Lunches, Sunshine, & Memory Work

I marked the 2nd grade menu sheets with the 3 days we need to bring COLD LUNCHES.  I hope we will be having an enjoyable field trip and sack lunches on TUESDAY.  However, since our raindate is so close to the last day of school we will need to bring a sack lunch on THURSDAY!  The menu sheets also list the school kitchen as closed for the end of the year cleaning on the last day of school and we will need a sack lunch on FRIDAY!

Some students really needed to be pushed along today, but they should only need to learn Memory Verses over the weekend.  One of the Memory Verses is very close to a song we learned this year.  Students may choose to sing the song for 1 John 3:1 if they would like to!

God has given us Sonshine and sunshine!  
I hope you enjoy the weekend surrounded by His Love and His Sonshine!

Singing, Bases, and Astronauts

Our astronaut videos today were well informative.  We learned what happens to tears when an astronaunt cries in God's weightless creation!  All of us watched the video about.....well....
being sick in space.  Everyone was encouraged to use kind words that really let someone know what you need without being gross!  The students agreed it was nice to say "being sick" and that we all understood what that meant.  The last video we viewed today was about being outside the space station on a space walk.  It had so many facts that we had to watch it a few times.  Ask your students about donning and doffing.

The Woodchuck Base Race ends tomorrow!  It is the last day to "run the bases" by passing AR tests.  It is the last day to take any AR tests for this school year.  The computer lab will close for the summer on the last day of school and your student will not be able to take an AR test until next September.  PLEASE make use of the TB Scott Library Program in Merrill.  It is an incredibly detailed summer of events, rewards, and fun at the TB Scott Library!!!!

Singing!  Songs in the Gym!  This event is one of the last times that our students are together to enjoy one another's talents!  It was an awesome time of harmony, pride, and friendship.  The lower grade stduents were listening to the vocal talents of the 4 - 8th graders.  The 2nd graders especially liked the songs that were sung with smiles, volume, and movement!  I am proud of the abilities of every group! Mr. Schultz was right when he reminded us to think of our blessings!

HAPPY ASCENSION DAY!  Easter occured 40 days ago and now we are like the disciples wondering what to do next.  Our Lord is in heaven!  The message is to get busy!  Spread the gospel!  Help and Love everyone in His Creation!  Forgive and move on to the Love He has for Us!!!

HOMEWORK
Math #123 only Side A of the sheets
AR - last day to take tests is Friday
Walk-A-Thon pledges are due Friday
Spelling and Vocabulary Test is Friday
Art - dandelions are due on Friday

Astronauts, Pledges, and Work

An astronaut on the space station showed us how to brush his teeth.  He (Chris Hadfield) also showed us what happens to the water in a washcloth when you wring it out.  It is an answer you would not expect!  We watched him eat dessert and drink coffee today too!  Living in outerspace at the International Space Station is truely different.  It is full of amazing ideas and experiences.  God's imagination is certainly wonderful!  He created a weightless outer space for us to explore.

If you have pledges collected it is time to return your sheet and your pledges.  Our end of the year field trip is scheduled and the permission slips went home on yesterday.  Please send back both of these items by Friday.  The students will need 3 sack lunches next week (Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday).

HOMEWORK
I have all of the reading workbooks.  They are already graded for today!
I have all of the Math Fact Sheets #122 and they are graded!
9 students need to finish "Breakfast with Jesus" pictures.
Only 4 students took home Math Work #122.
Only 4 students took home Religion page 12.
Only 2 students took home Handwriting cursive letter H.
MEMORY is due Thursday
AR (Friday is the last day for tests)
Chapel is on Thursday this week as we celebrate Ascension!
Study SPELLING AND VOCABULARY words

Spelling, Space, and Health

Unit 29 Spelling Words

1.    aim

2.    snail

3.    bay            Vocabulary Words

4.    braid                1.  search

5.    ray                  2.  contained

6.    always              3.  startled

7.    gain                 4.  odd

8.    sly                  5.  leaned

9.    chain                6.  tossed

10.   shy                  7.  force

11.    bright              8.  grateful

12.   fright               9.  village 

13.   tray

14.   try

15.   contain

16.   thigh

Our reading story on space is quite interesting.  We are investigating information about astronauts

through the internet!  We have learned how they sleep, how they make a peanut butter honey sandwich, and how they wash their hair!  

