Pillows for our class

I mentioned to the kids that we could use more reading pillows and the next week Mckinnon made one for the class. Thank you McKinnon! If anyone else has sewing talents please contact me we'd still love to add more. We hope to fill the whole wall.

Mrs. Hedberg's September Newsletter

Newsletter for Month of September 2012 

The students have completed a weeks worth of initial assessments including the fall IRI. You may view students IRI reading scores and words read per minute through Skyward gradebook as well as weekly graded subjects at anytime.  The words per minute break down is as follows for the Fall IRI: 
                                                                                               0-26 wpm= 1  Intensive Intervention needed
                                                                                             27-53 wpm= 2  Strategic Intervention needed
                                                                                             54-above wpm = Benchmark on Grade Level

Math:  Our first Unit is underway we are working on the new Common Core Standard : Number & Operation in Base Ten. One thing has changed this year, your child will not be given a homework sheet of math from the days lesson.  You may see work or evidence of learning that will come home
in various forms, such as Today's number lesson, Envisions skill sheets, Drops in the Bucket skills sheets, these will hopefully give you an idea of concepts and learning of target standards. I will also try to post pictures from our lessons on the blog as well.  In response to my survey of would you like additional math or practice provided or optional practice 99% of you said yes!!  I am working to create what will be called a Passport of Learning for Math,  that will soon be added to the back of your child's Daily Work Communication forlder. The passport page will be filled with one project or activity to do at home that applies to each of  target standards we are learning for Numbers and Operations in Base Ten.  Your child will be able to retrun his/her passport when it is done for stamps to earn I-pad, computer , or time playing game boards etc.  The Passport for Math will also help to inform you the parent of what concepts your child is learning and see them demonstrate mastery of the target!  You will here more about this soon~  I'm very excited about this idea and hope you will find it a fun and engaging way to be involved in your childs learning (rather than sitting with homework sheets nightly)!

Reading: Our first theme in

Open Court Reading

is “Sharing Stories”.  We will be sharing fables, fairytales and poetry the students will be reading fractured fairytales like The Three Little Figs, and Come Back Jack.  As an extension to our unit the students will be  writing a class fractured fairytale based on the Three Little Pigs.  As we begin each unit of reading you will have the option of downloading additional practice sheets at home off the blog, if you choose for your child to do these at home please do them the week I have dated as this would be a follow up to the phonics, sight words, vocabulary of what is learned in class. If your child has scored a 1 or 2 on the IRI I would encourage you to concider this option at home.

Character:  We will continue working on building our classroom climate and setting classroom goals and expectations of what our class should look like, sound like, and feel like when we are learning in a safe and loving environment.  Students have been building our classroom community in a variety of activities over these first few weeks of school.  We have celebrated our differences and diversity through reading and writing .  We read All About ME and wrote about what we liked best about ourselves, students selected their best feature and wrote explaining why they thought it was their best attribute.  The students also created a Classroom honey comb filled with "sweet" character virtues to help us stick together as a class community!

Math

 Our first Common Core math unit Numbers & Operations in Base Ten.
Student Learning targets:
I understand digits and three digit numbers represents hundreds, tens, and ones.
I can skip count to 1000 by 2's 5's 10's 100's
I can read and write numbers to 1000 and show expanded form
I can compare three digit numbers using <, >, =
I can use place value to add and subtract within 100
I can use place value to add four two digit numbers

Our first class photo!

Back To School Parent Letter From Mrs. Hedberg

August 22,2012

Dear Parents,

I can’t tell you how excited I am to be teaching your precious children.  This is my 11^th year teaching 2^nd grade at Mill Creek Elementary.  I love second graders; they are my favorite brand of kids!

My purpose in writing this letter is to give you an overview of the second grade curriculum and my expectations for your child, in order that they may have a successful year of learning!

I believe one of the most effective tools for enhancing your child’s education is good communication between home and school.  Communications will be ongoing throughout the year via Friday Folders, notes, phone calls or-mail.  My number here at Mill Creek is 585-3065 ext 650.  My e-mail address is Lhedberg@msd.134.org. All classroom news will be available on my blog.

