Mrs. South's Second Grade

curriculum night

2010-09-03T09:58:00.001-07:00

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

2010-09-03T09:57:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-09-03T09:53:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-05-18T14:33:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-13T20:37:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-12T13:41:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-30T18:36:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-30T14:10:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-29T13:10:00.001-07:00

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

2010-04-29T13:10:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-23T13:54:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-22T14:00:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-15T13:32:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-14T14:24:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-13T21:02:00.000-07:00

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.

photo story 3

2010-04-13T18:25:00.000-07:00

Tonight at Open House families were able to see our Book Reviews Photo Story project! You too can do some really neat stuff using this same program...and it's FREE! Check it out by clicking on "photo story 3" under Links to Learning. Upload a few photos your child takes with a digital camera to make a slideshow and add their voice to narrate a story along with the pictures.

young saplings for young dolphins

2010-04-13T13:56:00.000-07:00

Today during Open House our E-Action Club will be distributing Red Oak and Red Bud trees to each student. Since the size of the young sapling is larger than anticipated, the opportunity for parents to take the trees home tonight is so beneficial. The trees have been donated from the LIVING LANDS and WATERS' Million Trees Project - http://www.livinglandsandwaters.org/.

With Earth Week and Arbor Day in April, the poster in our classroom will be used for students to identify the benefits that we receive from having trees in our world. We will record these benefits on the poster and display it in the hallway next week as part of our Earth Week celebration.

There is a very nice web connection found at http://www.arborday.org/kids/carly/. On this site please click on "Kids Make a Difference" and then find "The Benefits of Trees". You'll learn more about why trees help our environment -- including a video that shows how to plant a tree.

Thank you to Mrs. Petzke and the E-Action Team!

open house

2010-04-12T13:45:00.000-07:00

Young Explorers, your passports are ready...

It's your night to show off your school!

Families are invited...
To Open House!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Nancy Young Elementary

6:30-8:00 p.m.

Explore our classroom and school with your Young Explorer!

words thier way

2010-04-12T13:38:00.001-07:00

Since this is a short week there will be no new Words Thier Way for most kids in the room. There is one group reviewing, so just practice Word Wall Words old and new and practice writing with them this week!

mystery readerS

2010-04-09T13:57:00.000-07:00

We were so lucky to meet two of Alexander's Aunts, two little cousins, and see his Mom today for Mystery Reader. His Aunt read a book by John Lithgow, award winning actor, called I'm a Manatee with lots of rhythm and rhyme and we were even able to hear the song of the story afterward. Go to the public library and see if you can check out this story or one of his five books. The text reminded me of Dr. Seuss with it's made up words! We also has a laugh with Beware of the Frog by William Bee.

race & ethnicity

2010-04-09T12:53:00.001-07:00

Thank you to all families who have filled out and returned Race & Ethnicity forms for the office! If you still have the envelope and form, please return it to school and I will send it to the office on Monday. Envelopes with forms were sent home on Monday, April 5th. I appreciate your prompt attention to this.

spring break

2010-03-26T07:55:00.000-07:00

Spring Break is here! Students are off starting Monday, March 29th and will return to school on Monday, April 5th. During the week off be sure to read lots and record it on your Reading Log. Visit the public library, tumble books online, or even read recipes when Mom and Dad are cooking. Maybe keep a daily journal about any adventures or help make the grocery list. After watching a movie, grab some paper and write a summary putting the beginning, middle, and end into your own words. Figure out the change and count it after Mom and Dad buy something. Lend a hand with some spring cleaning and projects around the house. Keep your brains busy over break and have fun! Happy Spring Break!

mystery reader

2010-03-22T09:01:00.000-07:00

Mr. Werbach and Alexei

Last Friday, Mr. Werbach, Alexei's Dad, came in to be our Mystery Reader. The class enjoyed hearing two stories: Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem and The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig. Be careful...if you don't get your room cleaned up you just might end up like Billy! You can learn more about whales here!

mystery reader

2010-03-12T13:34:00.000-08:00

This afternoon Mrs. Tomaras FABULOUSLY and fluently read Hooray for Diffendoofer Day by Dr. Suess! The rhymes were smooth and she sounded like she was talking and read with great expression - super modeling! We also heard about poor Norman in Not Norman. It was about a boy with a pet he wasn't so crazy about getting...a fish named Norman. Do you think it turned out that Norman was the perfect pet for him after all? Ask your child to summarize the story including important information from the beginning, middle, and end of the story in their own words and check out some reviews about this book by clicking the link!

thank you chronicle books!

