The Last Blog

Hello Everyone!

It is just before seven on the last day of school. Yesterday your child brought home more work to do then days in the year. I was cleaning out my filing cabinets and stuck in everything under the sun. I don't expect it to be completed but I know it's always nice to have.

Today your child will come home with their report card. If you need to talk to me about it please call me tomorrow at school before the party or e-mail me. I will be disabling our group and this blog next week.

The party is at 100 Pacheco. If you need directions please call me or e-mail me directly.

I have to tell you how much I have appreciated all of your hard work this year. Your children are amazing people and I have truly enjoyed being their teacher. I can't thank each of you enough for making this such an amazing year. It is hard to see them go but I know that third grade will be an amazing year for each of them. Thank you again for all of your support. Your children can't thank you yet for all of the time and energy you put into their education, but I can. It makes my job so much more fulfilling to work with parents like you. I will really miss this class next year but I can hardly wait to hear them come back and talk about their new experiences year after year!

Have a wonderful summer.

Final List of Who is bringing what!

Here is what was asked for and who is providing it:

Hot dogs- Carson
Chicken- Carson
Buns- Briggs
ketchup and mustard- Nathan
Napkins- Catie
Utensils- Jonathan
Plates- Jonathan
Cups- Jonathan
Water- Anthony
Water- Catie
Apple Juice- Briggs
Apple Juice- Olivia
Lemonade- Molly
Lemonade
Potato Salad- Charlie R.
Potato Salad
Pasta Salad- Catie
Pasta Salad- Camille
Chips- Olivia
Chips- Catie
Fruit- Olivia
Veggies-
Dessert- Ms. Rich

We have not heard from the following families: Emily, Jessie, Lauren, Michael, Mitchell, Nicholas, and Summer.

Please let us know if you are coming and what you are bringing.

So far Jeannie and Wendy have said they would help set up. Can anyone else help?

Party Party Party!

We are just a little over a week away from the class party on the 13th. I hope you all can make it if you have not yet replied to the evite please do so directly to me.

We are still looking for one more pasta salad, one more potato salad, drinks, fruit, and veggies. If you can bring anything else please let me know directly. Also we are looking for people to help Lisa set up. I will get there as soon as I can but I can't leave school until I have officially checked out for the school year. If you can come by a little early to help Lisa please let us know ASAP.

See you all soon!

Boxes!

If any of you have boxes and you would be willing to donate them to me I would really appreciate it. I need them for my classroom move!

Happy Mother's Day!

I just would like to take a moment and say Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful room 8 moms!

The homework is going to kick up a notch between now and then end of the year. This week it will be in a packet form. There will be a reading log and something to do every night that will need to be turned in on specific days. Starting the week of the 19th the kids will be practicing the homework organizer for third grade.

Science Materials Needed!

Here it is again! I would love a small container of each of the soils (think 10 cups or so)

Top Soil
Sandy soil
clay soil

These can be jars used for canning or from the spaghetti sauce. The idea is we're going to be looking at the strained dirt in them
clean glass jars (10)- no lids needed

We need a small roll of this
window screen

newspaper (not the comics)
clean empty milk cartons (18)
florist wire
bird seed ( small bag)
round flat stones (20)

Thank You

A huge thank you for all of the beautiful flowers and cards. It is so nice to be thought of. Another huge thank you to all of the moms and dads who helped with the Spring Fling Project. It turned out SO cute. If you get a chance it will be in our room until tomorrow morning at 10:30. Come check it out!

A couple of weeks ago I asked for science materials and have received one milk carton. Please check back through the blogs and discussion boards to see if you can send anything in.

Thank you so much!

Sarah

Snack Schedule

I just wanted to post the snack schedule somewhere besides in the upcoming events section for Room 8.

Tuesday: Dial Family
Thursday: O'Brien Family

Tuesday: K.Ruiz
Wednesday: Gibbons
Thursday: is still open!


Thank you all for your help!

Updates

Please make sure you sign up for the google group. I sent you an invitation but if you didn't get it please sign up.

There is no homework next week. Or minimal homework. We will have spelling and multiplication facts for the combos this week. The kids also still have to work on fluency and do the questions.

