Monica Ros School

November 9-13, 2009

Thank you to all parents for a fabulous parent conference week.  I sure enjoyed meeting with all of you regarding your incredible children!  Thank you to Alison Curwen for her great presentation and for being our first guest speaker regarding her profession.  Thank you to Tyler’s grandma, Margaret Whitney, who was our “Mystery Reader” this week. 

Nov. 16 – 20, 2009

“Turkeys Go On Strike” play this Thursday is at 11:00am!  Welcome back Jane and Kate! We missed you. Thank you to Shea D. Tyler’s Mom, who was our “Mystery Reader” last wee!  Happy Thanksgiving! Have a fantastic holiday with your families.

Last minute Field trip to the Oak Tree House to perform our “Turkeys Go on Strike” play.  Please return your permission slip on Tuesday 11/17 since the field trip is Wed. 11/18.

This Week’s News November 2-6, 2009

 This is Parent Conference Week. All students will be dismissed at 12:00 noon. There won’t be hot lunches this week so please bring your lunch, if you are staying in daycare.

 Thank you to all our parent drivers and chaperones that helped with our Shelf Road Hike Field Trip. We had a fantastic time! Wow…. All of our second graders are incredible hikers, artists, and photographers!

 Thank you to Mrs. Sakai and Mrs. Pope for decorating our Second Grade door and cubbies so festively for Halloween. Trick or Treating at Monica Ros Friday night. We sure appreciate all your help and time passing our candy to all the children!

 Thank you to Mrs. Speer and Mrs. Zahringer for fun=filled festive Halloween Party on Friday! We all had a terrific time and we sure appreciate the decorations, cupcakes, cookies, goodie bags, and festivities!

 The Monica Ros Thanksgiving Feast is Friday. November 20th. The cost is $5.00 per child.

 Our play is scheduled for Thursday November 19th at 11am. We will be having a potluck/cast party in our classroom for the children and their families, right after the performance.

 Homework: Please memorize all you lines and songs for “Turkeys on Strike” this week. We will not be using our scripts for play practice beginning Monday, November 9th. Consequently there are no spelling words, reading logs or homework assignments this week. If you have extra time, please read your chapter book for your next “book celebration” which is due November 30th.

 Dear Parents, October 26, 2009

 In conjunction with the study of “Our Community” in social studies, the second graders are learning about the different types of jobs/professions of adult community members. I would like to invite you to share your profession with our class (daily duties and responsibilities, professional training, etc.) If time permits in your schedule, please let me know what day and time works best for you during the months of November and December.

 Thank you to “Grandma Joyce,” Lillian’s grandmother, who was our “Mystery Reader” last week!

Our first “Book Celebration” is due on Friday, October 30th. Please be prepared to present your “Book Celebration” and bring your book on Friday. Just a reminder – Reading minutes are 20 minutes per night Monday – Thursday.

Please refer to your B.E.A.R. Binder for homework. Please practice the “Turkeys on Strike” songs with your CDs at home. Please practice your character lines as well at home and return your script to school each day. Thank you for helping conserve paper so we don’t need to make additional copies for home.

 Weekly News October 19 – 23, 2009

Thank you to all of our parent drivers that helped with our field trip to Faulkner Farms. Despite the heat and humidity, all of the children had a fantastic time! The hay ride, broom corn forest, hay pyramid, hay maze, petting zoo and learning how a pumpkin grows were fun and enriching for all the children! Thank you to Kathy_Speer who was our class “Mystery Reader”, last week!

Weekly News October 5-9, 2009

Happy Renaissance Theme Week!

Thank you to Wanda_Sakai, our “Mystery Reader”, last week.

Thank you to Alison_Curwen, our “Shining Star” parent reader last week!

Just a reminder…..please let me know if you would like extra practice or challenge work sent home in addition to regular homework.

 Weekly News September 28-October2, 2009

Stapley is our “Star of the Week” this week!

It was so nice to see everyone at Fiesta. Thank you to all of our parent volunteers that worked at Fiesta and to our Room Parents, Donna_Pope and Wanda_Sakai for all their time and hard work with Fiesta’s “El Mercado”

Thank you to everyone who donated raffle items for Fiesta. Thank you to Theresa_Vhynal, our Mystery Reader last week.

Congratulations to all the second graders for earning their ice cream party on Friday, 9/25! We all had a great time celebrating all their hard work and accomplishments!

 Weekly News September 21-25, 2009

Kiana is “star of the week” this week!