2010-03-12T07:55:00.000-08:00

Mrs. South received an email from a Marketing Manager for the Ivy + Bean series recently. She came across our blog and found out we've been enjoying Ivy + Bean books during Read Aloud practicing making predictions, inferences and mental images, asking questions, and summarizing chapters. Some of us have even worked on analyzing characters from the story. Today we got a package in the mail...The Teacher's Edition of Ivy + Bean the first book AND magnetic bookmarks for us all! They are awesome! Now Mrs. South has even more ideas on how to keep reading and thinking with Ivy + Bean! Thank you Chronicle Books!

lunch with the teacher

2010-03-08T11:00:00.000-08:00

All of our February readers got to have lunch with the teacher today! Joaquin, Jake, Aryan, Bhumika, Alyssa, Kara, Katie and Laurel joined us. We munched on our lunches as we talked about books we enjoyed this past month. Katie read two of her Mom's old The Bobbsey Twins books - her Grandma even enjoyed them when she was little! Books can last for generations! Joaquin enjoyed some nonficiton about places children should visit around the world. Finally, Aryan was happy reading a book a friend recommended the month before: The Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Keep reading every night and you too can join us for lunch and book talks!

second grade bulletin

2010-03-01T13:55:00.000-08:00

Brought to you by backpack express...Your child's Second Grade Bulletin is coming home tonight!

isat week

2010-03-01T07:20:00.000-08:00

Grades 3, 4, and 5 are taking ISAT this week! To support them, Spirit Council has designated different dress-up days for each day of the week and you can join in too!

Monday - Wear RED because this building is "RED-Y" for ISAT
Tuesday - Wear GREEN
Wednesday - Wear ORANGE..."ORANGE you glad we did good"
Thursday - Wear PURPLE
Friday - Wear BLUE to score "high to the sky"

Please note that second grade's specials schedule remains the same, but lunch will be from 11:00-11:30 this week. We will be saving our snack for the afternoon. We will be walking through the halls incredibly quietly and using bathrooms the RESPECT we will give them as they take their tests!

link to our lmc

2010-02-18T07:20:00.000-08:00

Want to know more about what's happening in our LMC? Now you can...from home! Just click this link: younglmc to have access to some great information and things in our LMC. You can access book lists by AR color, find out more about Best for Bedtime stories or volunteering, even search our LMC catalog by clicking "Pages" under the Navigator Heading and clicking "Catalog" to find books by keyword, author, or title just like you do at school! Mrs. Ranucci is always working to provide even more useful things through this wiki. Check it out! Eventually this will be accessible from Young's Home Page as well.

monarch books

2010-02-17T14:09:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the 2010 Monarch Award Program! The Monarch Award is designed to encourage Illinois children to read critically and to become familiar with children’s books, authors, and illustrators.

The award is named for the Monarch Butterfly and symbolizes the growth, change, and freedom that characterize the emergent reader. The Monarch Award is given annually to an author and/or illustrator of a book voted as their favorite by participating K-3 children in Illinois.

Here at school, all six second grade teachers have enjoyed reading aloud 12 different nominated books during the past two weeks to all classrooms. The nominees include Chicks and Salsa, Spiders, The Perfect Nest, Max's Words, The Cheese, and more! On Friday each student will be voting on their favorite and Mrs. Ranucci will determine the winner for Young dolphins and enter our school's vote to the Illinois School Library Media Association.

mystery reader

2010-02-12T13:51:00.000-08:00

Surprise Madison! Your Mom was Mystery Reader today! Thanks, Mrs Austin, for being such a great example of reading with voice and fluency. We loved hearing the stories Dewy the Library Cat and Sister Mermaids. Did you know Dewey Readmore Books was a real cat and the book is based on a true story? Yep! Dewey really was a small-town library cat who touched the world!

love is in the air

2010-02-12T10:00:00.000-08:00

We shared some love today by passing out valentines during snack. So much friendship and love was in the air! Thanks for all of the sweet treats and notes that were left for me. I love being your teacher and love helping and watching each and every one of you learn and grow! Happy Valentine's Day!

jump rope for heart

2010-02-11T14:02:00.000-08:00

Lots of us contributed donations for the American Heart Association and jumped our hearts out this morning in the gym! Our classroom alone raised over $400.00, so THANK YOU for all your contributions to help kids with sick hearts. Take a look at how we got our hearts racing...

valentines

2010-02-09T11:50:00.000-08:00

The students are invited to exchange valentines on Friday, February 12th. This is an optional activity. If your child would like to participate, he/she will need to bring in twenty-five valentines (one for each member of our class). Please have your child sign the back of each card. Each card/envelope may be addressed individually or simply left blank - it is up to your child. For those children choosing to address their valentines, a list of our students' names is provided below. Please send the valentines to school on or before Februrary 12th. We will exchange them during our morning snack time. This is not a party. Please do not send any special food items such as cupcakes, cookies, etc.. As always, if you have any questions, please ask!

