PJ Day

We had a great day of learning in room 9! It was great to see so many of your kid in their comfy, cozy PJ's. We started our day with elapsed time. This is a difficult concept, so you may need to reinforce this at home. For example: If I start cooking dinner at 4:45pm and we sit down to eat at 6:20pm, how long did I spend preparing dinner?

We also spent a large part of the day talking about and practicing presentation skills like standing up straight, looking at the audience, projecting your voice, etc. We're going to be SO ready for our Author's Tea on Friday!

TKF went home today...it's an older issue, but still very relevant. Math homework is all about TIME. Encourage your child to tell the time using an analog clock.

Remember tomorrow is dress the color of your favorite fruit.

Stay dry!
Ms. Howard

SOME OF MY FAVORITE WEBSITES FOR 2ND GRADERS

Dear Parents,

The following are some of my favorite websites for 2nd graders. If you have some suggestions of other educational websites, please let me know and I'll add them to the lists. I apologize in advance that you cannot click on the link. You'll have to copy and paste.

Happy learning!

Ms. Howard 
Math Sites:

http://www.mathsisfun.com/numbers/math-trainer-addition.html

· Spacey Math: http://www.learningplanet.com/sam/sm/index.asp

· Mathflash: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/thurgoodmarshalles/java-applets/Mathflash/Mathflash_small.html

· Speed Grid: http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/SpeedGrid/Addition/urikares.html

AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION-A wonderful collection of websites for kids!

http://www.ala.org/greatsites

www.pebblego.com

username: gaithersburg password: school

CULTURE GRAMS

www.proquestk12.com/myproducts

username: mcps password: mcps

WORLD BOOK

www.worldbookonline.com

username: gaithers password: mcpses

TIME FOR KIDS

www.timeforkids.com

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

www.kids.nationalgeographic.com

SCHOLASTIC

www.scholastic.com

BOOK-IT READING PROGRAM

www.bookitprogram.com


US MAP GAMES
www.yourchildlearns.com/us_map.htm
www.yourchildlearns.com/mappuzzle/us-puzzle.html


www.pbskids.org/games/music.html
(you can create your own symphony with different world beats)

What a Busy Week!!!

We had a great Friday, even though we lost power at the end of the day due to the high winds!

Our class is preparing for our Author's Tea on March 4. I sent the kids home today with their Author's Tea Folders. They are to practice reading their writing pieces many times, focusing on using a strong "teacher voice", looking up as they are reading, and reading like they speak (with expression!). If you could be an audience for them that would be wonderful! Some of them also need to finish up a piece so that it is ready by Friday, March 4.

Also, our 3-5 graders will soon be taking the MSA. So, next week is Spirit Week. Here's the schedule, if you'd like your child to participate:
Monday-PJ Day
Tuesday-Wear the color of your favorite fruits
Wednesday-Wear something backwards
Thursday-Hat Day
Friday-GES T-shirt, school colors or sports team

Have a fantastic weekend!
Ms. Howard

HOS forms

It was great to see so many of you all at Math/Nutrition Night! I hope you had a great evening (I know my eyes were opened to how much sugar is in everyday food products!)

Hands on Science forms went home in Thursday packets. IF you’d like to register your child, please send those in ASAP. Also, I haven’t gotten field trip permission forms from everyone yet. Please return those as soon as you are able for our March 9 excursion to Imagination Stage.

And, don’t forget about our special Author’s Tea coming up this Friday, March 4. Hope to see you all there!

Enjoy the weekend!

Ms. Howard

Math Night Tonight!

Come one, come all to Math/Nutrition Night! We've been working for many months to plan this event. It will kick off at 6:30 with kabobs. Then we'll have three sessions to learn about healthy cooking and math too! Hope to see you all there :-)

Invite to Author's Tea

You are cordially invited to:

 Ms. Howard’s 2^nd grade Author’s Tea

WHO-Parents and friends of Ms. Howard’s Students

WHAT-A Celebration of Writing! You will hear students read their favorite original writing pieces like Original Cinderella Stories, Original Tall Tale Stories, Animal Research, Original Plays, SMART board presentations, etc.

WHERE-Ms. Howard’s Classroom, Room 9

WHEN-Friday, March 4 10:00-11:30 (you are welcome to stay for lunch with your child from 11:30-12:00). Then we have an early release.

WHY-Because 2^nd grade students have been hard at work writing and would like an audience to read to!

