Field Trip Information

Our field trip is Wednesday, May 3.  We are very excited to go to Frederik Meijer Gardens to learn more about plants.

Next week Wednesday is our FIELD TRIP! We will leave Bauer promptly at 9:00 A.M. Your child will need a sack lunch on this day.  We will eat outside at the gardens so please make sure EVERYTHING in your child’s lunch can be thrown away (including the lunch bag).  Please also label your child’s lunch on the front with his/her name. Thanks! We will spend part of the morning outside so please dress your child according to the weather.  Also, we will be walking around most of the day. Your child will want to wear comfy shoes! And of course, please have your child wear his/her class shirt. We will have the chance to show everyone at the gardens our great leadership!!!

Finally, thanks to all of the parents that volunteered to chaperone.  I greatly appreciate your help!  If you could arrive to school around 8:45, that would be great!   We will leave promptly at 9:00 A.M.  A few parents may be able to join us on the bus.  Otherwise, we will have parents carpool to the gardens.  

Here are the chaperones that I am planning on and the admission fee that is due:
Melanie DeBoer: $4

Erika Simpson: $4

Wendy Ninan: $4

Shari VanDuinen: $4

Ashley Huizinga: $4

Kevin Neuman: $10

Joanne (Braedon's Grandma): $10

Christine Haight: $10

Melissa Wayne: $10

Jessica Troost: $10-paid

Mary Phan: $10-paid

Brian Sjoerdsma: $10-paid

I greatly appreciate the number of parents that are joining us on our field trip.  We will love having you join in on the fun!  We were only allowed five chaperones to attend for the $4 admission fee.  After a random drawing, the admission fee is listed above.  Additional parents have a $10 admission fee (which is still a discounted rate).   Please let me know if you have any questions about our day or the price of admission.  

We are looking forward to a great day!

April 21: Newsletter

UPCOMING EVENTS:

April 25 - Marco's Pizza Night (Don't forget to mention our class when ordering)

May 3 - Field trip to Frederik Meijer Gardens

May 5 - Neon/Popcorn Day

           - Students should be at 100% of their SRC goal

May 12 - Early Release

May 23 - Jet's Pizza Night (Don't forget to mention our class when ordering)

May 29 - No School (Memorial Day)

READING:

Next week we will wrap up our study on fairy tales.  Students will read various summaries of fairy tales to see if they can identify the title of each one.  Students will also practice reading a reader’s theater based on a popular fairy tale.  Some students will even be able to read (perform) their fairy tale to the class.

This session of SRC ends May 5. Students have been working really hard to reach their goal, and many of them are on target to do so. Some have even challenged themselves to double their goal.  Keep up the great work!!!

Also, you will find two new Scholastic book orders in your child’s Friday folder.  This will be our last book order for the year.  Please check out all of the great books.  You could stock up for all of the summer reading!!!  All orders are due by Friday, May 5.  Thank you!

WRITING:

Next week will finish up our small moment narratives.  This last writing piece will be a good indicator of their writing growth this year.  We will look back to the first small moment narrative that we wrote at the beginning of the year.  The students will be shocked to see how much they have improved.  

MATH:

Wow-have the second graders worked hard this week!!!  I am so impressed with their ability to subtract from a 3-digit number.  They even know how to subtract from ONE THOUSAND!  It has been amazing to watch how they can tackle these challenging problems and explain their thinking to a partner.  

SCIENCE:

We just completed our studying of water.  Next week we will take a day to review and then assess on Wednesday.  Please look for the review coming home on Monday.  

May 14: Newsletter

UPCOMING EVENTS:

April 21 - Wear blue in correlation with Autism Awareness Month

May 3 - Field trip to Frederik Meijer Gardens (see corresponding letter in your child’s Friday folder)

May 5 - Students should be at 100% of their SRC goal

May 12 - Early release 

READING:

This month we are reading FAIRY TALES!  Students have learned that fairy tales are a type of folktale.  Fairy tales often begin with “once upon a time…” and end with “and they lived happily ever after”.  As we read various fairy tales we will look for many story elements including: royalty, magic, love, far away lands, talking animals, good and bad characters, and use of the number three or seven.  Next week we will work on comparing fairy tales.  We will make sure to read each fairy tale well enough to compare the characters, problems, and lessons in each story.  

WRITING:

We are back to writing small moment narratives for the last time this year!  The students are thrilled to write true, stories about their lives again.   They all have many stories to tell after spring break.   Our main focus next week will be to add sufficient detail to our stories.  We want the reader to be on the edge of their seat as they read our stories.  To do this we will make sure we include strong feelings and tell the story bit by bit.  

MATH:

We have been working on adding three digit numbers.  Students are using their strategies (new groups below or show all totals) to add numbers up to ONE THOUSAND.  Next week we will continue to practice this concept as well as identifying the relationship between addition and subtraction. 

SCIENCE:

Today you will find your child’s matter assessment in their Friday folder.  Overall, I am very pleased with their understanding of the properties of matter.  Next week we will already wrap up our next unit of study- properties of water.  We have spent a few days understanding the water cycle.  You will have to ask your second grader all about our water cycle exercises.  Also, all second graders should be able to explain the four parts of the water cycle (evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and collection).  I wouldn’t be surprised if many of the second graders can even spell these words correctly, too!  Please look for a review page coming home next week to help prepare for our unit assessment. 

OTHER NEWS: 

We will be taking a field trip on Wednesday, May 3 to Frederik Meijer Gardens.  On this field trip we will learn more about plants.  We will need many chaperones for this trip.  Please let me know if you are interested in joining us by filling out the corresponding paper in your child’s Friday folder.  I hope you can join us!