Parent University Saturday 8-12

I am hopeful that you are aware of the District’s 3^rd Annual Parent University being held this Saturday, Feb. 2^nd at Woodstock North High School.  This FREE event will run from 8 am to 12 noon and will once again host a number of excellent speakers and community resources.  The topics covered are applicable to students of all ages and is an excellent opportunity for both parents and teachers. You can access the information through this link. http://olson.woodstockschools.org/news/free-half-day-seminar-offers-excellent-resources-parents Please check out this link if you are interested. I have heard great things about it every year.
Please remember to send snow gear tomorrow. It is always nice to have an extra pair of socks, sweater/sweatshirt in the locker for the colder days.
Mrs. Montes

Updates

New reading challenge sheets for February will be sent home on Friday. It will be pink. Please use this for the last week of the reading challenge, and turn it in on February 8. They will be sent back home again for the rest of the month to earn the Book-It certificate. You will also earn Book-It during the reading challenge. This week's prize is the Magic Waters free ticket. You will get the ticket in May in the report card. Magic Waters opens Memorial Day Weekend.
Thank you for sending the report card envelopes back! If you still have them, please return to school. We appreciate your prompt responses for conferences and Literacy Night. We are trying to accommodate parents with siblings in the school. We will hopefully send these notes home Friday or Monday. Thank you for your patience.
We had a blast at our "Respect" Dance Party on Monday. By showing respect for others, we filled our snow globe with snowflakes. We had so much fun that we hope to do this again! Way to go!
We are so excited to spend February 7 with you. Our Literacy Night is going to be a slam! We look forward to sharing poetry with our families and even creating some new ones with our guests. We will have 30 minutes in our classrooms that night. The bilingual storyteller will be from 6-7 and families are invited to come back to the classrooms from 7-7:30. Thank you so much for your RSVP to this event so we can plan for our guests. We look forward to seeing you on the 7th.
The Clydesdales will celebrate their reading challenge week one victory on Monday, Feb. 4 with an extra 30 minutes of recess with Ms. Perkins. Way to go! We are cheering on the Appaloosas to get picked this week.
With this wet and sloppy weather brings soggy socks and boots. Please keep a dry pair of socks in your backpack to be able to change into if your feet get wet. Please remember to air out/dry the snow gear when it comes home. Otherwise they are putting on wet clothes for recess and it makes for an even colder recess!
We will be having a Valentine's Day Party. We will get a list out to you soon, and a date too. Please help your child decorate a box for their Valentines. Please put your name BIG on the top with a slit the size of an envelope. Please bring them to school on Tuesday, February 12.
Have a great week!
Mrs. Montes

Important Upcoming Events

We are enjoying our penguin unit. Today we took facts we learned about the Emperor Penguin and are learning to write the information into a cooperative paragraph as teams. We will do this with several penguins to help prepare for the research projects that will be coming home on a penguin or a whale.

Here are some fun websites you may want to search with your child about penguins. www.nationalgeographickids.com then search "penguins." There are photographs and also some fun videos. Another one we like is www.Arkive.org. Check them out!

Hope you are continuing to read for the Reading Challenge. Clydesdales will be receiving an extra recess with Ms. Perkins soon for their 80% or better turn in for week one. We are really proud of our accomplishments for week one. This week we will receive a Nick's Pizza kid card and Free Rock, Roll, & Read from Extreme Wheels! Way to go! This Friday is Dress Comfy and Read. You can wear pajamas or comfy clothes and bring a stuffed animal. Please keep the animal size small enough to fit on the desk.

Important Upcoming Events

Thursday, February 7, from 6-7:30 is our Family Literacy Night (school-wide). There will be a bilingual storyteller for the families from 6-7. Then the second grade families will be invited back to the classrooms from 7-7:30 for a poetry night. In order to plan for this night, we would like to know if you and your family will be joining us, and how many. The children will be sharing some poetry and exploring some new poetry activities with their family. Please RSVP at the bottom of this paper.

