Welcome to 2nd Grade 2013-2014

Welcome to my blog.  This is new for us as I didn't blog back in kindergarten. Feel free to glance through old posts to become familiar with how things work. If you have gmail, its really easy to make comments right on the blogs and I have found that most parents have the same questions so please speak up. 

      I have to say, when I met many of you 2 years ago, I did not expect us to be working so closely together again.  I enjoyed working in 2^nd grade last year and am looking forward to being with some of my old students and families again this up coming year.  I am also excited to get to know the new students and families.  

I look forward to our time together.  This blog shares much of the information you need as the year progress.  Please check for emails, texts and this blog for updates about classroom events.  You may also receive emails from signupgenius.com. I like to use this for Parent Teacher Conference sign-up and class activities where I need volunteers or supplies. Please reply to those emails on the website.    In order for you to communicate with me, I accept calls & texts to my cell, and emails to my private email.  As I too have family and church responsibilities, if I do not answer immediately, I will reply to all messages as soon as I am free.  Please be sure to contact me with questions, comments or concerns.

Miss Gustafson 

August 2013

Thanks for a great year!

As the new school year is gearing up, I am really thinking on what went well, what I need to change and what I need to drop. I think the best part of the year was the children and families that I was blessed to work with. I am so very thankful to have had such a compassionate group of students. 

They really took care of each other and were more like a family than a random collection of kids.  From the beginning, they looked out for each other and over me. The way the majority of the kids stepped up to help Jayden and Tali acclimate to HLES and their acceptance of kids with different needs was phenomenal. I don't see how I can ever recreate such a lovely, nurturing group of students and I'll always be grateful. 

Grateful, because, I too was a recipient of your unconditional love and understanding. The passing of my brother David was the hardest event in my life to deal with. But the support that you as parents and friends gave to me was overwhelming. A few of you came to school every day afterwards to help and encourage me. Not only did you show when I was at school, but many of you came to support the substitute, in my absence. I also know that many of you were praying for me, my family and David's son. It was your love and support that really carried me through, and I am more thankful than words can express. 

You have awesome children. Each one is special in their own right, and I hope that all of their other teachers see what I see. Thank you for your diligence in learning the new standards, the family projects and the new way to do math. Lol! I was sure you guys would start a revolution against the math a few times! But we made it through, and I am confident in the kids's knowledge and preparedness for 3rd grade. Keep in mind 3rd grade is about the students being more independent in their studies, and that homework practices will be very different!   Homework will most likely be due everyday, and family projects will become student projects. Our projects were not mandatory in 2nd grade because it was a  learning year, but be prepared to back off a little on the projects and let the children's creativity take over! I hope you had enough practice! 

Also, when buying school supplies, there's an item that says "(Hudson only)", that is the name of 1 of the teachers. Its not a brand name. Lol, I've gotten a few texts and calls from parents about it, and wanted to clarify, you only need that if you get Mrs Hudson as your teacher.  The supplies might be used as community property, so don't buy the most expensive/prettiest/coolest notebooks or pencils with pictures. The pencils with pictures tear up the pencil sharpeners.  Also, keep in mind that the music, gym, art and computer teachers do not have supply lists. They probably could use some tissues and hand sanitizer for their classrooms.  By the way- Elmers is the best glue, Ticonderoga is the best pencils, Crayola is the best crayons and markers (other brands are cheaper the colors are not right on and they break to easily). Paper can be generic. 

To the kids, our AR challenge is on! I'll take you to dinner when you reach 250points and you can pick an activity when you reach 500! Keep me posted on your goals!

I'm sad to say that we've had a few friends move away from Mableton over the summer. To the Nance family and the Talley family you guys will be missed. If you've moved, and I didn't know before now, keep in touch! 

Good Luck in 3rd Grade! 

Love, G

"Best Field Trip EVER!!!"

When asked by Ms Polinsky, one of our kids said "today was the best Field trip EVER!" I can't help but agree. The kids did an awesome job bowling, only a few tears... "I wanna be the winner," and I"i don't wanna go, lets keep playing!" were some other comments! Man our kids are competitive! Lol! They taught the parents how to score for bowling the "Ms G way!" and no one wanted to quit in the middle of the game! The arcades were fun but not my choice, and next year, we probably won't go to an alley with an arcade because it was a challenge to get all 102 kids together when it was time to go. I am not sure I got pictures of everyone, and I'll add some more when I get them from our fearless chaperones!


Thanks Mrs. Raji (our TOSS student from Kennesaw), Mrs. Salinas, Mrs. Hawkins, Mr. McKinney, Mr. Nance, and Mr. Salvo for spending the day at the bowling alley and helping so much!
G

AR reading!

We have caught the reading bug!

Over the past Quarter (9 weeks) most of the kids have doubled their efforts in reading. Below are some pictures of our "motivational charts". One shows points earned this year. One picture shows number of 100's earned this year. Right now Kyle is our front runner for both posters, but a few of the kids are trying to catch him! Every other week we add stickers when I print the notes for the Orange Folders, I update the posters. This past two weeks Charlotte was our leader with 11 100s and 7.6 points. Santosh had 9 100s (2nd place for the week) and Mia had 7 points earned (also 2nd place for the week)! Keep up the good work! The last two pictures are of the grade level motivational bulletin board for 100's! Each butterfly equals a 100, and everyone can contribute!

PS- Expect homework next week!

Tricky math problem!

