We have had an incredible start to the school year!  After only 2 days, it is easy to see that we have a terrific class in Room 5.  The students are already working together in partnerships and in small groups.  Everyone is getting along great.

Please make sure to check this blog regularly for announcements and classroom updates.  Always feel free to email me with any questions or comments you may have at levina@avoca37.org.

If your child has not yet brought in a smock for Art or headphones for Encore Tech, please send them in as soon as possible.

I look forward to getting to know all of you better throughout this year!  I hope to see you all at Parent Night on Tuesday, August 28th at 6:00 pm.

We can not believe it is already time to start the 2nd Grade ABC Countdown!  Starting this Thursday, May 3rd, the 2nd Grade begins the countdown to the last day of school.  Each day has a corresponding letter that goes along with an activity.  We start with A (Athletic Day) and end with Z (Zip up your bags and go home)!  On Monday, your child brought home a list of all the days, letters and activities. There is also a list posted on the 2nd Grade page.  It is a great and fun way to end the school year!

This week the 2nd graders learned about contractions!  To help them better understand the concept they became surgeons and performed surgery on words.  Kids took two words such as “do” and “not” and removed the “O” from “not” and bandaged them back together.  This left them with the word “don’t” with a bandage as their apostrophe.  Be sure to ask your child what words they operated on at school today!

Most of our Flat Stanleys have returned and it has been so exciting to read about all of his adventures.  He has traveled all around the world and has been to many different urban, suburban, and rural communities.  Our students have been able to learn so much about the world from this activity.  Thank you for your cooperation and support!

This week we are reading non-fiction stories in Language Arts.  Feel free to pick up a non-fiction story to read at home with your child!  Make sure to ask about all the non-fiction text features we discussed in class.

Spring MAP Testing will be:

Math- Thursday, April 25th

Reading- Thursday, May 3rd

It is so exciting to see all of the fabulous places Stanley has visited.  He has been to rural Wisconsin, the suburbs of New York City and even right here in downtown Chicago!  He has gone from coast to coast and comes back with exciting stories to tell.  We can’t wait to see where else he has been.  Hopefully all the Stanleys will return by this Friday, March 16th.  The children are so excited when their Stanley has returned.

Welcome Home, Stanley!

This past Wednesday was Leap Day!  The second graders had a great day participating in various Leap Day activities in each classroom.  In Mrs. Bader’s classroom, the students made frogs out of paper bags and construction paper.  In Ms. Koerber’s room they read Leopold’s Long Awaited Leap Year Birthday and asked questions about the story.  Mrs. Greenberg discussed the number 4 and things that come in groups of 4.  Then the kids skip counted by 4 on a 200 chart.  In my room, students thought about where they would be on the next Leap Day and what they will be doing.  They wrote a descriptive paragraph on this topic.  All in all they had a great time!

Our Flat Stanley project is underway!  We are hoping to get more pictures in everyday.  If you have not yet sent out your Flat Stanley, please do so as soon as possible.  We are beginning to receive some back and are hoping that all will return safely by March 16th, 2012.

Happy travels to Flat Stanley! We are looking forward to seeing where you have been!

I hope everyone is having a terrific Valentine’s Day today!  The kids are all very excited for our party this afternoon.  We will have treats and a Valentine’s Day movie at 2:00 this afternoon!

Thanks to all the parents who volunteered to send in treats and goody bags.  Our class is so lucky to have such supportive families!

Here is a reminder for our schedule this week:

Wednesday, February 15th – Noon Dismissal. Parent/Teacher conferences

Thursday, February 16th – Noon Dismissal.  Parent/Teacher conferences

Friday, February 17th – No school for the children – Insitute Day for the teachers

Monday, February 20th – No School – President’s Day

I hope everyone is enjoying their much deserved time off!  I hope everyone has very happy holidays and I wish you all a happy and healthy new year!  I can’t wait to see you all in 2012!

The 2nd Grade teachers are working to level our classroom libraries and we are looking for help from you. Attached is a step by step process to level the books. All you need is internet access and a permanent marker. If you are interested in helping us out, I can send a bag of about 10 books home with your child. Whenever you finish leveling the books you can send them back in and I can send 10 more. Leveling 10 books should take about 15 to 20 minutes. Each of our libraries has over 300 books so the help is greatly appreciated. Having a leveled library will help our students select just right books and become better readers!

I have posted the directions and the sheet to fill out as you level the books on the blog.

Please let me know if you have any questions. As always, thanks for the help!