Wishing you a great holiday break!

Dear Families,
I want to thank you so much for sending the holiday pictures my way. I really enjoyed them. However, we didn't get a chance to view them in class, we are sharing them on here. I love seeing the traditions in your home. Thank you for sharing.
What a wonderful week of presentations we had. I loved hearing about each and every one of the children's heritage. I learned some interesting things about each one. The children did a fantastic job presenting. Thank you for your hard work in making that happen. I still have more pictures to post. I'm trying to find the time for all of these things this week.

Wishing you and your family a joyous holiday season. Enjoy the break and time with family and friends. Thank you for each of the blessings that were poured on Ms. Salas and me this week. We are blessed to spend the days with these children.

Mrs. Montes

Holiday Images

Dear Parents,
I would love if you can share some images of your holiday traditions in your home, or just some pictures of how you decorate for the holidays.  If you can take a picture and email it to me that would be great! I will be sharing the images with the classes while we talk about our holiday traditions in our home.
Thank you.
Mrs. Montes

Whew, it's Friday!

Wow, it's been a crazy week! I can tell break is upon us.

I am so proud of all our students for trying so hard and having courage for the spelling bee on Thursday. They were all so nervous. We had a lot of butterflies flying around that day! Congratulations to Sofia for making it to the Olson Spelling Bee! She will compete against other winners from each grade level at Olson on January 10.

Our presentations are off to a great start. I've shared some of the below. I can tell the students are working hard to prepare by practicing. Thank you for your help and input. Just a reminder, the work should be done by the student. Today we learned that most of the ancestors came from another country and got married here in the United States to someone else from their country. We learned about Poland, Chile,  Norway, Mexico, and England. We will continue on Monday. Keep up the good work.

Because of our presentations, we did not have time to do the spelling and culture vocab test today. We will not have new words next week, but we will take the test on Monday. We did a practice today with one class, and I could see they needed more time to study. Take the weekend to practice. I actually sent the test home as a study guide. There will also be some pictures to match the vocabulary words with.

Next week we continue learning about Cinderella stories, presentations on other cultures, and Germany and the United States. In math we continue counting coins to make a dollar and some are counting beyond a dollar. Our math test on money will be next Friday. We have a half day next Friday.

Also, on Thursday we will be having a Winter celebration with popcorn, juice, and candy canes. We are trying to keep it simple with our limited time on this busy week. If you can send in some popcorn, please let me know. We haven't heard from anyone yet if they can bring anything. Thanks.

Have a terrific weekend.
Mrs. Montes
Enjoy these images of culture presentations below!

 

 
 

Spelling Bee Winners!

Congratulations!
I am so proud of the class for showing good character during our spelling bee today. Everyone was a winner! Congratulations to the Appaloosas: Robert and Georgia for being our first and second place champions.  Congratulations to the Clydesdales: Sofia and Zachary for being our first and second place champions. They will compete against other second graders at Olson tomorrow! Good luck!!!

Wednesday Updates

We made it to Wednesday! Time is flying by this month.
In math we are learning about money. We are learning how to add nickels, pennies, dimes, and quarters to make a dollar. Please practice counting coins at home! Many children know the coins and their values, but are struggling to add the coins together. Thank you for your help.
We continue to learn about cultures in literacy. Our focus is on United States, Germany, Brazil, and Mexico. We are fortunate to have Mrs. Valdez come in to teach us about Chile. In the English class, we are learning about Cinderella stories from different cultures. The children are really enjoying this! We are learning about good vs. evil characters and the lesson or moral of the story. There are some good lessons to be learned in these stories that I hope we can apply to our lives!
Today we will have a spelling bee in our classes. Usually, Olson only had grades 3-5 participate. Now, all grades will join! We will let you know the top two spellers for our classes. These winners will go on to compete against other 2nd graders at Olson. The final winner will compete January 10.
Our spelling and vocabulary test are Friday. Please be practicing these words about culture!
Presentations begin on Friday. Please remember to bring all of your materials with you on your presentation day. It sounds like there are some awesome projects being made out there, and we cannot wait to see them! Thank you!

·         We will have a small winter celebration next Thursday in the afternoon. We are looking for popcorn of different flavors (butter, cheese, caramel, kettle, white) plastic cups, napkins, and candy canes. If you can donate any of these please let us know by Friday! This will give us a chance to shop over the weekend. Thank you. 

What a week! How fun the snow is, if only it would warm up so we could at least enjoy it! Please remember to send appropriate snow gear for recess: hats, gloves, scarves, boots, & snow pants. Hoodies are not an appropriate jacket for this time of year, but they may be warn with a winter jacket.
Have a great week. Stay warm!
Mrs. Montes

Welcome, December!

I hope you and your family had a great Thanksgiving. It has been a wonderful break for us. We celebrated with family and friends all throughout the break. We even made it out to Woodstock for the lighting of the square this year. 
For our culture unit, we will be learning about cultures in different countries. We are asking any parents (or grandparents, or relatives) who you may know that are from a different country. We know several of our diverse families represent other countries and cultures, and we need you! We are looking for someone to come in for about one hour for each class to teach us about your culture! We are looking for learning about the food, traditions, language, customs, religion, celebrations, etc. that you might do that you can share with us. This would be teaching to each class for up to an hour. You can come in one day and do it, or you can come in 2 separate days. We are hoping to find at least 3 parents who can do this. The days would be flexible the week of December 9-13. Please let us know if you are interested. Thanks! 
Making sure I enjoy every minute of this holiday season. Wishing you joy this season also! 

Have a great week. 
Mrs. Montes