I added an extra tricky problem solver today! The hairbow story with Mia and Marie can be done with base ten strategy! 19+19+?+?=89... Solve 19 +19. Then take away the 38 from 89=51.If the kids draw base ten they know how to "fair share" for 2 friends... The tricky part is they have to give Mia her 5 extras first, then fair share so 51-5=46. Then both Mia and Marie gets 2 tens and 3 ones. I am really just trying to get the kids to rely on the strategies. Id they don't get the right answer I'm cool with that since i'll just be looking at theirefforts and strategies used.


Here is a great sample of 1 of the kid's 1st attempt! He was trying the guess and check, 31&30... Then got a little worried about being wrong, but awesome steps to this point!

End of 3rd Quarter Already!

We are entering the last week of the 3rd Quarter. Time sure seems to be flying bye! Things to expect over the next couple weeks include...

1. Regular Homework of the Week of the 11th, with the addition of a nightly observation of the moon's appearance. We will continue the Moon Observation Record into next week but will NOT have regular homework for the Week of the 18th.

2. Spelling Test for the Week of the 11th, but No Spelling test the Week of the 18th.

3. Book Report due this Friday, the 15^th of March and the last book report is due the 15^th of April.

4. During Reading this week, we are focusing on the Science content standards, not doing literacy centers as some of the Science book readings require more hands on activities, rather than small group focus of the topic such as we do with Social Studies content.

5. March’s Family Project directions will go home in Blue Folders Friday and are due the 1st of April, since we will be on a field trip the 29th of March.

6. Still have many classmates that haven't returned permission slips or payments for Stars and Strikes Field Trip on March 29th. I will be sending home new ones to anyone who hasn't made a payment of returned the slip. If you are willing to come help facilitate the field trip I would much appreciate it. If you are able to sponsor one of the other children who cannot afford this trip, please text me and I will let you know if any of the kids need help by next weekend.

7. We will be doing 3rd quarter benchmark assessments the week of the 18th (thus no homework and no new content). Other than quality sleep, healthy eating, continuous support and nightly reading there is nothing you as parents can do to help the children through these assessments. They should already know the standards and content. These assessments are truly just a measure of what the kids have been taught about the standards, a check to see if the strategies I use teaching are beneficial to their retention of the content, and an opportunity to assess the student's ability to think and respond to the curriculum in a creative and thoughtful manner.

8. Report cards go home the 22^nd, in Orange Folders along with work from this week.

9. With the new quarter, we will be doing a mixture of writing genres. I am hoping to get a more current sample of each type of writing from the kids over the next 6 weeks: Narrative (1^st quarter), Informational (2^nd quarter) and Persuasive/Opinion and Friendly letters (3^rd Quarter).
I am very pleased with the kids’ willingness to see a writing piece through to completion, and I think they all did excellent jobs on their Valentine Letters to you and their opinion pieces that were sent home this past Friday. I am very happy with their efforts, Writing is tough subject to teach and also challenging to learn but they are handling it like professionals!

10. If you are looking for a good family outing, I would like to suggest the Tellus Museum. It has a great Planetarium type feature that can enrich what the kids have been learning about the night sky, stars and constellations. I had hoped to make a field trip to the Museum, but between gas prices, bus fees and time restrictions with such a distance to drive it was not possible. The museum also has other exhibits that support science standards from the other grade levels as well. (PS, I do not get any financial kick back for telling you about Tellus, but I suggested it as a day trip to Matteo's mom Patricia back in Kindergarten and it's one of his favorite places to go! It is appropiate for all ages, pre-school and up.)
 

As always thank you for your support and encouragement to both your child and me.
Love,
 G

Email homework

I have been getting some great answers to some of the email questions lately. I am excited that the kids are learning more about typing, and are fearless when it comes to the computer! I wanted to share some really cool responses.

Tonight's ?- Miles has 4 friends over to play cars. He has 100 cars to share. Miles has 13, Jon has 18. Mike, Frank, and George share the rest. How many cars could Mike, Frank, and George each have?

" I solved the problem using base ten 13+18+?=100 and first I added 13+18=31, 31+?=100. Second I changed up to 100-31=?, 100-31=69. Third I divided in three like this IIIIIIxxxxxxxxx = IIxxx + IIxxx + IIxxx . So Mike, Frank and George got 23 blocks each."

"Mike can get 13. Frank can get 33. George can get 23.I know I that because I drew base ten. I drew 1 ten and 3 ones for miles and I drew 1 ten and 8 ones for Jon. So then I made a chart and put mike`s name then I put an f for frank`s name and the I put a g for George`s name. I gave mike 13 then frank 33 and George got 23."

Last week's questions- describe Tonight's moon.

"Tonight I can't see the moon. I'll pretend I saw a full moon today. The moon looks like big marble ball stick on the sky."


3-5 sentences, tell me why we can only see the sun and no other stars duringthe day.


"We connot see the other stars because it is light outside. Also, you cannot see the stars because they are a billion miles in the sky."

I just wanted to also thank all of you for your willingness to learn all of the addition strategies. I know it seems like a lot, but I can really tell that many of you help your child practice the strategies. They are actually talking about the strategies in class and thinking about which strategy would work best. But my favorite thing of all is that they see connections between the place value, the strategies, and have a better understanding of why the answer is right. Last week a student even tried 2 strategies for the same problem, then said "I just wanted to see if I got the right answer!" Then a few others did the same thing. Totally cool!

Thank you!
G