Madison
Laurel
Nicholas
Alexandria
Kara
Sreya
Joaquin
Alexa
Varun
Bhumika
Alexander
Micah
Rushabh
Katie
Jake
Enya
Arathi
Natalia
Javier
Aryan
Rachel
Zack
Alyssa
Alexei

lunch with the teacher

2010-02-08T11:09:00.000-08:00

Hooray for readers! How much did you read last month? Today we had lunch with the teacher! Alexandria, Alexei, Kara, Laurel, Madison, Enya, Katie, Alyssa, Bryce, Nicholas, Joaquin, Rachel, Jake, and Alexander (whew!) all enjoyed eating and talking about books because they read every day of the month of January for at least 20 minutes a night! Here are some book recommendations from them:

Ivy and Bean
Tink
Magic Puppy Cloud Capers
Diary of a Whimpy Kid Dog Days
Meet Mr. and Mrs. Green
Happy Birthday Bad Kitty
Head to Toe
Dragon Slippers

mulitisensory words their way

2010-02-05T09:32:00.000-08:00

Some of us have been able to practice Words Their Way this week while having some messy fun! Check out how Alexander, Alexei, and Nicholas practiced writing long o pattern words in shaving cream!

Bryce's baby brother

2010-02-05T09:27:00.000-08:00

Bryce has a new baby brother! His name is Vaughn and he is so cute. He was born on Monday 2-1-10. Vaughn and his mom will be coming home from the hospital today,Wendnesday. He will probably be asleep when Bryce gets home.

mystery reader

2010-01-22T13:43:00.000-08:00

Today we welcomed Javier's Mom and cousin from Puerto Rico! We heard the story Move Over Roever and a Cam Jansen book as well. Thanks for modeling great reading for us!

life cycle of a darkling beetle

2010-01-12T14:25:00.000-08:00

Here is a mealworm. It is still in the larva stage. It has shedded it's skin. Do you see it on the right?

This shows a pupa. Inside the mealworm is changing into a beetle. You can see it's shedded skin too.

Here is a new beetle. It's still very light colored. It is young.

This is an adult darkling beetle. It is much darker in color, almost black. It will live for only one year.

mystery reader

2010-01-11T13:55:00.000-08:00

Thank you to Mrs. Bludgen, Laurel's Mom, for coming in last week for Mystery Reader! We heard her fluently read aloud Harry the Dirty Dog and Mrs. South's Harry at Sea and Where the Wild Things Are.

lunch with the teacher

2010-01-07T11:05:00.000-08:00

Another month of wonderful readers! Kara, Enya, Laurel, Katie, Bryce, Joaquin, Alexei, Nicholas, and Jake all completed their December Reading Log filling in every single day! This past month they enjoyed reading their Cam Jansen mystery I gave them as a gift before break, Magic Tree House books, Junie B. Jones, Boxcar Children stories and Bryce read a book called 39 Clues.

we've got mail

2010-01-04T14:05:00.000-08:00

We received an extremely unusual something in the mail today here at school! Mrs. West was in the office when the mail arrived and the mailman delivered a coconut addressed to Mrs. South's Class!

Alexei holding our mail

Thank you to the Werbach family! Welcome home from Hawaii!

amaryllis plants

2010-01-04T08:14:00.001-08:00

Here's a photo of our three Amaryllis plants. Aren't they beautiful! We've studied them since they were bulbs and now they are beautiful blooming flowers!

On the far left is teh Red Lion. It's tallest leaf is 27 inches and the stalk is 28 inches tall. It has two goreous blooms and two mor that'll be open before we know it!

In the middle is the Star of Holland. It's stalk is 17 1/2 inches tall and the leaves grew to be 15 1/2 inches tall. We cut off it's original blooms that lasted for almost two weeks. It has another stalk that will have flowers that we'll be able to watch open up here at school.

Finally, on the right is the Apple Blossom. This one's stalk is also 28 inches tall and the leaves grew to be 20 1/2 inches tall. Two of it's flowers are about to open up and two more will be blooming soon.

We've really enjoyed watching, observing and logging the life cycle of these plants in Science!

apple blossom amaryllis

2009-12-28T09:36:00.000-08:00

I got an email from Mrs. Finfrock today:

Dear Mrs. South,
Thanks for the pictures of the Amaryllis. Yours is way ahead of mine, and so different. The Apple Blossom is not even close to blooming, but has leaves so tall that they are falling over. So far there is no sign of a second stalk, but the second set of leaves which we observed at school is continuing to grow. As of now, it appears as though it will hold off until we get back to school to bloom!
From,
Mrs. Finfrock

Here are some photos. I can't believe those leaves are so tall they're falling over!

amaryllis

2009-12-25T10:19:00.000-08:00

I have been taking care of our Star of Holland Amaryllis plant whilewe're all on Winter Break! Take a look, it's amazing how much it's changed!

Here are some photos from early in the week:

A second stalk is growing taller!

Look closely, you can see it's starting to split...

These photos are from Christmas morning:

Look how much taller the second stalk has gotten this week!

You can see the flower!

On Saturday morning, even more changes appeared!

