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 !!

New Science Unit Inventions

March 8, 2013

Dear Parents,

We are excited to spend the month of March studying inventions for our science topic.  We will learn about some exciting inventors of the past: the Wright Brothers, Louis Pasteur, Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Graham Bell, and many others.  Through studying inventions, we will touch upon commonalities and differences of the creation process.  We will discuss the scientific method and the engineering design method.  We will be doing a webquest and build our learning evidence in our Detective Notebooks. Students will be discover the history of many inventions and how they influece society today. To top it off, the students will use the engineering design method to create their own Leprechaun Trap.  Traps are due on or before 3/13!

Leprechaun traps allow the students to apply their own creativity in designing, building, and (hopefully) trapping.  Students may create the traps at home. I will have a building day and some supplies avaiable for those students that are not able to build one at home with parent help in the classroom if needed. I will need extra hands on 3/14 @ 1:00 if you want to come and help those that can not make a trap at home they will be making one at school. We will share our traps on a Trap Walk About on Friday~before they go home.

I look forward to seeing what these little inventors create and build.

Thank you,

Mrs. Hedberg

Science Weather Guests !!

Thank you, Larry Gebert from Channel 7 News for coming to talk with us about how weather is formed!  Kids, do you remember the two things you were told to remember?  (hint: cyclonic and anti-cyclonic...)

Weather vocabulary match game!

It's a match!

                         Wow, a real weather balloon!  Learning how scientists gather weather data.....

                                                      Learning about how a rain gage is used.

                                                         Tornado maker!

Small machines gather data to help predict weather patterns.

Roaring Springs Reading Incentive

Dear Parents,

In this weeks Friday Folder you will be receiving a Roaring Springs Reader student chart to be used as additional incentive for at home reading.  Please put this in a safe place until May 1st. If your child completes the challenge he/she will earn a free Roaring Springs ticket that may be redeemed this summer! Everyone can participate no matter your child's reading level. Books may be read silently by student, aloud, with an adult or parents can read to their child!  Just get into recreational reading!! 

Mrs. Hedberg

SWPBIS Shine Ticket Rewards!!

Kyler wins Fabulous Friday reward and gets to use the new climbing wall with friend Drake~ Students earn shine tickets from staff for exibiting great behavior and following school wide expectations.

February Newsletter

February Newsletter

Dear Parents,

Many of you have been hearing and asking about SWPBIS.

SWPBIS Positive Behavior Intervention & Support is a program to promote and maximize academic achievement and behavioral competence. It is school-wide strategies for helping all students achieve important social and learning goals. We know that when good behavior and good teaching come together, our students will excel in their learning. As part of the PBIS program, we will establish several clear rules for the behavior we expect in all areas of our school. We will explicitly teach those expectations to the students and reward them frequently with positive notes and rewards for their great behavior. The expectations for all student behavior will be clear throughout our building, cafeteria, gymnasium, and classrooms, etc. You will be able to ask your student, “What are the rules in your school?” “How do you follow those rules?” “What happens when a teacher sees you following the rules?”  Ask your child if he/she has received a Mustang’s Shine Ticket? How did it make them feel to be recognized?
Our school rules will specifically address:
· Make Responsible Choices
· Maintain the Right to Learn
· Show respect to all
*These rules now hang in many areas of our building for reminders. On your next visit, look for them! ☺
We will apply consistent consequences and positive reinforcement for all students. By detailing every expected behavior and teaching in a positive way, we will provide a common language for everyone in our building, including students, teachers, front office staff and our paraprofessionals.
We believe that by helping students practice good behavior, we will build a school community where all students have an environment where they respect themselves and others, and feel safe daily to learn, and enjoy their elementary school experience!

Reading:  This week we have a guest speaker coming from Deer Flats Wildlife to talk about animal habitat and camouflage.  Students have been learning about various land and sea creatures and the four things that all animals need to survive. Ask your child what those four important things are? Our next reading theme will be Courage and Bravery the end of February.

Math: This month we will begin a new exciting math unit on geometry. Students will learn to recognize, name, build, compare, and sort two and three dimensional shapes of triangles, rectangles, squares, circles, cones, cubes, spheres, cylinders, and pyramids. They will learn to classify objects by their attributes.  At home connections during this unit may include asking your child to find some of the shapes we are studying in and around the home and identify their name.