Our Health Unit is on medicines and drugs.  Yes...beer, wine, cigarettes, pipes, chew, and even chocolate are bad habits that change the way our bodies work!  I let your children know that they shouldn't worry about your bad habits or pester you to give up your bad habits.  HOWEVER, I did let them know they should talk to you and that you would be honest with them!  Remember...The best way to avoid a bad habit is NOT TO START ONE!  Students need to be enouraged to REFUSE when you are asked.  Each of us young and old should practice our response!  Saying "No" leaves an opening for being teased and taunted.  THEN WHAT DO WE DO??  We change the subject.  If someone asks you to do anything you know is harmful to yourself or harmful to someone else you should change the subject.  Try saying "I would rather _____________." (You can fill in the blank with something good you really like to do.) The next step that might be good is to walk away. Don't be pulled into a conversation about the bad habit!!

HOMEWORK

Memory (due Thursday)

Math #121

Reading Story 

Health Review (do this outloud with a famly member)

AR (Use one of my books or a book from home. *The School Library is Closed) 

Permission Slips for our trip to Wildwood in Minoqua were sent home today!

Walk-A-Thon Pledges are Due by Friday

Off to the Show & No Work

Akeela's birthday celebration is underway!  She had a treat for us today that we couldn't even handle looking at!  A cake, but not really, that was decorated with the Frozen movie theme.  It was frosted into a cake and was made out of cupcakes.  It was such a creation that it was hard to calm back down until after 1 o'clock!  It is good to be cupcake eating kids who love their friends so very much!  The class is going to love continuing the celebration together over the weekend.

We all safely walked to Les and Jim's for the St. Frances School Musical "The Elephant Child".  It is an African Fable about why elephants have long trunks.  It was also a way to learn that the people who love you, tell you no!  They sometimes tell it sternly to keep you safe!  If you are talking to your child over the weekend about something you need to say "no" to please remind them of "The Elephant Child".
People who love us sometimes say no, 
sometimes give us consequences, 
and all because they love us!

HOMEWORK
Your child should not have any homework!  
We had more than enough time to complete 2 workbook pages, handwriting, & 2 math pages in class.  


HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!

Elephants, Art, and Work

We are wondering about the musical that the students from St. Francis are performing.  The advertisement lists two characters as an elephant and a large python.  We don't think a real elephant or python are appearing and we are interested to see how this plot unfolds.  If you have a St. John shirt you could chose to wear it on Friday to let people know who we are and whose we are!  A nice pair of walking  or tennis shoe with socks would also help with our trip to Les and Jim's.

Art class was a handful of rainbows today!  The students worked very hard, followed Mrs. Germain's directions with incredible teamwork, and everyone finished the project!  I can't wait to get them posted in the hallway on Friday.  You will be amazed at the colorful display.

HOMEWORK
Study Spelling and Vocabulary Words
Read for AR 
Pack up and Return Library Books & Magazines
Work on Memory Work for Next Week

Kind. Chapel and Running

The Kindergarten Class led Chapel this morning.  They followed our "Lead Me, Guide Me" theme. We guide eachother with kindness as we show God's love to each other.  All year I have worked with the second graders to ask them... "What are you teaching other people?" and "Who is following you?" We are all leaders following the lead of our parents who are following the lead of the Lord! We teach one another kindness, politeness, and love.  Thank you to our Kindergarteners for reminding us of the "Fruit of the Spirit" in our lives.  (Students can easily sing the chorus of this song for you.)

Mrs. Klug is working with the second graders to complete their physical fitness award evaluations. You can ask the second graders about all of the steps to testing their strength and their skills.
Mrs. Wiesneski provided a snack of grapes for us this afternoon to enjoy after we finished the running portion of the testing.  Grapes cooled us down and gave us something delicious to eat. THANK YOU!

AR and the Woodchuck challenge will finish at the end of the month of May.  Keep Reading every night.  Share your book characters, setting, and plot with parents and friends.  I will be handing out some new Woodchuck rewards in the morning!

HOMEWORK

Reading workbook pages 174 and 175 (use the skill of summarizing on page 174)
Memory Work (due Thursday)
Spelling and Vocabulary words to study
Math Homework sheet #119
Read for AR

Birthday Treat and Art

Thursday's are always fun!  It is the day we have ART with Mrs. Germain!  Today we learned a little bit about an artist named Kandinsky who loved classical music and circles.  The students need to finish making the top portion of their Kandinsky Flowers.  They brought home the colored paper.  The flower can be created and glued together at home.  Then the students can finish assembling their creation in the morning at school!  One person has finished their Kandinsky flowers and I displayed them!

