Mrs. Porter’s Newsletter

Feb. 17^th-21st, 2013

 

Calendar of Events

Monday, Feb. 17^th-President’s Day-School IN session

Tuesday, Feb. 18^th-Mandatory PTO meeting on Cyber Bullying-6:00PM

Wednesday, Feb. 19th-8:30AM All School Mass

 

NEWS AND NOTES

I’m in a little shock as I look out of my classroom windows.  I didn’t realize that it was supposed to snow this much.  Be safe this weekend and I’m really looking forward to the warmer weather next week.

 

Thank you to all of you who were able to donate to the Indy Spring Break basket for the CYO reverse raffle dinner.  This will take place on Saturday, Feb. 15^th.

 

I will be sending home a letter very soon explaining a new website that I would like to students to use.  It is called www.learnzillion.com and there are short tutorials on there that I want students to watch from home.  I will be able to check if they have watched it and there is a short quiz on each one.  The first video series will be on collecting data and making graphs.

 

Everybody who is receiving First Communion this year should have received a letter from the Religious Education office confirming your First Communion date.  The retreat will be held on March 15^th.  Make sure that you have that on your calendar.  One parent and the student is expected to attend this special day.

 

Thank you so much for sending in Valentines!  I appreciate the chocolates, bracelet, and other goodies that I received on my desk.    Also, thank you to everybody who came and assisted with the party that afternoon.  The kids always look forward to celebrating these special days with friends.

 

Tuesday, Feb. 18^th is the last mandatory bully parent meeting.  Child care will be provided for students in K-4^th grades.  5^th-8^th graders are encouraged to attend the meeting with parents.  Ryan Mears will be speaking to us about Cyber Bullying-a very important topic in today’s modern society.  The meeting starts at 6:00 PM.

 

Please make sure that you are helping your child prepare a speech based on the life of his/her wax museum figure.  We will work on it here at school as well.

 

Don’t forget to check your child’s school progress on www.mystudentsprogress.com.  I try and add grades at least once a week.

 

Since we are making up school days, conferences will be help as requested.  Please let me know if you are interested in setting up a conference and I will do the same.

 

Have a great Valentine’s weekend!

 

Reading-Compare/Contrast two stories/Daily 5/Story mapping

Spelling-Unit 18

Religion- Chapter 2 in yellow book-We Gather

Math- Complete Unit 4 on data and graphs

Social Studies-Maps and President’s Day compare/contrast

Mrs. Porter’s Newsletter        

Feb. 3-7^th, 2014

Calendar of Events

Wednesday, Feb.5th-All School Mass-8:30AM

                         Field trip to the Children’s Museum

Friday, Feb. 8^th-February Book Order due

NEWS AND NOTES

Please make sure that you keep your child’s First in Math paper in a safe place.  I would like these to be returned to school at the end of the month with a parent signature.

Valentine’s Day is coming soon!  We will be celebrating this holiday on Friday, Feb. 14^th at 1:40.  Please have your child sign and bring 20 valentines for the class.  It’s easiest if they are not personalized to each student.  We will be making Valentine’s bags in class to put our Valentines in. Thanks so much! 

I have received one envelope of “Spring break in Indy” items for the Reverse Raffle basket.  Please donate if you can!   Thank you so much!

The office is also taking donations for the Ramirez family from St. Philip’s who lost two members of their family in a tragic fire.  

The months of January and February are always tough to get through.  It’s cold, dark, and we have to stay inside A LOT!  I ask that you please review homework procedures with your child this month.  I have students who are not coming to school prepared.   Their homework is incomplete, or they don’t have everything that they should.  Thank you to those students who continue to do a good job even during these dark days!  Don’t forget to fill in those reading logs and send them back on Monday mornings!

I drew Allan Gonzalez’s name to have the chaperone parent for our field trip on Wednesday morning.  If any other parent would like to meet us there, you can check with the Lilly Theatre at the Children’s Museum and see if they have extra tickets.  Thank you to those parents who volunteered to go!  I am going to let the students eat a snack before we leave, so if you remember to send one in that would be great.  We leave at 9:45 and return at 12:30.  Kids can bring a sack lunch or order a sack lunch from the cafeteria.

We had a great Catholic School’s Week culminating with a great volleyball game between the teachers and the eighth graders.  What a fun way to be thankful for the opportunity to go to a school filled with faith.  Thank you for the sacrifices you make to send your child(ren) to Holy Spirit!

Finally, we will be having school on President’s Day to make up for the snow/cold days we have had.

Week at a Glance:

Reading- Lexile level reading passages and check for understanding

Religion- Chapter 1 in the Yellow Communion books.  Please make sure that you have paid $20 if your child has one.

Math-Unit 4-Organizing and collecting data

Science-Complete Air and Weather

Spelling-Unit 16 words

Mrs. Porter’s Second Grade News

January 13-17, 2014

Calendar of Events

Sunday, January 12th-First Communion meeting at 4:30PM.  Meet in the church.  One parent must be present with your child.

