Dec. 6

So far this week has been one of the craziest! A lot of Christmas cheer, but it has been really fun. Thank you to those of you who have helped or who will be helping with the Christmas Around the World stuff. They have been loving it.

You may have already heard, but in class we have discussed the possibility of having the gecko go home with students for the weekend. If this is something you would be interested in doing (a little less commitment than a Christmas gift:), give me a call or shoot me an email and we can fit you into the schedule. He is very low maintenance-no heat lamp or food are required. We can feed him on Friday and all you have to do is spray him with a spray bottle and make sure he doesn't get over held.

I have collected the November reading calendars. If you have lost yours but have done the reading, let me know. Sorry I forgot to send home the December calendar in the Monday folders. It will be coming home today.

I also wanted to make you aware of a few other fun things we have coming up.....
Dec. 13 (Tuesday): Polar Express Day
The students will be aloud to wear their pajamas to school.  They can also bring a favorite mug from home to drink hot chocolate out of. I will of course have other cups as a back up if you don't want them bringing a mug.
Dec. 15: Christmas Sing

Thank your for all of your donations last week! Let me know if you have any questions/concerns.

-Miss Jensen

Happy Thanksgiving

Hello! I hope you are all enjoying the break. Don’t forget to read!

I am so excited to get rolling into the holiday season. I have some really great things planned. In social studies, we are going to be doing a “Christmas Around the World” unit. If any of you have experience in another country and would like to share your knowledge, or could volunteer to help with a craft, snack, storytelling, etc.-let me know!

Here is a list of countries I am hoping to spotlight.  If you have an experience with a country or culture not listed, I am flexible. 

Mexico

Sweden

Germany

Israel

Holland

Zimbabwe

Italy

Thank you for your help! Your involvement will enrich everyone’s education, and make your child’s day. I sincerely love your kids and feel so grateful to get to spend my days with them. Happy Thanksgiving!

Miss Jensen

Nov. 15

Hello Parents!
It has been a great week so far. I did a full rearrangement of our classroom and I think it has been great for all of us to have a fresh start. We are working on some really fun things this week and I wanted to give you an update.

Math: We are starting a unit on geometry and will be learning about 2-D and 3-D shapes and symmetry this week.
Reading: We are working on deciphering the "author's message", or moral, when doing our reading. Feel free to ask them about it when doing their take-home reading.
Writing: We started writing a "How to" paper yesterday entitled "How to Cook a Turkey". They are hilarious. I can't wait for you to see the finished product.
Social Studies: Thank you for your help with the ancestor research. I hope it was fun to talk about at home. They have loved sharing stories in class and locating different places on the map.

I look forward to seeing some of you on Friday. Just as a reminder-Ancestor Day will be on Friday from about 12:00-12:30. Each student will get to make a little exhibit on their desk. We are going to be making flags tomorrow that they can display on their desks, but any other props you would like to bring would just add to the fun. Let me know if you have any questions!

-Miss Jensen

Nov. 8

Another great week is already flying by!
I hope you all have seen, or are able to recover a crumpled paper in the bottom of your child's backpack, a paper about our upcoming ancestor day.  Here is a copy of the note I sent home today as well...

Parents,

Over the next few weeks, in combination with Thanksgiving, we will be talking about our ancestors and where they came from.  Please help your child fill out the attached paper and send it back to school by Monday, November 14^th.  Your child will need to be prepared to share the information they have learned with others when we hold our “Ancestor Day” on Friday, November 19^th.  On the 19^th, your child may bring any artifacts, pictures, maps, or other things representing where their ancestors are from.  Your child will be displaying these items on their desk to tell others about an ancestor and the country where they are from.  Parents will be able to come and see the artifacts displayed and hear the information learned on that Friday (November 19^th) between 12:00 and 12:40.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.

I hope this is clear. They were all so excited about it when we discussed it today!

Writing

Hello Parents!

I just wanted to explain a little about how our class writing will work.  Each project we do will be taken through the whole writing process-prewrite, draft, revise, edit and publish.  When we finish a piece of writing, I will give the students a chance to grade themselves and I will also give them a grade. In doing this I hope to help them become more aware of their own writing and what they need to be working on.  I will send this little grading sheet home, attached to their rough draft and any pre-writing materials.  This will give you a chance to see how their writing is improving, and where they could use a little help. I will be keeping most of their final copies at school in their writing portfolios.