Today was Archer's birthday!  The treat was an amazing creation of frozen layers, but best of all was the proud smile on Archer's face as he enjoyed the day with a classroom of friends!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ARCHER!

HOMEWORK
Read for AR (Fri. Fun Day in the Library)
Practice Spelling and Vocabulary Words (Test Fri.)
Make sure your fable and picture are ready (due Fri.)
Math #116
Finish Art Flowers
***ART ALERT---ONE POINT PERSPECTIVE DRAWINGS ARE OVERDUE*****

Chapel Surprise

The Girl Scout Troop that meets at St. John surprised us today at chapel.  They have worked hard all school year to raise money.  They gave $1,000 to help repair or replace items on the playground!  Wow!  They certainly looked at a way to help the community and our students.  They made a plan. Then the girls worked to successfully complete their idea.  It was very wonderful to see them smile with pride as they presented Mrs. Hahn with this gift!

Our fables will be read on Friday.  It is our chance to see if we can carry out our own plan to write a real question about an animal, but provide a silly explanation for the question.  If you look back at older blog posts you will find more details about this project.

HOMEWORK
Read "They Mysterious Tadpole"
Review our AR books for tests on Thursday morning
Memory Work (Due Thurs.)
Study Spelling and Vocabulary words
Math #115 Fact Sheets

Special Kids and Parties

Your child should have brought home a birthday party invitation last week.  The entire class is invited! Several invitations have been found in the hallway.  If you need details about the invitation you can contact me.  Details can not be posted on the blog.

Almost all of the students finished Religion work at school today and noone has anything to fix!!
Time is always given for students to complete work here at school.  It is wonderful when so many students choose to use that time wisely!

Our good work bulletin board is filling up with names of students who earn a "zero wrong A" on their work. It is a joyful experience to post a new list or a new bunch of papers on the board.

We have 5 students who are already on first base for our Woody Woodchuck Race to Homeplate! Every time a 2nd grader passes their AR tests they are on their way to a "base."  I let the students know what they needed to do to continue their 1st or 2nd base race and they should be able to tell you where they are at.  Keep Reading Everyone!

Mrs. Vincent was here yesterday for her last Monday afternoon fun.  She has been working with the 2nd graders on their game playing manners, friendship skills, and intellect!  We have been so blest to have extra attention from her this year!  She even brought a treat for us to enjoy today with our milk break!  We will miss Mrs. Vincent and the time we have shared with her!

HOMEWORK
Lang. Arts Workbook pages 146 and 147
Work on your Fable (see Monday's Blog)
Practice Spelling and Vocabulary Words
Work on Memory Work (Due Thurs.)
Pack Offering and Food Pantry
Read AR for the Base Race

Why Stories

A fable is a story that explains a real everyday thought in a silly imaginary way.
Here is an example!

"Why don't spiders eat ants?"   by Mrs. Fritz
A very hungry spider was sitting on the ground next to a hole in the sand.  It was the home of a family of ants.  The first ant, Ted, came out of the hole and greeted the spider, "Good morning Spider!  How is your day."  The spider said his day was terrible and that he was very hungry.  The spiders stomach growled!  "I know what you need to do." said Ted.  "You need to catch a fly."  "Oh No," said the spider, "I need to eat you right now!" "Oh dear," said Ted, "You can't eat me."  You should eat my brother, Stan, who is larger than I am.  He will come out of the hole very soon.
The spider sat by that hole all day asking every ant if they were Stan, but Stan never came out of the hole.  At the end of the day the ants found a fly who had been bothering them all day while they were working.  Ted went back to the spider and pointed out Stan (the fly). Spider was determined to get something larger than an ant to eat so he climbed up into the tree near the hole, spun a web, and caught Stan!  Stan, the fly, was much more filling than a tricky ant.  That is why Spiders do not eat ants!

***Hopefully this example will help you guide your student to pick a real "Why" question about
an animal in our world and write a silly story as an explantion to the question.****

HOMEWORK
Memory
Reading Workbook pages 139, 143, 144, and 145
Math #114
Sign Test Packet that was sent home today! (Please send back all 4 tests.)
Work on a Fable
Study Unit 26 Spelling and Vocabulary Words
AR

Breakfast, Plants, and Writing

Your child is working on a picture of breakfast.  This is not just any breakfast.  It is the breakfast they would share with Jesus!  The disciples had breakfast with Jesus after He rose from the dead.
He cooked them fish.  Most of us do not have fish for breakfast so we are drawing and writing about the best breakfast to share with Jesus.  It is due on Friday!

