Journaling with the BUGS - December 20th

Hi my name is Avery. Today is Friday and also the day before Christmas break. And I am so excited to go to my Grandma ‘s house tomorrow for early Christmas with my cousins Stella and Andrew and Jonathon maybe Kendall and Alexandra my sister Meagan  my other cousins Nate and Elannor.I will be there too.On Christmas Eve my Grandma Miller is coming to celebrate Christmas with us.On Christmas mornning we will open our presents.At ten oclock we go to uor Grandma S.’s house and do our gift exchange. Like we do every year.On New Years Eve my cousins Luke and Lauren and Stella and Andrew and my family is going to a hotel in Kalamazoo with a bowling alley and a swimming pool too.In January we come back to school .Also on New Years day its my cousin Nora’s Birthday . Speaking of Birthday’s my sisters Birthday is on January 31st.Merry christmas and a happy New year.-Avery

 

I like to swing on the swing’s because you can get axersias. and I Iike to read book’s because they make me smarter. And I like to go outside and play. by Billy

 

I love my teacher. I think she is the best because she helps me do things that are wrong to be  right. Her name is Mrs.Koehn. by Emma K.

 

Hey its me Kolleana and now I have a baby sister her name is Abigail she was born on the 16 of December. And also I am getting a new bedroom and I am so excited for it.And I don’t like to brag but I am Little Miss Paw Paw! Bye happy holidays. From Kolleana

 

My teacher is the best.I love her so much.She is the best teacher in the whole wide world.She is my second grade teacher.She helps the class. by Macy

 

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Sad, Sad Day

We were all pretty excited about two weeks off from school, and we enjoyed our last day together before break playing Around the World, Apples to Apples and a new game, appropriately named, "Sad, Sad Day." 

For while we were anxious for the holidays to come, for sleep-in days and reading in bed, we had to say goodbye to a dear classmate today and for that, our hearts were a little heavy. 

We are sad to say goodbye to Evan as he has been an incredible friend, student and child.  We are all better for having known him and we will miss him terribly!  We wish him all the blessings we can as he moves to Detroit and we hope the students in his new class love and adore him as much as we all do!

We all took turns sharing adjectives that best described Evan.  Beautiful words poured out of the kids, like, "funny," "hilarious," "great listener," "handsome" and "cool".  He took it all in, and we hope he holds that in his heart wherever he goes. 

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Giving

'Twas the day before break and all through the room,
The BUGS were busy - no time for gloom!
There were gifts to give out and hugs to deliver!
People to thank and praise to consider!

We handed out ornaments to teachers and staff,It put smiles on their faces, and sometimes a laugh!
We wanted to thank them for all that they do,
Cleaning and teaching and feeding us, too!

It's important to thank all the people you love,
To show you appreciate all their help and their love!
We wish you all Happy Holidays and very blessed New Year's!
Now off we go - to spread more holiday cheer!

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The Littlest Reindeer - Second Grade Holiday Performance

The music at the concert was good.Because they practiced hard.And they war dressed nice. And the light  made me not see my family. I loved the concert. by Teagen

 

 

Tuesday December 17 it was the second grader’s concert there  was a lot of people.and we sang up up up and away .and we sang 5 more songs it was fun .  By Prestyn     



I had a concert  on Tuesday the 16t.My hair was curled I had a pretty dress on me.It was the best day ever in my life.We sang alot of songs.I was good at everything.The musicwas really super good.  Ihad stage fright .I was really scared about the show.The lights were  really bright I could  barely see.  Love Macy



Hi I am EmmaA mery christmas to all of you .Today  is Friday December 6 2013. Tommorow I get to see my cousin and maybe get a christmas tree and decerate my house .We will play and play and play it.     


December 17 was our classes concert at the Paw Paw High School and it was awesome.My class was really good and all of the other second graders were awesome too.All of the second graders sang and did the hand motions for the Littlest Reindeer concert.I was nervous at first but then I was’ nt .My music teacher is also the best because she did all the work.That’ s my first  concert as a second grader. Emma K.





Merry christmas everyone I hope you all have happy holidays and I will too.And if you dont I wish you a berry merry christmas.My name is Avery and im in second grade and my teachers name is Mrs.Koehn.[Kane].Please stay warm and have fun in the snow and drink hot coacoa.


