Lots of Memories at the School Woods

On Thursday, October 9th all second graders traveled to the School Woods on Jackson Road.  We may have started the day with a frigid thirty-eight degrees but the sunshine quickly warmed up the meadow. However, the groups back in the woods stayed chilly all day.  Our parent volunteers were the BEST!  They did an excellent job!  Thank you for being there, we couldn't have done it without you.  THANK YOU!

Here are a couple snapshots of our trip: (I tried to catch everyone, but I missed a few kids.  Everyone is in the group shot at the end.)

Here it is...

Wow, two blog posts in one day!  I finally had a chance to upload the videos.  Our long awaited "RAP" video has been completed.  We have been practicing several different addition strategies learn our basic addition facts.  We have learned the strategy of counting up, making a model/picture, doubles and making a ten.  We will continue practicing our basic addition facts, please keep working at home.

We had a lot of fun learning the Rap song!  The students are very proud and I think they deserve to be.  They worked hard and they are proud.  I'm not naming names, but some students have been wanting to sign autographs (they are so cute).  Since the video has been uploaded the students will really be strutting around like they are famous rappers!  Sorry.

Here it is.  Enjoy!

3rd Annual Shark Run/Walk

The time has arrived!  Our 3rd Annual Shark Run/Walk will be happening on Friday, September 26th.  We will join up with Nikkari at the High School Track from 1:00-2:00.  The students will be walking or running the track in order to raise money for our St. Louis Elementary PTO.  We do this instead of a catalog fundraiser.  PTO feels very strong about having ALL students participate.  All of our students benefit from the fundraising, so we like to give them all the opportunity to participate in a fun way.  There will be some "Celebrity' walkers, some rockin' music, a balloon launch, sunshine, and lots of fun!
Today I had a very special announcement for the students.  Please watch our quick video to learn about the Run/Walk and hear our AWESOME announcement.

If you would like to sponsor a Runner/Walker or just make a general donation to our class total, please let me know.  I have some very excited students that are ready to Run/Walk for pledges!  We home to see you there on Friday (tomorrow)!

Students should wear their Red and Black school colors or JAWESOME shirts from last year.Please contact me with any questions.

What is a Fairy Tale?

What is a fairy tale?  That is the question I asked our 2nd grade experts.  Here is what they had to say:

This link will take you to an unlisted YouTube video:

http://youtu.be/ru79k9f9SpA

The kids are doing a great job with fairy tales. Today we are reading The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs, told from the wolf's perspective  It should be interesting to see who the students believe...the 3 pigs or the wolf.  They will be asked to choose a side and write a persuasive paper to convince other.  We'll be looking for a catchy lead sentence, an opinion, and supporting details.  They will be a lot of fun to read!  Watch for them to be coming home soon!

The Three Little Pigs

We are spending the last part of the school year studying fairy tales.  Last week, we were looking at different versions of Cinderella.  This week, we're looking at The Three Little Pigs.  We've talked a lot about how fairy tales are passed down through generations.  So, I asked Henry (my kiddo at home) if he knew the story of The Three Little Pigs.  Here is what he knew:

http://youtu.be/VE7_kfE89Hs

Remember, he is 3 (that should explain all the squirming).  

You've been R.A.C.K.ed!

We've had an exceptional week (well, besides indoor recess most of the week due to temperatures)!  I received notification this week from adoptaclassroom.com.  We will be receiving $400 worth of new literacy materials!  The JCPenney store (Alma) and jcpcares made this happen!  Excited...doesn't even begin to describe how I was feeling.  I couldn't wait to get to school on Wednesday to tell the kids.  I knew they would go ballistic!  They did!  We felt so good about somebody choosing our classroom, that we decided to share the love.  We talked a lot about how good it felt to be surprised with a gift, but an even better feeling is giving.  So, we decided to go R.A.C.K. (Random Act of Classroom Kindness) some people around the school.  Our first stop was Mr. Sztuczko, then Mrs. Hammond, Mrs. Adams and Mrs. March.  We new our R.A.C.K.ing was successful because we got big smiles out of all of them.  Mrs. Hammond even decided to share her special treat with Mr. Howd.  Well, it felt so good to make others smile that the kids started asking if we could R.A.C.K. some more people on Thursday.  How can you say NO to that?  So, off we went this morning.  We stopped in the office and got Mrs.Cross, Mrs. Brecht, Ms. Leann, Mrs. Bailey and our speech teacher Mrs. Harrison.   Somehow, we ended up in the DHH room and R.A.C.K.ed them with some Tim Horton's Timbits.  The kids were so excited!  We just couldn't stop.  We made two more stops in classrooms and decided to R.A.C.K. Mrs. Vance and Mrs. Brown.  Check our their smiles and amazement as we told them "You've been R.A.C.K.ed!"

Mrs. Brown poses with her Timbits!  I heard Mrs. Brown
decided to R.A.C.K. her whole class today with no homework and
bubble gum.  Way to pass it on!

Check out this excitement!  

Mrs. Vance almost cried!  I think we made her day.

We R.A.C.K.ed Mrs. Cross with a yummy, fresh, fruit cup!

 ***All photographs were taken by our photographer of the day Balin.
They were taken on the classroom iPad, purchased by our awesome
St. Louis Technology Foundation.  

  

We WON!

Hi everyone, I am just hopping on the blog to update you on some very important news...WE WON!  The month of November has been focused on collecting, clipping, and counting Box Tops.  Students have been stalking the bottom of Kleenex boxes, cereal boxes, Ziploc bags, and your kitchen cupboards looking for Box Tops.  Today the winner of the November Box Top Challenge was announced! Students were in music when the announcement started so, I briskly walked  ran to the music room just in case we were the winners.  As the announcement came and we heard our class had won, the screaming started!  (Sorry Ms. Purcell, to say the kids weren't focused on music would be an understatement.)  It was awesome to see the kids congratulating each other on a job well done.  What an awesome ending to the day!  Students will be munching on free popcorn tomorrow!  I am so proud of the kids.  They worked hard to collect their Box Tops and most importantly we helped our school!