Our Spring Parent Teacher Conferences are coming up Wednesday, February 13, (8:00am-2:00 pm) Thursday, February 14, (2:00-9:00 pm) and Friday, February 15, 8:00 am-12:30 pm). If you would like to see both teachers together (Mrs. Montes for the English conference, and Ms. Salas for Spanish conference) please fill out the section below on this paper and return to your teacher. Otherwise, teachers will meet with families of their native language. 

Finally, our Music Concert for Second Grade is Thursday, February 21, at 6:00 p.m.

We appreciate your prompt response with an RSVP to Family Literacy Night and conferences. Please return by Friday, January 25, 2013. We are giving 5 horseshoes if they are returned tomorrow!

Have a safe night! Enjoy the fresh snowfall!
Mrs. Montes

Weekly Update

We would like to give a big shout out to all the families for helping us show great responsibility and returning your reading logs today! Both the Clydesdales and Appaloosas met the goal of 80% or better for the class. Way to go!!!We are so proud of you! Our names went into a hat and The Clydesdales were drawn! We will receive 30 minutes of extra recess with Ms. Perkins! Woohoo! Great job! If you didn't participate this week, you can still work hard for next week and complete the required minutes. You will need two weeks worth of reading. The prize for next week is Nick's Pizza kid's meal and Extreme Wheels free skating pass. It will be an event to celebrate in Crystal Lake! Keep working hard and read, read, read!!
This month we are also trying to fill our hallway snow globe. Every time we see someone showing Respect they can earn a snowflake to put on the snow globe. If we fill our snow globe by Jan. 28 our class can participate in 30 minutes of "Just Dance." It will surely be a good time!
Please return the report card envelope on Tuesday for 5 horseshoes.
We did not send home the poetry binder today. We spent a lot of time learning about penguins this week, but we didn't finish getting the binders ready. They will come home next week with 2 penguin poems. There are lots of new vocabulary words in this unit. Hopefully  they can come home and talk to you about our two new words "blubber" and "regurgitate."
We will be spending more time on penguins and whales than just these 4 weeks. The week of the 28th we will have our ACCESS testing of the English Language Learners acquiring English. This will push us back just a bit. February is going to be a busy month. To give you a heads up on these dates:
Thursday, Feb. 7 is Family Literacy Night with a Bilingual Storyteller 6pm TBA)
Thursday, Feb. 14 is conferences 5-9pm Friday, Feb. 15 8-12:30
Thursday, Feb. 21 is our second grade musical at 6pm
We would like the penguin/whale projects to get a good start before then because we want the diorama projects up for display during this week. We will start sending that information out in the next couple of weeks as we study more penguins and whales.
Have a fabulous 3-day weekend!
Mrs. Montes

Updates

Hoping everyone got a good start to the reading challenge over the weekend!  A reminder that the reading is for 25 minutes a night. Please initial on Friday morning and add up the week's minutes. Send to school Friday. I will send them back home Friday to continue logging the next week. I sent home extras on Friday because some of the children said they needed them. You may have extras at home now, just in case something gets misplaced. You may need an extra sheet for the Six Flags reading log. Those actual logs get mailed to Read to Succeed for the tickets so please be filling that out. You can turn in a blue log or white, as long as it is signed and added up by an adult. This week's prize is a responsibility pencil and the certificate to use throughout the whole challenge.  These certificates will be displayed on all the classroom doors throughout the school. We can't wait to see if we make 80% or better on Friday to earn an extra recess with Ms. Perkins! Let's go Appaloosas and Clydesdales and turn in those logs on Friday! (175 minutes)
Young Author's books are due tomorrow. Wednesday at the latest. I need them tomorrow to write up all the names of the participants because they get shipped out on Wednesday. Please send back the envelope if you have changed your mind about writing a story. We are charged for each missing envelope. So please return the envelope even if you did not complete a story. Thanks.
REMINDER: Please make sure your child has the appropriate snow gear. Some of them came in with very red and cold hands and fingers today because they did not have gloves. A hoodie is not sufficient  for keeping a child warm in this cold weather. Please send  appropriate winter wear to school (hats, gloves, winter jacket, snow pants, and boots when there is snow).
We are in full penguin mode. We are off to a great start with making observations and predictions. For the penguin observation sheet that came home, please have the child do the writing of what the family already knows. I can't wait to see and share them!
We had a lesson on proper hand washing in class. Hopefully the children came home to share what they learned! The flu and cough are going around. Let's help prevent the spread of those little germs that cause BIG problems and keep those hands clean and away from the face and mouth.
Report cards go home Friday. I am really impressed by some of the progress in reading!  Continue doing that reading at home! Keep up the great work. Let's keep working on those flashcards and Xtra Math!
Remember no school Monday, January 21 in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Have a great week!
Mrs. Montes

