Happy WEEKEND!

We had our first doubles test today! Thank you so much for studying those doubles facts! Congratulations to the 16 students who completed their doubles facts today! They will move on to doubles + 1 in 2 minutes. Thank you for working hard and practicing your facts at home. Good luck! Keep practicing!
Picture day is September 22. Please return your photo orders before or on Monday the 22nd. Thanks. You can also order online.
Mustang March is our Fall Fundraiser at Olson. Please go out and get those pledges! This is a great week for us to show our school spirit, encourage physical fitness, and show our support for Olson!
We continue to practice integrity, respect, being a good citizen, and responsibility in 2nd grade. Please keep working hard to complete the homework. Required reading in 2nd grade is 20 minutes a night. Please be reading to your child or have your child be reading at least 20 minutes. Once I have read with your child in class, he/she will be assigned a good fit reading level to check out classroom books for at-home and in-class reading.
Some topics of discussion for the weekend for earning 5 horseshoes: Please ask your child about Sam. What is schema? Name an appropriate and an inappropriate behavior at school. Please write your comments on the blog for 5 horseshoes on Monday! We will share the ideas on Monday.
Wishing you a wonderful weekend! Go out and show integrity wherever you go!
Mrs. Montes

Happy Wednesday!

The spelling and vocabulary test will be next week on Friday. There are 20 words but the students are only tested on 15 of them. Please practice these spelling patterns and chunks nightly!
Poetry binders will be going home on Friday with a poem about being responsible. It is a funny rhyming poem. Hopefully, you and your child can talk about the ways they help out at home and create some new chores or ways they can help out to show responsibility at home. I learned a lot about the children through this poem. There are some who have lots of chores and some who have none!
Doing a great job with homework responsibilities. Keep up the good work!
There will be a sign language club offered for 2nd-3rd graders on Tuesdays after school at Olson. There is only room for 20 children so if you're interested please return the sheet tomorrow!
The Character Key we are working on for the month of September is "Integrity." We are challenged with showing integrity everywhere we go. We have several opportunities throughout the day to show integrity. No matter where, no matter what, and no matter who is watching! Show integrity!
Thank you for the volunteers who have been coming in to help. I appreciate your time and commitment to our classroom! Next week we will be MAP testing from 8-10:30 Wednesday, 8-9:30 Thursday, and 8-9:30 Friday. If this is your regularly scheduled volunteer time, Ms. Salas will gladly have you help her during this time with reading with the kids!
In math we are working on even and odd numbers, adding doubles, and doubles plus one. Please practice these at home!!
Have a great rest of the week!
Mrs. Montes

Happy Thursday!

We are moving quickly in second grade!
Thank you to those of you who came to Back to School Night to hear about our routines and curriculum in second grade. I hope it was a great night for you.
This week we are learning about "Being Me." We are learning about citizens who cooperate and make good decisions in their community and at home and school. The chameleon learned he wasn't happy when he wasn't himself. We are learning how we are special in the skin we are in and we need to celebrate "being me!"
Just a reminder that the family journals come home on Thursday and you have until Monday to return them. This gives you a chance to read and respond to your child. Last week we did really well with returning them on time.

Xtra Math homework is every Wednesday, but please feel free to do it as often as you like. It will only make you better! Other alternatives in addition to Xtra Math is flashcards and math games or math apps on your tablet. We are learning about math mountains, fact families, skip counting by 2, 5, and 10, and even and odd numbers. Here are some pictures of us getting up and moving to some YouTube songs/videos on skip counting.
So far we are doing well with completing homework assignments on time. If you ever need help please send a note with the homework and we can explain it better!

Good job on the healthy snacks! Thank you!
Have a great night!
Mrs. Montes

Welcome to Second Grade!

Dear Second Grade Families!
I am so excited to begin this new adventure in second grade with you! What a wonderful first day we had!
Please use this blog as our way of communicating with us.  I will not be sending home a weekly newsletter. I will update the blog at least once a week, sometimes daily. You can post comments on here or email me anytime. I have to preview your comments before they are posted for everyone to see.

Today we talked about "jitters" and what makes us nervous. I learned a lot of new things about the children. I think they got rid of the first day jitters by the end of the day.

Our Back to School Night will be next Thursday, August 21 at 6:00 p.m.. I hope you are able to attend this special night to learn about our curriculum and routines of the classroom. I look forward to meeting you. If you need to bring your child(ren), childcare will be provided in the gym.

Thank you for allowing me to spend this year with your child. What  a great first day we had!
Mrs. Montes

Summer Reading

Parents,
I just wanted to share this great recourse with you for summer reading. It really helps stay up with our current reading level that we leave with in second grade. We want to come in as strong leaders like we left second grade. I will be doing it with my boys at home! Let me know if it doesn't work. Here is the link: http://www.bookitprogram.com/summer/parenttools.asp  There are a lot of great activities to do to motivate and keep your child reading over the summer.
Good luck!
Mrs. Montes

Happy Wednesday!

Hello!
Just a few updates to share with you about these last couple weeks of school. 

• Field Day is Friday, May 23. If you can help Mrs. Etnyre at a station please let her know! The Clydesdales will participate in the afternoon and the Appaloosas will participate in the morning. Please wear green or your field day shirt. Bring a cold lunch or order from two menu options: A Sub Sandwith or B PBJ). Be sure to send a water bottle, sunscreen, and a hat!
• Dismissal is at 12:20 on the last day of school. They may bring a cold lunch or order hot lunch. 
• Report cards go home on the last day of school. If your child earned a Magic Waters or Six Flags ticket they will be in the report card.
• All library books should have been returned to school. Please look for any books labeled "Montes" around your house and car. Please return my personal class library books by Friday. Thanks.

Have a great week!
Mrs. Montes

Thursday Updates

I just wanted to remind you that the Scholastic Book Fair will be open next week at Olson. This is our Spring Buy One Get One Free Sale. If you send money to school with your child, please do the following:

• Send money in an envelope or baggie with your child's name and teacher on it. 
• Please write the amount that is inside 
• Please make a good choice about how much money you send to school with your child. Also, please talk about your child's use of the money and good choices on what they can/cannot purchase. Sometimes kids want to share their money with others, so please discuss if this is allowed for your child. I would prefer each student just uses their own money. 

Along that note, I'm sad to say we won't be having any more Horseshoe Trading Days this year. Unfortunately, we have had several students with missing horseshoes (and other things) and several students with a lot more  horseshoes. We have talked with the classes about all of the pillars of good character: respect other people's property, responsibility, caring for others, trustworthiness, honesty, and fairness. It is difficult for Ms. Salas and I to be stuck in the middle of several horseshoe stories, and it is difficult to tell who is telling the truth. So for the remainder of the year, we will use only the clips for positive reinforcement and consequences in the classroom. Please have a discussion with your child around this topic. Some of the students are very disappointed, as we are also. I don't want all of the students to be punished or suffer for the actions of others, so we are certainly looking for more ways to reward those students in the classroom. Thank you for helping with this.

Field Day is Friday, May 23. Field Day T-Shirt Orders are due tomorrow. Please contact Mrs. Etnyre if you are able to volunteer that day.  Thank you. 

Have a great week. Maybe we'll actually see the sun?

Mrs. Montes