Christmas Break

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe break, full of family and food and fun! :) I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I will see you all in 2015! (I can't believe this year is almost over!)

Mrs. Rains

Nov. 17-21/Dec. 1-5

It is almost Thanksgiving Break! Whoo Hoo! We have a busy schedule over the next few weeks, working our way to Christmas. This Thursday, Nov. 20, We have our Field Trip to Disney on Ice! I am so excited to see this show. It will be GrEaT! We will be out of school next week for Thanksgiving Break. We have talked all week about the wonderful holiday we will celebrate next Thursday. The students have shared what they are thankful for, learned about the First Thanksgiving, how the Pilgrims came to America and survived over the first winter, and learned a play about a turkey visiting for Thanksgiving!

Enjoy the week next week! Get much needed rest and spend lots of time with family and friends:)

When we come back, we will be learning about Christmas around the world. We will be visiting different classrooms to discuss, learn, and create crafts from various countries who celebrate Christmas. It is an exciting time! We have already got our Christmas decorations up and the kiddos love them! We will be creating ornaments for each country we visit and then some other keep-sake ornaments for our tree. The Santa Shop will be here beginning the first week of December. We will also have a Christmas movie day with hot chocolate and popcorn and our Christmas Party:)

Dec. 1-5

Our story for this week is Dear Juno. We will be writing friendly letters, learning about drawing conclusions, and practicing the vowel pattern oa, ow. We will have our tests like normal: practice test on Thursday and Reading test on Friday.

Spelling Words:

goat

hold

snow

most

toast

ago

open

told

toad

slow

High Frequency Words:

answer

company

faraway

parents

picture

school

wash

Upcoming Events:

Santa Shop- Dec. 4 & 5, 11 & 12

Eye Screening- Dec. 10 Please send in the forms as soon as possible!

Christmas Party- Dec. 19 at 8:00

Christmas Break- Dec. 22-Jan. 2

Students return on Jan. 5 (Monday)

Oct. 27-31

This week is RED RIBBON WEEK!! We will have dress up days each day. Please look at your newsletter daily to see what your child needs to wear.


This week we are reading The Bremen Town Musicians. We will practice words with inflected endings/plurals. Our spelling skill is plurals (change y to i, add s, add es). We will continue with plural nouns in Grammar.

We will finish up chapter 3 in math this week. We will test on chapter 3 on Thursday.

Spelling Words:
baby
babies
story
stories
lunch
lunches
switch
switches
note
notes
tune
tunes

High Frequency Words:
bought
probably
scared
shall
sign
people
pleasant


Upcoming Events:

Oct. 27-31: Red Ribbon Week

Mon- Red day, Tue- Camo day, Wed- Sunglasses

Thurs- Favorite Team T-shirt, Fri- Super Hero  Day

Oct. 31: School is out at 1:00.

Nov. 11: Veteran’s Day No School

Oct. 20-24

Congratulations Aggies for the win on Homecoming! Whoo Hoo!!

This week we will learning all about those creepy, crawly, spiders. We will read about them during reading and write about them in writing. We will write a report (expository) writing about different kinds of spiders. This week is going to be jam packed with the creepy, crawly arachnids! 

Our phonics skill is er, ir, and ur (the er triplets!). We will have spelling words and phonics practice on this skill. 

Our comprehension skill is Facts and details. We will also learn about opinions. 

In math we will continue in chapter 3!

Spelling Words:

purse

dirt

person

curl

curb

birth

nurse

turtle

turn

skirt

serve

her

Vocabulary Words:

toward, whole, word

enough, above, ago

Upcoming Events:

October 24: Pumpkin Character Due

October 27-31: Red Ribbon Week

Mon- Red day, Tue- Camo day, Wed- Sunglasses

Thurs- Favorite Team T-shirt, Fri- Super Hero Day

October 31: School is out at 1:00. 

Oct. 6-10

This week we are reading "Abraham Lincoln". We will learn about Author's Purpose and contractions (can't, I'm). Our grammar skill will be Proper Nouns (special names, begins with capital letters). We will begin chapter 3 in Math (basic addition and subtraction).