Updates

Dear Parents,
Well I guess it was my turn! I apologize for not updating the blog this week. I have been out sick a couple of days with the flu. I am so sorry I did not put the spelling and vocab words on here since I had them at home with me.
I am so excited for this time of the year!!!! The Reading Challenge officially begins tomorrow with our Rock Star Readers Theme. So dress up like a rock star everyone! This includes just your attire (dress/clothing). Please do not wear makeup or send any props. Thank you. The required minutes per night is 25 minutes. Take the log home tomorrow (I will send it all again tomorrow even though some of you kept it from earlier this week) and begin logging 25 minutes a day. Bring the log back on Friday the 18th with a parent signature and the total minutes for the week. Each child will receive their prize on Fridays when they turn in their logs. Good luck and happy reading!!!
Just to give you a heads up on what's ahead..... we will be studying penguins for 2 weeks beginning next week. After that, we will study whales. After this month long study is complete, we will have a research project the children will complete at home. We will study several whales and penguins and then the students get to choose one to research and present to the class. With this, they will create a diorama that shows the animal's habitat. More information will come soon! The final projects are due the week of February 11.
Have a fantastic week.
Mrs. Montes

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

I just wanted to give you a heads up on what will be coming in January for Olson's Reading Challenge! There will be spirit day events every Friday.

“TEAM Reading Challenge”

This year’s reading challenge will be 4 weeks.

Week Number/Dates	Prize awarded (TBA)-may change	Spirit Day Events on Friday Every Friday is turn-in day
January 11 Kick off Friday!		Jan 11 TEAM Rock Stars Dress: “Rock Star Readers” (Dress like a rock star) DEAR-7:40 am
1- Jan 14-18	Travel Certificate & Character pencil	Jan 18 TEAM Sports Dress: Sports DEAR-1:10
2- Jan 21-25	Nick’s Pizza	Jan 25  TEAM PJ’s Dress: Comfy, PJ’s, etc. Stuffed animal DEAR-1:35
3- Jan 28-Feb. 1	Magic Waters, Culver’s? Applebees, & McDonald’s	Feb. 1 TEAM Mismatch Dress: Mismatch clothing DEAR-8:10
4- Jan 27-Feb 3	Scholastic Book Fair $5 and Six Flags Ticket	Feb. 8 TEAM Aloha Dress: Hawaiian Day with beach towels

Second Grade 25 minutes/day=175 minutes a week

For meeting our goals, there will be individual prizes and classroom prizes. Please encourage your child to read 25 minutes each night and turn in the log on Friday mornings to their teacher. If a child is absent they have until the day they return to turn in their log with the required minutes and parent signature on it. The Magic Waters Log and Six Flags log must be completed with title and minutes, and everything it asks for. For week 3 attach the Magic Waters sheet to your reading challenge log. (No need to fill out week 3 log) For week 4 attach the reading challenge log to your Six Flags Reading Log. (No need to fill out week 4) All the minutes read at home will go towards the 6 hours/360 minutes for Magic Waters and Six Flags. If you complete the whole challenge for 4 weeks it is 700 minutes.

Mrs. Montes, Ms. Salas, Mrs. Maltese, & Mrs. Pawelko