TFK Homework

Dear Parents,
I hope you all are enjoying the new Time for Kids Homework. It's a way for families to connect over current events while your child improves reading comprehension. Plus, the format is very motivating! If your child happens to lose the magazine or the questions, you can always go to www.timeforkids.com and download past/current issues and follow-up activities for free.
Thanks,
Ms. Howard

Welcome to our Class Blog

Dear Parents,
Welcome to our new class blog! I will be posting very frequently about our adventures in learning in 2nd grade! Check frequently.
Here are some updates:

UPCOMING EVENTS

• Math/Nutrition Night is this coming Wednesday, February 23 at 6:30pm. Families will go home with goody bags from Whole Foods, will get yummy kabobs for dinner and will participate in three sessions about healthy eating, living, and how math is relevant in meal planning!
• Our field trip to Imagination Stage in Bethesda will be Wednesday, March 9 to see Perseus Bayou, a Cajun folktale. We are so excited that we got grant money so tickets are free! The $5.50 pays for the bus transportation.
• Hands on Science registration forms went home, but I understand all were in Spanish. I am working to get the English version sent home. If you are able, please sign your child up for this great extracurricular opportunity!
• Please continue to send in loose/spare change for Pennies for Patients.

LITERACY UPDATES

• A week ago, students finished a genre study of "Cinderella Stories from Around the World." We studied Cinderella stories from Iran, Korea, France, USA (Native American Tribes) and Mexico. Students also researched these countries in the media center before we read the stories to build their background knowledge and created posters about the climate, foods, clothing and lifestyle in each country. Students were able to compare the similarities and differences between each Cinderella story (all include good vs. evil, a godmother figure, a missing "something", helpers in the form of animals, magic, 3's, etc.). Last, students wrote their OWN Cinderella stories. They chose the country, the characters, the problem, the solution. Then published them using Power Point. We will be working on their Cinderella Power Point presentations and may invite parents in for an informal presentation.
• This past week, Room 9 was filled with EXAGGERATIONS!!!!! Why? Because we read American Tall Tales, including the stories of Paul Bunyan, John Henry, Johnny Appleseed and Pecos Bill. Students really enjoyed identifying the characteristics of Tall Tales like exaggerations (who ever heard of a 156 pound baby born with a hammer in his hand?) Tall Tales are a great way to learn how our country was settled during the Westward Expansion in the 1800's. Students were able to create their own Tall Tale Heroes based on all the stories we read in the classroom. They also wrote letters to their favorite Tall Tale Hero. This made them think about themselves in the context of a historical figure. A great higher order thinking task!
• This coming week, we will be reading an old version of Jack and the Beanstalk with some tough vocabulary as part of the Junior Great Books series. We will be analyzing the characters and looking at good vs. evil and asking some tough questions like, "What does "desperation" mean?  Is Jack really a good character in this story? Why is the giant/ogre the bad guy, wasn't Jack stealing from him? It will be an interesting week of questioning! I'm looking forward to it.

MATH UPDATES

• Because the third graders will be taking MSA and we are doing third grade math, we have been revisiting some math concepts that may seem out of order! (We don't take MSA, don't worry!) This past week we learned fractions, then we'll be moving onto probability, then time, then measurement. It seems very disjointed and I apologize!!!
• The middle of March, we will go back to our Unit Curriculum to start a more indepth study of fractions.
• Please continue to practice basic multiplication and division flashcards with your child. (The dollar store has some great flashcards for cheap!)

SOCIAL STUDIES UPDATES

• We're starting our study of economics. This week, students will be making collages from magazine images to understand "needs versus wants" and "goods versus services." We'll read "If you give a mouse a cookie" to understand that our wants are unlimited and that's what drives the market. Later on in the unit we'll be studying how our world is related by trading by identifying key products that come from countries around the world. (Oil, agricultural products, factory goods, etc)

SCIENCE UPDATES

• Mrs. Henderson has been teaching Science in her weekly special. The kids have learned about the properties of liquids by doing many hands on experiments. 
• In mid-April we start the best Science unit of the year, the Life Cycle of the Butterfly...the kids will get their very own egg and observe it through its amazing metamorphosis...but more about that later!

OTHER UPDATES

• Our classroom was chosen as the proud recipient of a SMART board (we won the raffle!) This is an interactive white board. I am still learning the technology, but we have been using it to identify our place of the day on an interactive world atlas, doing some research using Pebblego and using it for math. I plan to continue learning how the thing works to best teach the kids.
• I have some exciting news...I was offered a 2nd grade position at Academia Cotopaxi an American International School in Quito, Ecuador for the 2011-12 school year. I've accepted the position, but with mixed emotions. I'm very excited for this great professional opportunity (the school follows the IB program (International Baccalaureate), has SMART boards in many classrooms, state of the art technology, beautiful campus) and Ecuador is a country I've lived in, worked in and visited many times. However, Gaithersburg ES is such a wonderful place to work and your children are such wonderful little people. I will greatly miss them! But, my plan is to do some technology projects like penpals through blogs and emails, Skype phone interviews and other ways to connect my new students with students at GES. So, even though I'll be thousands of miles away, technology is an amazing connector!