Happy Halloween!

Today was so much fun!  We paraded with our 6th grade buddies around Preisser Field to the sounds of Thriller.  I hope you were able to be there to see all the fabulous costumes!  After the parade, the party started!  The students rotated through all 4 second grade classrooms, engaging in different activities in each room.  In our room, there was a mummy wrapping competition which was very amusing.  The students learned they had to be very gentle with single ply toilet paper!  Thank you so much to all our parent volunteers, who decorated the classroom, and planned and executed the mummy wrapping.

Gooney Bird Greene Day

Carey and I had huge smiles on our faces when we greeted 19 Gooney Birds this morning.  The students, and teachers, entered into the spirit and wore creative, crazy outfits that Gooney Bird would have been proud of!  We had a fun day participating in Gooney Bird inspired activities.  The students used a computer drawing program called Sketchpad to create their own digital image of the book character.  During reading stations, the students wrote letters to Gooney Bird, and thought about ways she demonstrates the Graland Guidelines.  Check out our outfits below!

Field Day

It was fun to spend Field Day with our 6th grade buddies.  The students rotated through 4 different stations where they displayed athletic skills and team work.  Click here for photos of the fun!

Denver Botanic Gardens

It was a beautiful day for our trip to the Botanic Gardens yesterday.  The cloudless blue sky and the amazing work of Dale Chihuly truly enhanced the trip.  If you have not been to see the exhibit, it is definitely worth it!  Ms. Naughton visited our class last week to tell us a little about the artist and how glassblowers create their work. 

During our trip, the students were consolidating their science understanding.  They looked at the different parts of plants and insects, identified pollinators, and described how insects help plants grow.  Students also looked for adaptations plants and animals have made to survive in their environment.

For more photos, please check out Mrs. Leddy's Science Blog.

Buddies

We met our 6th grade buddies yesterday.  The students enjoyed working together to create a superhero.  We will next see our buddies at Field Day, next Friday.

MobyMax for Math Fact Practice

The lower school is excited to implement a new web-based curriculum called MobyMax for students to practice math facts.  MobyMax is tailored to your child's individual needs and will be used both at home and in the classroom.  Moby's features include:

-Placement tests that accurately identify where your child excels, and where his or her missing skills are

-Targeted instruction to fill in those missing skills

-Systematic review sessions that ensure that your child retains 100% of what he or she has learned

To access MobyMax from your home computer: 

Login steps for [Student]

1.  Please go to www.mobymax.com/signin

2.  Enter School Code: co1998

3.  Enter

Username: first name (lower case)

Password: mobymax

You can also go to www.mobymax.com/co1998 and your child can enter his/her username and password.

To practice math facts, please click on Fact Master.

Once logged in, your child will be able to start immediately and begin improving his or her math facts recall. 

You can sign in as a parent as well by selecting "Parent" from the drop-down menu and entering your child's username and password.  You will be able to monitor your child's progress and even send messages to me.

For homework each week, students will be expected to practice math facts for 40 minutes.  We would like at least 20 of those minutes to be using MobyMax.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Back to School Night

Thank you so much to those who were able to attend Back to School Night.  If you were unable to make it, I have put my powerpoint presentation in the downloads section of the 2nd grade webpage.  Last night I mentioned an app that gives a Fountas and Pinnell level for children's books.  It is called LevelIt.  I can't believe I couldn't remember that!  Also, many bookstore will be able to help you determine book levels.