I cannot believe how tall the stalk has gotten!

happy winter break

2009-12-18T14:00:00.000-08:00

Thank you for the happy holiday wishes that your kids shared with me today! We all enjoyed a Winter Celebration this afternoon with Kaptain Karaoke in the gym and pizza and games in our classroom.We played Winter Bingo and danced the Macarana, The Hamster Dance and boy did we Move It, Move It and work up a sweat! Read lots together over break (including Cam Jansen!) and relax, relax, relax. I know I will! Enjoy the holidays with your family and friends and we'll see you next year - 2010 is almost here!

Bryce enjoying our pizza snack

Natalia is really excited about our cookie treat!

Katie playing Winter Bingo

Kaptain Karaoke and Alexei spinnin' records

Dance, dance, dance!

Hey....Macarana!

Five...

Four...

Three...

Two...

One! Happy New Year!

lines, shapes, symmetry, oh my!

2009-12-18T09:38:00.000-08:00

The past couple weeks we've focused on geometry in Math. We've studied 3-D and 2-D shapes. To further explore 2-D shapes, we worked with tangrams today. We attempted to put all seven pieces back into the square without overlapping. It was a challenge! Puzzle pieces are coming home today. If you'd like another challenge, try more online trangram puzzles over break...check this out!

mystery reader

2009-12-17T14:18:00.000-08:00

Today we had a Mystery Reader...Rachel's Dad! Mr. Sloan read Korow, a chimpanzee story illustrated with really great photographs. Do you know what you want to be when you grow up? Well in When You Grow Up a Mama bear gives her little bear some ideas about what he might be when he grows up. This patterned story had us thinking he'd be something special someday, but for sure end up living back at home with Mama. We liked the surprise ending! Thanks, Mr. Sloan!

pyramids

2009-12-17T09:21:00.000-08:00

In Math we're studying geometry including 3-D and 2-D shapes. Today we constructed pyramids out of straws! We discovered four kinds of pyramids: triangular pyramid, rectangular pyramid, pentagonal pyramid and hexagonal pyramid. We named the shape of the bases and charted the number of base sides, edges, faces and vertices. We also discovered some interesting patterns and were able to predict number of edges based on number of base sides in addition to number of vertices based on number of faces found.

Here's an idea for at home: use marshmellows and toothpicks to construct cubes, rectangular prisms and pyramids.

flat us

2009-12-17T06:35:00.000-08:00

We've read the story Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown this month. We're currently reading Stanley's Christmas Adventure. We have published letters on the computer and most of us have sent off our flat selves to friends and family both near and far - Aurora, Yorkville, Ohio, even India! We're hoping our flat selves go on some fun adventures while gone and return safely by the end of February.

Flat Arathi

Flat Rachel

Flat Sreya

Flat Jake

Flat Nicholas

Flat Laurel (she's inside the envelope!)

mystery reader

2009-12-14T06:36:00.000-08:00

This afternoon, Rushabh's Dad braved the cold temperatures and came in for Mystery Reader. Thank you, Mr. Jahagirdar for sharing the story of The Tortoise and the Hare! It's such a treat to see family members here at school sharing their love of books with us!

math website

2009-12-08T09:48:00.000-08:00

Under links to learing you can find a link to Math Magician Games. This is a great online tool for practicing for Otter Creek math facts. You can practice timed addition, subtraction, or multiplication facts - whatever is a good fit for you! Have fun!

website - twenty by jenny

2009-12-05T08:00:00.000-08:00

So often I am asked for book recommendations or about titles that are good for our kids. This is a perfect time of year to share this website I discovered with families! Books are great gifts! Twenty by Jenny is a super website that can help you build your child's library at home with good fit books that keep their interest.

There are thousands of books published for children each year. Jenny puts her top recommendations for four age groups on her site to assist you. Not only does she feature reviews of books to help you choose but she includes twenty classics and other recent picks. Then if you want, she'll send a complimentary monthly newsletter with a new recommendation for each age group by email. It couldn't be easier to find great titles for your children!

place your book club orders online

2009-12-04T19:09:00.000-08:00

it’s convenient, easy and secure!

Dear Parents,
Next month's flyer from Scholastic Book Clubs features some terrific new books—along with some time-tested classics—that your child is sure to enjoy reading.

I will still send home flyers in students' dolphin folders after Winter Break so please take some time to explore the flyer with your child. Make your selections and return the order form to me along with your payment or...

I am excited about a new feature that Scholastic offers - let's give ONLINE ORDERING a try!

It’s fast, easy, and you get instant access to hundreds of additional titles plus online-only specials and discounts. Best of all, our class earns a FREE book for our classroom library every time a parent places their order online!