I sent home excerpts from a great book entitled Yardsticks by Chip Wood. It's a great read and I highly recommend it. It has age appropriate books in the back and great resources for parents.

Carson's family has offered to let us have an end of the year party at their house. We could do it one day after school or even that Friday after school gets out. Is anyone interested in doing this? I will put it as a discussion for the google group so please answer!

Also the testing schedule has changed. We are still testing the same days but we are testing from 10:30 to 12:15 instead of 8:30 to 10:15. The test won't take this long but we allow as much time as the students need. On Wed. May 7th we will test at 8:30am.

White Board Markers

We are looking for skinny white board markers. If you have any at your work or at home that you are willing to donate please let me know.

We have started a unit on natural resources. If anyone has access to any of the following materials would they please send them in. We are going to be doing some neat science/art projects using natural resources. Please note on the message board on the blog what you are willing to send in so that we don't have double ups.

Top Soil
Sandy soil
clay soil
clean glass jars (10)- no lids needed
window screen
newspaper (not the comics)
clean empty milk cartons
florist wire
bird seed
round flat stones (20)

Testing Schedule

Our testing schedule for next week will be Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 8:45 to 9:45. The following week it is scheduled to be given during the same time block but on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Please make sure your child gets a good nights rest, eats a good breakfast, and is at school on time.

How about now?

Is this working?

I'm testing the new google group to see if it works!

Week in Review

PARENTS!!!! Please remember to log on and take the parent survey for the district. We need your input!

The standard for multiplication in second grade is to have the 0,1,2,5,10's memorized. I introduced multiplication to your kids this week. We are just getting the strategies down to figure out the answers. You may start practicing with your kids. Please have them show you how to make an array or use one of their strategies.

Please let me know ASAP if you are willing to donate snacks for testing week!

STAR TESTING

The time is upon us. I would like to set up a snack schedule. I am hoping you guys will donate food to the class.

We test for six days over a two week period. I am looking for items to feed the kids on the test days. Things like apples, crackers, pretzels,cheese sticks, juice boxes, grapes etc. All items should be ready to go (snack packs) so that I don't need to prepare anything. Please don't send cookies or fruit snacks as they have too much sugar.

If you are willing to donate food please let me know.

Classroom Update

Welcome Back! We hit the ground running today. We started our first story in our next unit. We read about the First Americans and then split into partners to research and record information about the different people. We will continue to do this all week. We also began working on multiplication today. This process is more pointing out using skills they already know to find the answer to a multiplication problem. For example making five equal groups of four and skip counting. This would look like 4, 8, 12, 16, 20. Or 5x4

We began our unit in science on the earth's natural resources. If you have any great rocks that show the different type of rock such as igneous, sedimentary, or metamorphic place consider sending it in or sending a photo of it in.

We are also starting a project about what people do when they loose teeth from around the world. The kids will end up making a book that looks like a tooth.

Have you had your HEART training? What is HEART Training? It's stands for Homeowners Emergency Action Response Team and the spring session starts this week. The session consists of two sessions that last four hours long and one sessions that lasts seven hours long. It will teach you essential skills of what to do if we have a disaster.

The first session is this Thursday, April 17th from 6pm to 10:00pm. The class will cover CPR training and hazardous materials. The CPR certification lasts for two years.

The next class is Thursday, April 24th from 6:00 to 10:00pm. The second session covers fire and burn prevention as well as disaster first aid.

The final session is on Saturday, April 26th from 8:30am to 4:00pm. The last session will cover disaster preparedness, urban search and rescue, and wildland urban interface.

The cost of the class is $40. All of the classes are held at Station #2 (450 Atherton Ave).

For more information please contact Sandy Wargo at 878-2623 or swargo@novatofire.org

Parent Talents

Okay... does anyone know how to scrap book and would be willing to make our Special Person pages? I have 19 beautiful photos and I would like them mounted onto special paper. I am typing the pages and then that needs to be mounted onto special paper as well. Finally both the picture and the writing will be mounted onto paper. The photo is black and white if that helps get your ideas going. Please let me know ASAP if you can help. I'd like this up by Thursday but I know it's short notice. I am going to try and go by Ben Franklin tonight for paper ideas.

I hope to see you all at the rally this afternoon!

Conference Schedule

Here it is in all its glory. It was also sent home on Thursday in the homework folder!

