OMG! Today has been brutal in the land of Patterson! We have many tired, irritable, crabby, sleepy, sensitive, annoyed (I think you get the picture) children in the class! We were originally going to be working on a design challenge today to create our own little dog sleds for the Iditarod, but we all agreed it wasn't going to work today! We got through the morning (thankfully) with some reading and research, then began to look at the process of the design challenge. Once recess began, I knew I had to get out of the room because our little lovely's turned grumpier and started crowding me, becoming very clingy and needy!!! Our afternoon has become more low keyed with the use of computers and our access to all the wonderful programs we have. We even started blogging! Check out our Kids Corner page and have your child show you how to do it!
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What a beautiful week we are having! The kids have gotten to go outside to play and the weather has been so pleasant. Hopefully the snow will stay away this time and it will stay feeling like springtime!
Here are just a few notes: 1. Remember that the extended days are next week with school continuing until 4:40. This is mandatory and not an option. Children are expected to make up a normal school day within the extra added hours. We will be working on core foundational skills like reading, writing, and math. We will also have some fusion planned those days. 2. We always have a lot of testing in the last quarter. We have Dibels Benchmarking, STAR Benchmarking, Terra Nova Testing, and Common Assessments all within the next 2 months. Make sure your child is resting and eating well so that he/she can be physically ready to take all these tests. 3. We are working on setting up a Forces and Motion Activity "Fair" for the second graders where we will need volunteers. We are hoping to be able to do it during the extra time on the 10th. Everything will be prepared and we would need you to help us by running a station. They are pretty simple with directions and explanations for you. We will be sending out a volunteer spot invitation. The more help, the better! 4. Here is the Brain Boost and Agenda for this week! Here is the official letter from school that was sent home today about the Calamity make-up hours. As much as we love snow and spending our calamity days with our families, we unfortunately are 1 day over our 5 day allotment. Due to the police incident on our campus this year, Summit High School and Summit Road Elementary owe time to make up.
The School Board Meeting was last night and the decision was made to split our owed day up into hours. This is allowed per the approved make-up plan made by the state. We will be adding 2 hours to the following days: Tuesday 4/8, Thursday 4/10, and Monday 4/14. Students will be dismissed at 4:35. There will be a snack provided each of the days around 2:30. Buses will run normally to home at 4:40. During these extended days, we will be using the extra 2 hours as normal work time; enhancing reading, math, writing, or fusion. If you have previously scheduled appointments, please send in a note for early dismissal. Otherwise, please plan on your child attending the long day. The additional 2 hours are not voluntary. We have a confirmed case of head lice in our class. I wanted to notify you so that you can be on the lookout just in case. We each have our own cubbies, but we have a very close and lovable class, so you never know. If you should see the bugs or nits (eggs), please get your child treated. There are over the counter shampoos and things you can use. You will also have to take precautions in your home as well. For a complete list of how to treat for lice, click here to get more information. I have heard that using coconut shampoo deters the parasites if you don’t already have them.
Hope you all have a comfortable evening! Welcome to a fabulous and hopefully beautiful week! Only 5 days and then we are on Spring Break! I hope you have some great plans for and with your child. We have lots of things going on this week, so please read below and get the scoop! Brain Boost and Agenda
TestingThis week we are taking our Reading and Math Common Assessments. Today is the reading test and tomorrow will be the math test. Please make sure your child is well rested and eats a good breakfast. Remind him/her to work slowly and do his/her best because we are prepared for this test! All the children should be able to do an excellent job if they just focus and read carefully. AssemblyWe will be having our annual Communication Core Value Assembly on Friday March 21 at 1:30. This is similar to the first grade Compassion Core Value Assembly your child did last year. These assemblies are created, performed, and directed by your children (with our guidance!) and you are more than welcome to join us. If you attend, please come to our room afterwards to collect your child if you wish to take him/her home with you. Spring Break!Spring Break is from March 22-March 30. Your child will be bringing home a challenge this Friday to complete over break as well as the Fluency Sheet. This will be more like the Winter Break challenge, and not a STEM Challenge. You will see a new one of those for April since we did not send one home this month. Mark your calendarsPlease check over the dates on the previous post I made. We have tons of things that will be happening through the end of the school year. I can see the end coming, so I am already mapping out what needs to be done. We have volunteer opportunities coming and may need items donated for activities. As dates change or come up, I will keep you updated!
Since I have been so horrible about updating everything on the computer (I underestimated the energy it takes to move a household), I have decided to break my News and Notes up through the end of the year. I will be updating and adding information as needed. Also, in order for you to prepare for all the end of the year craziness, I have put all the dates on here that I have so far. I hope that is helpful to everyone! Important Dates3/14 - Pi Day. Just a fun fact!