To order online, after returning from Winter Break, go to the Web address below and enter our class’s personalized user name and password in the sign-in fields on the right side of the page. Note: You do not need to create your own user name and password.

www.scholastic.com/bookclubs

User Name: 2South
Password: dolphins

Shop online to get instant access to over 500 additional titles plus online-only specials and discounts. Of course, you can always use the printed flyer instead and have your child hand in a Book Club order form and payment in the form of a check at school.

Thank you for continuing to help our classroom earn FREE books. Remember, every time a parent places an order online, we earn a FREE book for our classroom library!

Go to www.scholastic.com/bookclubs now to get started.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,
Mrs. South

mystery reader

2009-12-04T14:07:00.000-08:00

Thank you Mr. Austin! Madison's dad came in today to share two stories by Diane deGroat: Jingle bells, Homework Smells and Goodnight Sleep Tight, Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite. I think lots of us learned a lesson - Don't leave your homework for the last minute, do it as soon as you get home for the weekend! You are a great model for fluent reading, Mr. Austin!

spirit council update

2009-12-03T08:25:00.000-08:00

Cookbook:
Please send in one or more recipies before December 15th to help our school reach our goal of 500 recipies for our Young Cookbook. If our class wins by bringing in the most recipies, we could get a free cookbook, a page in the cookbook that says we contributed the most recipies, and a special secret prize! I hope you've all got some tasty dishes to share with us!

Toy Drive:

Spirit Council is still collecting toys (new, in packaging) for the Toy Drive. If you'd like to send something in, please do so by December 14th.

Coat Drive:
What a success! Thank you to all Young Families who donated gently used coats for the Coat Drive. We're helping keep people warm this winter!

lunch with the teacher

2009-12-02T11:27:00.000-08:00

Today some of us had lunch with the teacher as a reward for reading every night of the month of November! Congratualtions to Enya, Alexei, Rushabh, Kara, Bhumika, Alyssa, Laurel, Jake, Bryce, and Alexandria! We talked books, books, books including:

Alexei's favorites The Sneetches, The Zax, Too Many Daves, and What Was I Afraid Of?
Kara read some Mrs. Piggle Wiggle and Junie B. Jones
Enya enjoyed Magic Tree House books

Readers are leaders and you, my friends, are leaders! I am proud of you!

give thanks

2009-11-24T13:57:00.000-08:00

I'd like to give thanks to all of our families in 2So. I am grateful for all my students and families. Your support at school and at home is tremendously appreciated. Please enjoy your time with your child this Thanksgiving break and be thankful for eachother. See all you kiddos on Monday, November 30th! Gobble, gobble!

planting marigolds

2009-11-24T13:34:00.000-08:00

To go along with our Life Cycles Unit in Science we were each able to plant some marigold seeds today. (Thanks Mrs. Austin for getting dirty with us!) We have them in a little "green house" under a light and each of us is keeping a Plant Log recording observations as we watch our plants grow. Next we wait. We wait to see how many days it takes for our seeds to germinate. We'll also be keeping a log of their growth. Finally, we'll be bringing home our fully grown plants!

mystery reader

2009-11-24T09:54:00.000-08:00

Thank you, Mrs. Cussans, for coming in and reading for Mystery Reader last week. We enjoyed hearing Last Night at the Zoo, In November, and one of Alexa's favorite mermaid books! It was funny to see animals wearing clothes in Last Night at the Zoo! You are a wonderful model for fluent reading and hope you can visit again sometime!

plants

2009-11-19T14:19:00.000-08:00

Students are being introduced to the life cycle of plants. After all of our pumpkin literature and stories and experiences we're extending into Science. In reading the past few weeks we've been working on Making Predictions and we've been able to connect Science to literature by working with nonfiction pieces like Gail Gibbons From Seed to Plant and The Secret Life of Trees and some fiction including The Enormous Turnip and Plantzilla.

What's even more exciting that you're probably hearing about is that we're beginning to observe and explore the stages of a plant's development including observations and experiments from the seed stage to the mature plant. We're growing three Amaryllis flowers and will be planting our own individual marigold seeds as well and keeping a planting log as we observe the stages in the life cycle of a plant.

stationary & envelopes

2009-11-19T09:57:00.000-08:00

                                                                                                    November 19
Dear 2So Families,

          This month we've been focused on letter writing during Writer's Workshop. Lots of us are practicing what we've learned in our Writer's Notebooks during Work on Writing Independence, not just on our Writer's Workshop piece. If you have any old stationary or envelopes you'd be willing to donate to our classroom for writing we'd really appreciate it! Just send it in with your child!