Spelling:
hadn't
it's
she's
aren't
he's
I'm
isn't
I'll
didn't
who's
can't
haven't

Vocabulary Words:
worst
second
laugh
great
you're
either
certainly

Upcoming Events:
Oct. 13 and 14- No School= Fall Break
Oct. 23- Make-Up picture day
Oct. 24- Pumpkin Character Project due
Oct. 31- School is out at 1:00 (Albertville vs. Guntersville Game)

Sept. 29- Oct. 3

This week we are beginning Unit 2 in reading! Wow! This school year is going by so fast. We will read Tara and Tiree in our reading books. We will discuss dangerous situations and talk about fire safety and safety animals. We will also talk about the sounds: ar, or, ore, oar (tar, torn, bore, board). This will be our spelling skill. Our reading comprehension skill is Cause and Effect and Summarizing.

Cause- why did something happen... Effect- what happened

Summarizing- telling the most important parts of the story in order

Spelling Words:
hard
horse
more
smart
before
born
more
part
farm
score
porch
corn

High Frequency Words:
once
listen
break
pull
family
heard

Upcoming Events:
Thursday, Oct. 2: Make up Picture Day
Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 13-14: Fall Break
Friday, Oct. 31: School is out at 1:00

Apple Week Was a Success!

Whew! We had a busy week! This week we enjoyed learning about apples and Johnny Appleseed. Each day we had a new apple snack to try. The kiddos had a blast tasting new treats:) Thank you parents for sending the items for our kids to try! Friday was FARM DAY!!! Thanks to the high school's FFA club, we are able to have great hands-on learning experience. Our kids are able to learn about and see REAL farm animals. They get to ask questions and pet the animals as well. As if all of this wasn't enough, PTO held Penny Wars this week. The kiddos enjoy this week so much! And it's a great fundraiser! Thanks parents and PTO for making this happen as well:)

Sept. 15-19

This week we will be reading "The Strongest One". We will be learning about Realism (something that has real ideas/could happen in real life) and Fantasy (completely made up/ talking animals, objects, etc).  We will learn about consonant diagraphs (wh, ch, sh, th, tch). In writing, we will begin writing fantasy narratives. We will continue with chapter 2 in math (Working with numbers to 1,000).

Spelling Words:
wish
that
patch
math
when
what
shape
itch
bunch
them
chase
whale

High Frequency Words:
though
learn
often
gone
pieces
very
together

Upcoming Events:
We will have Farm Day at the end of the month:)
Oct. 13-14: Fall Break

Sept. 8-12

This week we are reading "A Walk in the Desert". We are practicing Main Idea (most important idea of the story) and Details (the "extras", support the main idea, tell about the main idea). We are adding -ing and -ed endings to words. We are learning to change the words before adding the endings (write... writing/ jog....jogged). In writing, we are researching desert animals and writing a brief report about them. We are finishing up chapter 1 in math this week. We will begin Chapter 2 soon! Progress Reports will go home on Friday and Grandparents' Day is Thursday at 9:00.

Spelling Words:
talking
talked
lifting
lifted
hugging
hugged
dropping
dropped
smiling
smiled
exciting
excited

High Frequency Words:
water
warm
early
eyes
full
animals
love

Upcoming Events:

Sept. 11- Grandparents' Day 9:00-10:00
Sept. 12- Picture Day
Sept. 12- Progress Reports go home

Sept. 2-5

This week we are Camping! We will be reading the story "Henry and Mudge and the Starry Night" in our reading books and talking about going camping. We will learn the stars and moon and all things needed to camp. Our spelling skill is consonant blends (br, bl, cl, str...) . Our Comphrension skill is Character (who is in the story) and Setting (where and when is the story taking place?) . We will continue with chapter 1 in math and practice even and odd numbers, place value, and simple addition.

