Homework & The Third Quarter

Our blog has contained some tips and some information about our school day.  However, now that it is third quarter I will be including our daily homework. I may not always get the blog up for the day or before you begin homework for the evening, but it is my goal to post as often as possible.

HOMEWORK 1/30

1.  Lang. Arts. Workbook pages 221, 222, 223

2.  AR

3.  Balancing Crayfish with counterweights (find 5 ways)

4.  ANY OLD WORK 

          (art projects, memory verses that were due this week, math sheets, workbook pages)

Here are some of today's highlights!

     The second graders took their first open book test in Religion.  

Students began a new watercolor art project and worked to make butterflies with Mrs. English today.

     A silent crossword puzzle was "told" to them in Sign Language with Mrs. Samuelson. 

Everyone in the whole school had time to work on the musical together. 

     Julie and Angie made homemade lasagna for lunch. 

We all got to play outside for noon recess!! 

They're Checking it Once and Checking It Twice

We won't find out who is naughty and nice and at this time of year Santa will not come to town!

We will find out who took the time to write complete sentences, check their spelling, and make sure their ideas made sense!  Please look at our Workbook page 219 (page 220 was assigned too).

We talked this through in class before they began the work.  It is a difficult process to think of Cause and Effect.  The first one is a great example.
What made Maya pick Tim?
The answer is NOT.. She wanted a picture of her dog doing a trick for a contest.
Caleb was our great thinker on this question... "Tim takes great pictures!" 
Please be careful to check for sentence structure as well as the idea of cause and effect.

AR BOOKS - Students are not having success with One Point Books because they are taking too long to read them.  The suggestion is to take half point books home on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  Check out the One Point Book for the weekend.  Then you will have 3 days (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) to read it through.  If your child needs an extra day have them check out the 1 point book on Thursday and then they will have 4 days to read it.  When they combine half point and 1 point books they will enjoy reading without becoming overwelmed.

Half Time Isn't Just for Football

The school year has progressed to the half way mark and as we look ahead to the blessings yet to come it is more exciting than the half time presentation of the Super Bowl!  The "second half" brings Lutheran Education week plans, a new reading book and workbook, Achievement Tests to show our knowledge, the Science Fair, another Book Fair, and so much more!  

Valentine's Day falls on a Friday Fun Day!  We will have a party at the end of the day. 

     Food - We need gluten free munchies.  If you didn't get a chance to send something for a holiday celebration we would love to have your help for Valentine's Day.  

I also need a parent volunteer to get our food from the school kitchen refrigerator, assemble our table, pour the juice, & serve the students.

          Please "comment" on this post or send a note to school with your student.

    Valentine's Cards  - Please know that homemade valentine’s are wonderful.  You do not need to purchase expensive cards when a little paper will do the trick.  Remember to look for gluten free treats if you are attaching a treat to the Valentine.

    Valentine's Card Containers - I will provide white bags that we will decorate at school.

Too Cold for Spelling

It is too cold for a lot of activities even if they are not held outside.  Traveling to school is dangerous!  
We won't get to see eachother on Tuesday either!  It is too cold for concerts at Trinity!   This has caused it to be too cold for Spelling!  Yes, this does say too cold for spelling!  There will only be 3 days of school this week which is not enough time to learn a new spelling pattern.  The next Spelling Test will be on February 7th.

I am currently closing the 2nd quarter grade book and moving into 3rd quarter.  Report Cards are being prepared and they will be sent home on Friday.  AR awards have also been calculated!

ART

Some students in second grade have art projects to complete.  They are overdue!

If your student came home with the idea of finishing an art project and they need further directions or supplies they can call school on Friday afternoon to speak to Mrs. Germain or myself.

Visitors, Dice, and Hardwork OH MY!

Mutt, a visitor from Camp Luther, brought us the message that We All Grow.  Our bodies grow, our minds grow, and our faith grows!  Our faith grows with the time we spend reading the bible, worshipping God, and practicing the Fruits of the Spirit.

The students had a lot of enjoyable learning today!  We explored more songs from Jennie Williamson. We used interesting dice to create two digit numbers in math class.  We had inside recess with another class.  The fourth graders helped us with our Reading Workbook pages!  We spent time with a reading sound that doesn't make much of a sound (the quiet schwa).  