We have also been working at school on a writing a story to share with our classmates on Friday.  It is a story that tells why something happens, but it is not the "real" explanation!  Our stories might tell why the moon follows the sun everywhere by saying it is being chased by the clouds.  Maybe your student wrote about why rabbits have such long big feet by saying they got their feet stuck in the gate of the garden when they were trying to run away with a carrot. Each student needs to explain one idea from their own imagination & draw a picture to go with it. 

Our planting time together went very well.  Students brought home their plants today!  The plants do not grow very tall, but they do tend to send off more shoots.  When you replant it into a pot you may want to choose a medium sized container.

HOMEWORK
AR
Baseball Math Sheet
Math Sheets  #113
Breakfast with Jesus
Fable Writing & Picture
Handwriting Captial Cursive A
Reading Workbook pages 136 - 137
Spelling Test on Friday
Wow this looks like a lot of work!  It is a good that they had so much work time at school!

Sleeves, Sun, and Homework

It is finally time to look at Spring clothing!  
Please make sure your child is wearing clothing appropriate for the school day.
They need to be able to bend and stretch.  They also need protection from the sun which means choosing a short sleeve shirt is a great idea.  A good rule of thumb for shorts is to have your child stand with their hands at their sides.  The shorts will work well for school if they are as long as their fingertips stretch.  You can have your student do jumping jacks in the mirror and they will be able to see if the clothing will work well for school activities.

Sun is wonderful for students and for plants.  We have done more exploring with bulbs and roots. Today we separated a root bound plant.  I showed the students how to trim off the weaker leaves and get the plant ready for soil. The plants are ready.  The students are excited.

We will be planting on Thursday morning.

You could help with supervision of students while I plant with them on Thursday morning.  Please come to school with your student and we will get started right away.  The main idea is to plant with Mrs. Fritz, clean up with parent supervision in bathrooms, and get the students to the computer room for AR testing and then to the library for quiet reading time.

HOMEWORK
Religion Read page 1 and do page 2
Reading workbook pages 134 and 135
Math #112
AR (we did not take tests today)
Memory Work is Due on Thursday
ART 1 point perspective pictures
Spelling - practice all of the words by writing them in cool whip on a cookie sheet.

Spelling & Spaghetti

Unit 25 Spelling Words

1.    tall

2.    call

3.    saw            Vocabulary Words

4.    fall                  1.  crops

5.    dog                  2.  sprouting

6.    draw                3.  blossomed

7.    soft                 4.  drooping

8.    paw                 5.  underneath

9.    ball                 6.  harmful

10.   yawn                7.  fortunate

11.    log                  8.  promised

12.   small          

13.   all

14.   walk

15.   awful

16.   wallpaper

If you make a bunch of spaghetti and cool off the noodles you can use them to spell the words from our list!  Have fun with our Spelling and Vocabulary Words.

HOMEWORK

Check your own potatoes in your pantry for growth. 

Read "How Groundhogs Garden Grew"

Reading workbook pages 132 and 133

Handwriting cursive numbers and the words that represent the numbers

Memory (The students recognize this verse from a song we sing at chapel!)

Walking for St. John School

The students are bringing home the information on the Spring Fundraiser!  We will be walking around either Normal Park or the block that the school playground is part of.  Teacher's and adults will monitor each corner and all of the students will be walking at the same time.  The kids will be with classmates and many other school friends.  They can even take time to encourage their Chapel Family Members when we walk!  The goal is to have fun, exercise, and earn money for our school!  It is time to recruit family members, send emails to friends, talk to your neighbors, and perhaps find support from coworkers who will sponsor your child as they Walk for St. John School!

HOMEWORK
Complete Religion books are due on Monday.  (don't forget the covers)
Reread the Religion stories to be ready for the Test on Monday
Finish Art (one point perspective)
     A short summary of the directions from Mrs. Germain would be...
                 Draw 5 circles of different sizes with lines leading from the sides of the circles to a point                        your child has drawn.  Pick 5 different colors (one for each circle and it's tunnel).  Color the                    circle in a dark way, but color the tunnel in one direction leading to the point but draw this                      path Lightly!
We are learning our multiplication facts for  "x 5"  ask your student some "x 5" facts!