Step-Up/The last day of school

It really is hard to believe the last day of school is here. It's always such a bittersweet day-- there's excitement about the summer and sadness about saying goodbye to old friends and a familiar, happy routine. But, I know your children will love 2nd grade, as my colleagues are amazing and your children are ready for new challenges... :-)

Last week, students wrote a book for the incoming first graders entitled, The Scoop about First Grade. They heard a similar book written back last year's class at Step-Up Day last June. In the book, they tell the new 1st graders things that they will learn about and do in 1st grade. I will read it tomorrow at Step-Up Day. The new 1st graders will also watch our class sing "Take Me Out for Some Ice Cream," which is the very first song I taught them way back in August. Your children will meet their new teacher tomorrow in their new 2nd grade classroom. It's always a VERY exciting day! :-)

Please send your child to school tomorrow with an extra bag--a reusable grocery bag or the plastic variety will do. Many students have a water bottle (or two) to bring home, along with some artwork that did not make it home last week. Their backpacks might not hold it all, and I want to be sure it makes it home safely. 

Missing a water bottle? These were all in the classroom. I like that your children want to stay hydrated! :-)

My parting gift to students and some student artwork...all waiting to come home tomorrow! 

Catching up on May events: Four Winds Day and the Memorial Day assembly

I was going through photos this weekend and realized I had some photos that needed to be shared! At the end of May, we had Four Winds Day and a special Memorial Day whole-school assembly. The entire school participated in both events. The focus of Four Winds Day was the life cycle of a dandelion. The assembly, of course, focused on Memorial Day. 

Putting together the parts of a flower.

Pulling part a dandelion to examine the parts

Magnifying glasses helped students examine the dandelions.

Great cooperation!

Displaying part of the dandelion life cycle

Students spent a lot of time in May doing writing for their district writing portfolios, which will be sent along to next year's teacher. I had some juice and cookies left over from previous special events, so students had some "brain food." We all laughed because we know real brain food is a lot healthier. :-)

I was SO IMPRESSED with the way students worked together making posters for our class presentation about the Pledge of Allegiance for our Memorial Day assembly. I read a book (see below) that explains the vocabulary in the pledge, and we took several of those words and explained their meaning to the school. Students drew pictures to go along with each work. They chose which word they wanted to work on and worked extremely well together to come up with ideas for their collaborative posters.

At the assembly, students were a little nervous, but they did GREAT! I explained about the book we read, the students said the Pledge of Allegiance and held up their posters when we said their designated words, and then students spoke the definitions into a microphone. We received many compliments on our presentation. Hooray 1st graders!

End of year report card, etc.

A few people asked me at Field Day about end of year progress updates, etc. There are only two regularly scheduled parent-teacher conferences each school year--one in November and one in March. There is no end of year conference. Your child's report card will be sent home on Monday, June 13th--the last day of school. Your child will meet his/her new teacher during Step-Up Day activities on Monday morning. You will receive a new class list so you can see who is in your child's new class. Your child's 2nd grade teacher will be listed on the report card.

As always, please contact me with any questions!

Field day

Field Day 2011 was a hit! Although the day was warm, there was a nice breeze at Airport Park. We did the more active activities--the bounce castle, tug rope, playground, and toss/catch in the earlier part of the day and waited to do Duck Duck Splash and the sponge relay until later. The water activities were a welcome relief in the heat! 

It was nice to see so many of you there for lunch and some of the activities! Here are some photos from our day...

The 1st grade team :-)

Sidewalk chalk and more...

Students enjoyed writing their SWR "red words" using sidewalk chalk on Monday. We have been working all year to memorize these words for both reading AND spelling. Students can read them easily, but spelling them correctly on a consistent basis is tricky! The more repetition in memorizing the spelling, the better. And this made it FUN too! :-)

I've told you about a common request in our classroom this year: "Mrs. Sorenson, can you please take a picture of this?" Here are some more student masterpieces. I suppose if you can't save what you build, taking a photo is the next best thing! :-)

 

Hooray for Joe!

We had a special event at UMS last Friday! The torch run... part of the opening ceremonies for the Vermont Special Olympics, came right behind our school! Joe, a 2nd grader, was honored to be one of the runners in the torch relay. Students learned a bit about the Special Olympics and what that means. We also made posters to cheer on Joey. I put the posters we made in a special book after we cheered and Joe was really excited to have the book to take home. :-)