Ms. Montante

March 1, 2009

Many thanks for all the beautiful flowers, kind thank you notes, and supplies.  The notes are always my favorite part of Teacher Appreciation Week.  The PTSA was so generous as always.  Thanks to them also for our luncheon and gifts.  You all went out of your way to make both Mrs. Ramsey and I feel appreciated.

It is almost impossible to believe that we are almost finished with our third nine weeks of school.  The children continue to work hard and their efforts show in their work.  The cause and effect writings about famous Georgians were outstanding.  If you are in the school please come by and see their "above and beyond" work.  Many of them completed character frames of another Georgian besides the one they researched.  They definitely know their life skills and made some great connections.

Money problems and counting back change are still a huge focus.  It is so difficult for most of them.  Soon they will be starting multiplication and it is unfortunate that many still do not know their addition and subtraction facts.  They should be able to do 100 addition and subtraction facts in 5 minutes.  I will continue to give timed tests on Mondays.  There is so little time to work on this in the classroom so please help your child at home. 

I will be sending home their login information for CRCT practice this week.  We will be learning test taking skills in school and doing some guided practice tests.  It would be great if you could have your child do some practice tests on line at home.

Focus on reading comprehension is ongoing in our class.   Their AR comprehension is just amazing.  The class comprehension is 92% and the average reading level is 3.o.  The children are so proud and continue to do their personal best. 

As you know we all need to conserve and therefore homework will be changing.   We will continue to use our notebooks but there will be some changes.  The children will be completing a Women's History Biography research this month and this will take the place of some of the homework.  Most of their research will be in class.  The writing and model or poster will be done at home. 

Upcoming events:
Tuesday 3/3       -  Early Release
Thursday 3/5     -  High Touch/High Tech
Thursday 3/19   -  Picture Day
3/24 - 3/27         -  Book Fair

   

February Update

Thanks so much for attending the conferences.  It was great to be able to speak to each of you about your child and to let you see how much progress they are making. 

February will continue to be our month to work on non-fiction reading and writing.  The students will be learning about non-fiction conventions and doing a scavenger hunt with their textbooks to help reinforce the conventions.  It will be a fun learning experience.  Now through March they will be reading about famous Georgians who made a difference.   Math will have an emphasis on measuring length and temperature.  They will use standard and non standard measurement as well as chart daily temperature.  We will start our unit on the sun and moon later this month.

Please return the field trip slips as they are coming up soon.  The children will have Fire Safety this month.  Help them to plan a family safety plan. 

The children will exchange Valentines on Friday.  Please make sure they sign their name on each card. A class list was sent home so the children can address a card for each student. 

It's that time of year......

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving Break.  It is hard to believe that we only have three weeks left until the Winter Break. 

The students will be starting Geometry and this always is a favorite.  In a few weeks you can ask them all about their "GEOME-TREE".  Please continue to practice Math facts nightly as many have not mastered them.  Money, money, money is still the source of our woes.  Again it is so helpful if parents have children count back change and show different way to represent a collection of coins and/or bills.  We continue to focus on problem solving and the application of the skills they have learned this year to solve these multiple step problems. 

It is amazing to see the love of reading in our class.  The children continue to strive to improve their reading comprehension and the class AR comprehension percentage is 91%.  What an accomplishment.  Please continue to read with your child nightly as this improves their fluency as well as their comprehension. 

We will be doing an author study (Jan Brett)  in December.    Our focus will be on making connections while we read as this helps children to understand what they have read.  The three areas are: text to self, text to text, and text to world.  The Jan Brett stories are not only beautifully illustrated but great stories for the children to make connections.   These next few weeks will also be a time of fun reading as the children will hear many heart warming stories of the season.  They will also be working on a top secret project.

Some upcoming events include:

PTSA meeting - First Grade Musical                December 4th
Secret Santa                                                  December 6th
PTSA/ Ice Cream Fundraiser                          December 8th
Holiday Movie Night                                        December 12th
Winter Celebration Breakfast                          to be announced

Upcoming Events

A few important dates for November:

November 4th   -  No school for the children
                              Teacher Inservice

November 6th   -  High Touch/High Tech Field Trip (in school)

November 12th -  Jump Rope For Heart (after school)

November 21st  -  last day of classes - Thanksgiving Break

December 1st     -  school resumes

This month the children will have a turkey project to complete at home.  It is a fun activity and a chance for them to be creative.  It will come home on Wednesday, November 5th and is due back on Wednesday, November 12th.  The hook for this activity was the reading of the book - Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving.  Have the children retell the story to you. 

Continue to help your child with addition and subtraction facts.  We will continue subtraction with regrouping and work with  money.  It is important that the children understand the value of the coins and how to count back change. 

Fall 2008 updates

It has been a very busy month.  The children visited the Etowah Indian Mounds on the only rainy day in weeks.  They were such troopers.  It  is always best to experience rather than just read about a culture.  I think our "being there" experience was successful.  The next couple of weeks our focus will be on famous Georgians who have made a difference and their contributions.   