Friday: 3/21
8am Dial
2:5 O'Brien
3:15 Timberman
3:45 L.Ruiz
4:15 Allen

Monday: 3/24
8am Pratt

Tuesday: 3/25
7:30 Gernhard
8:00 Obert
2:45 Van Weele
3:15 Mac Donald (phone)
3:45 Garcia (phone)

Wednesday: 3/26
7:30 Gibbons
8:00 Buscaglia
4:15 K. Ruiz

Thursday: 3/27
8:00 Hagerty (phone)
2:45 Ceresa (phone)
3:45 Ramirez (phone)
4:15 Rudy (phone)

IF you need to make changes or would like to come in instead of having a phone conference please e-mail me at srich@nusd.org

Long Time Gone...

I have missed blogging and there is lots to share!

My most important point on this entry is this. This is by no means a political page and I mean to remain neutral as elections are fast approaching. This is one issue that none of us can be neutral on- school budget cuts. It hurts us all and in some ways we won't see the affects until many years down the road. I have had many of you ask me how it will effect us here at Rancho and what you can do to help. Here is the best way I know how:

There are lots of cuts. Some that you will feel directly at Rancho are:
Library Clerk time reduction, librarian cuts, office clerk cuts, funding for certain school programs, and there is still a chance that third grade class size reduction could get cut.

What can you do?

On Monday, March 24th at 3:00pm at Novato High School there will be a rally against the budget cuts. It is a place for students, parents, community members and teachers to speak out against the budget cuts. We really want to show the governor and the people in Sacramento that we won't take these cuts lying down. Make signs, wear blue and white or your Rancho clothes and come to the rally on Monday afternoon. We are walking as a school from Rancho to the high school.

Write letters! Write letters to the governor and our state representatives. There are letter formats on the Rancho website and on the NUSD website.

Finally I urge you to stay informed. The district has an area on their website that talks about all of the proposed cuts. Please keep reading this and looking for any new information.

I appreciate your support and I know that together we can make sure these cuts don't happen!

A Week In Review

Language Arts:

We continue on our quest to expand our thinking process while we read. This week I turned the tables on the kids and had them ask the questions. We talked about thinking and how a lot of comprehension questions depend on inference and background knowledge. We talked a lot about thinking about things that aren't obviously stated and how answer questions that seek hidden information. We will keep working on this.

Writing:
We wrote a poem about the winter, edited and typed it in the computer lab. We also started our own in class dinosaur research for a dinosaur guessing project. Next week we will use the dinosaur research the kids do at home for a different writing project. We will also be recopying a dinosaur poem and working on a project if the dinosaurs came back.
Next week we will be starting a three part writing project. The kids will be creating a book where they write one story about a funny memory from when they were a baby, one story about themselves now, and a story about what they think they will be like when they grow up. We will finish just in time for Open House! So I am sure you will love looking at them.

Science:
We are going to get more into the science side of fossils next week. We will be tying it into art and writing. If you have fossils at home please feel free to send pictures of them in with your child or if you can send the fossil in.

Please remember that next Thursday is Multicultural day. Your child can dress from a country that you have visited or one they have clothing from. I am going to wear a sweatshirt I got in Italy and a t-shirt I brought back from Africa.

Four Day Weeks Seem Longer then Five Day Weeks!

I can't believe this week is over. Four day weeks (especially two in a row) are really hard. You still have to get all the standards in but in a shorter period of time! Yikes!


I hope the e-mail list is working. Please remember to check the blog for the weekly calendar. That won't get e-mailed to you.

Lots of kids got homework alerts this week for not turning in the fluency page (not the log... I was laxed on that as I messed up a lot of people). There are questions that have to be answered on the back of the page and turned in on Friday. I know this reading is a lot harder but it is at a 2.5 level which is where all of your kids should be at this point of the year. I put a new log in your folder. Please use red for your first read and blue for your second. You should have three logs recorded by the end of February.

There is NO READING LOG, MATH LOG, OR POEM again next week. We are going ot be doing a time line instead. Please make sure your child does their personal best on this. I have shown my time line and given them examples. The time line is due next Friday. I expect colored pictures that have lots of detail (no ants in the snow, people that are all one color, or one color colored in the background to fill up the page.

