Hi Parents,
I hope this finds all of you safe and with power! It has been a rough two weeks or so dealing with Hurricane Sandy. We are all back to our routine in school and have come out even stronger as a community and family. The children had a chance to express their feelings and stories when we returned back to school on Tuesday, 11/6. It makes me feel good that our school and teachers provide a safe and comforting place for all of us when we need it. That is what Wardlaw-Hartridge is about!
Onward and upward as they say. We have had quite a busy October and November so far. The rest of 2012 will follow along those same lines! We have begun our Dinosaur unit. I cannot tell you how happy the children are to get this underway! We are setting the stage for our grand finale--The Dinosaur Museum which will take place the morning of Tuesday, December 18th. An invitation will come soon giving details. We will also be going on a field trip to the Morris Museum. We will participate in the Earth Explorers program which deals with rocks/minerals and, of course, DINOSAURS!! Details to follow.
Second grade has completed the unit on germs. Our last experiment was using "Glo Germs." We rubbed a special lotion into our hands, washed our hands like we normally would, and then came back to class and put our hands under a black light. The black light exposed all the spots we missed! Boy, do we need to do a much better job of washing our hands. The main areas that need to be concentrated on are around our cuticles, in between our fingers, and around our wrists! We had a competition between the two sides of the room and guess what--tied!! This was a terrific lesson on how to wash our hands more thoroughly. This also produces a great opening into having a conversation at home about hygiene.
U.N. Day was a huge success. This unit coincided with our study of continents and oceans. All the children did so well on their geography "test" too! Thank you to everyone in second grade for making food from your country. We had a spread of lunch dishes and desserts from around the world. The children also did a wonderful job presenting their country of origin. This is one of the highlights of our school-- that we are in contact with so many different cultures and global experiences. We had Mrs. Faust come in to tell us about England. She put together a PowerPoint presentation and topped it off with cupcakes and a flag of England. I hope you were able to see on the WHEN a special tribute to second grade and our U.N. Day celebrations. Check it out if you haven't already.
Math has just gotten more exciting!! We have begun our Math Minute. Asyou recall, I reviewed the details of our Math Minute Program at Back to School Night. You can check your folder to refresh your memory. If there are any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. The children are so happy to earn "Sweet Treats" as they accomplish 20/20, 19/20, and 18/20 in one minute. We are also working on double digit addition/subtraction and graphing.
We have enjoyed reading a great mystery.....Jigsaw Jones and the Case of the Disappearing Dino. There are more mysteries to come before our break in December. We will begin our Book Talks using other series this week. In spelling and phonics, we are working on short vowels. We even watched Taylor Swift online via Scholastic being interviewed and then singing for us. I hope the children told you all about why she loves to read and how books have influenced her in writing her songs!
For the month of October our "Spooky Stories" have graced our bulletin board! The children are very creative writers. They will be sent home this week for all to see.
Parent/Teacher Conferences will be held Monday, December 10th. I will have a sign up sheet outside my door beginning tomorrow. Please email me, come in, or send a note about a time and I will do my best to accomodate your schedule.
Below are some reminders for November and December:
Monday, 11/12 - News Report due
Tuesday, 11/13 - School closed Diwali
Wednesday, 11/14 - Matthew Teacher
Monday, 11/19 - Kaili Scientist & Jack Teacher
Wed., Thurs., Fri. 11/21, 11/22, 11/23 school closed Thanksgiving
Thurs., 11/29 Mystery Book Report due
Week of December 3 - News Reports due
Monday, 12/10 - Parent/Teacher Conferences
Wed., 12/12 - Jayne Teacher
Tuesday, 12/18 - Dinosaur Museum in Oakwood Room - 8:30
Wed., 12/19 - Ryan Scientist
Friday, 12/21 - Winter Concert at 11:00 and 12:00 dismissal before winter break
I invite you all to come in anytime to see the wonderful work the students are doing. They love to show off and share what they are up to. Also, if you ever have any questions about something we are doing, please feel free to ask. Our door is always open...... :)
Enjoy--
Mrs. Pedde
Our Senior Buddies: Stephanie, Laura, and Katelyn
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Saturday, September 29, 2012
September 2012 - Second Grade
Welcome everyone to 2012/2013 Blog!