I have already seen writing improvements since the first of the year, and I hope you can too! It makes me excited!  Let me know if you have questions!

-Miss Jensen

Oct. 24

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. This morning everyone was bursting with stories to share! I am looking forward to Halloween, and hope to see many of you next Monday. Here are a few things we will be working on this week....
Reading: We are talking about making inferences as we read ("Reading between the lines" to discover what the author is saying). When reading at home, ask them questions and discuss what they are reading.
Math: We are continuing to practice our addition fast facts and we will begin adding 2 digit numbers.
Writing: We are just finishing writing our scary stories. It has taken a little longer than I anticipated, but the writing the students are producing is looking really great. I have been so happy with how hard everyone in class has worked. Tomorrow we are going to have a little sharing party and read our stories by flashlight.  We will then be moving into writing some Halloween acrostic poems.

On a less academic note, we had a little dance party in our class today for Conner's birthday. Your kids love to move! I wish you could have seen them-hilarious! I love spending my days with them. Let me know if you have any questions!

Miss Jensen

Oct. 17

It was fun seeing many of you at the carnival on Friday! Our class has got some great dance moves! This 3-day week is going to fly by. Because of the short week, there will be no new spelling words. Take this opportunity to practice high frequency words. I have noticed that the words most frequently missed on our spelling tests are the high frequency words-the most important ones. In the coming weeks, I am going to be making an effort to really focus on those. Your help at home would also make a big difference.
Here are a few things we will be working on this week...

• Finishing up writing scary stories
• Creating and performing Halloween puppet plays
• Finishing our paper airplane experiment. We will keep you posted on what model flies the farthest.
• Continuing to work on place value

I hope you all have a wonderful UEA weekend!

Oct. 10

Hello Parents!

                  It was so great to meet with you last week! Your help at home definitely affects how our school day runs.  I so enjoyed learning more about you and your families, and what makes your child who they are.

                  I also learned that the blog is not the best way to keep some of you informed about our class. If you would prefer an emailed or hard copy update of our class each week, let me know! I would be more than happy to send something home-like this note-in our Monday folders.

                  Coming up this week:

Math: We are working on place value and breaking down numbers into ones, tens and hundreds

Reading: We are working on recognizing when we are not comprehending what we read and learning strategies to fix that.

Writing: We have just started writing scary stories, and everyone is loving it! This has been there favorite part of the day.

Science: We have been discussing the scientific method.  The question the students chose to research and test is: Which paper airplane flies the farthest?  We have been designing an experiment to test this and will hopefully be doing that this week. If you see a lot of paper airplanes in the next few days, I promise they are for an educational purpose.

School Carnival- This Friday is our school carnival! I will see you all there! If you are available to volunteer for a 30 min. shift, please let me know!

                  Also, please remember to mark the calendar in the B.E.E. Book with how many minutes your child reads each night!

                  Have a great week! Let me know if you have questions/concerns.

                                                      -Miss Jensen

October 3

Another great week has flown by! I am looking forward to getting to talk to each of you this week during parent teacher conferences. I will be sending home a reminder of your time in your child's Monday folder today. Let me know if there are any conflicts.

With the start of a new month, I will be sending home a new reading calendar in the B.E.E. folder. As I collected Septembers calendars I realized a few of you were a little confused on the purpose of the calendar. I would like you to either mark off each day your child reads 20 minutes, or write how many minutes they read. It is really helpful for me to see how much they are reading at home, and it also influences their trimester grade. At the end of each month I also like to calculate up how much we read as a class. If it is easier to take the calendar out of the folder and have it somewhere handy at home, that is fine.  What matters is that it is filled out and sent back at the end of the month.

The Book Fair is going on all this week-right next to our classroom! They have been so excited. If you would like them to buy something, they are allowed to shop there during lunch, and our class will all get to go on Thursday afternoon.  It will also be open during conferences on Wednesday and Thursday evening.

Take-home reading will begin today! For those of you that are new to the program, there are some instructions in the bag that will go home tonight. In order for your child to get a new book the next day, you have to sign off that they read.

Also, if you would like to donate any of these items, it would make my life easier....

Old T-shirts (to wear when we do art projects)
Ziploc bags (Gallon size and regular sandwich size)
Post-it Notes
3x5 Index cards
Pencils (I have been amazed how fast we go through them!)