If you need the class list for Valentine's please let me know. Valentines are due on February 13th. You must have one for everyone in the class if you are going to do them. Please let me know ahead of time if your child is not planning on participating in Valentine's Day.

Testing the Direct to E-mail Account

I am just testing whether or not this works. If you get this post will you please e-mail me at srich@nusd.org to let me know that it went through.

If you have anyone else you would like added to our blog list please let me know. I believe I have made it so that you can make comments directly on the blog. This is great if you have any questions you would like answered or if you would like to make an announcement yourself.

E-mail List

Please fill out the form being sent home tonight with your e-mail address. I will be subscribing you to our blog. If you would like more then one person sign up for the blog please just include their name and e-mail address.

Cultural Food Day

We are having a Cultural Food Day on Friday, February 8th. All of the kids have a chance to bring in a special food from their culture. You may purchase the food or make it yourself. This is a great chance to celebrate your heritage. It's not required to participate but I encourage everyone to do it if they can.

Walking Field Trip

On Wednesday, February 6th from 10:30 to 11:00 Mr. Gardner and the Safe Routes to School program will be taking the kids on a walking field trip. Permission slips went home today and are due by Monday. If your child does not have a permission slip they may not go. The Safe Routes to School program has talked to the kids about bike and walking safety. Now they are going to put the walking part into action by having the kids take a walking field trip through the neighborhood. We need two or three parents to volunteer. Please contact me ASAP if you would like to attend the field trip. The field trip will take place during their regular P.E. time. The students are still expected to wear lace up or velcro tennis shoes.

E-mail me at srich@nusd.org

Parent Teacher Conferences

I know conferences next to the spring report card are not required but I like to do it for those who would like to. I will post a schedule on Friday and it will just be first come first serve on who gets what spot. You can e-mail me directly if you have a specific time you would like at: srich@nusd.org

Also I am collecting e-mail addresses. I am going to be subscribing you to my blog. Then every time I post something it goes directly to your e-mail box and you don't have to worry about when to check it.

I hope that this will make the blog a better way for us to communicate.


Homework: There is no reading or math log this week. Please make sure that the family tradition and the ancestor report come in on time. We are doing other projects that are related to them in class. If they don't have their family tradition written down they cannot make a construction paper quilt piece. If they don't have their ancestor report they can't share it with the class or make a family tree on Friday afternoon.

Thanks for all of your hard work!

Week In Review

Math:

This class has really done a great job learning regrouping with addition. We are going to start working on regrouping with subtraction on Tuesday. This will be much more difficult for the kids but I know they can do it. I will not test on addition regrouping until next Friday.

Language Arts:

We are going to be reading our last camouflage story next week. Our next unit is on dinosaurs! This will be lots of fun.

Writing:

We wrote a how to story. I published our group story about how to blow a bubble on the blog. I hope all of you got to read it with your child. The kids wrote how to brush your teeth. On Thursday I had brought my toothbrush in and brushed my teeth based on their instructions. The kids added what they needed to add and then copied their final draft into their writing books.

We wrote poems about snowflakes and typed them in the computer lab. The kids changed the font size, centered their writing, and changed the font type. We made snowflakes using coffee filters. We colored one side and then sprayed them with a water bottle. The next day we opened them up only to find a beautiful colored snowflake.

On Tuesday we are going to start brainstorming for our immigrant letters. The kids are going to pretend that they are immigrants coming to America and writing letters to people from the old country. They will choose a country and create a story. It's one of the best writing projects we do all year.

Social Studies:

In the homework next week the kids need to come up with a family tradition. They will write five sentences about it and bring it to class. Starting on Wednesday we will make a picture using only construction paper to make a traditions quilt.

Don't forget the Ancestor Doll is due on Tuesday. Please make sure it is cut out.

Harcourt Web Site

I have also added a direct link to the Harcourt Website. It's under Parent Resources. Your child can not only practice their math facts but there are activities to practice for our new chapters. Your child should also be working on the activities for chapters 10, 11, and 12. If you have any questions please contact me.

Festival of Sailing

I have posted a link for the Festival of Sailing. It is at the end of July but it gives a chance for kids to take tours of tall ships. There are all sorts of programs that your family can participate in. It's a pretty neat opportunity. I will post other links about interesting events, activities or websites. If you have any please let me know and I will post those as well!

