Mrs. Porter’s Newsletter

Feb. 25th-Mar. 1^st, 2013

 

Calendar of Events-Riley Week

Tuesday-Feb.26^th-           Bring a $3 donation and you may wear jeans and a

                                      red shirt

                                       15 minute Walk in the gym

Wednesday, Feb. 27^th-    8:00AM Stations of the Cross

                                        8:30AM All School Mass

Thursday, Feb. 28^th-        Field trip to Eli Lilly-Please bring a sack lunch to

                                      School.

                                       Happy Birthday Alex!

Friday, March 1^st-            Irish Dancers at 10:00 in the gym

                                       Happy birthday Dr. Seuss!

 

 

NEWS AND NOTES

 

Next week the Student Council is sponsoring Riley Week.  Each classroom has a bucket in the classroom for donations to Riley hospital.  The winning class wins a field trip to tour Riley hospital on March 13^th.  Anybody who donates $3 by Tuesday can wear jeans and a red shirt that day.  There are some events planned during the week to educate us about what happens through the Riley foundation.

 

On Friday, March 1^st, we will be celebrating Dr. Seuss’s birthday.  I am asking students to bring in any Dr. Seuss books from home to share during the week.  They will bring these back home on Friday.

 

WANTS AND WISHES

 

I wanted to thank everyone for donating Kleenex boxes to our classroom.  I really appreciate the help!  Some other items that we are getting very low on are paper towels, pencils, and erasers.  If you have any of these items that you would like to donate, we could really use them!

 

 

REMINDERS

 

• Continue to contribute to the rice bowl during Lent. 
• Make sure you take your Mass Journal to mass and bring it to school on Monday.
• March 13^th and 14^th are half days-March 13^th are mandatory student-led conferences from 1-8.
• The First in Math page is due on Thursday, Feb. 28^th signed by a parent.  Please look for these over the weekend.  I have 9 students who did not bring them in today.

 

 

HERE’S THE SCOOP FOR NEXT WEEK

 

Reading-Prepare for Student-led conferences/Small group reading/Daily 5

Spelling-Unit 21-Suffixes, ABC order

Religion- Chapter 14-We receive the gift of Jesus

Math- Begin Unit 7-Parts of a whole, parts of a group

Social Studies-Government

 

 

 

 

Mrs. Porter’s Newsletter

Feb. 18^th-22^nd, 2013

 

Calendar of Events

Monday, Feb. 18th-President’s Day-NO SCHOOL

Wednesday, Feb. 20^th-8:30AM All School Mass-This is our class mass.

 

NEWS AND NOTES

 

We have booked our first field trip to the Lilly building.  This field trip has some excellent lessons based on each grade level’s standards.  The second and third grade will be going on Thursday, Feb. 28^th.  The fee for field trips was included in your school fees.

 

I have recently discovered a new website that your children explored today.  It is www.technologyrocksseriously.com and it’s full of great apps and websites for kids to go to.  Check it out!

 

Everybody who is receiving First Communion this year should have received a letter from the Religious Education office.  The retreat is coming soon!  It will be held on March 10^th.  Just make sure that you have that on your calendar.  We will start working on learning the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes.  These are some other important parts of our faith that second graders are asked to know and understand.  I am sending home a copy of these today.

 

Thank you so much for sending in Valentines!  I appreciate the chocolates, coolie cup, candle, and other goodies that I received on my desk.  I’m so glad that I did not give up chocolate this Lent-ha.  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.

 

Don’t forget to check your child’s school progress on www.mystudentsprogress.com.  I will be adding more grades in Science, Social Studies, and Religion throughout the rest of the quarter.

 

 

 

Reading-Small group work/Daily 5/Story mapping

*****There will be no spelling words this week.

English-Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives

Religion- Chapter 4-We Listen

Math- Begin Unit 7-Fractions

Social Studies-Our Government

Mrs. Porter’s Newsletter

Feb. 11^th-15th

Calendar of Events

Tuesday, Feb. 12th-12:00-Valentine’s Day party-please see the e-mail from the school office about ordering candy grams or paying to wear jeans that day

Wednesday, Feb. 13th-8:30AM All School Mass-Ash Wednesday

Monday, Feb. 19th-No School-Presidents Day

NEWS AND NOTES

Tuesday is our Valentine’s Day parties!    I ask that students do not put names on the Valentines.  They can sign them, but it’s much easier to pass out if they aren’t “individualized.”  Our class has 23 students.  The party will begin at noon and all are welcome.  We will be decorating our bags to put the valentines in that morning. 

Yesterday, your child brought home a Rice Bowl for Lent.  Traditionally, these have been used in Catholic households to try and save extra change for those who need help.  At the end of Lent, you will turn your rice bowl in to the church.  I will encourage students to take a little extra time during the season to think of how to help others.  Maybe your child can do some extra work around the house to earn money for those in need.  We will talk about this in the classroom.