Thank you to our parents who drove to the Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens last Thursday! It was a fun and educational experience for everyone. Please stop by our classroom to see the beautiful watercolor paintings that the children pained while we were there!

Please stop by the library to see our artwork from art class displayed.

Thank you to Megan_Carney, our “Mystery Reader”, what fun!

 Weekly News September 14-18, 2009

Riley is our “Star of the Week!”

Our field trip to the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden is this Thursday, 9/17. Please bring a sack lunch for our picnic after our tour. We need to leave at 8:30am so please arrive to school at 8:20am. We will return to Monica Ros by 1pm.

In Social Studies, we will complete our study of “Me, Myself, and I” and continue our map skills unit.

In Science, we will continue our study of plant life. Please bring a plastic 2 liter bottle to school by 9/21 for our terrariums.

 Weekly News September 7-11, 2009

Alice is our “Star of the Week!”

Monica Ros Family Picnic is on Wednesday, Sept 9 at 6pm

Teacher Read Aloud is “Autumn Leaves” and “Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. A Rookie Biography.”

In Science, we will continue our study of plant life.

In Social Studies, we will continue our study of map skills and “Me, Myself, and I.”

 Weekly August 31 – September 4, 2009

Rubens Burritos provides hot lunch on Tuesdays and Ojai Pizza is served on Thursdays, Hot Lunch begins this week.

Special Subject teachers begin this week.

Our teacher read aloud story is Chrysanthemum this week.

We will begin our study of plant life in science this week.

We will continue our study of “Me, Myself, and I” and begin map skills in Social Studies this week.

Thank you to all our parent volunteers that signed up to help as room parents and also with special events this year. Please see the sign-up sheet in our classroom if you would like to help out in Second Grade.

  October 15, 2009

Dear Parents,

What an incredible group of second graders!  All of the students are enthusiastic learners, diligent workers, and kind and supportive team members.  I am so proud of all the children and appreciate how well they have adjusted to the many responsibilities of second grade and also to the curriculum. Please continue, as I will, to encourage and support them in these areas.

Language Arts:  I am very impressed with the tremendous progress I have seen in my students’ daily writing journals.  Each student’s creative ideas are now freely flowing from their mind/heart to their respective journals with increased accuracy in phonics, spelling, grammar, and writing mechanics.  Daily Oral Language is also progressing nicely.  The children are improving dramatically in grammar, spelling, punctuation, and proofreading.  Learning the parts of speech has also been a primary focus in Language Arts.  To date, we have learned about nouns, adjectives, and verbs.  We are also enjoying our study of synonyms and antonyms.  The students have demonstrated strong skills as “Dictionary Detectives” while learning about alphabetical order and I’m very pleased with each child’s progress in this specific area as well.  We are working hard in spelling with weekly spelling and challenge words in addition to working in our Spellwell and Explode the Code books.  Learning about poetry has been enriching and we recently wrote our first Haiku.  Writing our Haikus also gave the students practice in syllable division.  It has been fun analyzing different poems in Tommy dePaola’s Poetry Book.  We continue to do SSR (Sustained Silent Reading) or Teacher Read Aloud for the first fifteen minutes after lunch each day.  Our first “Book Celebration” is due on Friday, October 30^th.  Students will be asked to complete a “Book Celebration” once a month throughout their second grade year.  Each “Book Celebration” will be a unique activity to encourage your child in his/her independent reading as well assisting with reading comprehension, critical thinking, and literary analysis skills. Please remind your student to read at least twenty minutes each evening and to record the data on their reading logs.  Also, our “Mystery Reader” program has been very successful and the students are having a terrific time analyzing the clues and guessing who our “Mystery Reader” is for the week.  Thank you to all the parents who have already been our “Mystery Reader” and to those who have sent in their clues and preferred reading dates.  Our class also has the nice opportunity to read to their Kindergarten Buddies every Wednesday at 11:45 AM! They are all fantastic mentors and role models for our Kindergarten Buddies.  It is extremely exciting to observe the second graders in this leadership role and they always look forward to the valuable time shared with their buddies.