Character: Caring is our new virtue of the month.  Integrating this virtue with our animal research students were asked a question to ponder “ how to people show they care about the animals of the earth”.  We discussed what it means for an animal to be considered endangered .  We discussed three ways you can care for the earth.  Ask your child what the 3R’s are? (recycle, resue, reduce)

In closing I’d like to share how much I care about each and every child in my class. You have trusted me with your precious children.  I believe in helping my students master the virtues with in them.  Some of the most important lessons students receive in school go beyond academics.  I like to think of the Virtues as the content of a student’s character, and teachable moments as the “lesson plans” for shaping those virtues.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Hebdberg

Animal Camouflage Diorama Project

We are starting a new reading unit that is all about animals and camouflage! Additionally, most of the stories will be expository text. Expository text gives information or explains something. It uses facts about real events or people. It presents information in a clear way, and gives events in the order in which they happen. We will be starting a writing and research project. Each student will choose an animal to learn about, research, and write about. This will be done in the classroom. At home we would like each student to make their own diorama about their animal and its habitat. After your child chooses an animal, please help him/her prepare a simple diorama.
1. Choose an animal that uses camouflage.
2. Get to know your animal by doing research on the internet or in library books.
3. You will find out what the animal looks like, where it lives, what it eats, and how and why it uses camouflage.
4. Use a box (shoebox works well) to create a diorama demonstrating animal camouflage. It should represent the animal and its surroundings, including how it uses camouflage. The following link is an excellent source for instructions: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Diorama

The dioramas are due back at school on February 1st. We will attach the written project done here at school to the at home diorama project and put them on display.  Please let me know if there is anything I can send home (paper, shoe box, modeling clay) to help with the project. Have fun and use your emagination. Students will only be graded on the at school writting portion of this project based on a rubric and not on the at home diorama.
 Thank you!

Sample projects from last year....

January Newsletter

Jumping January News for Mrs. Hedberg’s Class

 

Reading:

This week we started our new reading unit.  The genre is expository text.  Expository text gives information.  It tells people something.  It uses facts about real events or people.  It presents information in a clear way, and gives events in the order in which they happen.  Our new reading theme is “Look Again”. The students will be learning a lot of information about animal camouflage.  If you have any books at home about our new theme please bring them in to share with the class.  Students are invited to visit the Animal camouflage link found on on the Mill Creek Website under student. Have fun exploring this site at home too! This reading unit also fits with one of the second grade science standards ( 2.S.3.2.1 Identify four basic needs of all living things (food, shelter, water, space). Students will be given the assignment of making an animal diorama at home. Watch for information to come home in this week's Friday folder. We will have a special guest come and visit our classroom from Deer Flat Wildlife refuge during this unit.
Math:
We have just begun Topic 9 Subtracting Two-Digit Numbers. Students will be learning various models to subtract two-and one-digit number, some traditional and some not.  Students will draw on prior knowledge of number sense and place value.  There is more than one way to subtract two-digit numbers.  For example they have been breaking apart numbers using place value: Find 52-14:   (50+2)
                             -(10+4)
                             ______
Since they can not subtract 4 from 2 in the set of whole numbers, they need to regroup. The traditional algorithm for subtraction is difficult for most children to master. Please when working with your child at home ask them to explain how they need to regroup 1 ten as 10 ones, if necessary. Be sure they indicate this regrouping in the algorithm. During this unit students will learn how to use addition to check subtraction. This reinforces the inverse relationship between addition and subtraction.  Please remember that I provide two sides of math homework, the Practice side (on grade level) and an Enrichment side(above grade level). Your child should only be doing the level that can be done for independent practice at home.  If you find your child struggles with either please contact me and I will provide a Reteach page if needed. I believe in diffentiating homework to meet the needs of my independent learners. Homework should by no means be a burden to parents.

Character: This month we will focus on Honor for our Character Education lesson.  Students will learn that honor is living with a sense of respect for what you believe is right. It is living by the virtues, showing great respect for yourself, other people, and the rules you live by. When you are honorable, you don’t have to feel ashamed of who you are or what you are doing. You are worthy of respect. You set a good example.

I would like to say thank you for all the cards, small gifts, and goodies that came in over the holidays. I usually write personal thank you notes unfortunately, I misplaced my thank you list so please forgive me for the generic thank you!! 

Sincerely, Mrs. Hedberg