Have a great week! See you soon!
Miss Jensen

Geckster

Geckster has brought a lot of life and excitement to our class. Some of the kids wanted to bring cameras to take pictures of him to show their families-so I thought I would add a few for you. My nephew is also really into him:)

Happy Johnny Appleseed Day

I hope you all had a great minimal day! I think the kids could feel the change in the air and were so full of energy.

Thank you to those of you who have signed up for volunteer times. Feel free to come this week during your scheduled time.

We are going to be doing some different apple activities in celebration of Johnny Appleseed's birthday this week. If you happen to have an apple tree, or any extra apples around, feel free to bring them in!

If you haven't returned your take-home reading permission slip, please do! The students will hopefully start bringing home books Oct. 3.

As always, if you have questions, let me know! Thanks for letting me be such a big part of your children's lives. I am enjoying every moment of it.

Have a wonderful week!

Miss Jensen

Volunteer Schedule

I set up a little schedule of who was interested in volunteering. Remember, if you feel like you can't commit to help weekly, we could always do once a month, or whenever you have a free day-Just let me know!
I have also made a little change to my schedule. Some of you signed up for writing time (12-12:40). As things have gotten going this year, I have decided that is not our most effective writing time. I would like to switch writing to before lunch-10:30-11:15. If you had signed up to help with writing and that does not work for you now, just let me know. Sorry to be switching things up, but I think it will work out better.

Track 1 (8:00-9:00)
M-
T-
W-
Th-Cathy Lloyd
F-

Track 2 (2:30-3:30)
M-
T-
W-Laura Ellertson (?)
Th-Nina Brown
F-

Writing Time (10:30-11:15)
M-
T-Barbara Murdoch
W-Laura Ellertson (?)
Th-Mary Knight

Monday Folders-
Christina McCullock (Monday Morning)
Brittani Oliver,
Angela Stansel
Aubri Dickerson
If one of you would like to take charge on this- feel free:) Or we can make a schedule.




We also need to recruit volunteers for the school carnival (Oct. 14th). We didn't get any sign ups in our class. The PTA has broken it up into 30 min. shifts. This makes it very doable, but also requires a lot of people.

Thank you to everyone that has been willing to help. If your time no longer works, or you would like to be added to the schedule, let me know! I would love to get started next week.
Miss Jensen

Sept. 19

Some great things have been happening in our class lately! Last week was the first "real" week of school. We had all 5 days, and everyone is now pretty much used to how things run in our classroom. I was able to really see a lot of progress.

This year, Deerfield has a school-wide goal to improve in writing. I am going to be doing a lot in class to improve our writing. One way I am trying to do this is through daily journal writing. At the beginning of each track time I give the students about 10-15 minutes to just freely write in their journals.  During the first week of school this time was a little like pulling teeth. No one could "think of anything to write about". On Friday when I told the students to put away their journals I suddenly heard whining because they wanted to write longer! It made me so happy. They are starting to really enjoy it. They have written some amazing thing. Their journals are like small windows into their minds-pretty hilarious.

You have probably also heard that we got a gecko.  He has brought some life and excitement into our room. Some of the students have been begging to take him home. I am not sure what you are hearing on your end of things, but for now he is going to stay in our classroom. In the coming months, we could make a schedule for people to babysit him on the weekends...but I am not sure. I have never had a gecko before and we are just figuring things out as we go. We voted on names and Geckster was the winner-very original. Other choices were Pizza, Captain Underpants, and Templeton. You have some funny kids.

We have been working on money during math time. Money is a difficult concept for kids to really grasp. I am also finding that some students have it down, and others can't yet differentiate between a nickel and a quarter. I am doing my best to meet every one's level, but feel free to work on it at home. If you are at the store, help them count out the money you need. Discuss each coin and what its worth, discuss how many pennies are in a dollar, etc.

Spelling was amazing last week! There was a small handful that missed one word, but the majority got almost all-including the bonus words. We have taken the words up a notch in difficulty this week and added some more bonus words. Keep up the practicing, it is paying off!

Picture day was today and there were a few of you that forgot money. If you would like to order pictures you can call and go through the company but it will cost more to do it individually. You can also wait until picture re-take day and send your money to the company then. If you choose to send it on re-take day you can get the original picture or a new one.

