Highlights of Week3

We kept track of our thinking as we tried to answer the question, "What do mealworms, or any living creature, need to survive?"  We very quickly narrowed it down to food, water, air and shelter.  

Students worked in small groups to brainstorm the needs of mealworms.  Answers were recorded in their scientist's notebooks!

During math we each worked on coming up with "equivalent names" for a family member.  The kiddos learned a whole bunch of Mrs. Pols's silly nicknames.....

Here are the magic ingredients for our mealworms' diet.  Each child got a container with two mealworms, the food and an apple slice for moisture.

This week we learned to practice our spelling words in a different way - "Rainbow Words!"

On Thursday we spent part of writing workshop sharing our small moment stories with small groups.

All week we worked on genre in reading workshop.  Students are learning to identify books that are fiction, nonfiction, realistic fiction and fairy tales.

During math on Friday we used calculators to skip count and solve broken calculator problems.

More author share!

On Friday we took some time to reacquaint ourselves with Chrombook procedures.  Students "joined" our Google Classroom and then chose from activities such as Everyday Math games and Tumblebooks.  

Everyday Math has a great site for playing games and skill building.  All students brought home login info this weekend if they want to try it at home.

Friday afternoon's writing mini lesson was on using punctuation when we write.  We used punctuation cards to help identify if sentences we heard used a  period, exclamation point or question mark. 

Highlights of the Week

During math we worked with partners to practice the principles of collaboration.

The kids loved time to explore making patterns with geoboards and pattern blocks as part of math time.

We learned slate routines this week as we practiced making tally marks to count in groups of 5.

This partnership met to share and discuss potential ideas for their first small moment story.

Got books?  2-P does and we love to read already.  This is during DEAR time (Drop Everything and Read).

On Thursday we played a game to build number sense called, "Roll it, Write it, Tally it."

Students learned one way to practice their differentiated spelling lists.  We did it on slates this week and next week we will add "Rainbow Words" to our repertoire.

We ended up having our first indoor recess on Thursday when the storm hit.  The kids played trains, legos, and math games on the rug while the rain came down.

More inside recess fun

During our first writing workshop session students began to work on their initial small moment story.

Snack and a math game on Friday - we learned the "Number Grid" game - a fantastic game that builds number sense and facilitates use of the number grid in counting by 1s and adding 10s efficiently.

These mathematicians are working on part of our class number scroll - we each took part in creating a scroll from 0 to 1,000!

Highlights of our First Few Days

On Wednesday we read First Day Jitters and each of us wrote about a time that we had them!  

Each student completed an "All About Me" page.  You will see these on our lockers at Open House!

Together we wrote a "Classroom Contract" to help us think carefully about how we want our classroom to run.  So many fabulous ideas.  On Thursday we all signed it!

After working hard on a beginning-of-the-year math assessment we loved some time to make pattern block designs with friends.

In our first writing workshop we sat "knee-to-knee, eye-to-eye" with a buddy and told them some things that would make good small moment stories.

Each partnership did a great job looking at and listening to their classmates!

We had a good time decorating our writing folders to reflect who we are and what we enjoy doing.

8-29-18

Dear Families,

We had a wonderful first half-day together in second grade.  We spent some time getting to know each other and getting familiar with the classroom through a scavenger hunt.   We spent some time on the playground, while Mrs. Pols took our first day pictures.  We practiced how to line up alphabetically (all 19 of them did it with only one practice - amazing!), how to use our new lockers and how to know when I need their attention. We read a great book called First Day Jitters and wrote about times we've felt nervous in our lives.

This group impressed me with their enthusiasm and great listening!  As a class we wrote our class contract to help us decide what kind of a class we wanted to have.  The students came up with fabulous ideas! I typed it as they brainstormed. Here it is:

Our Classroom Contract

Our classroom will be a happy place.  We will do our best and have positive attitudes.  We will be nice to everyone in our class and school.  In our class we will share and use kind words. We will offer our help and check on our friends.  We work out problems respectfully. We look at our friends and our teacher when they are talking and listen to them carefully.  We are respectful and safe. We follow the Woolwich Way every day.

As always on the first day there is a lot of paperwork in your child’s folder.  Please return these items to school as quickly as possible.  Please be sure to fill out and/or sign BOTH sides of each form.  I have a detailed newsletter for you also, but will give you time to digest the other forms tonight.

I’m looking forward to a great year with your children and look forward to meeting you or seeing you again soon.