Just type the following in the URL bar    mrshedbergsclass.blogspot.com  

Please check the blog weekly for important dates, weekly spelling lists ,and link to weekly reading homework if you choose to do this with your child.  Homework or practice work is optional and available if requested but will not be assigned daily.  Families are so busy it is my hope that you will find time to just let your child read for enjoyment and play games and do activities as a family!

Reading The reading program is in two parts on grade level instruction and at grade level instruction.  Your child will receive second grade direct instruction and small group instruction geared to your child’s individual learning needs, thus meeting the needs of all learners at every level!  I provide a reading homework link that is optional on the classroom blog site there is one page per day if you feel your child needs extra it is available. You will find them linked by date. Each skill sheet provides important at home practice of second grade skills taught such as high frequency words, phonics, nonsense words, vocabulary, and fluency passages. Individual and class reading incentives are provided each month beginning in October I will send home a Book it Calendar to log reading minutes at home is your child would like to participate they may earn a free Pizza Coupon each month if they reach the goal set by the parent!

Spelling will be provided in connection with the Open Court Reading program, a pretest will be given on Monday.  Students will bring home their pretest and the post test will be given on Fridays. The first ten words are phonics based; additional vocabulary words are connected with the weekly stories and will be included as challenge words. However, grades will be derived only from the first 10 on the list. You may also look on my blog to find the new spelling rule and list of words each week! You can look on the back of your child’s communication folder and find fun to practice their words at home or click the Spelling City link on the class blog.

Math:  The Middleton School District is currently in the process of aligning our current math program Envisions Math to the new Common Core State Standards.  We will be focusing a great deal on the process and procedure of getting the correct answer.  Your child will be learning a variety of different strategies for solving math problems and different ways to understand and make sense of numbers.  The Common Core State Standard will be driving out instruction, some lessons may be utilized from the Envisions program as a resource.  You may get familiar with the new math standards by visiting my blog as I will be adding a link to these standards this year for parents to view. I am currently working on how to link those.  In the meantime you can see them if you go to http://www.corestandards.org/the-standards/mathematics/

Social Studies and Science includes the study of Communities, Government, Inventions, Air and Weather, Solids and Liquids.  If you would like to participate in any way during the study of one of these units I welcome guests to come and speak or share their enthusiasm for the subject.

Art    I try very hard to integrate art into the second grade curriculum as much as I can to enhance learning.  I believe children should have the opportunity to express themselves and experience different art medians whenever possible. I am looking for an Art Mom, if you are interested in teaching a monthly art project and can commit to just one hour a month, please let me know. I have created lessons based on famous artists such as Matisse, Monet, O’Keeffe, Picasso, and Rivera, my students enjoy the study of Art.

 Appropriate classroom behavior is expected at all times in the classroom.  Good behavior is always recognized and rewarded.  I believe in positive classroom management and take a “Love and Logic” approach to discipline in general.   I use a ticket system were students are rewarded for exhibiting positive behavior and good study habits. The tickets may be redeemed for prizes or privileges.  At the same time inappropriate behavior and poor choices come with consequences.    I fill out a weekly comment sheet on the back of your child’s Friday folder so you can review your child’s attitude /behavior, and in class work habits each week. 

Thank you for following our school wide Rules The M & M’s  

Make Responsible choices

Maintain the Right to Learn

Show Respect to all

I am looking forward to a fabulous year with your child and feel privileged to touch their lives.  It is my desire to arouse the curious minds of my second graders and to nurture their true potential.  My favorite quote sums up why I love my job…

I touch the future. I teach.

(Christa McAulliffe)

Thank you,   Mrs. Hedberg

 

 

2012-13 Welcome to Mrs. Hedberg's 2nd Grade Class

 

Hello to all my new students and families and welcome to our class blog. This will be my third year using a blog as my main source of parent information. The class blog will be ECO friendly and provide you with easy access to all kinds of classroom information and allow you to view weekly events! I will update the blog weekly, with current spelling lists as well as a monthly newsletter with accademic information. You will notice as you explore the blog that I have already listed the entire year of Reading Homework assignments . I will change the Unit and Lesson numbers into dates as we begin the year. Example U1-L1 will read (week of 9/19) as I begin to assign weekly reading homework. All you have to do is click on the date and the assignment will open. I will keep a Looking Ahead calendar with important future dates, a section to add websites that will enrich your child's classroom understandings, scholatic online codes for ordering classroom books, as well as many other postings that will be of value throughout the year. I have tried to organize the blog in such a way to make it as user friendly as possible. Please make sure that you check it weekly!!! Please take a moment now to become a weekly follower by clicking on the side link and entering your email address. Everytime I post you will receive an automatic e-mail. I'm excited for our new year together and can't wait to see all the smiling faces of my new second grade friends soon!