                                                                                                   Sincerely,
                                                                                                   Mrs. South

family reading night: story teller linda gorham

2009-11-17T14:03:00.000-08:00

Tonight is Family Reading Night at Young. Join in the story telling fun here at school at 6:30. Linda Gorham tells updated folktales with spunk and draws you in to every story she tells. We loved her memorable and interactive performance of an Anansi story and more at this morning's assembly. Come tonight to hear different tales or click on the link to view her website and "Hear Me Tell a Story" to listen or see her perform on your computer at home!

sorting words

2009-11-17T10:31:00.000-08:00

It is very important that we are sorting our words and following this routine for Word Work homework during Words Thier Way:

SAY THE WORD
SAY THE SOUND
NAME THE PATTERN
PUT IT DOWN

mystery reader

2009-11-13T14:25:00.000-08:00

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Mrs. Bolger! You were a great Mystery Reader today. We were predicting as she read I Need My Monster, a story about a picky boy rejecting five substitute monsters while his regular monster Gabe was on a fishing trip. We also love the cool book 1001 Unbelievable Facts by Helen Otway. We plan on picking a couple every day to discover weird and wacky things about the world around us! Who knew "if you're right-handed, you tend to chew food on the right side of your mouth; if you're left-handed, you tend to chew on the left." Both books were generously donated to our classroom and will no doubt be enjoyed during Read to Self and Read to Somone!

Nicholas and his mom, Mrs. Bolger

friendly letters

2009-11-13T14:17:00.000-08:00

This month's writing genre focus in on friendly letters. We've been immersed in reading letters and heard books with letter writing in them including The Jolly Postman and Other People's Letters, Help Me, Mr. Mutt! and Dear Mermaid. As writers we've talked about who we can write to and reasons for writing letters. We will be working through the writing process creating letters over the next couple weeks and for the rest of the year. Encourage writing letters to loved ones at home this month and be sure to focus on format including the date, greeting, body (message), and closing.

Alexa brought a favorite book, Dear Mermaid, from home as an example of letter writing!

water bottles

2009-11-13T14:11:00.000-08:00

Since the weather is not hot hot hot we can keep our water bottles at home! They tend to spill and cause extra bathroom breaks to occur. I've assured the kiddos that we've got two drinking fountains nearby, so they are free to take a drink break whenever it's appropriate to leave (not during instructional time). Thanks for your support!

no more red folders

2009-11-12T14:05:00.000-08:00

We no longer need our red folders for Math. We will ONLY be bringing home our Dolphin Folder with notes from the office or the teacher and our Yellow Homework Folder with our Weekly Homework Sheet, Reading Log, Math Homelink homework and any other assignments on a daily basis. One less thing to pack up and unpack each day! Thanks for understanding!

happy veteran's day

2009-11-06T14:14:00.000-08:00

Happy Veteran's Day coming up on Wednesday, November 11th! At today's assembly we were able to honor men and women that have served or are still serving in our country's Armed Forces. Thank you to all the Veterans that are part of our Young Dolphins' families. A special thanks to a special man in Katie's family!

mystery reader

2009-11-06T14:09:00.000-08:00

Thank you, Mrs. Sloan! Not only did Rachel's mom model fluent reading but she also donated a new book, Fletcher and the Falling Leaves, to our classroom library. The illustrations are amazing! We also heard Mo Willams' Elephant and Piggie book called There's a Bird on your Head. We loved that story.

lunch with the teacher

2009-11-04T11:07:00.000-08:00

Today I had lunch with some wonderful readers! Alexei, Alexandria, Katie, Enya, Alyssa, Kara, Laurel, Bryce, Madison, Joaquin, Jake and Nicholas completed their At Home Reading Log reading EVERY NIGHT for the entire month of October! We munched on our sandwiches and talked books - sharing our favorites and recommending titles to eachother. Thanks for working so hard at home on reading every single night! I look forward to having lunch at the beginning of December with all of you and more kids! Keep reading!

science is cool!

2009-10-30T12:22:00.000-07:00

We finally did it! We were working on getting our pen-cap-submarine to work like we saw on Bill Nye and...it worked! It was amazing! Here is a link to show and explain it better if you'd like to try it at home.Read the directions and try it. You really have to squeeze hard to make it sink and float back up

Can you see our pen-cap-submarine suspended in the water?

bill nye the science guy

2009-10-29T14:13:00.000-07:00

TRY THIS!
Today we watched a video about buoyancy. You can make a submarine! You need: a pen cap, a small piece of playdoh or clay, an old two liter bottle filled with water. Put the clay around the tip of the pen cap (be sure the pen cap has no holes in the top) and put it into the bottle of water. It floats! Put the cap onto the two liter bottle and squeeze the bottle to control your submarine. It will rise and fall! Cool!

cargo contest day 2

2009-10-27T14:14:00.000-07:00

Today we took a look at homemade boats created by Javier, Laurel, Kara, and Micah. Take a look! Of all the boats today Kara's held 62 tiles and boy was Laurel's boat buoyant! Micah went first...

Micah's boat held 38 tiles before sinking!

cargo contest

2009-10-26T14:18:00.000-07:00

Today was our first day of our Cargo Contest. Second graders have been studying buoyancy and capacity. We each made a boat out of materials we got from home and we're checking first to see if it floats and then how much cargo it will hold before sinking. Each of us is adding tiles to our boat as cargo to see how much it will hold. Today Aryan, Zack, Katie, Alexei, and Natalia's boats were put to the test!