Spelling Words:
breeze
brave
strap
twin
clip
hand
stop
mask
state
ask
nest
stream
Vocabulary Words:
build
bear
mother
father
couldn't
straight
love

Writing Skill:
We will continue practicing writing complete sentences.
       1. Senctences begin with Capital Letters
       2. Sentences end with punctuation (! . ?)
       3. Sentences must make sense (beginning and end)
       4. Sentences must have a who and a what
We will talk about the Who (subject) and the What (predicates) of the sentence.
      Mudge (walks around the camp fire). --- complete sentence
       subject          predicate
Upcoming Events:
Sept. 11: Grandparents' Day 9:00-10:00
Sept. 12: Picture Day
Sept. 12: Progress Reports go home

Aug. 25-29

This week we are Exploring Space! We will be reading the story "Exploring Space" in our reading books and talking about the Solar System. We will learn about astronauts and outer space. Our spelling skill is CVCe (sneaky e). Our Comphrension skill is Main Idea and Details. We will begin chapter 1 and practice even and odd numbers, place value, and simple addition.

Spelling Words:
space
vote
blaze
late
page
mice
size
huge
nose
fine
race
hope

Vocabulary Words:
everywhere
live
machines
woman
work
move

Writing Skill:
We will be practicing writing complete sentences.
       1. Senctences begin with Capital Letters
       2. Sentences end with punctuation (! . ?)
       3. Sentences must make sense (beginning and end)
       4. Sentences must have a who and a what

Upcoming Events:
Aug. 28: Aggie Spirit Day- Wear Red and Black!
Sept. 1: No School- Labor Day
Sept. 11: Grandparents' Day 9:00-10:00
Sept. 12: Picture Day
Sept. 12: Progress Reports go home

Welcome Back!

Welcome to Room 215!

Let me start by saying I am so glad your child is in my class and I know this year is going to be a great one! There are a few things to know before we meet at orientation.

Orientation will be for PARENTS/GUARDIANS only. We ask that you do not bring your child to Orientation. Our orientation time is scheduled for 7:00 on August 11th. This is for Second Grade! You may pick up your orientation packet beginning July 30^th.

We will have a Meet and Greet on August 12th from 9:00-10:00. This will be the time to bring your child to see the classroom, meet the other students, and meet the teacher!

The PTO will be selling Supply Packs again this year. This is a great way to buy all the supplies on our supply list at one stop! They are $35.00 and you may purchase one when you come to see your Child’s class list or by emailing Mrs. Fowler.

Classroom Donation: $25.00

Technology: $10.00

Take Home Folder: $1.50
Planner: $4.00

I am looking forward to meeting you at Orientation and your child at the Meet and Greet. I am excited to begin a new year and I know this year will be GREAT! I will have information packets at Orientation that lets you know about how our class is run, things we will be doing, and what is expected from you, me, and most importantly your child this school year! If you have any questions before Orientation, please fill free to email me at jrains@albertk12.org.

Your child’s Second Grade Teacher,

Jennifer Rains

Basic 2nd Grade Supply list

2 boxes 10 count Ticonderoga wooden pencils

2  packs of pencil top erasers

1 pack pink pearl erasers

1 4oz bottle of Elmer’s glue

10 Elmer’s Glue sticks, large

4 packs of Crayola crayons 24 count

1 pack of Crayola Washable fine tip markers, classic colors

1 pack of Crayola Washable broad tip markers, classic colors

3 plastic pocket folders with prongs (red, blue and green)

3 spiral wide ruled notebooks (red, blue, and green)

1 pack of loose leaf wide ruled paper

1 pair Fiskar’s scissors

1 regular size pencil box

2 packs of white copy paper

Lo basico de 2nd grado suplementos de Ia lista

2 cajas de 10 Ticonderoga lapices de madera

2 paquetes de borradores

1 4oz tarro de pegante Elmer’s

10 pegante grande en palitos Elmer’s

4 paquetes de crayolas Crayola

1 paquete de Crayola lavable fine tip marcadores

1 paquete de Crayola lavable broad tip markers

3 folders plasticos con diente (rojo, azul, verde)

3 spiral 1 subject cuaderno (rojo, azul, verde)

1 paquete de hojas sueltas ancha de papel

1 par de tijeras Fiskar’s

2 caja rejular de lapices

Class Needs:

Lysol Spray

Clorox Wipes

Kleenex

Dry Erase Markers

Dry Erase Erasers

Colored Computer Paper

Post-Its

Gallon Zip Lock Bags

Quart Zip Lock Bags

Sandwich Zip Lock Bags

Snack Zip Lock Bags

Paper Plates

Sharpies

May 27-30

Well.....It's HERE! The end of school has made it! What a year we have had. I have many mixed emotions about the end of the year. Of course, I am excited about the SuMmEr! I mean, who isn't? But, I'm going to miss my kiddos so much. This class has been such a fun and exciting class. I pray for the brightest future ahead of all of them. I know they can do everything and anything they want in life. I hope next year is a great year for them and that they continue to grow into the great little citizens I know they will be!