Sincerely, Mrs. Hedberg

Dino Bookmark Project

Dear Parents,

The following are interesting websites that might help your child with information about dinosaurs for their bookmarks:

1.      http://www.dinosaurfact.net/

2.      http://www.kidsdinos.com/

3.      http://www.learnaboutdinosaurs.com/

4.      http://www.dinodictionary.com/

5.      pbskids.org/dinosaurtrain/

6.      http://www.kidsdigdinos.com/

Bookmark project is Due April 30th ! Have fun learning more about dinosaurs and creating your 5 bookmarks to trade with your friends at the trading fair May 4th.

April Newsletter

Hedberg Happenings               April Newsletter 2012

Wow, we only have six weeks of school left after Spring Break. I can’t believe how fast the year has gone.  Our last weeks of school will be very exciting.

READING:
Our new reading them after spring break will be about Dinosaurs, always a student favorite. Few topics engage children's imagination as easily as fossils and dinosaurs do. As my students explore this topic they will find out the answers to exciting questions about the dinosaurs and the history of life on Earth during prehistoric time.  During this unit students will continue their analysis of expository prose as they will explore many different aspects of fossils, including what they are, where they are found, and what we learn from them. Along with the general investigation goals, in this unit I plan to focus on the following …
*developing vocabulary
*use a variety of comprehension strategies and skills in reading
*listen, read, and write on the theme
*learn how fossils provide evidence about plants and animals that lived long ago, and how scientists learn about the past history of Earth by studying fossils
*learn more about the process of science
*sharpen their understanding of expository text.
  
Later near the end of this unit on May 4^th the second grade teachers will be hosting a Dinosaur Book Mark Trade Fair and invite parents to come and be a part of this annual second grade event. Be on the look out in the future for detailed information about how students will be creating their own dino book marks at home to trade at this event, don’t worry they will be given plenty of time, examples, and templates to make their bookmarks.  Student will also be making fossils out of salt dough and plaster of paris. They will experience the life of a paleontologist when they go on a fossil digging expedition! Please check the classroom needs section of the blog for supplies you can donate to help make this unit a success.


MATH: Our final units in Math will include Measurement and Time and Temperature.  My students have learned over the course of this year that math is more than just solving problems. Doing math involves a variety of processes including problem solving, reasoning, communicating, connecting and representing. 

ART:
Beginning April 2^nd I will be teaching one formal art lesson per week. At the end of our six week Art study the students will have a portfolio of their own art to bring home.  I remember when I was in elementary school we had an Art teacher as one of our specials classes.  I believe that it is important to foster the creativity that art bring out in children. Artists that we will study include some of the most famous artists in the world, Henri Matisse, Claude Monet, Georgia O”Keefee (my personal favorite), Pablo Picasso, and Diego Rivera.

CHARACTER: Confidence

“Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don’t know how great you can be! How much can you love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!”  Anne Frank

I wish everyone a happy spring!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Hedberg

Volunteers Needed!

I am still looking for any parent volunteers that would like to assist in the classroom!  If you have anytime even one hour a week that you could come into our classroom pleae contact me.  Following spring break I hope to start our formal art unit and can't do it alone!  I will be teaching one lesson a week and could use another pair of hands. I am willing to be flexible with the day of the week?? Also, I need a Friday Folder mom.  Friday afternoons stuff folders, grade tests, prepare materials for the following week?  Monday morning a fit for you?  I could use a volunteer one hour 8:00-9:00am, checking in folders, reading with students, running copies. A big thank you to Mrs. Telford and Mrs Arte for filling these shoes at the beginning of the year. Let me know if anyone can help? 

Dr. Seuss Day 2012!

                               

                                                         Even the teachers dressed up !!