Monday News

Dear Parents and Owls,

Here's a peek at what we've been doing in class!

Word Study:  Our spelling pattern this week is all about the suffixes -er and -est!  We use the suffix -er to mean "a person who does" AND "more" when comparing two things!  We use -est to mean "most" when comparing more than two things.  You can find a copy of our weekly spelling rule and sight words under our homework tab!

Social Studies: We've been learning all about the beginning of the Georgia colony and how James Oglethorpe, Tomochichi, and Mary Musgrove helped to create what is now Georgia!  We made flipbooks all about each important figure from history!  A study guide about this information came home with students today AND can be found under homework resources!

Reading:  We've been learning all about nonfiction text features.  Students have learned now to use the table of contents, headings, subheadings, photographs, and captions to dig deeper into nonfiction text!

Math:  In math, we're working on problem solving.  Students are working on single-step word problems involving numbers 0-100 and two-step problems involving numbers 0-20.  Here's how we've been modeling our problems:

We are busy learning and growing!  Our parliament of owls is so smart and hard-working!  Let's have another AWESOME week!

Mrs. Kidd

School-Wide News

Dear Parents,

Please see the news below:

• Friday Events:  Tomorrow, Friday, November 13 will be Smoothie Sale Day in the Cafe from 7:20-7:50.  Muffins with Mavity will be held in the cafe at 8:30!

• Thanksgiving Rotations:  We are having Thanksgiving rotations next Friday, November 20th from 8:45-10:30.  Meredith Doyle has volunteered to be one of our parent volunteers, but we would love to have at least one more!  If you are able to assist, please e-mail Mrs. Kidd!

• Scholastic Book Fair is NEXT WEEK:  “The Scholastic Book Fair starts Monday November 16^th! There will be thousands of books to choose from.  We would love to give students from our sister school Fair Oaks the opportunity to enjoy these wonderful books. Please consider supporting our One 4 Books campaign to raise funds to send books to Fair Oaks by sending loose change and small donations to school throughout this week.  Family Night at the Book Fair will be Tuesday November 17^th from 6 to 8pm.  There will be face painting, tattoos, and more! A ‘monstrous’ time will be had by all! Check the Media Center blog for hours and additional information.”

• Georgia Parent Survey:  The Georgia Parent Survey is also modeled after the student survey and contains 24 questions. Parents may complete the survey using their personal computer, smartphones or tablet.  For parents that do not have access to the Internet, school administrators should consider scheduling dates and times to allow parents to complete the Georgia Parent Survey at school.  All parents should be encouraged to participate in the Georgia Parent Survey because the data will be used as part of the calculation of the School Climate Star Rating. Survey responses are anonymous and will be submitted directly to the Georgia Department of Education for analysis.  Individual data results from the Georgia Parent Survey will not be available to the public and will not be posted online.  The URL address for the Georgia Parent Survey is posted below.

Georgia Parent Survey:

http://apps.gadoe.org/schoolclimate/parents.nsf/Survey.xsp

Conference Week Wrap-Up

Dear Parents,

Thank you so much for a GREAT conference week!  I enjoyed meeting with each of you and having the chance to brag on all of my amazing students!

Scholastic Book Orders are coming home today!  There are some awesome, affordable new books for sale in the fliers.  The reading levels for many of the books are also included, if you are looking for just right books for your child!  Did you know that purchasing books through our classroom scholastic site, earns our classroom free books!  Order deadline for this flier is going to be Thursday, October 29th!

Please don't forget that Foundation Teacher Auction is on-line this year!  You can visit the link below to bid on some awesome experiences for your child AND support the East Side Foundation!  The Foundation provides so many valuable resources to your child and our staff, but they couldn't do it without your help!  I have offered a trip to East Cobb Park for snacks, t-shirt tie dying, and playing together for four students!

Here's the link:  http://www.eastsideelementaryfoundation.org/fall-festival-teacher-auction.html

Also, next week we'll be celebrating Red Ribbon Week!  Here is the schedule of events;

• Monday, October 26th:  Wear RED Today!
• Tuesday, October 27th:  Mix it Up at Lunch Day:  Students will be eating lunch with new classroom friends!
• Wednesday, October 28th:  Follow Your Dreams--Don't Do Drugs!  Dress for your future career.
• Thursday, October 29th:  Make it a GOAL to be drug-free!  Wear your favorite team jersey!
• Friday, October 30th:  We are WILD about being drug-free:  Wear crazy hair and socks!

Have a great weekend!

Love,

Mrs. Kidd

Sunday Scoop

Thanks for all those pulling for my Tigers last night...I almost had a heart attack, but we pulled out the win!  I am one HAPPY TIGER FAN this week!

Friday, we did an AWESOME, integrated matter experiment!  We made GLOOP (with cornstarch and water) and students had to determine if it was a solid or liquid and support their decision with scientific evidence!  The kids were messy, but had so much fun, and learned A LOT throughout the process!!

I sent home our new October calendar of events on Friday.  It is also posted under "The Monthly Hoot" Calendar!  Grab a second copy if you need one!

This week is the last week of the quarter!  We will be doing a lot of review and finishing up many assessments!  Please make every effort to have your child at school on time and for the whole day each day this week!

We have Diane Shore, an East Cobb author, coming to visit on Thursday.  Book orders came home last week, which you can send in with money!  Any books you order can be autographed by Mrs. Shore for no additional cost!