That being said, here are a few things to know about this week...


Tuesday, May 27th: Courage Carnival 9:00-10:00

Wednesday, May 28th: Class End of the Year Party 10:00-11:00
        When you check your child out, please bring your Green Visor Card. I can't let your child leave the classroom with you unless you have the visor card. Parents are encouraged to join us for the party! I will be bringing cupcakes, chips, and drinks.

Friday, May 30th: You may pick up your child's report card this day. They will be in the lunchroom.

May 12-16

This week begins the "End of School" Craziness:) I hope you're ready!

Tuesday, May 13 (tomorrow) will be the Math Walk of Fame (2:00). We will also have the Relay for Life Courage Carnival on Thursday, May 15! The carnival will be all day. We will visit it during our P.E. and Specials time:)

Please send in your child's white t-shirt or the money for me to buy a white t-shirt by this Wednesday, May 14!

We will have a reading story and spelling test this week. We are reading "A Birthday Basket for Tia" pgs. 326-343.

We will be practicing the phonics skill: -tion and -ture. We will also be practicing the comprehension skill: Draw Conclusions.

Please be sure to study and read with your child each night!

Marshmallow Math

Here are some pictures of my kiddos making 3-D shapes with marshmallows as the vertices and toothpicks as the edges....

May 5-9

This week we are reading the story "Red, White, and Blue" (pgs. 326-343). Our comprehension skill is Fact and Opinion. Please read the story each night with your child!

Spelling Words:
(Inflected Endings)

1. tried
2. trying
3. cried
4. crying
5. hiked
6. hiking
7. planned
8. planning
9. liked
10. liking
11. skipped
12. skipping
Challenge Words-
13. danced
14. dancing
15. replied
16. replying


High Frequency Words:

birthday, America, freedom, flag, stripes, nicknames, stars

We continuing to learn about 2-D and 3-D shapes. We will be discussing sides, vertices, edges, & faces. We will also make 3-D shapes with toothpicks & marshmallows!;)

I hope everyone has a wonderful week! We are going to be busy, busy bees from now until we get out of school! Lots and lots of fun will be going on!

We have and Math Walk of Fame on May 13, AR Walk of Fame on May 23. Our Class Party is May 28. We will be out of school on May 26 for Memorial Day. We will have our Courage Carnival on May 15, and our Field Day is coming up soon!! WOW! Lots to do, Lots to do!!

April 28- May 2

Well, we are starting this week off with bad weather... Boo:( We will be leaving school early Monday, April 28 (at 12:00). I hope this weather just passes over us!

We are back to a "normal" routine in reading this week! We will be reading the story "Just Like Josh Gibson" (pages 300-315). Please read this story with your child each night. We will be working with contractions in spelling and word work. Our comprehension skill is Compare and Contrast.

In Math, we will finish up Chapter 10, take our test, and then move onto Chapter 11! Whoo Hoo! 

Spelling Words:

1. we're

2. I've

3. don't

4. can't

5. he'd

6. you're

7. won't

8. they're

9. I'd

10. they'd

11. she'd

12. we've

13. could've

14. would've

15. should've

HF Words:

bases, cheers, field, plate, sailed, threw

This next month will be so busy that it is just going to fly by! I can't believe it is already (almost) May. 

Our Class DIBELS day is Tuesday, April 29. Please make sure your child gets plenty of rest and a good breakfast Tuesday Morning!

April 21-25

Hi y'all! I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend! It was so beautiful. What great weather for egg hunts and being with family:)

This week we will focus on reviewing for our Unit 5 Reading Assessment. I can't believe we have already finished Unit 5 and will begin our last Reading unit next week! Oh my word! This year has gone by so fast!!!