Math:  Addition and subtraction strategies have been the primary focus the past several weeks. The “Counting On” strategy is very helpful and used with time and calendars.  The “Make Ten” strategy facilitates the counting of larger numbers.  This week, we are learning the tens and ones place value position in working with two digit numbers.  Math facts are another emphasis and the students are progressing well on their timed math facts challenge quizzes.  We are also learning the concept of telling time on analogue/ rotary clocks and plan to focus more in depth on this concept in the next couple of months.  We are playing a variety of math games and are also using math manipulatives to help reinforce the concepts we are learning.  If you are interested, I would recommend the following internet sites for extra challenge and math practice:  1) www.aaamath.com 2) www.hotmath.com 3) www.harcourtschool.com  Please encourage your child to be involved in math in their daily lives by asking them to count change, estimate time, practice telling time, or find patterns in everyday life and nature.  Additionally, please help your child become automatic with math facts by playing games and practicing with flash cards at home.  The best learning takes place when we are having fun!

Science:  What super second grade scientists in our class!  In addition to the science curriculum, we have been conducting numerous activities to help us better understand plant life.  The students have enjoyed learning about different types of leaves, parts of a plant and flower, the respective functions of the plant and flower parts, and the essential components necessary for plants to grow.  We have been working hard in our plant life science journals and look forward to measuring and documenting the daily growth of our lima bean plants which we planted last Friday.

Social Studies:  We have concluded our study of “All About Me” and have been primarily focusing on map skills.  I am very proud of our cartographers for their hard work and accomplishments in this unit.  We will continue our map skills along with geography studies throughout the year, but our primary focus in social studies will be “Our Community” beginning Monday, 10/19. 

Special Subjects:  The second graders continue to do a fabulous job in Art Class with Ms. Fox, Spanish Class with Ms. Carlson, Music Class with Ms. Zonic, and Physical Education with Mr. Franco.  Please encourage them to share all the enriching activities they are participating in all these special subjects.  Just a reminder….our scheduled Library Day is Monday.  Please return your library books on or before Monday so your child has the opportunity to check-out a new book each week.  

Our second grade play, “Turkeys on Strike” will be presented on Thursday, November 19^th at 11:00 AM.  In addition to our practice at school, please encourage your children to practice their character lines and songs at home.  A copy of the script and CD of songs will be sent home in your child’s B.E.A.R. Binder on Monday, 10/19.

Our field trip to Faulkner Farms is this Friday, 10/16.  We will be leaving Monica Ros at 9:15 AM.  Please wear comfortable clothing, sunscreen, and bring a lunch for a picnic at Faulkner Farms following our tour.  We expect to return to Monica Ros by 1:00 PM.

Thank you for sharing your incredible children with me.  I appreciate your dedication, support and collaboration in regards to your child’s education and I am thrilled to be your child’s Second Grade Teacher at Monica Ros School. 

Fondly,

Kerri_Griffee                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Renaissance Week – Second Grade Quotable Quotes

Riley:  “I loved making the pony prancers, the jousting, the weaving machine, hat making and wax museum.”

Meg:  “I really liked Renaissance Week.  The feast was fun and tasty.”

Stapley:  “Renaissance Week was awesome!” I saw my sister, Darcy at the wax museum.”

Jane:  “Renaissance Week was fun!  I liked the feast and horse races with our lineages.”

Kate:  “Everything was fun, especially when Mrs. Griffee dressed up!”

Lillian:  “I loved to play all the games during Renaissance Week.  Thank you so much!”

Tyler:  “I really liked the games, food, hat making, the moat, the feast, and the whole week!”

Alice:  “I liked the wax museum.  I also liked the horse races and castle at the gate.”

Audrey:  I liked the Renaissance Feast, games, horse races, cookies, and everything!”

Arley:  “Thank you for the Renaissance Feast, the weaving machine, and the wax museum.”

Kiana:  “The hat making was really fun.  I also liked the costumes.”

Rhett:  “I liked everything, especially the costumes.  It was neat since all the teachers dressed up.”

January 2009 News
Language Arts: We continue to focus on grammar, specifically verb usage and tenses. We begin our unit on Poetry in honor of Poetry Night (Tuesday, February 10th). The children will learn and author a variety of different styles of poetry and in the weeks ahead will publish a book with their original projects. Spelling and our phonics series, “Explode the Code” continue to be an integral part of our daily language arts work. Please remember to study our outlaw and classroom words for Friday’s Quizzes. Also, please remember to sign and initial your child’s reading log nightly (the required number of minutes of reading has increased to 20 minutes) as part of their homework assignment. Reading aloud and to themselves for part of the time is a crucial piece of mastering fluency. We encourage you to ask your child questions about the story they are reading to check comprehension, especially with “how” and “why” questions. For example, “Why do you think the main character made that choice?, Or “How do you know the main character was feeling sad or happy?” As always, we appreciate your continued support in these areas.