Natalia's boat held 81 tiles! The most cargo so far!

mystery reader

2009-10-26T13:35:00.000-07:00

On Friday last week we had Alexander's Mom and sister come in and read two books: Terrific by Jon Agee and The Principal's New Clothes by Stephanie Calmenson. Thanks for coming in and reading to us!

sonny acres farm

2009-10-26T13:31:00.000-07:00

tomorrow's field trip

2009-10-20T13:47:00.000-07:00

1. Dress for the weather! Wear comfortable clothes and shoes. (No pajamas! We've rescheduled our Pajama Day for next Tuesday, October 27th.)
2. Bring a sack lunch. No lunch boxes, thermoses or soda cans please!
3. Bring a plastic grocery bag for bringing home pumpkins.
4. We leave at 10:15 a.m. so arrive to school on time! Sonny Acres, here we come!

Here are some things you might talk about tonight or tomorrow morning to get our minds ready for the farm:

What are the steps in the life cycle of a pumpkin? The steps in the process are: seed, sprout with seed leaves, plant with vine leaves, flower blossom, green pumpkin, orange pumpkin
How do you know how big a pumpkin might grow? Compare and contrast different varieties: Look at it's seeds! The bigger the seed, the bigger the variety of pumpkin.
How many days does it take a pumpkin to grow? 80-120 days
How do you know it is ready to be picked? It feels hard on the outside and sounds hollow when it is tapped.
How big was the biggest pumpkin ever grown? 1061 pounds! Grown in New York State in 1996.
What connections can you make to text, self or world about pumpkins?

red ribbon week

2009-10-16T12:46:00.000-07:00

Next week is Red Ribbon week. Our Young dolphins are dressing up, stepping out, and taking a stand! During our Red Ribbon Week Celebration all students school-wide are wearing pajamas "having sweet dreams being drug free!" 2So is scheduled to go to Sonny Acres Farm that day, so please dress for the weather in regular clothes and coats and we will schedule our own pajama day to make up for it the following week on TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27th.

half day

2009-10-13T14:09:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, Wednesday, October 14th is a HALF DAY of school. Students will be dismissed at 12:05. Please send snacks, but lunches will not be served. Be sure you let me and your child know of any dismissal changes if necessary. Thanks and enjoy the afternoon off!

happy pajama day!

2009-10-13T10:21:00.003-07:00

stuffed animal day

2009-10-13T10:17:00.000-07:00

Alexa and Pegasus are ready for Read to Someone

Laurel reads to her dolphin

Joaquin and his baby bear work on writing

mystery reader

2009-10-09T13:45:00.000-07:00

Thank you Mrs. Bryant! Kara's mom was a fabulous Mystery Reader today! She shared the book Twelve Snails to One Lizard with us and modeled fluent reading beautifully in addition to getting our brains thinking about math!

next week

2009-10-09T10:03:00.000-07:00

REMINDERS:
There is NO SCHOOL on Monday, October 12th, Columbus Day. Enjoy the long weekend and day off! Also, Wednesday is a HALF DAY. Students will be dismissed at noon and no lunches will be served.

Next week is Spirit Week!
TUESDAY Pajama Day and Stuffed Animal Day
(remember recess will very likely be outside and the animals should fit on their nametag on their desk).
WEDNESDAY Dress Backwards Day
THURSDAY Sports Jersey Day
FRIDAY Dolphin Wear and Cheer on the Metea Mustangs Football Team at 5:00 p.m.

stuffed animal day

2009-10-08T13:40:00.000-07:00

We did it! We’ve kept green tags and earned five big frogs! As a class we’ve voted and...Friday, October 9th is Stuffed Animal Day! So, bring a stuffed friend you love that’ll fit on your nametag. You’ll love learning with and reading to it all day long!

field trip

2009-10-07T11:23:00.000-07:00

Second grade classes are going on a field trip! This trip is to Sonny Acres Farm in West Chicago. We will get an educational tour, enjoy a hayride, and bring home a small pumpkin. This trip correlates with our literacy unit which includes the stories: Pumpkin Fiesta, Pumpkin Circle, and The Biggest Pumpkin Ever. Speific literacy descriptors we will be discussing with these stories include steps in a process, compare and contrast, making connections, and sequencing.

Our second grade class will be visiting the pumpkin farm on WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21st. This is a change from the original date communicated in our Second Grade Monthly Newsletter. Because of picture day, we were able to reschedule our trip. Permission slips will be coming home today. Please fill in your student's name, the date, any necessary medical information, and emergency phone numbers, sign and return on or before Friday, October 16th.