3/14 - Spaghetti Dinner/Art Show 3/17 - St. Patrick's Day. We already discussed that there is NO PINCHING on Monday! 3/17 - Reading Common Assessment. Sleep well and have a good breakfast! The test will be administered in the morning. 3/18 - Math Common Assessment. Sleep well again and eat a fabulous breakfast! We will be administering it in the morning. 3/21 - End of the quarter 3/21 - Spring Pictures 3/21 - 2nd grade Core Value Assembly and Shakespeare performance by the Tempest students. I think this will begin around 1:30. You are more than welcome to come and see your children on the stage for either of the activities going on! We will be combining them into one assembly. 3/22-3/30 - SPRING BREAK!!!!!! 4/4 - Report Cards Go Home 4/4 - Tentatively Scheduled - We will be having many activities in the gym or cafeteria focused on Forces and Motion. We will need lots of volunteers. We plan on starting at 12:45 and ending at 1:45. This was so fabulous last year that the kids knew all of Newton's laws just from the short activities! 4/14 - This week will be the last Dibels Assessment for reading fluency. This is the week the district has us benchmarking the students and it will be their official score that also determines their growth for the year. 4/18 - No school. 4/21 - Terra Nova Testing for 2nd grade. This test is administered throughout the entire week. Please avoid any appointments or anything that would remove your child from school that week. 5/5 - Last week for Library Check-out 5/9 - All day field trip to Dawe's Arboretum. We will be asking for volunteers to drive and meet us there. 5/12 - Last week for library with no check-out 5/12 - Week of Common Assessments 5/26 - No school 5/29 - Field Day 5/30 or 6/2 - Make up day that our campus needs to make up. We are the only 2 buildings in the district that as of right now, owe a day. THEN... Happy Summer!!!!! Snow Rollers!Today we came to school to witness a meteorological phenomenon here at Summit. This is called a snow roller. The conditions need to be perfect for this to happen. It needs to have a layer of ice that snow does not stick to. Then it needs wet snow on top that is near the melting point of ice. The wind speeds need to be strong enough to push the snow but not too strong to break it apart. It rolls and turns into a cylinder of snow! Ours look like flowers all over the playground! If you drive past The Limited on Taylor Road, you will see them in the fields there too! Where have you been?I know... The middle of December until now, the end of January is a long time to not have any postings on our site! I have been very busy and setting my priorities. Most of you believe that family comes first. So do I. My family enjoyed the holidays, and now is busy packing up our household. We close on a new house on February 14th! Happy Valentine's Day to me! I am very excited, but also very stressed as you can imagine! I am keeping up on planning great things for our class and with checking/returning work, but I did slack on the website updates! Sorry! I am hoping to get a little better even in all the chaos! Important DatesJanuary
28-30 - Keep watching the weather! Dress your child appropriately each day for being outside at the bus stop, car rider line, etc. 29 - Literacy night by invitation 30 - Music at the High School. Even in bad weather, we trek over to the high school for music. Make sure your child has on a heavy coat, gloves, hat, scarf, etc. This is really important because even the short walk can be brutal! 31 - NO SCHOOL - Teacher in-service day (We already worked this "day" so we get off too!) February 6 - Substitute for about 1 hour for a meeting in the building 7 - After school dance 10 - PTO at 6:30 (See you there!) 12 - Parent Teacher Conferences 13 - All day Substitute (I am touring other buildings in our STEM network here in Reynoldsburg.) 14 - All day Substitute (I am closing on my new house!!!) 17 - NO SCHOOL - President's day - This is also a snow contingency day if we go over our snow days. You will be notified if we are making up a day with this scheduled day off. 20 - Parent Teacher Conferences 28 - 2nd Grade Core Value Assembly - You are invited to join us and see the great things we do at the assembly to teach about communication! Monday, December 16th {Gingerbread STEM Challenge} The Gingerbread House STEM Challenge is due on Monday. The children have had all month to plan out and execute their plan for a Gingerbread House. We will have a contest in each classroom for a variety of things, judged by some of our elite surprise staff members! The students are also expected to present their house and explain the materials and process in making it. We plan to present Monday after our Reading test and Tuesday after our Math test. If needed, we will also present on Wednesday afternoon. We will not be eating the houses, but displaying them. On Friday, the houses must return home with the students or they will be thrown away due to our 2 week winter break. If you need a new set of directions for the STEM Challenge, your child needs to get it tomorrow in order to have enough time to plan and create the house. Wednesday, December 18th {Gingerbread Design Challenge} Next Wednesday morning, we will be working on a Gingerbread Design Challenge (surprise). If you would like to come help with organizing/maintaining supplies, helping with construction, etc, please send me a message at [email protected]. We would love the help! Thursday, December 19th {Polar Express} Next Thursday, we will be having a Polar Express day. We will be reading the book, watching the movie with the other 2nd graders, and comparing the two. In the afternoon, we will have a variety of activities pertaining to the Polar Express. We also would like to have the children wear their pajamas or comfortable clothes that day. Be sure they are appropriately dressed in clean pajamas. Remember that your child may have outdoor recess if it is above 32 degrees outside. Tennis shoes must be worn, but slippers may be brought to school. Friday, December 20th, 1:45-2:20 {Winter Wonderland Party} We're using VolunteerSpot (the leading online signup and reminder tool) to organize our upcoming activity "WINTER WONDERLAND PARTY". Please sign up for Mrs. Patterson's Class - here's how it works in 3 easy steps: 1. Click this link to go to our invitation page on VolunteerSpot: http://vols.pt/ggbuwU 2. Enter your email address: (You will NOT need to register an account on VolunteerSpot) 3. Sign up! Choose your spots - VolunteerSpot will send you an automated confirmation and reminders. Easy!Note: VolunteerSpot does not share your email address with anyone. If you prefer not to use your email address, please contact me and I can sign you up manually. If you want to volunteer or send an item in, but do not want to do it through the site, just send me a message and I will add you into it. Party thoughts... Our wonderful room mom's have great things planned out for the short 30 minutes we have for a party. They have planned 2 crafts, a movie, and a snack. We hope that you will be able to donate something on our volunteerspot.com page to make our party a success.
We also would like to have the children wear their pajamas or comfortable clothes that day. Be sure they are appropriately dressed in clean pajamas. Remember that your child may have outdoor recess if it is above 32 degrees outside. Tennis shoes must be worn, but slippers may be brought to school. |
The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives. Me, Me, MeI enjoy problem solving, designing, creating, communicating, collaborating, etc.... all of which I expect my students to do. I hope that we have an enjoyable and successful year! Grab my button!Check out the rest of our teaching team!Past Messages
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