Kudos and celebration to ALL those involved in the recent production of Willy
Wonka. It took so much time and effort and energy and skill to put on this
show, and in my opinion, it was worth every minute. The kids truly shined in
theatrical brilliance. And they had fun. They will remember this for years
to come. Thank you everyone for making the play a success.
England has joined our Wiki. We now have an international Wiki.
Can you tell that I am excited? My goal is to get many schools and classrooms
to join our second grade Wiki. It is a wonderful method of
learning about different communities.
Waste Free Wednesdays:
Waste-Free Lunch - Students have been working very hard on a new initiative
that will help us with our Green School certification as well as our Healthy
Howard certification. It is called waste-free lunches. To read more about
this wonderful program, please go to http://wfes.hcpss.org/Waste_Free_Lunches
and see exactly what itt is, how it will help the environment, and what you
can do to be a part of it.
In addition, to really get this challenge going, we are stressing "Waste-Free
Wednesdays" and want to encourage everyone to bring in a waste-free lunch, be
sure to recycle, and make good choices. Please encourage your students to use
the recycling bin in your room and to participate in the waste-free lunch
challenge.
Students will be updating you on the progress we are making with this
initiative as the program moves forward. If you have any questions, see Elsa
or Trish.
Report cards will be going out on February 9 because of inclement weather and
school closings.
Family Reading Night has been canceled due to possibly slick roads.
It was to be on January 29.
Spelling Bee coming to Second Grade
There will be a pod wide spelling bee on
Thursday, January 15.
Mr. Cole's class will be doing a class wide spelling
bee on Tuesday, January 13. The three students who
do the best will then compete on Thursday in the pod
wide spelling bee.
Basket Bingo:
The theme we came up with for the basket for Basket Bingo
is Puzzles.
We will put puzzles into our basket. But they do not have to be
conventional puzzles necessarily. The items could be anything that
would be considered a puzzle: brain teasers of all sorts, problem solving
games, even mysteries could be considered puzzles. So feel free to be
unconventional in your contribution to the Puzzle Basket. (After all, we are
Mr. Cole's homeroom).
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Posted: November 20
A big thank you to all those parents and grandparents who
were able to make it to The Good Old Day Project.
We had a wonderful discussion. We could have easily
gone on for another hour. What was really neat, was that
the kids pretty much led the discussion. They kept it going.
They set the pace and guided the direction of the conversation.
Thank you for making this a memorable day.
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Posted November 10:
West Friendship Elementary eSchoolnewsletter
West Friendship Elementary School will be running a food drive for the next
two weeks to help feed the needy. Please send in any canned goods or
non-perishable goods to help FISH of Howard County. During these tough
economic times, more people are in need of help than ever. Your
non-perishable food donations will help to stock the pantry at FISH so that
they can help feed the families that are in need in Howard County.
Collection boxes are located in the front hallway in front of the main office.
Students should place their donations in the box marked with their grade level.
Thank you so much for showing your support for this effort and for teaching
your children how to give back to the community!
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Mr. Cole's Class/Second Grade has a newspaper. It is called "The Garden of
Stories". The kids voted on it after much deliberation. The second choice,
a close second, was "Billy Bob Joe's Newspaper".
Now we have to come up with an icon or symbol for the paper. Stay tuned for more.
I try to put all the important dates on the calendar at TeacherWeb. So please
check it on a regular basis.
Math, spelling, and writing are all underway this third week of school. Check
under the various subject headings to find specific information about the
assignments.
Mr. Cole's homeroom and math class has begun having homework on a regular
basis. There is nightly writing in the journal. There is math homework in
the book. The math homework should be done on a looseleaf sheet of paper.
Name, date, and page number should be on the top of the page. We also often
have a very quick homework with Saxon Phonics. If you have any questions or
concerns, please drop me an email. (Of course there is no homework on Friday).
On August 28, we began meeting in our classes for math.
If your child has math with Mr. Cole, you will want to check the math section
of this web page on a regular basis. I look forward to an exciting year of
mathematical computation and fun.
Please note that the official second grade page is at:
http://wfes.hcpss.org/Second_Grade
You can get there by clicking on the school house icon on the homepage.
We will be posting important documents that affect the entire team at that site.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------:::
Homework for the Week of August 25-29
This applies only to Mr. Cole's homeroom.
Monday, August 25- Only parents had homework. They had to fill in the various
administrative odds and ends sent home.
Tuesday, August 26- The children will write in their Writing Journal about a
favorite birthday memory and share their birthday graph with a parent. They
will also draw a picture in their journal to go with the writing.
Wednesday, August 27- The children will complete the Me Bag. They will follow
the directions on the Me Bag Direction Sheet.
Thursday, August 28- The children will write in their Writing Journal about
why the picked those Me Bag items to put in their bag.
Friday, August 29- The children will have a wonderful and safe three day
weekend. They will return bright and early on Tuesday morning.
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The Me Bag instructions are:
I made this Me Bag at school today. Look at each finger. It will tell you
something special about me. Now it needs to be filled.
My homework for Wednesday, August 26 is:
Share my Me Bag with someone at home.
Write my birthday on the front of the Me Bag.
Fill the bag with three or four objects that describe me. (Make sure they fit
in the bag).
On Thursday, August 27 I will write in my journal about why those three or
four objects are perfect for me!
I am beginning to update this webpage for the 2008-09 school year.
If you have found this webpage on your own, then you know a bit about it.
Mr. Cole LOVES the Internet and finds it an ideal way to communicate with both
parents and students.
With the use of this webpage and other online media, there will hopefully be
an ease of communication
that will make the year go very smoothly. I will try to get the emails of
everyone I teach so that I can
contact you on a regular basis. I will also use this webpage consistently. If
you would like to be ahead
in this process, feel free to email me at the mailbox link above or at
Jackbean3@yahoo.com
I'll then put your email into my address book for this school year.
I'm very excited as this new year of school approaches. I know we will have a
wonderful adventure in
learning. I look forward to meeting you at the Sneek Peak on Friday. I'll
see you then.