Finally, if you have not already sent in the permission form and money for our 2 upcoming High Touch/High Tech in class field trips, please do so ASAP.  The form/money covers the cost of BOTH experiences!

It's going to be a GREAT week!

Mrs. Kidd

Tell All Tuesday!

Dear Parents,

We've been so busy learning, creating, problem solving, and questioning over the past week and a half!  Sneak a peek and read all about what we've been up to below!

In math, we've been hard at work learning all about strategies for solving our basic addition and subtraction facts quickly!  Today, we went outside in the bus port to practice using the HUGE number line to count up and back to add and subtract!

In writing, we've been working on adding excellent endings, writing like mentor authors, editing/revising, and more!

In reading, we've been hard at work learning to ask and answer questions as a reader.  We learned how important it is to ask specific, thick questions AND answer questions with specific, detailed evidence from text!

In social studies, we've been learning all about the 5 geographic regions of Georgia, how the Native Americans lived on the land of the regions, and how Native Americans used rivers!  We even made 3D geographic maps of the regions!

We've been busy, busy, busy, but it's been an AWESOME time in second grade!

Sunday Scoop: A Recap of Last Week

Dear Parents,

We have been SO busy learning, learning, learning over the past week!  Please find a copy of this week's edition of The Weekly Hoot on your e-mail and under News You Can Use!

Here's what we've been up to:

In math, we've been learning many different ways to represent 3-digit numbers!  Students are expected to know that 3-digit numbers are made up of a certain number of hundreds, tens, and ones AND how to represent those numbers in standard form, expanded form, word form, base-ten pictures, and in units.

In Writing Workshop, we've been working on writing personal narratives, which are true stories that have happened to us!  We have learned how to plan out a story, how to choose  a small moment, or watermelon seed story, and stretch it across a page.  We also learned how to bring our characters to life this week!

In Reading Workshop, we finished up our unit about developing great reading habits and workshop procedures by signing a contract, or promise as to the rules of Reading Workshop.  We also learned how to keep track of our thoughts while reading on sticky notes.  We CAN use these same stop-and-jot strategies at home to show our thinking about books!

As you can see, we've been very busy learning and growing as second graders the past few weeks!  We will build on all of this learning and continue to be smart, curious, and hard-working second graders this year!

Love,

Mrs. Kidd

Monday News!

Dear Parents,

A lot of important information came home this afternoon in your child's HOOT binder!  Most importantly, please be on the lookout for Performing Arts Permission Forms AND School Picture Forms!  Information about several after school enrichment clubs came home as well!

Extra copies of our Spelling Rule of the Week:  The CK Rule AND an extra copy of our Place Value Study Guide can be found under our Homework Resources tab!  An additional copy of our weekly newsletter--The Weekly Hoot can be found under the News You Can Use tab!

A special thanks to Sandi Glidewell for getting our class Shutterfly account up and running!  Please check out the site and begin signing up to come help out in our classroom!

I'm looking forward to the students putting the SLO pre-test behind them in the morning!  I'll see all of my owls bright and early in the morning!

Mrs. Kidd

Sunday Night Scoop

Dear Parents,

This evening I e-mailed everyone a copy of your first edition of The Weekly Hoot, our class newsletter!  This is your best way to keep up with what we are learning and working on in class each week!  You will always be able to download a copy from the News You Can Use tab as well!

Please send a small pair of "ear buds" to school with your child to be kept at school this year!  I am asking that each student have a pair of ear buds by this Friday, August 14th.  We will be using these in class this year for different activities we complete on the iPads!

I'm hoping many of you will also be able to attend our Parent Open House this Tuesday, from 6:30-7:30, in our classroom!

I'm looking forward to a GREAT week!

Mrs. Kidd

First Day Wrap-Up

Dear Owl Parents,

We had a GREAT 1st Day of Second Grade!  We learned about our classroom, Mrs. Kidd, and our classmates!  We worked on following directions and using team work by doing a group pattern block challenge.  We wrote all about what kind of teacher we hope Mrs. Kidd will be--the bar is set pretty high!  We shared some of our "HOOT" bags, read a silly story called Do Unto Otters to learn about class manners and treating others the way we want to be treated, and we set up our H.O.O.T. binders (take home binders).  Most importantly, EVERYONE got to and from specials correctly AND EVERYONE got home correctly this afternoon!  It was a long but FUN day!

This afternoon, students did bring home their H.O.O.T. binders for the first time with the Cobb County School District folder.  The CCSD folder includes loads of paperwork (sorry parents) that need to be completed and returned to school as soon as possible!

I will post pictures of our 1st Day activities soon!

I can't wait for day two!

Love,

Mrs. Kidd

Welcome 2015-2016 Outstanding Owls

Welcome New Outstanding Owls and Parents!

Welcome to 2nd Grade!  I am SO excited to start a new school year and meet all of you Thursday at Meet and Greet!  We are going to have a fantastic year together learning, laughing, and growing.  Our classroom will be open for you to come see tomorrow from 2:30-4:00 !  I hope that you will all be able to come to see our room, unpack your supplies, meet some of your new classmates, and most importantly, meet me!

Second grade is so much fun!  Together we are going to be problem solvers, researchers, authors, scientists, historians, and SO MUCH MORE!  I am passionate about building our classroom community, so that when YOU come to school you have fun, learn new things, and become passionate about the world around you!  I am bursting with excitement to get our year started!

I hope to see you all tomorrow! This year is going to be a HOOT!

Love,

Mrs. Kidd