Monday

We have been focusing on connections last week and finished that up but will visit it again.  Now we are moving to sequencing of events.  I have taught them a strategy to read a little think what happened first and next.  They start reading more and they think what happen after that and finally what happened.  Please have them stop and think about the order of events in their reading.  We are learning about weather and trying to catch up in science we will begin are first unit in Science properties of matter.  CGI is still new and yes it is a struggle in class, for some.  They should be coming home able to explain and do it on their own.  If they are having trouble and you too.  Please tell them to bring their blue class one home.  I give them the same problems, but with different numbers.


Top Banana

From Friday=We had a great time hearing from our Top Banana last week, Haven.  We also heard about her show-n-tell.  She brought a bracelet and a heart.  Her bracelet was from her first grade teacher and the heart she got at the aquarium.  Her favorite book is Tales of Peter Rabbit.  She loves reading over and over again.

Monday=We passed over the Top Banana to Bre and yesterday we heard about her Mother.  She loves to play and do fun things with her.  when asked what you like to do with your Mom she reported, "I love to go on vacations and get our nails done.  She loved the fact her Mom took her to Toys R Us to spend her birthday money.  She did let us know that Brom her brother went too.  Bre got a doll that you get to dress up with make up and change her hair color.  However and I quote, "It was a rip off because it didn't work, the hair never changed colors!"  I can not wait to hear more.  Ms. Wolfean is sorry today time slipped away from me.

Thursday

Half day yesterday  I wish we could do this at least once every week.  It went by quick and they had little time to get stressed.  We got through all activities and even had time for fun outside.  I forgot to hit the publish button yesterday and so I added a little from our day to here.

This week we have been reviewing connections and moving into making inferences while we read.  During writing we are finishing up our published books.  We will start small moments next week and continue to explore what is a sentence.  Today we discussed complete and incomplete sentences.  Math we have been adding and subtracting numbers and using a hundreds board to add and subtract with.  We have been counting from other numbers by ten, what I mean by this is we start at 6 and add 10.  I hope you all our enjoying reading about our day.

We heard from our Top Banana Haven

Haven explained she loved finding a tiny frog in her shoe.  She also reported she taught herself to skate and loves it.  She plays the piano, and when asked why, she stated, "My Mom made me start because when I get older I might have wished I had done it."  She loved going to her Daddy Daughter dance because she had time to be with her father.  She believes it was when she was 6 or 7.  She visited a light house on a family trip, we all thought that was cool.  She explained when she reached the top you could see all around and we even got a sticker.  She giggled when telling us about Benjamin her pet snake and him shedding his skin.  She loved telling us that they had to tickle Ky, to make him smile in one picture we all laughed too.  She loved going to the children's Museum here in Austin and her family even has a card so they do not have to pay.  "I love it because it is like a field trip,"  those were her words when asked why you like it? I do love to add what they share it is interesting to hear from them.

Watch dog Night

You heard correctly it is Watch Dog tonight.  I can not wait to see some of our Dad's in the building.

We had a fabulous day of learning, and there were some tears. Writing is difficult to master and will take time.  Yes, I did say that it is hard. I know with practice it will get better.  We are working on revising for periods and capital letters.  Some think that because they are leaving them out that I am upset.  I am just trying to model how to end our sentences correctly.  Please speak to your child about when we leave things out it is not wrong or a mistake.  These are items we need to master and be taught.  This is all of my students goals this year and a tough one for Second Grade.  Ms. Wolfean when conferencing with you about your writing is just improving your work to be successful later in life.  During math we are having some still frustrated on math adding and subtracting, all I really want them to do is count up or back, look for a way to draw the picture to solve.  I hope they are less stressed at home?  