PE REMINDER

Remember tomorrow is our PE day. Please make sure they have tennis shoes on or with them. If they do not have them on they will not be allowed to participate in PE because it is a safety issue.

How To Blow a Bubble By: Room 8

This story was written by room 8 today. I am posting it so the kids can try to blow a bubble using their directions. This is also written assuming that the kids have already taken a piece of bubble gum out of the package but not out of the wrapper.

First unwrap your favorite kind of bubble gum. Next put the gum in your mouth and start chewing. You want the gum to get soft. Then you flatten the gum on the roof of your mouth with your tongue. Let the flattened gum fall on your tongue. Push it towards the point of your tongue and start to put the tip of your tongue through it. Don't push so hard that you make a hole. You want to fold the gum in half over the tip of your tongue (kind of like a pocket). Then push your tongue against the roof of your mouth or the back of your teeth. You want to do this as you are opening your mouth and sticking your tongue out a little bit. You do this so that the gum won't go flying out of your mouth as you blow. Gently blow air so that is goes between your tongue and the gum. The gum should slowly expand.If you blow too fast it will pop so be careful. Don't blow a bubble so big that it gets stuck in your hair. Remember when you are done with your gum put it in a piece of paper in the trash can.

Information for the Week Ahead

PE ANNOUNCEMENT: As of Wednesday, January 23rd (our next PE class) all students not wearing laced up or velcro tennis shoes will not be allowed to participate and will sit on the bench. This is a safety issue. Tennis shoes are a requirement for PE. This will now be strictly enforced!

Sentences: I have wrote the warning on several of the student's spelling tests or comprehension papers. From now on sentences without a capital letter or end mark will be given zero points. We double check our answers on dictation sentences so there is no reason that at this point in the year they should be making that mistake.

Ancestor Doll: Our first ancestor's project was sent home tonight. It is due Tuesday, January 29th. The kids should decorate a doll as if it were an ancestor from long ago who lived in another country. It must be decorated as a person from a country that your family immigrated from. It does not need to be someone specific just a person from a country you are from.

I am considering making part of the homework paperless (ie I would put it online and you could check it over the weekend to get that weeks poems, assignments, etc.)What do you think?

OOPS

So most of you have noticed by now that I totally goofed and sent home the wrong fluency passage. Some of you might not have a log either. I will send home more logs this week in the homework folder.

Highlights this week:

Language Arts: Continuing to read about camouflage. We made puppets of animals and wrote three facts and three opinions about our animal. We also did water color paintings and then drew in animals camouflaging. We are working on suffixes and subject verb agreement. We continue to work on parts of a sentence and the parts of speech.

Writing: We began a biography poem on Martin Luther King Jr. Next week we will be writing a winter poem. They will type the poem in the computer lab on Thursday. We will also be starting to write a how to paragraph (directions paragraph). We are focusing on taking steps in our writing, organization, and writing fluency. This will be a fun piece. We first will write a class piece of "How to Blow a Bubble". Then the students will do an independent writing piece of "How to Brush your Teeth" As they are reading I will actually brush my teeth as per their instructions. It's a very fun writing project.

Science: We finished up our unit on balance. We will be starting our social studies unit about our ancestry next week.

Math:We reviewed time and calendars last week. Next week we continue on our pursuit of regrouping with addition. It is going pretty well but regrouping does get harder when you begin three digit addition and any type of subtraction.

It's been awhile

Yes it has been a long time since my last post about life in Room 8. A lot has happened sine we cam back from winter recess. We have finished unit 2 and time. We will keep working on time as many of the kids are still not grasping the more difficult concepts. Much of telling time is developmental. I will be sending home some more review pages this weekend if I think you child needs them. Like in the past they will have a month or so to work on them and then I will retest them again.

We have moved on to double digit addition and this week we will work on addition with regrouping. This is something that gets harder when the kids don't know their math facts. I think we should be pretty good with addition regrouping but regrouping with subtraction is usually much harder. Regrouping is what we used to know as carrying and borrowing. These are the terms we use and I would appreciate you reinforcing them at home.

We are beginning our ancestors unit and finishing up science. Please keep reading this for updates about the units!