The report cards went home on Friday. The copy is yours to keep.  Please sign and return the signature card in the provided envelope.    Do not seal the envelope as it will be used throughout the year.  If you have any questions about our new report card please feel free to contact myself or Mrs. Ramsey. 

Jump Rope for Heart has officially started.  Each student received information and a permission slip.   This is a great cause and 100% class participation is our goal.  I have donated $5 for each student in the class so please sign the forms and return them as soon as possible. 

Tomorrow is our field trip to the Cobb Civic Center for the Performing Arts program on dance.  As always it will be an enjoyable and educational day. 

Our next focus in Math is subtraction with regrouping.  This can be difficult for many children.  Please practice basic subtraction facts nightly.  Also continue to work on addition facts as many of the children are still struggling with them.  Make learning facts a fun time.  Flash cards are an easy and fun way to practice.  Each Monday we have a 5 minute 100 facts timed test.  Some students have mastered the addition facts and are moving on to subtraction.  Practice, practice, and more practice will result in success.  Money continues to be a problem for children.  However,  it is counting coins and counting back change rather than balancing the budget. 

Another upcoming event of importance is the Book Fair.  It will be from October 21 - 24.  There will be a great selection of books and Mrs. Finnegan always makes it an enjoyable event for the children.  Please show your support.

If you have not joined PTSA please do so as it benefits all of our children.  Their goal is 100% membership so please join.  The Fall Fundraiser pick-up is October 21st. 

Have a great week. 

Week of September 29th

We have been in school about 35 days and believe me when I say that it feels like 6 months. The kids have been working very hard and deserve our admiration and praise. We have been working on regrouping, which they seem to have picked up quickly and actually find it fun. Parents please have your child practice a couple of problems at home daily to reinforce the skill. We also continue to focus  on spelling and writing good paragraphs. We did a computer lab researching the five regions of Georgia where we took notes recording interesting facts about landforms, animals, etc. The kids really like the laptops, but of course with technology comes technological problems. The computers took about twenty minutes to actually boot up. The kids however always amaze us with their patience and flexibility. We of course were the ones pulling our hair out.

Please look out for information coming home about the upcoming field trip, permission forms, picture forms, etc. We have a lot to do and time just won't stand still, and learning just keeps happening. Is second grade fun or what?

Mrs. Montante and Mrs. Ramsey

Week of September 8th

Hope everyone had a fantastic Labor Day. The kids are continuing to impress us daily with their eagerness to learn and their knowlege. Some of the things that we have been reviewing are number place value, less than greater than signs, coin values, nouns, adjectives, cause and effect, compound words, and spelling. This is just a glimpse into our busy schedule. Please make sure you read with your child every night and have them retell the story back to you. This will help us reinforce the skills of fluency, word identification, vocabulary and of course comprehension.

Mrs. Montante and Mrs. Ramsey want each of you to know what a joy it is to serve your children. Our expectations remain high and we look forward to reaching all our goals this year. Any questions or concerns please don't hesitate to send us an e-mail.

Sincerly,

Mrs. Montante and Mrs. Ramsey

First Week of the School Year 2008 - 2009

    We are off to a great start. The children were actively engaged in meeting their new friends and getting acquainted.  As a part of the introduction to our Lifelong Guideline Pledge, the children listened to stories and made animal masks relevant to the pledge.  Be sure to ask them about trustworthiness, truthfulness, active listening, personal best and no put downs.  Our procedures have been set and the children showed they are responsible and eager to be a part of this awesome Second Grade community. 
    Mrs. Ramsey and I are hoping to keep our blog updated so you will know and share in the happenings in our classroom.  For now we are sending home a blue folder daily but this will be replaced with a red communication folder at the end of August.  Please look through this folder daily as it contains important papers and their work.  Have the children be responsible for cleaning it out and we will help them to be responsible for organizing it for take home each day.  Thank you for returning the important papers and forms this week.  If you have not done so please send these in ASAP.  If you need replacements let us know.
    Many of your questions about curriculum, routines and our expectations will be answered at Open House on August 28th.  The PTA meeting begins at 7:00 and is followed by the Open House portion in your child's classroom. 
    Until next week,
    Mrs. Ramsey and Mrs. Montante

Welcome to Second Grade

Welcome to Second Grade.  I am looking forward to a wonderful year and one that is very special because  we will celebrate Kennesaw Elementary's 100th year.  I also am happy to be co-teaching with Mrs. Ramsey this year.  Together we will make this an exciting and memorable year filled with many opportunities to learn, grow and have fun.  We look forward to meeting all of you.  Welcome aboard.

End of the Year

Thanks to all my students for a wonderful year of learning and fun.  You were amazing.  I wish you all the best next year in third grade.  You are READY.  Hope you have many years filled with adventures and rewarding learning experiences.  Enjoy your summer.