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

Happy Thanksgiving Week!

Monday Updates

• There will not be a spelling and vocab list this week. I did post the new spelling words beginning Dec. 2 if you want to get a jump start on them. This is a review of units 1-6. There are a lot of words on this list, but they are all familiar words. 
• Our next unit is Culture for social studies. Ms. Salas will lead this unit in social studies in Spanish. In our English class, we will be reading a lot of literature about different cultures. Our main activity for this unit is the presentations the students will be giving at the end of December before break. We will send dates home next week telling you when to bring all of your artifacts for your presentation day. These interviews papers went home two weeks ago and were due today. I'm sending home a new sheet today if they didn't turn it in. These are due tomorrow. I'm collecting 5 horseshoes each day they are not turned in. I shared some examples of the presentations today so the children have some ideas of what to do. I will try and find some pictures from last year to put up on the blog to help you out. This is an example of one student who shared his Philippino heritage and another student who shared her Italian heritage. We are looking for any artifacts (poster of pictures, maps, etc) and anything from this time that you can share. You can even dress up like the person you interviewed. This person has to be someone from another country than USA. Children will stand up and share their interview. This must be written in the child's handwriting. You can use note cards or read from a piece of paper. Please help your child prepare for it but let them do the work. Good luck, and please let us know if you have any questions. 
  
• Congratulations to the Clydesdales for winning back the Mustang March trophy! This means we ran the most laps during the march out of all the second graders! Woohoo! Way to work hard Mustangs!
• We are collecting sock donations for our Woodstock Mistletoes! These socks will go to local hospitals to warm the toes and cheer up children in the hospital this holiday season. This is optional! 
• Ms. Salas and I have been out of the classroom at meetings this past week. We appreciate your talking with your child about appropriate behavior when there is a sub in the room. We still work hard, do our best, and treat the adult with respect. Family journals and poetry binders were due today also. 
• Have a wonderful week, and Happy Thanksgiving. We will be celebrating this week with our families. I hope you enjoy the time with your family. 

         Mrs. Montes

Updates

Happy Thursday everyone!

Today we planned to complete family journals and send them home tomorrow. However, we did not get to them. Tomorrow we will do family journals and send them home. Sorry for the confusion. 
We are very busy finishing up the nutrition unit in the Spanish class. As part of dual language, we bridge the languages by connecting the learning. What we do is not a translation or the same, but we are learning about nutrition and ways to keep your body healthy in both classes. In Ms. Salas' class, we are learning about ways to keep your body healthy by eating healthy foods and making good choices from the food groups. In my class, we are learning about healthy food choices, exercise, sleep, and Dr. visits as ways to keep the body healthy. The study guide for this will come home tomorrow and they will write about this on Tuesday. 

Culture-Today you will receive a culture survey. Please complete the survey and return it by Monday, November 25. Please find someone in your family who came here from another country that can share their heritage and experience. 

Operation Christmas Child-If you would like to participate in donating items for the shoebox please send them to school by November 21. I am looking for some parents to wrap 6 boxes for us in Christmas wrapping paper. Please let me know if you are available to help and I will send the boxes home. Thanks.

Thanksgiving Turkey-Please fill this out with your child. There are a few short questions about how your family celebrates. Thanks.

Measurement test is tomorrow. A study guide is coming home today. 

Thanks!
Have a great night. 
Mrs. Montes

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday!

• We were glad to honor our Veterans today in our Veteran's Day Assembly here at Olson. Thank you to those of you who had someone special attend our assembly. We thank you for your service!
• Next week we will finish up all things frogs. We will finish up comparing frogs and toads and the life cycle. Our test for this will be Monday, November 18. 
• We are also completing our Nutrition unit. Ms. Salas focuses on the Five Food Groups in the Spanish class. In my class, we are learning about the extensions to this and the ways we can keep our body healthy. A study guide for this will come home on Thursday. The written response will be on Friday. 
• Next week we will have a spelling list but no vocabulary list. The spelling list lasts for two weeks. 
• Look for our measurement test to be coming up soon too. We are learning about length: inches, feet, yards, centimeters, and meters. To continue measurement, we will learn about telling time next. 
• We have learned about nouns and adjectives in literacy. Look for ways you can extend these skills at home and "jucify" nouns with juicy descriptions. 
• In Character Ed, we have learned about cooperation, citizenship, respect, and responsibility this year. Please have discussions at home about how they are learning to be a good citizen. Sometimes we need reminders of how a good citizen behaves by making good decisions, solving problems, and showing respect. 

Have a happy three day weekend!

Mrs. Montes