We, well I should say me, forgot to let Haven highlight her poster.  We did hear from her yesterday and learned she loves books and coloring.  She shared she used to live in South Carolina and we were all shocked and surprised by this.  I loved when one asked is that place in our world.  Students are too funny.  She has a friend Lilly and Koan who she enjoys playing with.  We also heard about her extend family Grandpa her Dad's Dad and her Grandma Lynn.  She described her boxer and that dog was adorable.  His name is Apollo and loves to bite and chew on things. When asked about coloring she reported I just like to draw and make up things.  My favorite is when she was asked about why she loves books.  She told us It is not a problem for me and I always find good books that take me places.

Monday the 22

We are beginning our Spelling the students all have different words.  They need to bring them back tomorrow, for me to work on them in class too.  They need to study every night and bring their words back for test on Friday.  We are working on looking at the end of the word to help with the middle letters.  When we see an /E/ at the end of the word it will usually be silent and make the vowel say its name.  There are some who think only in short vowels and say the vowel incorrectly. They had fun with our poem about Aliens please ask them?  Then we read and wrote on stories we love.  They are revising their writing and are going to begin publishing them tomorrow.  We then had math and worked on our CGI to help us be successful for you tomorrow night.  They will be bringing it again this week on Tuesday and Thursday.  We had spelling and the went to specials.

From the WatchDOGS team:

Dads, are you looking for an easy, gratifying way to get involved and make difference? The Gattis Watch D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students) program is ramping up for this year, and will host a kick-off pizza party on Tuesday, September 23, at 6:30 PM in the cafeteria. Background, how the program works, volunteer opportunities, and more will be covered. Bring your kids, your ideas, and your questions and help make our program a success! To RSVP for this event, contact Sarah and Michael at: gattis.watchdogs@gmail.com.

Talk like a Pirate Day

"Ahoy me Matey", I am using me pirate voice to type to you.  Please take time to read me note, "ARRRGH!"  We be talking like this all day, during our studies.  We all made new pirate names and had a blast talking to one another.  During reading we heard a pirate story and then wrote a letter to the pirates.  We also got to make our own pirate hats to wear during class.  Then we met a new high school student Sara Williamson who will be like a teacher assistant who will be helping me Gattis "Scalleywags".    I hope she will be able to help give them more support in their reading and math.  Today during math we did number line math problem with missing numbers and had to find the rule to fill in the number line.  Please give them some number line problems at home for extra support.

I am proud to announce Heaven will be our Top Banana this week.  The children do not know what this is all about they will learn on Monday.

                                                                                                                                           

Thursday

We had a great day trying to get all activities completed.  We discussed in Reading our connections to Arthur Meets the President.  There are four different types of connections we can make, please ask them what they are?  We then began to revise and edit our writing and I modeled the strategies.  We had lunch and indoor recess, the students enjoyed dancing to the videos. Ms. Wolfean read the chapter book The Year of Billy Miller to us and we giggled.  Then during math Ms. Wolfean tricked us with a chart to fill in the number, word form, standard form, and picture for a number given.  I just realized my directions should be better. I will be doing it again withe them on another day for those who had a tough time.  We had a fantastic day and the children are learning to understand to think for themselves.

Wednesday

We had a wonderful day today, we managed to get to all subjects we needed to.  However, we are a little behind on our lessons.  This is not a problem we just need to maintain our working and remember to talk less.  They are getting better and I am delighted to report they earned another letter towards their party.  They do not know this, so I will be able to see which children read the blog.  I hope in the morning they will greet me and let me know.  We had a great reading activity we did a character sketch and reported about the character we read during DEAR time.  Please ask them to describe their character?  Then we continued to write our stories during writing workshop.  Soon after we played a math game, have them discuss the game with you?  You might even have them explain directions and how it helps us count faster.  We were excited because today was library day, please make sure they have a just fit book?

Heading to my meeting, have a fantastic evening.

Parent night😳

We had a great turn out for parent night, it is always great to have about half. Thank you to those who came and for those that could not make it just know all paperwork will go home tomorrow. 

Today was excellent it was the best Monday I think they will be amazed to see something change in the room. I loved getting to all subjects and practice stations today. The children are excited and eager to get these started, I am too. Today's math lesson standard, expanded form, and word form, for a number was difficult for some. Please review these with your child, if they have trouble them you know they did in class. Have a fantastic night and know we are only as good as we can be.  