Have a great week! 

Miss Jensen

Volunteer Opportunities

At Back to School Night I set out some sign-ups for volunteers. If you were not there, and are interested in volunteering on a regular basis, for class parties, or whenever you have a free day-Let me know! We are trying to get a little schedule together and would like to get started with our regular volunteers this week. Thanks to all that have already signed up!

Here are a few times that I would love volunteer help....

Track Time (8-9 or 2:15-3:15):
This would include helping out with literacy activities. Usually you would spend your time reading one on one with students, help individual students finish writing assignments, or do phonics activities with students.

Writing Time 12-12:40:
This would include one on one helping students with their writing assignments-listening, editing, spelling, keeping students on task.

Writing Editor (anytime by phone):
Everyday pretty much all 30 students are dying to share what they write, and I just can't get to everyone. As a reward, I want to allow students to use our class phone and call a parent (doesn't have to be their own)and read them their story. After listening to the story you could tell them something they did well and anything they could improve on. I would like to have a little list of numbers and the students could just go down the list until somebody answers.

Class Parties: We will be having 4 class parties this year and would love all the help we can get for those!
Halloween-Christmas-Valentines-Easter

Monday Folders:
Each Monday our folders have to be stuffed and ready to send home. This could be done at school or at home on Friday or Monday.

Reflections

Some of you have expressed interest in participating in Reflections. If you lost the information paper that went home in the Monday folder.
Check out this website for all the rules:
http://www.ptareflections.org/
There are very specific guidelines that have to be followed exactly.
The theme this year is "Diversity means...."-kind of an odd theme, and a little hard for 2nd graders to grasp, but good luck!

Sept 12th

We had a very busy day today in 2nd grade. Mondays just seem to fly by! Remember to keep an eye out for Monday folders today. They were full of important information.

There was a little confusion last week about how our spelling will work, so I quickly wanted to set the record straight. Each Monday we will make a list of spelling words together as a class based on a word chunk. Today our list was based on the word chunk "op". I have the students generate words that have that sound in them and then we pick 5 words and a few bonus words together as a class.  We then also include 5 high frequency words each week (that is the list in the back of the BEE book). I have the students write them all down on a yellow sheet that should have come home today. If it is lost, or you can't read your child's handwriting....I will post the list each Monday under the "Spelling" tab.  On the same sheet as the words I will include some activity ideas to practice the words. I have tried to get creative, because just writing words can get old pretty quick.

Thank you to all of you who signed up to volunteer. I will be meeting with the PTA and figuring out a schedule this week. Hopefully we can start things up next week. For those of you who can't or don't want to volunteer regularly, I may occasionally have a random activity where a pair of extra hands would be appreciated and I will let you know through the blog.  I also need to put a plug in for the Take Home Reading program. We are so lucky to have such an established program at our school, but it takes parents to make it happen. I heard that so far only 4 people have signed up to help with that program. With those numbers it just won't be able to happen. I think it can be a commitment of just once a week. Let me know if you are interested.


What we are up to this week:
Math: We have been working on our "fast facts" (combos of 10, doubles, etc), and we will be starting to work on money this week.
Reading:  making predictions

Writing: Our writing this year will be done in the "Writing Workshop" format. They will be taking their different pieces of writing through the writing process, and really being creative. Hopefully tomorrow they will be finishing up poems they have written about a monster they created. They are a crack up! We will then be starting a unit on personal narratives.
Science: You may have heard that we are going to be getting a gecko in our class. I have been trying to make the most of it and have them do some research about different reptiles. Today we discussed different animal habitats and why certain animals live where they do. Tomorrow we will be getting or gecko habitat ready.

Remember school pictures are next Monday!

Let me know if you have any questions. I am having a blast teaching your children!
Thanks,
Miss Jensen

Back to School Night Info

For those of you that were unable to come to Back to School Night. Here is the handout I went over that night. I went into a little more detail on a few items, so if you have questions let me know!
 

Miss Jensen’s 2^nd Grade

1. Homework
1. Read AT Least 20 minutes 5 days a week (I will record minutes at the end of the month)

                                              i.     JUST RIGHT BOOK!

2.  Homework sent home Tues-Thurs.
3. Spelling words sent home on Monday (Also posted on blog)

3. B.E.E. Book
1. Sent home everyday!

4. Grading
1. Students will be assessed in Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies.

                                              i.     Each trimester we assess a set of skills (as a grade level).

