Happy Winter Break!

Dear 2B Families,

We made it! Wishing you and yours a very Happy Holidays! I hope you enjoy the time spent with family and friends. Thank you for thinking of Ms. Smith and I this special time of year and bringing us so many wonderful treats! We appreciate your thoughtfulness :-)!

Scholar Shout-Outs:

We will miss you sweet Norah! Thank you for the cupcakes today!

We had so many wonderful Boxcar Projects! Thank you for working so hard on these at home!



When we return from break...

Spalding Words 1/8/18:
Monday: broke, feel, sure, sugar, least, sorry, press, God, god, teacher
Tuesday: November, subject, April, history, study, himself, matter, use, thought, person
Wednesday: nor, or, January, mean, vote, court, copy, act, been, be

Poetry: After the break we will learn a new poem: Smart by Shel Silverstein.

Grammar: Students will be introduced to linking verbs through reading a story called The Three Billy Goats Gruff. We will also review parts of speech through singing our jingles from last semester and classifying sentences.

Writing: We will read a story called The Pied Piper of Hamelin by Robert Browning.

Literature: We will start discovering the setting of our next book: The Cricket in Times Square! Students will learn about Connecticut and New York, as well as plot points on a map! Please send your child to school with their copy of this novel.

Math: We will pick right back up with some strategies for mental addition and subtraction and have a cumulative assessment over units 1-7 on Thursday. Beginning on Thursday, we will start practicing multiplying and dividing by 4. Pro-tip! Practice skip counting with your child by 2s, 3s, 4,s, 5s and 10s on the way to school or daily to help her/him build their fact automaticity. :)

Science: We will start a new unit on the Human Body. We will begin with learning about the five senses associated with our body and will identify these important systems: skeletal, circulatory, nervous, digestive, and excretory. We will also learn about the significant contributions of Anton van Leeuwenhoek and talk about bacteria!

History: We are jumping right back into our study of Ancient Greece. We will be learning about the ancient Olympic Games on Monday, then continuing our journey in Athens. Ask your scholar about Greek symposiums (a dinner party that included many forms of entertainment).

Love,

Mrs. Dombrowski

Almost To Winter Break!

Dear 2B Families,

It's hard to believe we are nearing the end of Quarter 2! This year has FLOWN by! Our Boxcar Feast today was wonderful. Thank you for all of your donations of bread, butter, blueberries and milk! It was nice acting as grateful as the Boxcar Children were for what they had. Thank you to our sweet moms for your help serving and cleaning up!

 

 

Thank you to Jonathan's mom for reading us a story about Hanukkah!

Next Week in 2B...

Please bring in a sturdy bag to store items from your desk. Desks will be deep cleaned over the break.

Boxcar Projects are due on Monday!

Half days on Tuesday and Wednesday!

Language Arts: Your child will recite the stanza of their choice from The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore.

Spalding: We will review some challenging words from the past but no formal test will happen next week. There will also be no Spalding homework next week...it's okay if you just breathed a huge sigh of relief :-). We will also review commonly missed phonograms during class.

Writing and Grammar: Sentence markings will be reviewed and important parts of a friendly letter, too!

Literature: Please make sure your child brings their Boxcar Diorama on Monday. They are also welcome to bring home their copy of The Boxcar Children. Please have them bring The Cricket in Times Square to school on January 8th!

Math: For our last week before break, we are going to review math facts to 20 as well some mental math strategies adding ones or tens to a 2 or 3 digit number.

Science: Due to half days we will not start a new unit in Science. If we have time, we will review our Insect Test. After the break we will begin our unit on The Human Body!

History: Before we go on Winter Break, we will be doing a review of Ancient Greece. The unit will continue when we return in January.

With a Grateful Heart,

Mrs. Dombrowski

1 full week + 1 full day + 2 half days = We can do it!

Dear 2B Families,

Another great week in 2B! We celebrated Miss Smith's birthday on Tuesday. Thanks for making her feel so, so special! We're just about finished with DIBELS testing and I'm so encouraged by your child's growth in their reading skills! Keep up the amazing job of reading to and with your child at home! The hard work and practice is really showing!

Scholar Shout-Outs:

Happy 1/2 Birthday Elle! Thanks for the donuts on Thursday!

Happy Birthday Aiden R! Thanks for the cookies on Friday!

Thank you to Olivia's family for the hula hoop donations! As you can see, they are so much fun!

Tardies: Our morning bell rings at 7:50 and we get started right away with our academic day. Between 7:50-8:00 we are listening to the announcements, saying our pledge, and reciting our poetry. Your children are welcome in our classroom as early as 7:20. It really helps their morning (and ours) run smoothly if they are here early and it also gives them ample time to unpack and write in their planner too :-). Thank you for your help with this!

Next Week:
Mon, Dec 11: Mrs. D will be out working on Narrative Evaluations for Quarter 2 Report Cards! I look forward to sharing comments with you about your child's progress since our conferences in October.

Mon, Dec 11: Leighton's 1/2 Bday!

Tues, Dec 12: Mrs. D will be at a school related meeting most of the morning but will return later in the afternoon!
Fri, Dec 15: Boxcar Feast! *Thank you for signing up to help with donations
Mon, Dec 18: Boxcar Dioramas are due
Tues, Dec 19: Half Day
Wed, Dec 20: Half Day
Sat, Dec 30: Matthew's 1/2 Bday!
Sun, Jan 7: Elle's 1/2 Bday!
Thurs, Dec 21-Fri, Jan 5: NO SCHOOL *We will see you back on Monday, January 8th!