PTA reminders

watchdog program is kicking off September 23 at 6:30 

Read-a-thin FUNDRAISER IF EVERY KID GIVEA 10 dollars that will give us 8,000 dollars this would really give all grades the ability to have some amazing programs!!

Fast Friday

READ-A-THON has started it is our fund raiser. 

Please let 

me know if you do not have a packet.

Oh boy, finally Ms. Wolfean allowed us to share our show-n-tell.  "I can't believe there was not another lesson", one student reported.  They stood in the class, gave a speech, and shared.  We did dance to Kash's rabbit, and had our brain break.  We wrote invitations to Parent Night.  Monday, September 15, at 6:15, in the cafeteria.  I am excited to see all parents and yes no children.  This is a night for you and I, ha-ha you have home work parents.  The students are happy to let you in on the secret that Monday's night homework is you come to my class. We had a awesome time in reading discuss how to look up information in books we clearly do not understand.  We traveled through Google Earth to locate Mount Rushmore because our read aloud The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Henkes mentioned this place.  Then we continued our day with writing about our small moments and began to try to complete the stories we have in our writing workshop folder.  During math we completed our snack graphing activity and wrapped up discussing number sense.  Have a fabulous weekend students and see you on Monday.

From the WatchDOGS team:

Dads, are you looking for an easy, gratifying way to get involved and make difference? The Gattis Watch D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students) program is ramping up for this year, and will host a kick-off pizza party on Tuesday, September 23, at 6:30 PM in the cafeteria. Background, how the program works, volunteer opportunities, and more will be covered. Bring your kids, your ideas, and your questions and help make our program a success! To RSVP for this event, contact Sarah and Michael at: gattis.watchdogs@gmail.com.

Thursday

From the WatchDOGS team:

Dads, are you looking for an easy, gratifying way to get involved and make difference? The Gattis Watch D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students) program is ramping up for this year, and will host a kick-off pizza party on Tuesday, September 23, at 6:30 PM in the cafeteria. Background, how the program works, volunteer opportunities, and more will be covered. Bring your kids, your ideas, and your questions and help make our program a success! To RSVP for this event, contact Sarah and Michael at: gattis.watchdogs@gmail.com.

Today we had a great day and we had a lot of fun learning.  We got to share our show-n-tell, but not really because Ms. Wolfean taught us an important lesson.  She taught us what it is like to be the teacher and Kimberly(me) the student be them.  We discussed being a good listener and what it means to actively listen.  Ms. Wolfean did get wild and boy can she act.  I love how child can describe in exact words what they think.  I loved hearing one in the hall also discussing with a friend, in another class, you should have seen what she did today.  She turned into a hilarious crazy student.  She was very naughty while we tried to talk in her hot seat.  She let us be her, can you believe it we were Ms. Wolfean.  The other student, I wish my teacher did that.  The hot seat is my teacher comfy chair, that's for you the parent.  I hope they are coming home explaining the lessons they are doing with their show-n-tell.  Yes, they may bring them again.  We did get to reading which we discussed sequence of events and a just fit book.  We then wrote and had a snack bag graphing activity.  I hope each of you students and teachers have a terrific Thursday night, please read with your child or have them read silently too.

Wonderful Wednesday

Oh boy, today was a fantastic wonderful day.  Today was our library day and if they did not bring their books I will send them tomorrow for check out.  We managed to make it through all subjects, but they didn't really think Math was all that great.  We had a pretest, I just wanted to see what your children remembered about numbers form last year.  This was stressful, I even took them to their happy place and spoke to them.  It still caused some to really think they were not successful.  I ask you to please take sometime to discuss with them, that sometimes we will know things and sometimes we need to learn them.  However, reading and writing went smoother.  They are getting the routines and I think their independent skills are finally kicking in. We had a visitor today Mr. Thompson and boy he really got to see what my job is like.  We loved having him here and look forward to more dads.   I had a parent ask for me to place my email on my ABOUT THE TEACHER page, I did.