Math: We move from all things Money to Telling Time. As we mentioned earlier, they will not only be brushing up on reading an analog clock but learning the terms, “half past”, “quarter after”, and “five ‘til” to name a few. If your child owns an analog watch, now is the time to encourage them to wear it on a regular basis and practice these terms at home.

Science: In science, we will continue to focus on Simple Machines. We will learn how machines make work easier and discover how all machines are made of one or more simple machines. We will explore the uses of the six types of simple machines: lever, wheel and axle, pulley, inclined plane, screw and wedge.

Just a few dates to mark on your calendar:

Monday, January 19th
Martin Luther King Day (No school)
The children are invited to join us at Libbey Park to sing songs they have rehearsed with Mrs. Zonic. If you are in town, we’d love to have you join us. Monica Ros students (preschool and grade school) go on stage at 11:30am.

Thursday, January 22nd 5:30-6:30pm
“A Day in the Life of a Monica Ros Student”.
This is your chance to join your child and experience a typical day in the second grade. Then you are invited to meet next year’s teacher, Mrs. Buddhu and spend some time in the third grade.

Friday, January 30th 11:00am
Founders Day Celebration
This is a whole school morning program to celebrate Monica Ros’ birthday. Each class from preschool through 3rd grade will present for the school and parents on the black top. Afterwards, please enjoy our art exhibit in Meyer Hall, a culmination of our art projects from the month and of course birthday cake to celebrate Mrs. Ros!

We are grateful and honored to teach your children. They continue to inspire us with their perspectives, stories, creativity and unique personalities. Thank you for your continued support at home with studies and reading.

We wish you a very Happy New Year!

Mrs. Roe Mrs. Ricasata

Click on the following link to hear our gradeschoolers sing the German version of Ode To Joy from this year’s Holiday Program.

Ode An Der Freude

Holiday Greetings from Second Grade!

As you know, this is our last week before our holiday vacation begins. We have had wonderful days of learning and singing in the weeks after Thanksgiving.

LANGUAGE ARTS:

We continue to meet in reading groups 4 times a week and are learning everything there is to know about nouns in grammar. Recognizing proper, common, possessive, singular nouns and learning the tricky spellings of some plural nouns. Verbs will be our focus in the new year. Creative writing continues to be another focus in our daily routine. We are currently focusing on our New Year’s resolutions and hypothetical scuba diving adventures.

MATH:

Money, money, money. Counting and making change is a huge second grade math benchmark we’re mastering. We have built store fronts to go shopping and experience first hand how to make change. Please encourage your money counters to practice with you whether they’re at home counting left over change on the counter or buying groceries at the store. Telling Time will be our next endeavor in math. Not just reading an analog clock but understanding the concepts of half past, quarter to and after, five till, etc.

SOCIAL STUDIES/SCIENCE:

Special thanks to our Santa Barbara Botanical Gardens drivers. What a wonderful experience to explore the grounds and dissect flowers in the lab. Simple Machines (levers, screws, etc.) are our next focus in Science in the new year. And in Social Studies, our Flat Stanleys continue to pour in from all over the Unites States with new adventures to share and places to map.

OTHER NEWS:

We have enjoyed wonderful stories from our Mystery Readers. It continues to be a treat for the children to guess from the clues who will be arriving to tell them a story with a “southern drawl” or share holiday favorites. If you have not yet read and would like to know your scheduled day, please check with Mrs._Roe. Our Adopt-a-Family project was once again a huge success. Thank you for your generous participation in this project. The delivery cars were full of presents and food when they departed Monica Ros last week.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS:

On Tuesday, we are celebrating the first annual “North Pole Day.” Our student council members decided it would be a wonderful idea to have Jack Frost visit our campus. Our second grader council members: Max, Sean and Mattie Ann have been meeting to discuss creative ideas and experiment with ice building, Mrs._Hardenbergh even gave them gum to try as an ice adhesive. While it didn’t help the ice cubes stick to each other – it was a treat to blow bubbles in the classroom! The children might like to wear scarves, mittens and hats to school to celebrate.

On Thursday, our Holiday Program begins at 7:00pm. Please have the children meet in our classroom at 6:50pm. Cookies, drinks and good cheer will be served in the classroom directly following the program.

On Friday, the Second Graders will be boarding the “Polar Express” (in the second grade, that is). Come to school in your pajamas and slippers to enjoy hot cocoa, treats and a viewing of the movie.

Have a wonderful holiday with your family. We’ll see you in 2009!

Mrs._Roe Mrs._Ricasata