Thanks so much to all those who have donated Kleenex boxes and paper towels!  This is always the time of year when our supplies start running low, so I appreciate all of your help in stocking my closet.

The second and third grade classes are in the process of deciding where we would like to go on our field trips.  We are going to try and go on at least 2 sometime in the spring.  I will keep you posted on what we decide.

Our class mass is coming soon.  We will be in charge of the mass on Wednesday, Feb. 20^th.  If your child did not have a part at our last class mass, they will have one for this one.  I do have a list that tells me what each student has done for masses this year. 

I am so proud of how many students are remembering to fill in their mass journals.  Even if you don’t go to mass, you can find the readings for the day online.  It would be great if you share the readings with your child over the weekend and then he/she can reflect in the mass journal.  This weekend, students are asked to write a reflection on week number 6. 

Here’s the scoop for next week:

Reading-Valentine’s stories/Daily 5/Small group work with vocab./comprehension-complete biography unit

Spelling-Unit 20-prefixes-nouns/verbs, plurals, and spelling of /s/.

Religion- Chapter 3-We are forgiven

Math-Collecting and organizing Data

Social Studies-President’s Day activities

Mrs. Porter’s Newsletter       

Feb. 4-8, 2013

 

Calendar of Events

Wednesday, Feb.6th-All School Mass-8:30AM

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

 

NEWS AND NOTES

Last night, I assigned a family religion page for homework.  I then forgot to remind the students to put their religion books in their backpacks.  So, they will be coming home with the books for the weekend.  Please try and take a few moments to talk about page 11 with your child.  We are beginning our preparation for First Communion.  Your child is also bringing home his/her mass journal.  Once again, I ask that he/she take this to mass over the weekend and jot some notes in it. 

Bring it back to school on Monday morning.  We are on week 5 in the journal.  If your family is unable to make it to mass, please jot that down in the journal. 

 

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!  Since Ash Wednesday falls on Feb. 13^th this year, the school will be celebrating with Valentine’s parties on Fat Tuesday-Feb. 12^th.  Please have your child sign and bring 23 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!  The party will start at 12:00 that day since our class has specials at 12:55.

 

Our classroom is down to our last box of tissues.  This season has been tough!  If you can donate some boxes to our classroom, we would sure appreciate it!

 

I have received one package of local college items for the Reverse Raffle basket.  Please refer to Mrs. Moyar’s e-mail about items to donate for our basket.   Thank you so much!

 

Week at a Glance:

 

Reading- Biographies; small group work

Religion- Chapter 2-We Gather

Math-Unit 4-Organizing and collecting data

Science-Complete Air and Weather

Spelling-Unit 19-ar words; ly suffix, contractions

 

 

 

 

News from Mrs. Porter’s Class

Jan. 28-Feb. 1, 2013

 

Calendar of Events

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

Talent Show in the gym-6:00PM-Bring canned food for admission

 

It’s Catholic School’s Week!!  We will be celebrating Catholic School’s with a theme each day.

 

News and Notes

 

Monday-       Bully prevention day-Wear a purple shirt with uniform

                    pants/jumpers

Tuesday-      Service day-Wear a green shirt with gym pants

****One of the homework assignments that night will be to

          complete an act of “service” at home:  Clean your room, help

          with the dishes, read to your baby brother/sister, call you

          grandparents, etc.  I will want the kids to write down their

          service for the evening. 

Wednesday-Friendship Day-Wear a yellow shirt with uniform pants/jumpers

Thursday-   Pink with a purpose day-Wear an appropriate pink top/ribbon

                    with uniform pants.  This can be any cause close to your heart. 

                    (Relative with cancer, in memory of someone who has died, etc.)

Friday-        Green and Gold Day!  Wear your spirit wear.  Staff vs. Eighth

                    grade volleyball game at 1:00PM

 

I appreciate all students who turned in a coloring page for the coloring contest.  I had some wonderful ideas and pictures in here!

 

Don’t forget to remind your child to take his/her Mass journal to church over the weekend.  All students need to bring this back on Monday.  If you can’t make it to mass, please have your child jot a note on page 4 that your couldn’t make it. 

 

For the second week in a row our class is leading First in Math in the whole school.  Way to go!  Please continue to work on Just the Facts addition and Skip Math.  Over the weekend, I will be checking each student’s progress in every area and assigning new goals for students who have passed each challenge that I have set.

