that you get your child's field trip form and money turned in as soon as possible! 

Book Orders

Thanks to the parents that ordered for the September Scholastic Book orders!  They came today and the kids who ordered books are always excited to see the box come.  For every online order the parent receives a $5.00 free book pick coupon and I get $3.00 to spend on the next book order.  Just from this book order our classroom earned $12.00 worth of free money to spend with the next book order.  Watch for these to come home by the end of the week and orders will be due by October 1! 

Snacks!

In 2nd grade we eat lunch super early.  We head to lunch at 10:50.  This makes our afternoons long and the kids are usually really hungry by the time we get ready to go home.  I have been allowing the students to bring healthy snacks that we eat while we are getting ready to go to music.  This has been helping. 

I try to encourage then to bring a healthy snack.  Some good ideas I have seen are fish crackers, cheeze its, string cheese, granola bars, fruit cups, and graham crackers.  Please do not send candy or cookies. 

I try to keep extra snacks on hand for students who not bring snacks.  I do not always have things though.  Parents are more than welcome to send extra boxes of things to help with this.  I appreciate any help I can get.