Throwback....Monday!?!

Look how cute!  These are some pictures on the class facebook page. I found pictures of some of the kids in our class from when they were in PreK! 

You can see more pictures through Facebook. Find Humphrey's Class and add us as a friend. Or just use the Facebook link on this blog. 

Checking BEE Binders

Checking your child's BEE binders on Mondays is extremely important. Please check the front pocket and sign and return any papers needed.

Any, graded papers should be thoughly checked and gone over with your child.  This will ensure that you are aware of the skills your child may need to work on, and also  that they understand what they may need to do on future assignments. 

I will also be doing these things at school, but you will have a one on one experience with your child that I won't be able to create in the school setting. 

Make sure you are also going over homework with your child. There is a part for you to sign on the weekly home worksheet, at the very bottom. Signing your name tells me that you have helped your child with their homework, read for the appropriate amount of time, and have completed all assignments. 

Thank you for helping me mold your child into the best second grader they can be. 

Volunteering

I am looking for a volunteer to help file papers on Mondays.  I am also looking for someone to pull small groups of kids to time their reading fluency, read with them, or listen to them read. If these are things you might be interested in, please send me a note or email. 

Solids, liquids and gases

Last week we did an experiment to see the changes in the states of matter. We watch water go from a solid to a liquid and then a gas. We also watched it go from a gas, back to a liquid. The kids really like to do experiments. I have one planes for this week too!  

Another thing they really liked was watching the Mercury inside the thermometer moving up and down depending on the temperature of the water. 

Conferences

Please make sure you have signed up for a conference. New conference sheets went home on Friday to show the most recent available time. 

Properties of Matter

This week we talked about matter and it's properties. The properties of matter can be classified by texture, shape, color, weight or mass, flexibility, size, and length. Today we did an experiment with finding the properties of a popsicle (frozen and melted), gummy worm (room temperature and frozen) and a balloon (with and without air). We looked at the difference in the properties and how the objects changed depending on its temperature. The kids had a lot of fun. It was the first time we were able to do any experiment in our classroom.

3M Hooks

Our class is in need of some 5lb command hooks. I would like to hang our backpacks up neatly outside our our classroom instead of throwing them all into a bin. This will add extra time to our day, make it easier to get to a students backpack if they need to leave early or forget something, and it will make it look nearer and more organized. These hooks can be bought at Target, Wal-Mart, Lowes, etc. If you can donate one hook, I would gladly appreciate it.

Homework Resources

Here are the two choice boards that you
 will be keeping up with monthly.  

First Week of Homework!

Homework went home today!  It is in the yellow folder your child brought home with them.  You will find lots of activities that work on all skills we are learning in class.  Homework will go home every Wednesday and will not have to be returned until the following Tuesday.  We do this so that you can plan out your week accordingly...and if the week is jam packed with extra curricular practices for the kiddos, and other errands, you can also use the weekend to play catch up.  You may do any activity on any day, but there is a guide you may choose to follow that will go home weekly, as the assignments and weekly words change.
It is not a good idea to leave all the homework to complete at the very last minute.  That will be way to overwhelming for you and your child.  It is also not recommended that you try to complete all the homework in one sitting.  The word work words are assigned nightly so that you child can practice the spelling of these words which will, in turn, strengthen their reading and writing.  Also, you must be reading EVERY NIGHT!  There will be a reading log placed in your child's BEE binder behind the homework tab for you to fill in nightly. Part of your assignment will also be on books you have read throughout the week.
If there are any questions on the homework, please send me an email or a note in the BEE binder.  I will also address homework questions during out Parent Information Night (which is coming up next week).
One more thing...
If you happen to loose one of your choice boards, they can be found under the homework link in the right hand column of the blog.

Happy Studying!

Skill Check: Nouns

A noun is a person, place or thing.

Your child should be able to name nouns, and identify nouns within sentences.  Can your child identify nouns in the five sentences below the chart?

Play a Kahoot! Noun Game by yourself or with a friend for review.

1.The girl likes chocolate in a cone.

2. Mrs. Humphrey has lots of bees in her classroom.

3. When my mom takes me to the park, I like to play on the swings.

4. The cat has orange and white stripes.

5. My dad drove the car to Walmart.

Literacy Stations

The kids worked really well in literacy stations. During stations, we will be practicing skills we have touched on in class. This week, I have added activities to continue practicing nouns, and complete sentences. If your child is struggling with these skills, you may find the skills check section of this blog very helpful.

Complete sentences

I always enjoy incorporating a bit of technology into our learning. Today, we used iPods to practice making complete sentences. The kids scanned a qr code wich showed them a scrambled sentence. They were to manipulate the words to build a complete sentence. There were a few clues they could uses while doing this. If they knew that a complete sentence has a capital letter at the beginning, spaces in between words, and punctuation at the end, they were able to complete the assignment with no problem at all! Oh wait!...we can't forget hat it had to be a complete thought too.

 I have also telling student to answer all questions using complete sentences, whether they are writing an answer or responding to a question I may have asked them out loud. I hope with these practices in place, the kids will be better writers and have a better understanding of using complete sentences.