Monday, January 14^th-Kickoff to Riley Week-Wear red with $3.00 donation

Wednesday, January 16^th-All School Mass at 8:30AM

Friday, January 17^th- Awards ceremony for the second quarter at 8:20AM

News and Notes

Happy New Year and Welcome back to school!  I hope that you all enjoyed your special time with families and had a chance to relax.  Now we get to start on the exciting second half of second grade!

You should have received a reminder yesterday about the First Communion meeting scheduled for Sunday at 4:30PM in the church.  This will be where you can sign up for the date that you want to have your child’s First Communion.  Please make sure that your child is present with one adult. What an exciting time for these second graders.  We will begin our lessons on the Eucharist in the next few weeks.  Send the books to school with your child on Monday and we will work on them here.

We do continue to collect Box Tops, so please keep sending them in!  Remember that if you collect 50 in a bag your name will be included in the drawing for a TV.  Make sure that you put your child’s name on the baggie with the Box Tops.

I will be sending home a January book order on Monday that will be due Friday.  Our online code is GV3KZ if you like to shop for books online.

If you did some cleaning of closets over the longer break and found some games that you no longer play, please consider donating them to our classroom.  It looks like we may have some long winter days with indoor recess, so any extra games or puzzles (in good condition) for recess would be appreciated.

Please make sure that you continue to check your child’s progress on www.mystudentsprogress.com. 

Also, please pray for Colton Adcock, the baby brother of Zoe Adcock.  He was born a few months early on January 2^nd and is currently getting bigger in the NICU.  I know how long and tough those NICU days can be!

Reading- Complete WRAP testing/Drawing Conclusions in small groups/Martin  Luther King stories

English/LA-Review nouns/verbs

Spelling-Unit 14/review long/short vowel sounds/ch, tch, ck, k spellings

Religion- Chapter 9-We Learn About God’s Love

Math-Evens and Odds/ Tens and Ones with story problems

Science-Air and Weather

Mrs. Porter’s Second Grade News

Week of November 25-29, 2013

Calendar of Events

Monday, Nov. 25th-Send Friendship Mix

Tuesday, Nov. 26th-8:30AM All School Mass-Celebrate Allan’s birthday!

Wednesday, Nov. 27th- Friday, Nov. 29th-Thanksgiving Vacation-No School

I am sending home a note today explaining our Friendship Mix day.  Basically, we are asking students to bring a bag of his/her favorite snack.  Raisins, pretzels, cheez-its, candies, etc.  We will put each snack food together in a big bag to make our friendship mix.  Students will need to bring this on Monday.

The Book Bingo is due on Tuesday, Nov. 26th.  I hope that you all enjoyed having a chance to choose some different books to read with your child.  I also hope that some kids found some new book series to enjoy.

My next First in Math challenge is for students to go to the K-2 World and complete the See3 and More or Less games.  They should continue to work on Skill Set 1.  Just the Facts addition should be finished and kids should be on to Subtraction! Reading and First in Math will be your child’s assignments during the break!

I am going to ask each child to bring a favorite holiday book to share with the class the week after Thanksgiving break.  We will use these books during read to someone time and it will be our next book report.  Please help your child pick a “good fit” book that he/she can read out loud.  It would be a good idea to practice reading the book over break.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving break!  I am truly thankful for all of you. 

Here’s the scoop for next week:

Religion-Chapter 4- We Praise and thank God

Reading-Continue Cause and Effect/Daily 5 small groups

Math-Continue Close to 20 and Story problems/Practice Math Daily 5

We will also be enjoying some fun Thanksgiving activities

Mrs. Porter’s Second Grade News

Week of November 11-15, 2013

 

Calendar of Events

Monday-November 11th-Thank a Veteran on Veteran’s Day!

Wednesday, November 13th-8:30AM Mass

 

Reconciliation is tomorrow.  Families with names ending A-L need to come at 10:00AM and those ending with M-Z need to come at 11:00.  I am proud of how hard the students have worked on the steps.  Many students were able to recite the Act of Contrition by memory.  Please make sure to celebrate the sacrament when you are finished because it is a special time.

 

Your child should have a Book Bingo page to be kept in the “Keep in Binder” section of the GO binder.  This is the at home reading assignment until Thanksgiving.  A parent or guardian is in charge of writing the information of the book on the back of the page.  A bingo is made when you have made a bingo(5 in a row) on the game board.  If you don’t have these books in your home, please visit your local library.  These books can also be found here at school.  Encourage your child to find them!  Maybe he/she will even find a new series to enjoy!

 

I have let the students know that I will be checking First in Math once a week to see if they have been on.  If they haven’t, they will get on that day at recess for at least one game.  I expect students to have the addition facts complete and they need to be moving on to subtraction in the Practice gyms.  Subtraction is also found in Skill Set 2.