So far it has been an exciting beginning to our school year. We are all getting to know each other and develop our routines. It was a pleasure to see all of you at Back to School Night. As you heard, there are so many facets to second grade. As we proceed through we are all learning what is expected of us, we are bonding with new classmates, becoming aware of the routine, meeting new teachers, and having fun while learning!
Each morning the children come in and "pop" their balloon for attendance on the Smart Board. We continue with our morning meeting on the SB while doing calendar, fact families, feelings, weather, specials for the day, and perhaps a questions on the graph once in a while. Whoever is calendar for that week gets to run the meeting and SB, and let me tell you - they are fabulous at it!!
Part of my job is getting to know your child as an individual. As we proceed through the year I will be assessing your child in all academic areas. We have been reviewing math and reading concepts from first grade and will continue to do this as I introduce each subject and skill. Second grade is a full year of social and academic growth. As we go through the months you will see how your child becomes more responsible in and out of the classroom by their actions, their workload, and how they become a better citizen all around.
Our two second grades are a group of 18 students. Mrs. Cannizzo and I work together several times during the week, which the children love. They not only get to see their friends in the other class but get to form new relationships they never had a chance to.
In spelling and phonics we have been reviewing consonants and consonant blends. It would be appreciated if you reviewed this at home, too, through their reading. As we work on our units in spelling, vocabulary is introduced through these lessons. As we are exposed to a broader vocabulary our decoding skills will be sharpened too.
We finished our first of many books - Flat Stanley By Jeff Brown. The children loved hearing of his flat adventure. We "picked" the book apart by writing a post-it note for each chapter. They would reread the chapter at home and come to school with a comment, question, thought, prediction, or a word they did not quite understand. We would go through each note altogether and talk about it. This gave us the chance to get to know the characters indepth and hear each others thoughts. I have many other books in the Flat Stanley series in our class library that the children are more than welcome to take home to read through their book baggy.
Math has gotten off to a fun beginning! We have worked on number sense, ordinal numbers, and odd/even. This coming week will include skip counting, more than/less than, and patterning. We have been working on the Smart Board with some awesome lessons.
Science has been very interesting so far - I am sure the children have told you about our germ unit. This past week we worked on an experiement with potatoes. Each table had four slices that we either blew on, rubbed on the table, touched with our hands, or just placed in a bag without touching. We then placed these bags into a dark closet and will take them out on Monday. We will then use the iPad Microscope to see any germs that have appeared on the individual slices. This is fun while learning!!
We have begun touring the world through the iPad app National Geographic. We have had a virtual tour of the Earth in satelite and plainview. We could see how the earth looks comparing how much water there is to land. We zoomed in on our continent, country, state, town, and then street. Mrs. Burg came in to help us make a PowerPoint lesson with this information called "Where We Live." You should see the work come home this week. The children are very savy on the laptops too!!
As you can see we have had a busy month! There is more to come so stay tuned to our Blog.
If you need to reach me you can email at dpedde@whschool.org or call 908-754-1882 Ext. 174.
Below are some reminders for October and Novemer:
Oct. 1 - School Pictures - 1:40 in the Oakwood Room
Oct. 8 - News report due this week - paper to come home on Monday
Oct. 13 - Fall Fair - Don't forget to contribute to our second grade movie basket!
Oct. 15 - No school - Conference for teachers
Oct. 18 - UN Day lunch - details to follow
Oct. 25 - Book report due - fiction book
Oct. 31 - Halloween Party and Parade - 1:30 to help change into costumes- 2:00 parade in Laidlaw gym.
Nov. 5 - News report due week of
Nov. 13 - no school - faculty inservice
Nov. 21 - 23 Thanksgiving break
**Please check the schedules that were sent home for when your child has been assigned for teacher of the day and scientist of the day.
