Patriot's Day Thursday
In honor of Patriot's Day on September 11, please have your child wear red, white, and blue to school this Thursday.
September 09, 2008
September 04, 2008
No Family Journals
Due to the short week, there will be no Family Journals on Thursday, September 4. Thank you for your understanding.
September 03, 2008
September Dates to Remember
9/1: Labor Day--no school
9/5: GM Spirit Day (Wear your school shirt); Sally Foster ends; Movie Night @ 6:30
9/8: Reading Night @ 6:00
9/13: GM Habitat Day @ 9:00 a.m.
9/22: Wee Deliver begins
9/25: Carvel's Spirit Day @ 3:00 p.m.; School Council mtg.
9/26: Parenting Wkshp at GM
Ice Cream for Addition Competition
Our Ice Cream for Addition Competition is well under way! Currently, we have students who have passed their +3 and therefore earned their bananas. Keep studying and be prepared each Wednesday and Friday for a timed test. Don't get left behind at the party (date TBA). We'd like to see EVERYONE eating the ENTIRE banana split (smile)!
August 29, 2008
Family Journals
This is a friendly reminder that your child has brought home a Family Journal on Friday, August 29. Please respond to your child by writing him or her a friendly letter. Please remember to model good handwriting, capitalization, and punctuation. We will be reading your letters next week; so please have your child return the Family Journal on Tuesday, September 2. Thanks for your support.
August 28, 2008
What We're Learning
We've had a busy, but fun two weeks of school! The learning keeps getting better! In math, we have been working toward representing and comparing numbers (M2N1). Students have enjoyed making books titled Ways to Show a Number, rotating through centers to compare numbers using base ten blocks, and using a paper plate as a medium to draw various ways to show a number. In the near future, we'll be conducting surveys and using stickers to create pictographs and our markers to draw bar graphs. Then, we'll work to interpret our graphs (M2D1).
In language arts, we've been comparing and contrasting Louanne and Arnie in Louanne Pig in Making the Team. It's been fun choosing partners with whom we can complete our work! Soon, we'll be learning the steps of the writing process through the Writing Process Song (sung to Row, Row, Row Your Boat). Then, we'll be selecting friends to interview. From there, we will use our generated ideas to write a narrative that compares and contrasts ourselves with our friends (ELA2W1 a-j). We'll even use the stamps and drawing tools in KidPix in the computer lab to complete a self portrait (T.M2N3.12).
Science can often be confused with playtime in our classroom as we begin to investigate changes of matter by tearing, dissolving, melting, and squeezing (S2P1.b). There's no better way to achieve this objective than by creating a mixture of trail mix and making a glass of Kool-Aid with dissolved sugar. We'll also use a heated skillet (teacher supervision--smile) and an ice cube to observe the changes of evaporation and condensation.
August 25, 2008
Sally Foster Fundraising
Way to go Mrs. Smith's and Mrs. Brown's class! Currently, we are tied for 2nd place in the Sally Foster fundraising campaign. Each Thursday, your child will receive a raffle ticket to be entered into a drawing depending upon how many items he / she has sold. In addition, the 2nd grade class that has sold the MOST items at the end of the week receives extra recess and a treat. Keep selling and help support GM!
August 24, 2008
Ice Cream for Addition!
To help promote GM's school improvement goal in computation, our class will be participating in the Ice Cream for Addition competition. Students are required to be able to solve at least 90 basic addition problems (sums to 18) in 7 minutes or less. To encourage students to meet (or exceed--smile!) that goal, we will give them one part of a banana split sundae for each progressive timed test that they pass with 90% or better. Here are the rewards for each timed test:
+0/1: bowl
+2: spoon
+3: banana
+4: ice cream scoop
+5: ice cream scoop
+6: ice cream scoop
+7: topping
+8: whipped cream
+9: cherry
+10: certificate of completion
Timed tests will be taken each Wednesday and Friday, with the first one beginning this week. The deadline of the ice cream party is TBA. Start studying and good luck!
Hint: Feel free to make copies of the mixed addition practice as seen in your Open House info for more practice. :)
New Standards Based Report Card
All Georgia students are expected to meet the Georgia Performance Standards (GPS). The GPS outline what each student should know, understand, and be able to do in core content areas. The report card used in previous years evaluated students' progress against the state curriculum (QCC) at that time. To more effectively communicate your student's progress toward meeting the GPS, a more descriptive evaluation tool is needed.
Last year, the kindergarten standards-based report card was introduced. Parent feedback was very positive. The standards-based report card enabled parents to see clearly the extent to which their child met the state standards.
This year, first and second grades will be introduced to a standards-based report card. As in kindergarten, the purpose is to provide clear communication to students and parents on the student's progress toward meeting the standards.
The standards-based report card will use the following system to report progress:
3 consistently meeting the standard
2 progressing toward meeting the standard
1 limited or minimum progress toward meeting the standard
When using a standards-based report card, each student is assessed to determine to what extent (3, 2, or 1) he/she demonstrates mastery of the standard.
This will be a transition time for the county as we use the first and second grade report cards and draft the standards-based report cards for third, fourth, and fifth grades. Our parents and teachers are invaluable resources for our county and we welcome input to help us better communicate with one another.
As we discussed at Open House, there are two types of assessments--formative assessments and summative assessments. Formative assessments do not count toward the final report card evaluation but provide opportunities for students to practice the skill and for teachers to drive their instruction based on students' needs. On the other hand, summative assessments are administered at the conclusion of a unit and are factored into the report card evaluation. Papers within the Thursday Take Home Folders will be marked with either a check (observational purposes only), formative, or summative AND the number that corresponds to the extent that your student met the expectation (1, 2, or 3).
If you have further questions, please don't hesitate to contact Mrs. Smith or Mrs. Brown. We're happy to speak with you!