When you look in the reading workbook page 217 you need to know that we did NOT UNDERLINE or CIRCLE anything in the reading portion of the work.  I know the directions tell the students to do some underlining and circling but they do not need to follow those directions for page 217.  They do need to write sentences to answer the questions at the bottom.

Please keep working on our compound words for Thursday's Spelling Test.  We also have a Health Test on Thursday.

NEVER hand in blank work!  If you didn't finish your homework you can go to another classroom to get it done, but NEVER hand it in when you know it is blank!!!!!

music, Music, MUSIC! & Homework

We are very blessed to be surrounded by wonderful music!  Your children have excellent voices!

CAMP LUTHER's counselor, Mike (otherwise known as Mutt), is coming to St. John tomorrow!  Mutt will lead us in worship during our Chapel Service!

The students have begun to learn the songs for the dinner theater in March. The whole school practiced together today as we learned the basics of the first 4 songs. 

We are listening to songs by Jennie Williamson and Jenny Pforr in our classroom.  They are the group we are going to hear in concert next Tuesday.

HOMEWORK
We are reading at a regular rate just like adults.  When you and your student read "Officer Buckle" tonight please try to read right along.  Of course you need to sound like the characters, pause at commas, and have a little bit longer of a small pause for sentence ending periods.

Please practice  & study Spelling Words!  They are listed on Monday's blog.  We are aiming for everyone getting an A to end second quarter!

Most of us have completed 2nd quarter Memory Work.  There are still 4 students who have their Memory Books.  If you have the blue book it is not complete!  Please check it over, sign it, and send it back to school!

AR reading is important.  Several students are close to goals.  Thursday is the last chance to take tests for 2nd Quarter's Awards.

FINISH then CHECK OVER MATH & READING WORKBOOK PAGES!  Sit together, talk together, and have the students fix mistakes!  Also look back at previous pages to see grades your student has earned since the middle of the quarter.

Consumers & Producers

What were you doing before you began to read the blog today?  Would you say it fit under being a producer or a consumer?  It is an interesting question.  

Start a list for your family! Post a blank paper on your frig with half labeled producers and half labeled consumers.  

Eating anything is consuming it, but what other items besides food would make you a consumer?  and even more difficult when are you a producer?

The students left school today by stating one item that thier family buys and uses (consumer).  Can your famiy find ideas for both categories?

Unit 15 Spelling Words

1. cannot   2. pancake   3. maybe   4. baseball   5. playground   6. someone  7. myself

8. classroom  9. sunshine  10. outside  11. upon  12. nothing  13. into  14. inside

15. homework  16. everywhere

25 over 36

The second graders love to state fractions this way, 25 over 36.  I would mean there are 36 pieces all together and 25 of those pieces are shaded.

However today it meant...
36 singers in 2nd and 3rd grade and 25 of those students came to church at 10:30 with great behavior and strong voices.  I enjoyed sitting with them after our song too! They had respect for the congregation and tried to join in the service speaking and singing the liturgy. 

I got detailed compliments after the worship ended.....
"I could hear their words so clearly, and I sat in the back of the church!"
"It is so nice to hear young voices singing proudly and not yelling out the song."
"There were 2 parts and I could understand them both!"

WELL DONE for 25 over 36!  If you weren't at the service you missed a fine shining moment of students proclaiming their faith to "Follow Jesus!"

Creeds and Toes

CREEDS
The Apostle's Creed has 3 parts (3 articles).
The 1st article states our belief in God the Father.
The 2nd article states our belief in God the Son.
The 3rd article states our belief in God the Holy Spirit!

When we profess our faith during a church service we say this creed all together in union!
We do the same thing in class.
Your child needed to join with the class to say the 2nd article today & we said it in groups.

Please do not let your child panic about this task, instead say it with them!!
You can watch them smile in church as they stand proudly to say it with you during the service!!!!!!!
P.S. The Nicene Creed is found on the inside of the back cover of the big church hymnal.

TOES

Our science Unit on Balance (see the blog post titled - Balance a Banana) has a lot of of complex ideas.

