Red Ribbon Week

2nd Graders on the Science Bus

Here are some pics of our second grade students learning on the science bus.

2nd Graders Learning About Fire Safety

Here are some pics of our second graders learning about fire safety.

Ms. Manqueros' Students Enjoy Trunnell's Farm

Here are two pics from Ms. Manqueros showing how much fun her students had at Trunnell's.

ELA Went to a Farm

Our ELA students recently went to a farm owned by Mrs. Holly's family. The students had a chance to get their hands dirty and see what life on a farm is all about. The students were able to get up and personal with many farm animals.

Discovering in ELA!

 Our ELA students have using a new curriculum called Literasci and it is full of projects and experiments. Last week they worked gravity and ramp play. I will have pictures to post later.

What a Week!

Mrs. Harrellson's students had an engaging first week back!
Last week, our focus was making connections with text (words in a book) to personal experiences and other text (words in another book).  The students used yarn to make a spider web as we retold our story this week, "Bear Snores On".  The picture is in the side bar to the right.
Someone donated beany babies to our class. We were so excited to read to our beany babies this week during read to self! 
We ended our week with our trip to Trunnel's Farm!  We received a donation from Federal Fire and Security and were able to go for FREE!  It was a blast!  Pictures are in the photo gallery under Trunnel's Farm.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I have looking at them this weekend! 
Thank you for coming in for parent teacher conferences!  A reminder to you about our reading log:  please encourage your child to read every night and fill up their reading log to win a FREE pizza from Pizza Hut. 
Congrats to Brayden and Brendan for reaching their 50 sight word goal.  They get to get a happy meal from McDonald's this Friday!  I'm super proud of the children for working hard on reaching their goals!
Congrats to Daniela, Brayden, Jessica, Ellie, and Maddison for Perfect Attendance! Remember every day counts!

Fun over Fall Break

Next week starts our fall break and this can be a great time to create some special family memories. I have some ideas that won't take much money, but are guaranteed to help bring your family together. The first thing to do would be take a simple nature walk at one of our fine parks. The leaves are changing colors and this would be a great time to explore Panther Creek, Yellow Creek or even Ben Hawes Park. Another fun trip would be to our public library. If you haven't been to the library lately you are missing a good time. The upstairs of the library has a great sound proof room for children to play and explore in. How about a trip to our Science and History Museum? This will cost you a little money, but man what a great time your child will have. Besides looking at all the cool exhibits, the upstairs has a great indoor playground for your children to explore. I don't need to remind you of how entertaining Smother's Park is and how much fun your children can have there. A few other places that offer fun activities for a little bit more money are Reid's Orchard and Trunnel's Farm. Both of these places have playgrounds and mazes for your children to explore. One last idea for when your children say I'm bored is to get out the old board games. Some of my all time favorites are games that I now play with my own kids. You can't go wrong with Monopoly, Sorry, Hungry, Hungry Hippo, Cuties, Life and Stratego.  Have fun next weeks and enjoy your special family time because in a few short years you will be wishing your children were still this young.

Fun Writing for the Family

I have a fun family writing project that you can do with your child over Fall Break. This writing will not take long and is meant to tap into your child's creative writing side. Basically your child will have some questions that you and your child can answer together. Once your writing is finished you can illustrate the story. If you want to take it to the next level you can create some paper sack puppets for the characters and act the story out. If you are feeling nostalgic and want to create a diorama out of a shoebox and display it in your living room as a Halloween decoration, you will win the gold star of parenting for doing that project.
Here are the questions that can be answered and I answered the questions to give you a model. You can expand on the answers and make it has long and detailed as you want.

What is the date for your story?  Today is Friday October 31st.

What is the weather and time of day?  It is a windy and dark night outside. (Good time to work on those descriptive adjectives and have your child talk about the tone and feeling of the story.)

Where are you going and Why?  I’m going to my friend Sam’s house for a Halloween party.

Introduce simple Problem (Start the discussion of cause and effect)

Describe something scary you see on the way to where you are going.  On my way to the party I see an old, creepy house with a light on.

Feelings and solution

How do you feel and what do you do?  I feel nervous and scared.  I run really fast to my friend’s house.
Finish the story-

Have fun with your family writing.

Career Day - New Date

Due to the Trunnel’s field trip on October 30th for our GRIT winners, we will need to move our Career Day to November 6th. Your students can still dress the part for Career Day and we can't wait to see what our students want to be when they grow up!

Anyone for Applesauce?

Mrs. Blevins' class has been growing their schema on apples. They made some delicious applesauce and enjoyed eating it!

Building a Team in 2nd Grade

Mrs. McCarty is working hard on building a well oiled machine in second grade. Here are some pics of a team building/problem solving activity! The rules: you can only use one hand, you can only touch one straw at a time, everyone must catch one straw that is not their own. What is the most effective way to accomplish the goal? Teamwork and a solid plan! She had 2 groups who were able to complete 2 passes! This idea was taken from a similar activity teachers attempted at the district science PD. Super fun!!

Going on a Leaf Hunt

Mrs. Harralson¹s class has been studying about seasons and the change in
our weather.  They read the book ³Going on a leaf hunt² by Steve Metzger
and went on their own leaf hunt outside.  Each student received a brown
paper bag and collected leaves.  Then, they sorted by color and classified
the leaves into the different types of leaves using a template. The kids
had a great time!

This week, we also described apples using our 5 senses.  The students
graphed their favorite apple and we celebrated fall by dipping apples in
caramel sauce.  YUM!

Please don¹t forget to check your child¹s folder every night.  I will be
sending a reminder home on Monday that has your conference time.  I¹m so
excited to talk with you and share your child¹s growth!  They are showing
grit everyday, pushing hard to reach their goals.  Thank you for your team
effort in reading and studying their sight words every night!  Together,
we are working towards great success for your child!

Homework Help!

Homework help began last week! These students are showing grit and getting their work done! If you would like to join this group of hard working students, bring your homework, sight words, or a book to Ms. Coomes' room on Wednesday and Thursday mornings from 7:20-7:50! Hope to see you there!

Pizza! Pizza!

Last week Early Learning Academy students enjoyed learning about pizza.
Students learned about the ingredients needed to make a pizza and then
used teamwork skills to make their own pizza. The best part of all was eating the pizza! Yum! Yum!