From the WatchDOGS team:

Dads, are you looking for an easy, gratifying way to get involved and make difference? The Gattis Watch D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students) program is ramping up for this year, and will host a kick-off pizza party on Tuesday, September 23, at 6:30 PM in the cafeteria. Background, how the program works, volunteer opportunities, and more will be covered. Bring your kids, your ideas, and your questions and help make our program a success! To RSVP for this event, contact Sarah and Michael at: gattis.watchdogs@gmail.com.

We have not shared our show-n-tell yet, due to the fact I am teaching lesson along with them everyday.  With that being said, YES they bring them again.  We read a story about Lilly on Monday and about her brother on Tuesday the show-n-tell goes with our stories.  Please have them share the lessons we did for Tuesday and Wednesday.  They are waiting for the lesson on show-n-tell.  I am teaching them that sometimes we have to wait for the best gift of all.

Marvelous Monday

Today was a great day we held our class meeting about reporting behaviors and tattling behaviors.  We discussed the importance about communicating with the person you have a problem with before letting the teacher know.  We want to try to work it out with words, before reporting.  If problem continues you must report the behavior right away.  Please discuss with them the difference?

We begin our day with reading and we read Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, they are to bring their favorite item to school to share with the class.  We are doing a show-n-tell.  Then we recorded our thoughts on our story elements chart.  We wrote in writer's workshop on developing stories of our on to be published and shared with the class.  Then we moved around outside for some exercise.  After returning to class we continued with our graph lesson and discussed the importance of lining up the objects and numbers so readers can read our graphs.  Finally our day closed with celebrations we have as citizens and tomorrow we will discuss world symbols and celebrations.

READ-A-THON has started it is our fund raiser, please let me know if you do not have a packet.

TOMORROW:  You don't want to cook, then go to CHILI'S  we get 15% back to school!! You must print this flyer!You can find it on the Gattis home page

I ran out of school

Yes I ran out of school, but not before I got locked out of the room. To all my parents and students I know this is even later, however, I did do my homework. Might be at 10 pm in my comfy bed but it is done. 

We had a fantastic day, watched a video on Kevin Henkes the author we are studying. The students seem to enjoy his books. We have read three so far. We are mapping them discussing character, problem, solution, and lesson the story is telling us. We read his book Wimberly Worried. We also wrote about meeting new friend and was amazed to learn Ms. Wolfean had a friend who was a rabbit. I surprised the class with my writing that an animal could be my friend. I think I shocked your child. We then continued graphing and Ms. Wolfean shocked us by having us take our shoes off and we sorted them. We discussed how to graph them. Math ran late we will be doubling up on Social Studies tomorrow. I am sorry for any typos I am posting this from my cell phone. Thanks for understanding about my late post. A teachers life is never done, just like yours parents. 

I had a lot to do!!

I want to let you know I did not forget I just had a lot to do tonight.  I changed our room a little added some things, and I cleaned.  YES I did!!

We had a great day today we got through all subjects. I just need more time in our day to complete our Social Studies lesson, we will tomorrow.  Oh boy did the class do a fabulous job getting started on their day.  We received our shopping bags, which we house our books in we read in class.  We also had time to finally get to a reading response.  They loved using their reading notebooks, we made a connection to the story we heard on a video.  Please ask them about this. Then we moved to Writing and wrote about a day we did not have to come to school.  Make sure you have them share about their story they started.  We then finished up our graphing lesson on sorting and collecting data using hats.  They had some trouble with how to come up with a variety of ways to graph them objects.  However, we will be doing this again in class using other items and I think it will be clearer. After a long day we finally got to wrap up our day with Social Studies, but ran out of time to complete the lesson.
 
Some parents asked for the concepts I teach for my class this week:
After today this can be found on the Homework section 
Key points to my teaching Character traits, Story Elements, Graphing, and How a Community works, plays, and grows together.

Social Skill last week and this week:  Getting the teachers attention.
Next week:  Making a request.