 

Week at a Glance

 

Religion-Complete Chapter 1-Sacraments of Initiation

Reading-Small groups/Daily 5/Amelia Bedilia/Biographies

Spelling-Unit 18 words:  another, came, come, work, three, friend, house, school, wanted, left

Math-Unit 3 test on Tuesday, Begin Unit on Data

Science-Air and Weather

Mrs. Porter’s Second Grade News

Jan. 21-25, 2013

 

Calendar of Events

 

 

Monday, January 21^st-No School-Martin Luther King, JR Day

Tuesday, January 22^nd-Coloring Contest paper is due

Wednesday, January 23^rd-8:30AM-All School Mass

 

 

News and Notes

On Wednesday, all of the students received a Mass journal. Father has asked that the students bring these journals to church over the weekend and jot down any thoughts that they may have about the mass in the journal. On Monday mornings during circle time, I will have the students share their journals with the class. If the student is not catholic, he/she may jot down notes from his/her own celebration. If you did not make it to mass, please make a note of that on the journal page. This weekend, students should be writing on the third page since it’s the third Sunday of the year. These journals were provided by the school, so make sure to remind your child to take good care of it.

I am sending your child’s benchmark results home today. Please look over these scores. I was very pleased with the progress that the students have shown this year. If you do have a child whose scores went down, I have made a note of it and we will be working on some strategies for how to bring it up next time. One strategy that we will be starting with the third grade teachers is to break all 2/3 students up in to the appropriate leveled reading group. We are really hoping that each student will be able to accomplish some individual goals by being in an appropriate leveled group. This will take place during Daily 5 reading time and the teachers are working hard to set up the groups and activities that will take place. As always, these groups will be very flexible and fluid.

Your student needs to bring his/her First Communion book to school. We will begin our lessons about this special sacrament next week.

The winner of our class spelling bee was Madison Hines and the runner up was Keaton Thibo. On Wednesday, January 23^rd, Madison will be recognized at the School spelling bee. Way to go!

Last week, I sent home information about a coloring contest that the second graders are participating in for Catholic School’s week. Please have you child complete the sheet that was attached and turn this in on Tuesday.

Please continue to send in socks and shoes for the children of Honduras. We also continue to collect Box Tops.

Ask your child how his Daily 5 book bag is doing. I am asking any student whose bag is torn, or the straps have broken, to please donate $1.00 to replace it. We did buy these bags at the beginning of the year with the hope that we would be able to use these each year. Unfortunately, some students haven’t taken the best care of the bag. Thanks so much!

Finally, our class has earned a special celebration based on our good behavior as a group. We work together to fill in a "pencil" in the front of the room by walking quietly in the hallways, lining up correctly in the classroom, and earning complements during Unified Arts classes. Next Friday, we will have a Game Day to celebrate. The students are allowed to bring in any games/toys from home to play with. This includes electronic devices as well. We will see if we can earn another fun day by the end of the year!

Reading- Small group work/biographies

Spelling-No spelling this week

Religion- Chapter 1 in First Communion book

Math -Tens and Ones/Counting by 2s, 5s, 10s

Science- Air and Weather

 

Calendar of Events

Sunday, January 13^th-First Communion meeting at 4:30PM.  Meet in the church.  One parent must be present with your child.

Monday, January 14^th-Honors ceremony for the second quarter at 7:45AM

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

Friday, January 18^th-Class Spelling Bee-The winner will be announced at the School Spelling Bee on January 23^rd.

 

The benchmark testing has been going really well this week.  I am very pleased with a lot of the results.  Most of the students have scores that have improved.  If you have a child who didn’t improve, I have noted this and will be working on new strategies for how to teach him/her to their best ability.  The scores will be coming home next Friday so please look for that and discuss it with your child.  I did have a few students retake the test because they rushed through it.  Their scores reflect what can happen when we take our time and do our very best.

 

You have received several reminders about the First Communion meeting scheduled for Sunday at 4:30AM in the church.  Parking will be limited because of the large visitation for Mr. O’Donnell. What an exciting time for these second graders.  We will begin our lessons on the Eucharist in the next few weeks.

 

Before Christmas break, I sent home the second grade spelling bee words with each student.  All students will participate in our class spelling bee.  Encourage your child to review these words each night and maybe he/she will be our winner!

 

The Family Connect for the lifeline “Problem Solving” is due on Monday.  I would like to see a little work at the bottom of the page by each student.  Have your child write 2-3 ideas about how to solve a problem.  We will continue to work on Just the Facts-addition for one more week.  I only have a couple of students who haven’t achieved at least 50% complete.  Keep up the great work!  I will be looking for students who can achieve 100% by next Friday!

 

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.

 

Thank you for sending in the dove for your child.  I am very close to having everybody’s here at school.  I really appreciate it! 

 

Finally, you will be receiving your child’s progress report for the second quarter today.  Printing of the actual report cards continues to be an issue and we’re working to resolve that.  Please make sure that you continue to check your child’s progress on www.mystudentsprogress.com. 

 

 

Reading- Fables/Nonfiction in small groups/Martin  Luther King stories

English/LA-Homophones

Spelling-Long i/spelling patterns/words that rhyme

Religion- Chapter 5

Math-Even and Odd/ Tens and Ones

Science-Air and Weather