curriculum night

I am excited to meet everyone on Monday night, Curriculum Night! Please attend one of the two sessions below to learn more about what your kindergartener will be learning this year. Come directly to room 139 for our information meeting.

Monday, September 13th
Session 1 6:30-7:10
Session 2 7:20 -8:00

our specials schedule

MONDAY: P.E. and LMC Storytime
TUESDAY: ART
WEDNESDAY: Music and P.E.
THURSDAY: P.E. and LMC Storytime
FRIDAY: Music and LMC Book Checkout

Please remember to send your child with gym shoes on their feet on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday or be sure they know how to change into gym shoes here at school those mornings.

Also, kindergarteners are checking out one book every Friday. Enjoy reading it together and be sure to send it back to school the following Thursday so a new book can be checked out the next day.

welcome to kindergarten!

Welcome back to school and welcome to KS! We made it through our first two weeks of kindergarten! Thank you to all families who gathered in the classroom our first morning as we took our first steps into the new school year. I appreciate all of your help and support unpacking supplies and getting everyone settled at our tables. I enjoyed meeting each and every one of you and your children. I appreciate all of your support with dismissal helping us get all our little ones home safely. I am looking forward to getting to know you and your child this year as we explore all the possibilities kindergarten has to offer!

gotta keep reading!

As summer grows closer and closer remember...GOTTA KEEP READING!
http://www.schooltube.com/video/e9bd79d29b4d0e6a2345/Gotta-Keep-Reading-Ocoee-Middle-School

more zoo photos

Mrs. West LOVED the gorillas best!

This guy has lost over 120 pounds...He looks hungry to me.

Arathi, Katie, Bhumika, Rushabh, Alyssa and Zack: TEAM TIGER!

NO WORRIES, Alexa survived the big fish mouth!

Rachel, Bryce, and Natalia

The biggest starfish we've EVER seen.

This guy was incredible. He's right near the new Bear Gratto.

Madison and an elephant

zoo field trip

Our class joined all other second graders on a trip last week to Brookfield Zoo. We saw lions and tigers, but no bears, oh my! Unfortuately, the new Bear Gratto wasn't open yet to the public and the dolphins weren't open either. So bring your family back sometime this summer to see the brown bears, polar bears, and black bears in their new exhibit and watch the dolphin show too! We had the perfect weather and were each able to see our favorite zoo animals up close and get photos for our published poetry we've been working on. As we continue to create cinquains, acrostics, couplets, and finally definition poems about an animal we will be able to insert the photo into our final published document!

All lined up along the painted fence

At the exit surrounding the lion statue

Mrs. South's second grade dolphins

Some animals we saw...

Ahhh, the life of a camel!

This peacock was really interested in a nearby peahen and wanted her attention.

He was squawking and shaking!

At lunch, this goose was really interested in Mrs. Finfrock and her food.

Kara was thrilled to share something with Mrs. Finfrock! We were all amazed at the interesting animals we don't get to see everyday.

We watched these gorillas for so long. This naughty gorilla stole this stick from another gorilla and headed straight back up the tree to keep it for himself!

Jake, Kara, and Laurel didn't get to see REAL polar bears, but got a photo of this one:

run for fun

Our 3rd annual Nancy Young Run for Fun is only a few weeks away! My whole family will be participating again this year (we've done it every year!) and it'd be really exciting to have lots of kids from 2So come out for the event and win the classroom challenge! Registration forms went home in backpacks earlier this week. Be sure to return those forms soon in order to secure your spot at this great event. You'll get a t-shirt, waterbottle, and a free pancake breakfast in the MPR! This year we’re limiting participation to the first 1200 participants and it’s a day you won’t want to miss! If you lost your registration form or want more information on the event, visit http://www.nancyyoungrunforfun.com/. Hope to see you at this annual event that brings our Young families together, keeping fit!

mystery reader

Today Madison's dad Mr. Austin came to school to read Olive's First Sleepover. She can't wait to spend the night at her friend Lizard's house: "We won't even need our pajamas," Olive predicts. "We're staying up all night!" The evening begins with nonstop high jinks: the girls create an insect petting zoo and then play pizza parlor. After hearing ghost stories from Lizard's sister, the girls climb into bed, and Olive is scared...Ask your child to summarize the beginning, middle, and end! Thanks for coming Mr. Austin!

poetry night

Roses are red, violets are blue

At Poetry Night, it was nice to see you!