Sincerely,

Beth Pols

***Maine Midcoast Alliance is sponsoring a great event called Set For Success on August 19th at Bath Middle School from 10 am to 3 pm.  All RSU 1 students are welcome to come for free school supplies and backpacks.  Be sure to check it out.  They have tons of great supplies on hand at no cost to families.  Set for Success Brochure 2 (1 page) (1).pdf 

August 5, 2018

Dear Families,
Hello to everyone! I hope you are having an enjoyable summer. I am writing to let you know a few things about the start of the school year.

Below is a suggested list of supply items students will need. Please let me know if this is a problem for you so that we can help out. I have extras of many of these items in the room and items from last year can certainly be re-used!  

*pencils *2 glue sticks *scissors

*1 yellow highlighter *crayons

*a durable, plastic 2-pocket folder to be the  “Take-Home Folder”

*a pack of cap erasers * pencil box

*1 box of tissues

*hard-cover  3-ring binder, 1 and 1/2 inches in size (for portfolio )

*4 pocket folders, 1 red, 1 blue, 1 green, 1 yellow ( with fasteners)

*ear buds (for use with our Chromebooks - can use last year’s set)

Mr Hutchings likes students to have a pair of sneakers to leave at school for P.E. if possible. Everyday shoes cannot be worn in the gym. Students will be able to leave these in their locker and they do not need to be new. I will send home a schedule with our PE days as soon as I have it.

Please remember it is always wise to label your child’s belongings with a permanent marker (lunch box, backpack, outer wear).

Odds and Ends

First Day of School: Wednesday, August 29, 2018! The first day is NOT a late start, but every Wednesday afterwards will be late start.  School begins at 8:25 and ends at 3:00 p.m. We do ask that students are not dropped off earlier than 8:25 as we are preparing our rooms, materials and lessons for the day.

Snack: We have snack every morning at around 9:45 a.m. Students should bring a healthy, nutritious snack daily. Students should also bring their water bottle to school every day. We have a fountain right at our sink for easy refilling.

Lunch: Students may purchase hot lunch for $2.65. Each day there is a main meal and also a choice for students who do not want the main selection. Milk can be purchased for 55 cents. Breakfast is available daily for $1.45. It is best to send lunch/milk money on Mondays as it makes it easiest for the kitchen staff to keep track. All meals should be pre-paid. When you send lunch/milk money in an envelope for me, please label it clearly with your child’s name and the amount of money in the envelope. You can also pay online at https:/www.myschoolbucks.com or by personal check made payable to RSU #1 School Lunch Program. (I will have your child’s code in September if you need it. It will be the same as last year.)

E-mail: My e-mail address is bpols@rsu1.org. Please feel free to get in touch if I can answer any questions for you.

Lockers: Each child will have a spacious locker right outside our classroom. This will be helpful for storing sneakers, backpacks, lunches and outer wear. It is a great idea to send a complete change of clothes in a plastic bag; this can be stored on the top shelf of your child’s locker and will save you a trip to school if your child has an accident or gets wet/muddy at recess.

Class Blog: I have a classroom blog which can be found at this link: http://mrspolsssecondgrade.blogspot.com or off the Woolwich school website. There is a space in the upper right hand corner where you can “subscribe” to receive any updates via email. There won’t be much there over the summer, but once the school year starts I try to post updates and pictures weekly. There are also links with other information about our classroom.

I will send home more information about second grade in a newsletter the first week of school. I have included a parent survey for you to fill out and return with your child in September. I am so excited about beginning a journey of learning and fun with you and your child.

Sincerely,

Beth Pols

P.S. Families often ask if we need any supplies for the classroom. Below is a list of frequently-used items if you would like to contribute at anytime:

-cleaning wipes and/or baby wipes

-tissues

-bottles of hand soap, pump-style  and hand sanitizer

-extra snacks (crackers, pretzels, raisins)

Highlights of our Last Week

Proudly awaiting our visitors….

Here is each student with their bird display.  

This group put on a fun version of Stone Soup with Mrs. Smith!

In the middle of the scavenger hunt at Reid State Park on Tuesday

After the scavenger hunt we showed off our collections.

We LOVE to play Mummy Ball with Mrs. Reny at the end of Guidance class.

This is some serious spelling practice!

Big work in the sand

Proud sister with older brother at the fourth grade Wax Museum

On Friday morning these busy worker bees helped pass out dozens of pages for our portfolios.  I was grateful for so much help.

Visiting the wax museum and learning about a famous Mainer

Many crabs were found at the beach.

These kids will "Floss" anywhere!

The water wasn't exactly warm…...

This look tells you about the temperature of the lagoon!