                                             ii.     Skills based assessment (4-1)

2. For specialty classes (art, music, PE/health, computers), students will receive a Pass or Needs Improvement from the specialty teacher.

5. Class Management
1. Variety of positive consequences (2nd grade money system).
2. Classroom Habits- Teach good behavior
3. Reprove in private
4. No toys
5. Sharing once a month on Fridays

6. Library
1. Wednesday.
2. Students have to have their books returned before they check out another book.

7. Volunteers
1. SIGN UP TODAY

8. Birthdays
1. Students may bring treats (must be store bought)
2. If you choose to send treats for your child’s birthday, please keep in mind that there are students in our class with nut allergies.
3. For students with summer birthdays, we will celebrate “half” birthdays.

9. Box Tops
1. Please send in all box tops! Money goes directly to our class!

10. Book Orders
1. Sent home monthly
2. Can order online or send the order form with a check to school.
3. Make checks payable to Scholastic Book Clubs
4. No cash please!

11. Communication
1. PLEASE feel free to contact me with any questions, suggestions, or concerns!
2. Feel free to visit the classroom anytime (my hours are from 7:30-4:00).
3. Email is the easiest way to reach me (sarahjensen@alpinedistrict.org).
4. Call the school (801) 796-3141 ext. 169
5. Class blog (missj2ndgrade.blogspot.com)

                                              i.     Weekly update, spelling list, supply lists, etc.

6. Monday Folders- Important school information will come home in these. Please return these folders the following day, along with your signature that you have seen and read the information.

12. 2^nd Grade Money Donation/Class Wish List
1. We are asking for $15 donation (per student) to help pay for our fun 2^nd grade activities and science supplies.

If you would like to donate any of the following items, please send them anytime throughout the year:

·      Tissues

·      Clorox/sanitizing wipes

·      Dry erase markers

·      Pencils

·      Paper (lines or copy paper)

·      Books for our classroom library

·      Board or card games (used for inside recesses)

I may occasionally list items to donate on our class blog that may be needed for a specific activity.      

Happy Labor Day!

I hope you have all had a wonderful weekend! I have loved having the extra day to get on top of things, and soak up a little more summer. Here are a few things to keep in mind for the upcoming week:

I will be sending home several different Scholastic book orders on Tuesday. If you would like to order something, send it in before the end of the week. You can also order on the internet. Each book you order on the internet gives our class $3 in book credit! Our class code and sign up info can be found in the BEE Book.

Students should be reading “just right” books at home in order to best improve their reading skills. A "just right" book is one that is on their level, and that can be read fluently with fewer than 3 mistakes on a page. In class last week we discussed how to pick books that are "just right" for us and have done some practicing, but this would be a great thing to be aware of at home as well.

Please save your Box Tops and send them in! They are great for classroom supplies.

A few students have birthdays in the upcoming week. I will be doing a little something to celebrate each students' birthday. If they would like to bring something to share with their classmates, there are 30 students.

Back to School Night is on Thursday from 6:30-7:30 pm. There is a PTA meeting before that starts at 6:15. Hope to see you there!

Can't wait to see you all tomorrow. Feel free to contact me with any questions!

Welcome to 2nd Grade!

A new school year has begun and in all honesty, I have really loved teaching your children these past two weeks. I can tell it is going to be a wonderful year!

Each week I will be writing some kind of “newsletter” to keep you updated on what we are doing in our classroom. I will be posting those right here by Monday afternoon.

Please feel free to contact me with any information, questions, or concerns. The easiest way to reach me is through e-mail at sarahjensen@alpinedistrict.org

As a reminder, please save your Box Tops and send them in! The money we collect through those goes directly to our class. Thank you to all who have already donated supplies!

This is going to be a great year! I am so excited to continue to get to know and work with your children. I hope to share my excitement for learning with them! I appreciate your time, support, and effort to help facilitate the learning in our classroom, and I am looking forward to getting to know each of you. See you at Back to School night (Sept. 8 6:30 pm)!

Hello Class!
I am Miss Jensen and I can't wait to get to know all of you! I am really excited to get this year started because I know we are going to have so much fun. Enjoy your final days of summer and I will see you at the school open house!
Miss Jensen