Tuesday the 17.My class had a cesrt.We sligs. One slig was klid The littelstes rader.And up up up and a wain.  and we sing 6 miyc.My terel tlok list a pikrs.The End a sti the pfomis we drob in   frunt af the ghdbesinis. My tlok was hae meto and my cles.  By Cameron





The class (and the whole second grade) did an awesome job at their concert!  They smiled and sang and danced and brought the holiday spirit to all!  We all loved seeing the kids dressed up and showing off their talents on stage!  Thanks to Ms. Goodenough, our Music and Drama teacher for all her hard work putting our performance together!  Thanks also to all the families, grandparents and friends who attended the concert!  We wish you all the Happiest of holiday seasons! 

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Voices Choir

Today we had the privilege of hearing the Voices Choir from the Paw Paw High School!  They came to the EE and sang us several amazing holiday songs! 

 

 

Thanks to all the high school students and their director, Mr. Yzquierdo for their beautiful performance today.
 I wonder how many BUGS will sing in that choir some day?!

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Being Unique

This week Orrin shared with the class some information about being diabetic.  He explained how and why he tests his blood sugar and what he does if it is high or low.  The kids were very interested in learning about this unique quality in Orrin!  

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I Care Club Kids Help at Lion's Club Food Baskets!

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Second Grade Holiday Performance Canceled for Tonight - Rescheduled!!

Due to the weather conditions, the second grade holiday performance scheduled for tonight at the PAC has been canceled.  I will keep you all posted if it is to be rescheduled.

I assure you, I saw the kids sing today and they were AMAZING!!

RESCHEDULED!!!  The concert has been rescheduled for next Tuesday, December 17th at the same time at the PAC!!  :)

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Shut the Box!

Ian and Ross play Shut the Box during math stations

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Learning Past Tense

This week we have focused on learning the regular past tense - which all just means that the verb will end with the letters -ed.  These two little letters help our eyes to tell our brains that this action took place before now.  I jumped.  She planted.  He scored.  The trouble with this pattern is that it never SAYS what it looks like!  Our Word Detectives were hot on the scene, though!  On Monday, the class created lists of all the regular past tense words they could find in the room.



On Tuesday, we looked over our lists and read the word out loud to ourselves or a neighbor and tried to figure out what sounds we heard the -ed saying.



We discovered that "-ed" will say, /t/, /d/ or /id/.  What is most interesting is that it never says /ed/!!  The class sorted all their verbs into three columns, one for each sound of the past tense.  This is what the list looked like when we finished:



Hmm... we wondered  if there was a pattern to these sounds.  Could we find clues that might tell us when the -ed would make the /t/ sound?  Was there any way to know when it would make the /d/ sound?!  Our detectives were ready to find out!  The class took their lists home and worked hard on solving the mystery!

On Wednesday, we had several students return to school with ideas about the pattern.  Three students figured it out!  Before you read any further, can YOU figure out the pattern?!

If a verb ends in a quiet sound (one that does not jiggle your voice box), the -ed will make the /t/ sound (which does not use your voice box either. It is easier for our mouth to keep our voice box off and make two quiet sounds in a row.  Try it.  Jump ends with a quiet sound of /p/.  Your voice box (put your hand on your throat) does NOT jiggle or vibrate.  When we add the -ed ending for "jumped", we stay quiet, and get the sound /t/ on the end.

If a verb ends in a noisy sound (one that DOES jiggle your voice box), the -ed will make the /d/ sound (which is also noisy!!) Try it with the verb "clean".  The /n/ makes your voice box vibrate, so we let it vibrate right on through the - ed ending and we get the /d/ sound instead of the /t/ sound!!  Pretty cool, isn't it?   Just for kicks, try saying the word "clean" but put /t/ on the end, or try "jump" but with a /d/ sound on the end.  It's hard to do!

Finally, we found that words that already ended with a /t/ or a /d/ couldn't repeat the same sound easily!!  We can't say "paint"-/t/!!  Or "decide" -/d/!!  Instead, we need a vowel sound  in between the t, d and the -ed ending.  I cannot explain why we don't just say /ed/, but we say /id/ instead.  So, a word like "paint" will now say "paint-ID" for past tense.  Or a verb like "pretend" will say "pretend-ID".

Way cool, once you know the pattern, right?!  I think so too.  And the BUGS were pretty excited to figure out the pattern.



Especially Dylan, Kolleana and Avery, who each won 10 Power Paws AND a treat out of the treasure box!!  Way to go detectives!

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The Tale of Despereaux

 

Welcome to the story of Despereaux Tilling, a mouse who is in love with music, stories, and a princess named Pea. It is also the story of a rat called Roscuro, who lives in the darkness and covets a world filled with light. And it is the story of Miggery Sow, a slow-witted serving girl who harbors a simple, impossible wish. These three characters are about to embark on a journey that will lead them down into a horrible dungeon, up into a glittering castle, and, ultimately, into each other's lives. What happens then? As Kate DiCamillo would say: Reader, it is your destiny to find out.

