Miss Kirsten’s Class

We had so much fun hiking up to the Mt. Timpanogos caves today!  It was rainy and chilly, but completely worth it.  The kids loved seeing interesting inside the caves, like stalagtites, stalagmites, cave bacon, Caramel Falls and the Heart of Timpanogos.  But the best part was getting back down to the bottom; the kids were so proud of their difficult and amazing accomplishment!  Here are some pictures of the trip.

It is almost February and our “party o’ love” is fast approaching!  We will having our Valentine’s Day party on Friday, Feb. 12.  Your child is welcome to bring valentines for the class, and can hand them out at our party.  Below is a list of the first names of all of the students in our class.  Just so you know, the kids’ sugar intake will be limited in class, and we will have treats already provided.  Although the thought is appreciated, please do not send cookies, donuts, etc. for the class.  Happy cupid day!

Class List
James
Elizabeth
Will
Brendley
Ali
Rebecca
Alex
Isaac
Joey
Hannah
Britain
Abbey
Oliver
Margaret
Harry
Hailey
Izaiah
Dauson
Sam
Christian
Mahaela
Adison
Jake
Lilah
Scottie

Congratulations to Oliver, Isaac B., Elizabeth, Ali and Isaac G. for winning awards in the Reflections art contest!  The theme was “Beauty Is…”, and their work was truly beautiful and amazing.  I am so proud of them!  For all of you who encouraged your child to enter the contest, thank you for helping to create a love of the arts within your child.  We have been stimulating this love at school as well, with our own recent art “sculpture”.  While learning about the Word Choice trait of writing, we read a book demonstrating good word choice, in which a young boy decides to collect and cut out words.  This reminded me of a sculpture I had once seen by Alicia Martin, titled “Biliographia”, that mimics the idea of books pouring out of a building window.  When I showed the students this art piece, they loved it and wanted to create their own “word fountain”.  And so the next day we rolled out a piece of chicken wire and began to create a waterfall sculpture.  It has taken some time, since it is completely student-led and created, but we now have a collection of words the kids think are interesting, “pouring” out of the hallway ceiling.  If you get a chance, come check it out and ask your child about our “Waterfall of Words”!

    On another note, the other second grade teachers and myself are getting geared up for our big Immigration Day in January.  We are in great need of immigration artifacts that could be displayed for a parent evening that night.  This could include such items as photos, an ancestor’s journal or passport, steamship documents, information about an ancestor’s or your own immigration experience, photos of Ellis Island or the Statue of Liberty, or anything else that may relate.  If you have anything that you would be willing to let us display, please let me know.  Thanks and we’ll see you in the new year!

Hello parents!  I wanted to remind you that our fieldtrip to This Is The Place will be this Thursday morning.  It will be cold, so make sure your child is dressed warmly!  Also, our Halloween party will be this Friday, right after the school Halloween Parade.  Your child can come to school dressed in their costume and will be changing into their uniform afterward.  You are welcome to come and see the fun!  While you’re there, don’t forget to sign up for a time for Parent Teacher Conferences.  They will be held Wednesday and Thursday, November 18th and 19th.  If you are not available either of those days, you are welcome to schedule a time with me before or after school any other day that week. 

In classroom happenings…  The reading comprehension strategy we have been and will be working on for the next few weeks is synthesizing.  This is the ability to combine background knowledge with new knowledge from text to be able to construct new meaning.  In your students lanuage, they are learning to 1. understand the main theme in a text and 2. restate it in the own words.  We’ve discussed the idea that this means not just understanding in their mind what the author is trying to say, but being able to explain it to someone else.  This ability to articulate is definitely a higher-level learning skill.  Synthesizing is tricky at first, but the kids are doing really well so far as we continue to practice constantly!  In math, students have been learning how and why we regroup, or “carry” in multi-digit addition.  Many students have picked up quickly on the process and steps of regrouping, and some can do this fluently.  It’s even more important the kids understand why they are doing what they do, and are able to explain the concept behind the process.  As your child is doing their math homework this week, ask them why they carried the one to the next column or what would happen if they didn’t carry that number.  They should even be able to draw you a picture, use Base 10 (place value) blocks, or act it out.  Lastly, we are moving from the Civil War into the Underground Railroad, which will lead to our Civil Rights unit.  We are having so much fun learning and staying academically challenged and we’re glad to bring you along for the ride!!

We have been having a lot of fun with the curriculum lately!  Comprehension was a struggle for most of the students, so we decided to act out the weekly story last week.  Not only did we have fun and learn how to work with a group of peers, but comprehension scores were drastically improved on the end-of-week test!  I thought I’d include some pictures of it for you to enjoy.  In Writing, we’ve been talking about writing organization and wrote a class book today, which is on display outside of our classroom for you to see.

Also, don’t forget that there is another parent breakfast this Friday morning at 8am (more free food and child bonding time!).  It’s sponsored by the PTA and there will be a Jump Team demonstration and the kick-off for the Gold Medal Mile program.  It’s sure to be a ton of fun!

To wrap up our unit on manners, we will be having a Parent Pancake Breakfast!  Come on in this Friday morning, starting at 7:45am, and have your child show you the great things they have been learning.  Your child is excited to demonstrate their knowledge of table setting, hosting, meeting and greeting, starting and maintaining appropriate meal conversation, and more.  This will also be a great opportunity for you to network with other parents of students in the class.  Hope to see you there!

Welcome to a new school year!  I am excited to be working with you and your child this year.  Your child will be challenged to learn and grow in so many new ways.  If you ever have any questions, concerns, feedback, comments, etc., please feel free to send me an e-mail or give me a call.  We are going to have a great year!