Thank you to all sixteen of our classes falmilies for attending Second Grade's Poetry Night! Lots came to write and publish poems with their families on paper and on the computers. Others had the courage to perform on the microphone in the Poetry Cafe. Almost everyone followed the poetry clues on the Treasure Hunt. I am so proud of your Poetry Statue performances and enjoyed your props as well. I hope you had as much fun as I did seeing everyone there!

Nicholas recited his poem at the Poetry Cafe...Save the Whales!

Joaquin read a poem called Elevator as he hunted around the school for poems

Alyssa wrote an acrostic poem called REY about her brother and another about her Dad!

Alexander and his Dad creating an acrostic poem

Push! Customers walked by and saw Alexei come to life reciting Slow Sloth's Slow Song

Rachel came to life to recite Elephant and she knew it by heart!

Look at Laurel all cozy in her robe! When her button was pushed she recited The Monster.

art awareness

Today we had Art Awareness and learned about the famous Winslow Homer. He was born in1836 - a long time ago! He was an Amercian landscape painter. This painting is called Snap the Whip. He used watercolors - greens, browns, reds, and blues to paint kids of all ages outside their schoolhouse in the country. We are artists too! Today we're coming home with a watercolor painting of our own!

mystery reader

It's Friday and you know what that means...Mystery Reader!  Today Kara's Mom surprised us and came in to read If You Hopped Like a Frog. We heard about the amazing abilities of animals! "If you hopped like a frog you could jump from home plate to first base in one mighty leap."

Rooster's Off to See the World by Eric Carle

earth day celebration

Thank you to Mrs. Bludgen, Mrs. Austin, Mrs. Bryant, Mrs. Bolger, and Mrs. Cussans for working so hard to plan our Earth Day Celebration. We reused materials from home to make flowers and play Mancala. Second graders ate a cup of dirt (worms and all!) and heard We Are Extremely Very Good Recyclers as a a readers theater by the second grade teachers. Today or this weekend try to do something special for our planet - pick up some trash around the neighborhood playground, plant a tree, reduce your waste, or toss paper, cans, glass, and cardboard into your recycle bins!

You can play Mancala at home with your egg carton and 24 pieces of anything that'll fit in the carton's cups. Here's how:

The object of the game is to collect as many stones as possible before your opponent clears all the stones on his side of the board. Each player sits facing a lnog sid of the board (or egg carton for all of our Earth Day conscience reusers!). The six cups on your side, and the space on the floor to the right of the board (your Mancala), belong to you.

Each player places four stones into the three cups on their far right. Alternat turns. To take your turn, pick up all the stones from one cup on your side adn place them one by one in the cups around the board, including your Mancala space beside the board, in a clockwise direction.  If the last stone is dropped into your Mancala, you can tak another turn. If the last stone of your turn is dropped into an empty cup on your own side, you may tak al the stones from your opponent's cup directly opposite your empty cup. All the captured stones, and the stone you used to make the capture, can be placed in your Mancala.

The game ends when one player has no more stones on his or her side. Teh remaining player can deposit all the stones left on his or her side into his or her own Mancala. The winner is the player withthe most stones in his or her Mancala.

Have fun!

mystery reader

Surprise! I know it's Thursday, but since there is no school tomorrow we thought it'd be fun to have a Mystery Reader today! Madison's Mom came by with two stories: Little Buggy and Freckleface Strawberry. Little Buggy was full of speech bubbles and told two stories at once - one of the ladybugs and the other of the snails. Julianne Moore, an actress, wrote Freckleface Strawberry since it was a nickname of her's when she was a little girl. What a cute story of loving and embracing how you look! Thanks Mrs. Austin! We loved them both!

the outdoor classroom

What a gorgeous day to learn outdoors! Today we were able to enjoy our Read Aloud in the Reading Garden and enjoy a Science Experiment outside as well.

Inferring and predicting with Ivy + Bean as we sit on the beautiful brick pavers!

Spilling water spots and tracing around them to represent precipitation and accumulation.

Watching evaporation...

Going, going, gone!

calendar correction

There is not a Second Grade Music Program on Wednesday night. Second grade classes do not do a Music Program. The online calendar on our school's homepage has been updated. We apologize if there was any confusion! The dates under "calendar of events" on this blog page reflect what is happening through the end of the school year.