The past few weeks we have been thoroughly enjoying Kate DiCamillo's novel, "The Tale of Despereaux".  We were hooked on each chapter - each page as this story unfolded.  If you have not yet read this delightful tale of a mouse, a princess, a rat and a serving girl, the BUGS of Room 18 highly recommend you pick up a copy and start today!

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When is a Turkey Not Just a Turkey?

When it is a Turkey Glyph!!  We made turkeys that tell about our Thanksgiving celebrations and traditions (well, mainly what we EAT!)  Check out what we are doing for the holiday!

 

You have to follow the code...

Make sure you include all your favorite things...like pumpkin pie, and mashed potatoes...But don't put green feathers unless you like green bean casserole!
(remember, Moms will see this at conferences!  They might hold you to it!)
Don't forget to tell us if you're staying home or going somewhere else for the holiday by making your feet yellow or red!

I didn't see a single turkey with closed eyes...guess everyone likes dessert! 
I'll be eating my gravy in the dining room! 
I'll take extra helpings of corn and dinner rolls, please! 

Just white meat for me, please!  And hold the gravy! 

 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! 

 

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Gratitude

With Thanksgiving just a few days away, we recently took a look at the word 'gratitude' and talked about what it means to be grateful.  We read a book about gratitude and decided to share what we are all thankful for.  While I only have room here to share a few of the great Gratitude Writings our class authored this week, the rest are in the hallway for parent conferences.  We sure hope you take a moment to stop and read all the amazing blessings we all have in our lives that make us full of gratitude! 

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AR Buttons!

Congratulations to Maya and Abigail for earning their Five Point AR buttons!!

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What Teachers Do On the Weekend

Ever wonder what your teacher does on the weekend?
 Last weekend, I spend way too many hours in the classroom organizing BOOKS!!  

 

The students will tell you that I cleaned out the Closet of Death so I could access our leveled guided reading books easier.

 

Which meant all the craft supplies had to find a new home (and get organized as well).

Which meant our reading books needed to find new homes.  (Let's hope this cabinet is sturdy!)

But we did all that so we could use our awesome new book bins!!  Mrs. Koehn bought these cool book bins with some of the funds from the Drive One 4UR School fundraiser.  Each student has their own bin where they can keep their library books as well as other leveled books recommended by Mrs. Koehn!  We are all so excited about these bins!

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Coincidence?

 

Sophie and her new book.  Hmm....  :)

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Using the Tools

Jose was practicing his parts of speech with a grammar activity today.  He had to color words by whether they were nouns, verbs or adjectives.  Jose had no problem deciding what part of speech the words were, but first there were a few words that he had trouble sounding out.  He grabbed a scrap piece of paper and began fish hooking the words into syllables to decode what the vowels would say in each word.  I watched as he carefully wrote, fish hooked, pounded and sounded out each word with confidence.  His eyes lit up when he read each word and then he happily colored it the appropriate color!  Way to go Jose for using your tools to figure out hard words!!

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Our Writing Process

We have been working during the first couple months of school, to learn the writing process.  We have practiced each step along the way and produced our first story this week.  We now know that a good story...

...starts with an idea...

Then it's a good idea to practice your story out loud to a friend (or to yourself).

Drawing a quick sketch of what happens at the beginning, middle and end of the story helps us organize our thoughts.  Rehearsing these steps with a partner makes sure we didn't leave out any details.

Now we start drafting our story.  This draft will be really rough, so we leave  blank lines to give us room for changes later.

After reading our first draft over with a friend, we make suggestions for each other.  We might point out some missing details, or ask for clarification about a part. We might compliment the plot, but suggest some adjectives to help make the characters appear in my head, too. Then it's back to make changes, additions and sometimes even to take parts out.

Along the way, if we get stuck on how to spell a word, we do our best to sound it out first.  We even take the time to fish hook the word to make sure it says what we want it to say (we don't want to write "supper" when we mean to write "super"!) Then we ask three friends to confirm or correct our spelling.  When we have it correct, we add it to our personal dictionaries so we know how to spell it the next time!

After a few revisions and lots of work with a friend or two, we are ready to make a very neat, very perfect final copy!  We don't skip lines anymore and we use our very best handwriting for this copy!  Sometimes we might even type our stories into the computer to share!

We take time to make a detailed illustration to go along with our story as a picture or as the cover to our book.  Then we put it all together for publication to share with others!

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