In math, we will begin Chapter 10 (only one more to go after this as well!). We will be making picture graphs and bar graphs and collecting data to fill them in:) It is a fun chapter that I hope the children will love!

Our year is coming to a close quickly, HOWEVER... we are not finished YET!! The students are still expected to listen and follow directions. They are also expected to stay on task, finish work assignments, and complete homework.

Now, onto news for the next few weeks... We will be DIBELS testing beginning next week!!! AHHH!!! The goal for a 2nd grader by this time of year is 87 words per minute. That means your child should read 87 words correctly in 1:00 minute. They should also be able to retell most of what they read, not word for word but in their own words. We have worked all year long to get to this point. Please keep practicing and working with your child nightly! ANNNDDD continue to do this throughout May and the summer months as well. We don't want all of our hard work to be undone because of summer brain:)

Let's finish this week and this year out STRONG. I want and I know you want your "almost-third-grader" to be ready!

April 14-18

Good Monday Morning! What a beautiful weekend we had! It was great weather for all those spring sports:)

This week we will be finishing up Chapter 9 on Metric Unit Measurement. We will be taking our test later in the week.

We will be reading The Signmaker's Assisstant (pgs. 268-285) in Reading. We will be working on the phonics skill: al, au, augh, and the comprehension skill: Realism/Fantasy. Please be sure to read the story with your child each night!

Our Spelling Words:
1. talk
2. because
3. August
4. caught
5. draw
6. walk
7. chalk
8. auto
9. taught
10. thaw
11. fault
12. launch

*applause
*awkward
*audience

Our High Frequency Words: (words to know)

townspeople
signmaker
important
ideas
blame
afternoon

DIBELS is just around the corner! Please continue to listen to your child read every night. The best way to improve reading is by READING!

April 7-11

Hello!!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. The kiddos absolutely loved the circus trip! Thank you to all the parents that were able to come and help. Things ran pretty smoothly thanks to your help:)

This week we are starting a new math chapter. We will still be in measurement, but we will use metric units (centimeters, meters, etc.) Please look over these math terms with your child.

In reading we are looking at Author's purpose and ph, gh, ff as the /f/ sound. We will be reading words like... phone, enough, stuff

Our reading story is Horace and Morris but Mostly Dolores found on pages 237-258. Please read this story with your child nightly. Our comprehension test will be Thursday.

Our spelling words this week are:

1. phone
2. enough
3. stuff
4. laugh
5. puff
6. giraffe
7. graph
8. tough
9. photo
10. rough
11. cough
12. cliff
* dolphin
* physical
* autograph

Please remember: We are in need of Lysol wipes, Germ-X, and Kleenexes

We only have a few weeks left until the end-of-the-year DIBELS! Our reading goal is 87 wpm. Please practice fluency with your child each night!!

Thanks:)

March 31-April 4

Good Monday Morning!

I hope everyone had a restful Spring Break. I did some spring cleaning and redecorating!

This week we will read Bad Dog, Dodger! (Pgs. 212-225). We will work on Plot (beginning, middle, and end of the story) and the Theme. All of our tests will be on Thursday!

Words to Know:

practice, grabbed, chewing, chased, 

treat, wagged, dripping

Spelling Words

wr, kn, gn

Test Thursday

1.   knock

2.   sign

3.   knee

4.   wrong

5.   write

6.   climb

7.   wrap

8.   wren

9.   gnat

10. lamb

11. comb

12. knob

Challenge Words

13. knuckle

14. plumber

15. wrestle

Upcoming Events:

*April 4^th: Trip to the Circus! Our SPELLING TEST will be THURSDAY due to the field trip. Study Study Study!!

* DIBELS will be at the end of the month. Your child should be reading 87 words per minute to benchmark. READ,READ!

From the Teacher:

*Please send in Lysol Wipes, Kleenex, and Germ-X! We are need of all these products!

Please remember that Friday is our trip to the circus. Your child needs to wear comfortable shoes and comfortable clothing. If your child is bringing a lunch from home, please send it in a lunch sack, NOT a lunch box. We will throw away our lunches when we finish. Also, Please have your child to school on time. We will be leaving by 8:00 Friday morning.

Let's get back to it! Have a great week:)