Life's Little Equations Read Aloud

Today we took a break from our December reading strategy of Asking Questions and focused more on Making Predictions with our read aloud entitled:

This Plus That: Life's Little Equations

(You can check out a description of the book at this link: http://www.amazon.com/This-Plus-That-Little-Equations/dp/0061726559)

In this book, the author makes addition and subtraction (and occasional multiplication and division) equations such as:

wishes + candles = birthday

book + chair = cozy

chalk + sitting = learning

chalk + jumping = hopscotch

The students enjoyed predicting the answer to each equation as we read the book aloud. (They had some really good thoughts!)

After we finished reading the story, they came up with some of their own equations. Here are a few I remember from their journal entries:

Jesus + Mary + Joseph = Holy Family

mom + dad + me = family

pop + chips = snack

Bears + touchdown = awesome!

family + church = Sunday

I am always amazed by their creativity! I love learning with them and from them each and every day.

The Elf on the Shelf

We had a visitor today in 2nd grade... an elf! When we came back from Spanish and got ready to learn about maps in Social Studies, we found the elf... with a book... and a note:

PLEASE READ ME!

So we spent the last part of our day reading about the elf who reports to Santa about everyone's behavior. He flies to the North Pole every night to give his report, so we left the window open this afternoon, and we hope that he will return to us on Monday! The students named him Jingles.

*Reminders*

1. Please make sure to bring your child to Mass every Sunday (or Saturday night). It is very important as they prepare for their First Reconciliation and First Communion.

2. The church season of Advent starts on Sunday. I asked the students to pay special attention to the color Fr. Felipe wears at Mass on Sunday and to also notice what is different in the church for this season.

3. Scholastic book orders are due next Friday (December 7th). Thank you! You can also order online!

Math Recipe

Today (Monday) in Math, we learned about measurement and following a recipe.

The students even had the chance to make a tasty snack following a recipe I created. It is simple, inexpensive, and requires very few ingredients. Here is the recipe, if you would like to try it again with your child at home.

Miss Foyle's Simple Snack Mix (for one serving)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of cheerios (any flavor of choice)

1/4 cup of mini marshmallows

1/8 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Put all of the ingredients into a plastic (Ziploc) bag.

2. Seal the bag and shake it until the ingredients are mixed.

3. Say grace and enjoy the snack.

Happy Thanksgiving

Students, Families, and Friends,

I want to take this opportunity to with you all a beautiful and blessed Thanksgiving holiday. We are all truly blessed at St. Ann by the loving community of teachers, staff (and principal), students, and parents supporting each other every day.

My prayers are with you and your families and friends. Enjoy the mini vacation.

Here are some photos from our Thanksgiving activities this week:

making words from the letters in "Thanksgiving"

As a class, we made over 40 words (wow!)

Read aloud about the man behind the first Macy's puppet parade

The students wrote facts about what they learned from the book on the balloons

"Eucharist" = "Thanksgiving" - We give thanks every time we're at Mass

Some facts we learned about Thanksgiving

Turkey Apples - Miss Foyle's family tradition

They turned out great!

Just a couple of reminders:

1. There is no school on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday. See you all on Monday!
2. Students may skip their reading log on Thursday. Enjoy the holiday!
3. If your child wants to look ahead to next week's spelling list, you can find it here: Spelling List

God Bless!

Thankful

(We have reached over 1,000 page views! Thank you for your support and wanting to stay updated on what is going on in the classroom!)

In light of the week of Thanksgiving approaching (don't forget- there is no school next Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday), I wanted to thank you- students, parents, blog followers, and friends- for everything. I am so thankful to work at Saint Ann with amazing teachers and families like you.

Have a blessed holiday with your family and friends, and remember to give thanks for all that you have too!


Here are some photos from visitors we had this week that taught us about safety in crossing streets and alleyways. Enjoy! We had a lot of fun!

We Are Special

This week we have been focusing on learning about characters (people and animals) in our stories. On Tuesday, we read a touching story about the Wemmicks (wooden people), who gave each other gold stars and gray stickers, and Eli (the wood carver). We talked about being beautiful on the inside and not letting bad things that other people say bother us. The take home message for the students is that they are all special. So after our story, each student made a sign for him/herself to take home that said "I Am Special!"

You Are Special by Max Lucado

We will continue working to identify characters and also the setting (where the story takes place) of stories we read. It would be helpful if you could help your student identify these story elements when she/he reads at home each night. (Thank you!)

Reading and Bike Safety Visitors

We love visitors, and we had two sets of visitors this past Thursday.

The first group of visitors were men from KPMG. They read a book with us (The Mixed-up Alphabet), did an ABC order activity, and even brought us gifts. :) Thank you KPMG! We love to read!

Each student received 2 new books!

In the afternoon, we had more visitors. They came to talk to us about transportation and how to safely walk places and cross the street. They also brought us a gift (coloring books)- thank you! These visitors are coming again next Thursday.

Please remember to send in the permission forms so that your child can go on a walk around school with our visitors.

We had a great day and we learned a lot from our visitors!