I hope you enjoy the pictures and sharing part of our day! Please let me know your thoughts about our Blog!!
Mrs. Pedde :)
So far it has been an exciting beginning to our school year. We are all getting to know each other and develop our routines. It was a pleasure to see all of you at Back to School Night. As you heard, there are so many facets to second grade. As we proceed through we are all learning what is expected of us, we are bonding with new classmates, becoming aware of the routine, meeting new teachers, and having fun while learning!
Each morning the children come in and "pop" their balloon for attendance on the Smart Board. We continue with our morning meeting on the SB while doing calendar, fact families, feelings, weather, specials for the day, and perhaps a questions on the graph once in a while. Whoever is calendar for that week gets to run the meeting and SB, and let me tell you - they are fabulous at it!!
Part of my job is getting to know your child as an individual. As we proceed through the year I will be assessing your child in all academic areas. We have been reviewing math and reading concepts from first grade and will continue to do this as I introduce each subject and skill. Second grade is a full year of social and academic growth. As we go through the months you will see how your child becomes more responsible in and out of the classroom by their actions, their workload, and how they become a better citizen all around.
Our two second grades are a group of 18 students. Mrs. Cannizzo and I work together several times during the week, which the children love. They not only get to see their friends in the other class but get to form new relationships they never had a chance to.
In spelling and phonics we have been reviewing consonants and consonant blends. It would be appreciated if you reviewed this at home, too, through their reading. As we work on our units in spelling, vocabulary is introduced through these lessons. As we are exposed to a broader vocabulary our decoding skills will be sharpened too.
We finished our first of many books - Flat Stanley By Jeff Brown. The children loved hearing of his flat adventure. We "picked" the book apart by writing a post-it note for each chapter. They would reread the chapter at home and come to school with a comment, question, thought, prediction, or a word they did not quite understand. We would go through each note altogether and talk about it. This gave us the chance to get to know the characters indepth and hear each others thoughts. I have many other books in the Flat Stanley series in our class library that the children are more than welcome to take home to read through their book baggy.
Math has gotten off to a fun beginning! We have worked on number sense, ordinal numbers, and odd/even. This coming week will include skip counting, more than/less than, and patterning. We have been working on the Smart Board with some awesome lessons.
Science has been very interesting so far - I am sure the children have told you about our germ unit. This past week we worked on an experiement with potatoes. Each table had four slices that we either blew on, rubbed on the table, touched with our hands, or just placed in a bag without touching. We then placed these bags into a dark closet and will take them out on Monday. We will then use the iPad Microscope to see any germs that have appeared on the individual slices. This is fun while learning!!
We have begun touring the world through the iPad app National Geographic. We have had a virtual tour of the Earth in satelite and plainview. We could see how the earth looks comparing how much water there is to land. We zoomed in on our continent, country, state, town, and then street. Mrs. Burg came in to help us make a PowerPoint lesson with this information called "Where We Live." You should see the work come home this week. The children are very savy on the laptops too!!
As you can see we have had a busy month! There is more to come so stay tuned to our Blog.
If you need to reach me you can email at dpedde@whschool.org or call 908-754-1882 Ext. 174.
Below are some reminders for October and Novemer:
Oct. 1 - School Pictures - 1:40 in the Oakwood Room
Oct. 8 - News report due this week - paper to come home on Monday
Oct. 13 - Fall Fair - Don't forget to contribute to our second grade movie basket!
Oct. 15 - No school - Conference for teachers
Oct. 18 - UN Day lunch - details to follow
Oct. 25 - Book report due - fiction book
Oct. 31 - Halloween Party and Parade - 1:30 to help change into costumes- 2:00 parade in Laidlaw gym.
Nov. 5 - News report due week of
Nov. 13 - no school - faculty inservice
Nov. 21 - 23 Thanksgiving break
**Please check the schedules that were sent home for when your child has been assigned for teacher of the day and scientist of the day.
I hope you enjoy the pictures and sharing part of our day! Please let me know your thoughts about our Blog!!
Mrs. Pedde :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)