MON. NOV 30
TOYS FOR TOTS
At this time of year, many people exchange gifts. As in past years, I would
like my class to consider not giving me a gift, since I have everything I
need, and consider those who are needy. I will be collecting Toys for Tots in
the classroom again this year. Please consider, instead of giving the teacher
a gift this month, donating a toy for a tot. It should be new and unwrapped.
I remember last year the need was high for non-violent toys for kids ages 9-
12 and baby toys. I am sure those are needed this year again but anything
would be appreciated. It looks like I will need to get the toys to the drop
off location the weekend of December 11, so all toys must be dropped off by
Friday, December 11. Thank you for considering others at this time of year.
WED. NOV 18
Food Drive:
Shaker Lane School is having a food drive for Loaves and Fishes. Please feel
free to send in food between now and Nov. 24th. For safety reasons, do not
send items in glass jars or containers. Canned goods, rice, cereals, etc. are
all great! Thank you.
CURRICULUM:
We have had a busy 1st trimester. As we wrap up the trimester we are talking
a lot about effort, which is E in our HEART program. We have been discussing
how if something is difficult for you and you put in lots of effort, it
becomes easier and you learn more and do better. On the flip side, it has
come up that something can be easy for you, but you don't put in much effort
and end up doing a bad job when you could have done fabulous. Effort will
remain a focus as we enter next trimester. In math, we wrapped up units 1, 2,
and 3 and are doing a few days focusing in on telling time/elapsed times
before we start unit 4. In Social Studies, we are pausing in our geography
studies for now. We have been working hard on learning about the compass
rose, map keys and the seven continents. We will pick back up later on to
learn about 4 major oceans. We will be starting a science unit on animals in
winter (hibernation, migration and adaptation), so be on the lookout for
activities relating to that. Thank you!
THU. NOV. 5
WISH LIST:
We would love for either families to donate mechanical pencils or for each
child to bring a few to school for themselves. Pencil sharpening of regular
pencils is problematic for us and mechanical pencils would probably help.
Thanks!
TUESDAY, OCT. 27
OPEN HOUSE: Tomorrow is Open House Night! You and your child can come check
out our classroom, tour the school, meet friends and more. Here is what will
be happening:
VOLUNTEERING SIGN UP
At Open House night, there will be a Volunteer Sign Up.
-If you can not come and would like to volunteer, please let me know I and I
will tell you what slots are available.
-Volunteers should find child care for their younger
children during their volunteer time.
-Also, please note that if want to volunteer, you must sign up at Open House
or during the week or two following it. Our schedule is so complicated that I
will not be able to accomodate new volunteers that want to work with students
later in the year.
-If people find they have extra time this winter and spring,they are
certainly welcome to volunteer in ways such as copying, switching out
bulletin board, etc.
Thank you so much to all of you who offered so far to help. Your assistance
is so appreciated and valuable!
CONFERENCE SIGN UP
At Open House, there will be a conference sign up. Please think about your
availability on Dec. 2 and Dec. 3 or bring your schedule along so you can
select a conference time.
WISH LIST
There will be sticky notes with wish list items on them. Feel free to take a
sticky note and donate that item to the classroom.
Q&A IN THE CAFETERIA
After visiting the classroom, if you have any general questions about the
school that I cannot answer, you can head down to the cafeteria where Mr.
Faherty will be leading a Q&A session. Keep in mind, there are many questions
I can help answer in the classroom, or by a phone call or at conference time.
Hope you can come and check out Rockin' Room 202 and see some of your child's
work!
THURSDAY. SEP. 24
On your child's birthday, you may send in a special snack. Some popular
choices include cookies and cupcakes. Please do not send in a full cake that
needs to be cut. We have 21 students and 2 teachers. Also, please note we
have some students with food allergies. Please try and avoid sending anything
with nuts in it. Thank you.
THURSDAY, SEP. 17
You might want to ask your child if he/she would like some mechanical pencils
and/or a hand sharpener for their desk. Students have been spending lots of
time sharpening pencils, and as you might imagine, less time focusing on
academic activities. I encourage all to sharpen a bunch of pencils before
9:00 and then have decided that they must borrow from friends or use a hand
sharpener after that time. Check with them, and see if they could use
something like that for their desk. Thanks so much.
MONDAY, SEP. 14
Homework packets will be sent home starting today. A packet will go home on
Monday and your child should return it on Friday. If your child has any
questions about the homework, please have them ask me about it in class, or
you can write me a note and I will see what I can. Keep in mind that homework
will reflect what second grade benchmarks we are working on, and therefore,
depending on how your child is doing with a certain topic, may sometimes be a
little easy, sometimes a little hard, but often just right! Thank you.
Volunteering will begin later than usual this year due to some changes in
the Language Arts program. I need to see how that will work before I can
schedule volunteers. In the meantime, you can always contact one of the
following people at SHaker Lane to help out:
The art teacher welcomes volunteers, as does the librarian, and the
school needs recess and lunch volunteers, and I am pretty sure the office in
general would love volunteers. Thank you.