Next Week in 2B:

Poetry: We will begin recitations for  The Night Before Christmas. Please make sure your child has chosen 1 stanza/part for recitation!

Spalding Words:
Monday: running, run, rule, carry, chain, death, learn, wonder, pair (two), pear (eat), pare (cut)
Tuesday: check, prove, heard, hear, inspect, itself, always, something, expect
Wednesday: need, thus, woman, women, young, fair, fare (fee), dollar, evening, plan

Literature: Our journey with The Alden Children has come to an end! We will enjoy a Boxcar Feast with our friends and take a final test over our comprehension of this novel. Don't forget about your Boxcar Diorama! These are due on Monday, December 18th.

Grammar/Writing: We will work on friendly letter writing to prepare for our "Secret Student" activity!

Math: We are going to dive into some mental strategies for addition and subtraction! There is an upcoming test on Thursday, so keep an eye out for a study guide coming home on Wednesday.

History: Our Greek scholars will learn about democracy in the city-state of Athens, the first place in the world to have a democratic government. We will also learn about what is was like to grow up in the two most powerful city-state in Ancient Greece: Athens and Sparta. Ask your scholars which they would rather grow up in and why. They are very different places!

Science: It will be our last week of learning about insects! We will meet an entomologist who will teach us about how insects can be friends and foes. A study guide will be sent home with your child next Tuesday. Please read it and review so they are ready for their test on Thursday over our creepy, crawly friends (and sometimes foes)!

Love,

Mrs. Dombrowski

Welcome December!

Dear 2B Families,

Welcome December! I can't believe it's already here. I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving! Mr. D hosted at our home and it was a wonderful holiday. We also attended the ASU/U of A game on Saturday (divided household)!

xx

Scholar Shout-Outs:

Happy Birthday Diego!

Congratulations to Leighton ~ our virtue award winner for Courage!

We sang The National Anthem beautifully at our assembly today!

Thank you Alexa for sharing your dreidels with us!

Our sweet GCU Intern, Miss Monk, had her last day with us on Tuesday. We made her a pencil jar and all signed it! We will miss her!

Did you hear about our special presentation and visitors on Monday? My friend and her husband visited us from Michigan for Thanksgiving! She works in nutrition (specifically, for the Dairy Council) and she did a special presentation for our class about "My Plate" and healthy choices! Thank you Mrs. Freeland!

Helpers Needed:

We could use some extra helping hands next week with Reading & Math Groups: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0d44a9af2ca1fc1-reading

*LOST SWEATER ALERT* Love and Logic teaches us to allow natural consequences to happen so these ones may be a little chilly coming to school Monday morning...their sweater will be waiting for them :-)

Important Dates for December:
Dec 4-13: DIBELS Testing for our middle of the year benchmark. I look forward to seeing your child's growth in reading!
Tues, Dec 5: Happy Birthday Miss Smith!
Fri, Dec 8: Happy Birthday Aiden R.!
Mon, Dec 11: Mrs. D will be out working on Quarter 2 Narrative Evaluations! I look forward to sharing with you comments about your child's progress for this Q2 Report Card.
Mon, Dec 11: Leighton's 1/2 Bday!
Fri, Dec 15: Boxcar Feast
Mon, Dec 18: Boxcar Dioramas are due
Tues, Dec 19: Half Day
Wed, Dec 20: Half Day
Sat, Dec 30: Matthew's 1/2 Bday!
Sun, Jan 7: Elle's 1/2 Bday!
Thurs, Dec 21-Fri, Jan 5: NO SCHOOL *We will see you back on Monday, January 8th!

Next Week in 2B:

Literature: Our journey with the four Alden children comes to a close next week as we read the LAST two chapters (12 & 13). You may continue working on your Boxcar diorama at home! Reach out if you have any questions.

Poetry: Please practice one part of The Night Before Christmas at home. Your child will only be graded on their recitation of one part of their choice. We will add in the last part to our class recitation next week.

Grammar: Prepositional phrases are being added to our question and answer flow. We will continue to practice this new skill to solidify our understanding.

Writing: Our excerpt next week is "The Young Man and The Cat" from The Crimson Fairy Book by Andrew Lang. We will study the features of this traditional fairy tale.

Spalding:
Monday: holes, hotel, iron, living, live, monkey, myself, noise, pencil, pie
Tuesday: pull, sew (suture), sow (grow), so, steam, thread, thunder, tried, try, vein
Wednesday: except, aunt, ant, capture, else, bridge, offer, suffer, center, front 

Math: We're wrapping up our unit on division and multiplication! We'll have a cumulative test over units 1-6 on Wednesday! We will review the concepts previously covered on Tuesday, but keep a sharp eye out for a study guide that will be coming home on Tuesday night! This will complete our 2A workbook and we will begin working from our 2B workbooks beginning Wednesday.

Science: Insect learning will continue through studying insects that glow and sing (fireflies, grasshoppers, and crickets) and the LARGEST group of insects on earth (beetles)!

History: Students will continue to learn of many of the origins of western culture and influence. We will understand the premise of the Trojan War and learn how Athena is tied to the city of Athens. Ask your child to tell you a fun fact about one of the gods or goddesses and areas of interest in Ancient Greece.

Have a happy weekend!

Love,

Mrs. Dombrowski