We know 3 basic components are needed for balance.  Those parts are weight, height, and strength.
Please ask your student how we taught this to Jerry today and why his wife Jessica had to help out!

Measure Twice Cut Once

All fine woodworkers know the rule of measuring many times before they make a cut in the wood. Checking your measurement provides success in building and saves money when purchasing material!

School work follows the same good rule!  Students should work on the skill of checking their work over before handing it in and never hand in your work undone!

Checking work needs to be done in 3 ways....
I am sure your student can recite it....
"with your eyes, your brain, and both parts of your pencil"

However we need even more help!  We need an adult to sit with each child, reread the directions, and reread the answers your student wrote.

We need corrections in captial letters, spelling, sentence writing, and following directions!
The end of the second quarter is near and students are still handing in work that is in need of being "checked over" or is (try not to gasp) blank.  Yes...BLANK!!

Please help students grow in the ability to learn what checking work means.  Please sit with your student and their work.  Reread everything together and apply those wonderful 3 ways to "check" school work.

They will love you for doing it, but maybe not until the next school day when I grade work and "WooooHoooo" their great accomplishments!

23 Great Kids and 1 Spelling List

 The spelling words for this week came from the lists the students made of long o words!

1.  bowl     2.  coat     3.  snow    4.  narrow      5.  also   6.  meadow   7.  over    8. only

9.  go   10.  zero   11.  golden   12. moment   13. show  14.  most  15.  elbow   16.  gecko 

Have some fun!  

Spread some cool whip on a cookie sheet and spell the words together.  

Make some spaghetti noodles, rinse them in cold water, and use the wiggly noodles to make the spelling words with your 2nd grader.  (If the noodles become stuck together just rinse them in warm water.) 

You and your student can use the list to make word cards (The cards can be made by cutting paper or using 3x5 index cards) and you can sort them. If you both make cards you could have a sorting race. The cards should end up in 3 piles.  The 3 ways to sort are o, oa, and ow.  

Playing with words together is a great way to grow in knowledge as you have some family time. Everyone can join in!  Can your family think of more words for the oa group? 

I think you can "comment" on this blog and list any long o words your family developes!  Then all of us can benefit as we learn together.

Balance a Banana?

Our Science Lessons have moved from Rocks and Earth's Layers to Balance and Motion."

We have learned that God made our bodies with some balancing ideas in his thoughts.  We can stand in a stable position with our feet together.  Our feet act like a base and our arms become counter weights. We can say we are balanced because gravity is not pushing or pulling us over.  Have some fun and try to balance items on your index finger tip.  Can you balance a banana?

We also enjoyed some time with a few parachute activities in the gym before the cold days off from school.  Please ask your student what they learned about the power of air pressure.

Unit 14 Spelling List and some Dates to Know

Here is our Unit 14 Spelling list.

1.  own     2.  most     3.  soap     4.  float     5.  both     6.  know     7.  loan     8.  goat

9.  flow   10.  loaf    11.  throw  12. coach  13. so       14. grow    15. swallow  16.  ocean

Remember to look for tricks to help your student.  Can you find "an" inside two words?  or how about silliness.... Did a goat eat oat?  Can an oat float? Can you throw in a row?

DATES TO KNOW   

2nd and 3rd Grade students sing on Sunday, Jan. 19th at the 10:30 service.
2nd and 3rd Grade students sing on Saturday, Feb. 1st at the 5:30 service.
Please mark these dates on your calendar at home.  Thank you!

2014 is Here!

The students arrive back at school on Thursday!  Yippee!  
We get to begin the 2014 portion of the school year together.  

Here are 3 goals to help us focus.

1.  Remember to finish and return all old work. 
             *****Clean out your backpack.*****
             Complete old Art (snowmen and mittens)
             Finish Old religion booklets and any other old homework.
2.  Have any new work ready for the morning.
             Review your AR book and be ready to take your first test for January 2014.
             Spend time preparing your next Memory Verse.
3.  Bring your OUTSIDE winter clothing.
             We will hopefully be blessed with outside recess.

The most important part is you!!  
        Please get some sleep tonight!  
                 You will be ready to return to school!
        Please continue to pray about everything!
                 You will be ready to share your love for God with everyone.