 

Our next class mass will take place on Wednesday, November 20th.  If your child did not have a part in our first mass, they will have a part in this one.  This is an all school mass.  You are all welcome to attend!

 

Are you checking www.mystudentsprogress.com?  This is where you will find the latest updates on your child’s grades.  I try to input grades at least once a week.

 

Next week, I will be teaching the proper way to write an address.  Please work with your child on your home address.  If it’s not already in the front of your child’s binder, please put it there.   It should be set up in this way:

 

First and Last Name

House number and Street

City, State

                   Zip Code

 

 

 

Here’s the scoop for next week:

 

Religion-Chapter 2- We Belong to God’s Family

Reading-Continue non-fiction/author’s purpose

Writing-Persuasive writing assignment

Math-Begin Unit 3-Base Ten and multiple addends/Close to 20

Social Studies-Addresses/ North American American Indians

Newsletter Nov. 4-8, 2013

Mrs. Porter’s Second Grade Newsletter
Week of November 4-8, 2013

Calendar of Events
Saturday, November 2nd-Reconciliation Retreat from 10:00-12:00AM
Wednesday, November 6th-Mass 8:30AM

It’s November-wow-and I believe that our schedule is back to normal for a few weeks.  I wanted to say a big thank you to Mrs. Angie Burck for coordinating and planning our Halloween party yesterday.  Three students actually came up and said that it was the best day ever!  They loved playing Bingo with real daubers and the face painting was so cute.  Thank you to the few parents who were able to join us and for those who sent the goodies in for the class.  It was a great day!

We just had a meeting about Saturday’s Reconciliation retreat and I think it will be a very nice event for both the parent and child.  Please meet us in the church at 10:00AM on Saturday morning.  Thank you for writing the “Love letter” to your child.  That moment will be very special.  Next week will be dedicated to completing our Reconciliation preparation.  I will test the kids on the Act of Contrition and we will be discussing Sin vs. Mistakes, and the Steps to Reconciliation.

If I ever send a study guide home with your child, please go over it.  If students know everything off of the study guides, they will do great on the assessments.

Please continue to read and do First in Math even over the weekend.  Some other ideas for practicing math facts are rolling dice, getting numbers from playing cards, and even flashcards.  To learn math facts, you need to practice!  Next week’s focus will be on all of the addition facts and then we will start subtraction facts.

The kids really enjoyed our pumpkin unit.  We learned about collecting data, making observations, and measurement.  I want to thank all of the parents who stopped by this afternoon to help open the pumpkins and get messy!  I appreciated all of the help.


Week at a Glance
Religion-Steps to Reconciliation/Sin vs. Mistakes/Act of Contrition
Spelling-Word Preview on Monday, test on Friday-review words please!
Reading-Non-fiction read and tell in small groups/Book Bingo
Math-Complete Unit two-Rectangles, area, congruency, and Symmetry
Social Studies-Explorer

Have fun trick or treating tonight if you go out!  I’ll see you tomorrow morning!

Mrs. Porter's Second Grade News

Week of Oct. 28-Nov. 1, 2013

Calendar of Events

Monday, Oct. 28th-Bring a pumpkin

Thursday, Oct. 31st-Halloween Party from 11:30-12:30

Friday, Nov. 1st-All Saints Day mass at 8:30AM

Saturday, Nov. 2nd-Reconciliation Retreat from 10:00-12:00

Thursday, October 31st is our Halloween party from 11:30-12:30.  All are welcome to join in the fun.  Students may wear orange or black with jeans that day.  We do not want to ruin our costumes or lose any pieces.  

I am asking that all students bring in a pumpkin that he/she can easily carry on Monday.  We will be spending the week doing observations, measurements, and experiments with these pumpkins.  All parents are welcome to join us at 1:40 on Friday afternoon to open the pumpkins and look what’s inside.  Please come if you’re able to and bring a carving knife!  

Next Saturday, Nov. 2nd, is the First Reconciliation retreat for all second grade students.  At least one parent is required to attend.  Parents and children will be together for part of the morning, and then Father will be talking to the parents for the other part.  Please meet in the church at 10:00AM.  Miss Hill and I will be there too.  Also, parents, please make sure that you are completing your 'homework letter' and sending it to Gladys in the religion office.  We want every child to have a letter!  I will be testing the students on the Act of Contrition the week of Nov. 4th-8th.

Here’s the scoop for next week:

Reading: Small group work with non-fiction text/Daily 5/Book Bingo due by Thanksgiving

Religion: Chapter 7...Sin and Mistake...Practice Act of Contrition

Math:2D and 3D figures, rectangles

Spelling: Please review words on the lined paper that comes home on Monday evening, and the words to learn in your child’s binder.

Science: Pumkinology

Social Studies:  Studies Weekly