Sonny Acres Farm

twinkle twinkle little star

2009-10-02T13:40:00.000-07:00

A Day of Astronomy at WVHS Planetarium is an event happening this weekend! Check out this free event at the Planetarium at the high school from noon to 11 p.m. on Saturday. Have a good weekend!

tumble books

2009-09-29T07:37:00.000-07:00

We are now subscribers to TumbleBook for the next 2 years! Please use the link "tumble books library" under LINKS TO LEARNING to access it from home. It can also be found on our school page. The account is set up and ready for your use. Please feel free to utilize TumbleBooks beginning today. To log on, click the link and enter our username and password listed below.

username: ipsd
password: books

Happy Tumbling!

library books

2009-09-28T08:33:00.000-07:00

Every Monday morning we go to the Computer Lab and do a whole class LMC book check-out afterwards. Please remember to send library books back to school after the weekend. Students will be able to go independently during the week, but I want them to be able to check out some books when we are down there together on Monday mornings. Thanks!

2009-09-28T08:29:00.000-07:00

Look for our first Second Grade Bulletin in our backpacks today! This is our monthly newsletter highlighting what we've been studying and what's coming up.

Click the newsletter for a closer look!

mystery reader

2009-09-25T13:55:00.000-07:00

Today we welcomed Mr. Leslie, Katie's dad as our Mystery Reader. He shared a familiar story The Runaway Pumpkin and a new story we've never heard called Don't Call Me Pig. Thank you so much for donating both stories to our classroom library!

movie night

2009-09-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

Carter, Logan, Ava and I will be at Movie Night tonight at 6 p.m.! Young's PTA presents Bedtime Stories featuring Adam Sandler. Both showings, 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. are SOLD OUT. Be sure you bring your tickets passed out on Thursday to enter the gym.

ease the tease

2009-09-25T08:50:00.000-07:00

Today Imagination Theatre performed Ease the Tease. We learned many great strategies we can use if we are being teased in the classroom, on the bus, on the playground, at lunch or anywhere else. Of course, we've encouraged students to respect yourself and others and work hard to not be the one doing the teasing. It was a great assembly and we got a lot out of it!

spelling test and word wall check

2009-09-24T14:00:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is a Spelling Test. Students will be assessed on their pattern they have been studying during Word Work and Words Thier Way. Next week a new set of word cards will be sent home for sorts, blind sorts, word hunts, and writing sorts. We have really caught on and gotten into the routines of Word Work and will be able to work with this new set of words for just one week. Thank you for all of your support with homework and Word Work practice at home!

Our Word Wall Check tomorrow will cover a random 8 words from our Take Home Word Wall, so study them all tonight!

Eat a good breakfast and sleep good tonight to be ready for your tests!

tumblebooks

2009-09-22T13:16:00.001-07:00

Here is a link to a Tumblebooks trial that will be active until the end of October.

http://www.tumblebooks.com/library/auto_login.asp?U=ipsd&P=trial

TumbleBookLibrary is an online collection of animated, talking picture books which teach young children the joys of reading in a format they'll love.

young's splash page

2009-09-21T13:49:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you've all bookmarked our blogsite, but you can now get to the blog through our Nancy Young Elementary School webpage! Just click "blogs" on the sidebar of the homepage and find "Mrs. South's Second Grade Blog" and you're in!

mystery reader

2009-09-17T13:48:00.000-07:00

Mrs. Gallegos, Alexander's Mom, was our first Mystery Reader! We enjoyed hearing two stories: Kiss Me, I'm Perfect by Robert Munsch and A Porqupine Named Fluffy by Helen Lester. Thank you for surprising us and modeling fluent reading!

no school friday

2009-09-16T18:36:00.000-07:00

Friday, September 18th there is NO SCHOOL for students. Enjoy your three day weekend!

homework: blind sort

2009-09-15T11:51:00.000-07:00

Here is a little review of what homework looks like tonight for Words Their Way. Children are doing a BLIND SORT tonight. They need a partner (Mom or Dad)!

Blue Sort Kids: Lay down one word from each of the "h-brothers" as a header
Yellow Sort Kids: Lay down your four headers - short a CVC, long a CVCe, long a CVVC, oddball
Pink Sort Kids: VC, VVC, VCC, VCe

The rest of the words are for the partner (Mom or Dad). Read the words aloud to your second grader, not showing them what it looks like. Some words may need a sentence (tale/tail, mane/main).Your child must indicate by pointing where the word goes without seeing it. Lay it down and let your child move it if he or she is wrong. Repeat if your child makes more than one error. Sometimes having your child do a regular WORD SORT first (like last night) helps them have the patterns fresh in their minds. If there are lots of errors, please have them sort the words into categories like the ones we did in school. They should read each word aloud during this activity.

We will revisit this procedure together again tomorrow during Word Work. Remember, this is new to us and we are still learning!

*C is for consonant and V is for vowel

word wall check

2009-09-10T13:36:00.001-07:00

REMINDER: Tomorrow is our first Word Wall Check! Be sure to review all your words!