December 21, 2012

We have a lot of fun at our party today!
We ate pizza, chips, fruit in cups and string cheese!

There was so much food but we stuffed ourselves!  When we were done we started over but this time with goodies!

Then it was time for the book exchange!  

It was fun having so many family members at our party!  
I appreciate all of the parents, brothers and daughters (MINE!) who came and helped out at our party.  It was wild and crazy but seriously one of the calmest I've ever had. I know that was due to the fact that I had so much help!  Thank you!

I also so appreciate all of the goodie bags, chips and other food items that were sent.  We had plenty of food and more than enough to share.  I'm glad I ordered an extra pizza because one of them was burnt! Oh well, ask your child...we had so much fun we didn't even miss it!

Thanks for all of the Christmas gifts.  I wasn't able to open most of them at school but your thoughtfulness touches my heart.  There were several gifts that didn't show who they were from.  Let me know if your child doesn't get a thank you note in the mail and I will send one.  I am truly thankful for everything.

My daughter was too shy to take many pictures at the party so if you have any that you wouldn't mind me sharing on the blog, please email them to me!  Thank you!

Love, Mrs. Cooper

dcooper@mesquiteisd.org

Candy Bar Reindeer by Mrs. Cooper's class

Just because we are learning doesn't mean we can't have a little fun every once in a while!

This free slideshow design generated with Smilebox

Insect Fun!

MealwormCare.org

December is here and we are busy in the second grade.  This week and last week we have been learning about living things.  In our classroom we have mealworms and are observing them as they go through their life cycle.  As your child about the stages and what kind will it finally become!  Today we found out some interesting yet gross things about mealworms.  Ha!  I think they loved it (most of them!) 

In Reading we have been learning about types of media; media that we listen to, view and/or read.  We are learning about adverbs in English and addition/subtraction with and without regrouping (carrying and borrowing) in Math.

We are having a blast in the library with the Twelve Days of Christmas activities that Mrs. Sadler has prepared for the whole school.  Yesterday the students made an advent calendar, and today they made a nutcracker ornament.  As I said in the note sent home yesterday, your child will need to bring any kind of chocolate bar and a mug by Monday.  I can't wait to see what the best librarian in the world has in store for us!

Our Christmas party will be December 21 at 10:15.  Parents are welcome to attend but keep in mind there will not be goodies for siblings or parents.  Please send $3 to cover the cost of two slices of pizza, soda, cups and plates.  If you would like your child to participate in the chapter book gift exchange, send a wrapped book that says "from _________" but does not say who it's for.  We will do some kind of a fun activity to pass out the presents.  

We need other goodies and items for our Christmas party.  A list of choices was sent home yesterday.  So far we have ice, juice boxes and fruit cups.  I will send home an updated list of needed items next week to those who have not yet made a choice.  Please send everything in the morning of the party (or earlier that week if it's non-perishable) and not when you get here.  Thanks!  Hope to see you here!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Second graders began learning to add and subtract two digit numbers today!

Happy Days to us all!  It's a short week!  I hope everyone has a fun break from school.  We still have lots of learning to pack into two days though.

First of all:  NO TUTORING ON NOVEMBER 20 (tomorrow.)

This is what we are learning this week and next week.

Reading: Expository Text Structure/ Procedural Text structure
Math: 2 digit addition
Science:  Earth's Resources/Living and Non-living
Spelling:  No spelling words until next week;  r controlled vowels:  -ar, -or, -oar, -ore
Social Studies:  Pilgrims/ Thanksgiving this week and Columbus next week

Please notice the hard workers in the today's picture.  The students were focused, listened and started to pick up the concept of re-grouping.  We have LOTS more hands on work before we start re-grouping abstractly (on paper.)  It was so much fun and very rewarding for me!

Enjoy the extra time!

Deedee Cooper

12th week

A witch/monster

Mercy Watson

Jack-o-lantern

space alien

TWO Skippies?  It's twin club time!

Here are a few more of the pumpkin characters with their creator.  I hope you enjoyed helping your child with this and the report as well.  The students were so proud and enjoyed sharing with their classmates.

This week we are learning about literary non-fiction; true events that are written in story form.  We are learning to spell and read words with R controlled vowels ar and or.  In Science we are learning about the moon and the night sky.  Our Social Studies topic is the New World.  In Math we are studying  probability (more likely, less likely, impossible, certain, etc.)

We're off to a good start of our new grading period which will be completed the last week before Christmas.  It will go very fast.  If you would, please talk to your child about turning in Spelling Homework on Fridays.  I do not check the binders.  It is up to the students to take out the homework and put it in the purple basket.  There is also a white basket for students to put in notes from you, doctor's notes or anything that is signed and returned. I call that the Important Information basket. I do remind students a few times every morning to get these items out of their binders but they aren't always doing it.

As always email or call if you have any concerns.

Deedee Cooper

10th week of school

This week we are learning about characters and their traits.  I have so enjoyed the pumpkin characters that have been brought in.  Your kids are so creative!  Every one of them was adorable.  I thought you may like to see pictures of some of the students who presented today and their cute, cute pumpkins.

D.W.

Purplicious girl

Skippyjon Jones

Skippyjon Jones

Little Bitty Mousie

Bad Case of Stripes

Mermaid

Gigi the Pink Ballerina

Clifford

Mr. Whiskers

Suzie

Strawberry Shortcake

Moo

Skippyjon Jones

More to come!

Important Updates

 Hello Families!

I am hoping to get more traffic on the blog.  I will be putting important information here whenever it comes up.

RED RIBBON WEEK:

     Tuesday:  Wear red clothes and crazy socks! "I Know I am "RED-Y" to Say No to Drugs" and "I Will Sock it to Drugs."
     Wednesday: Wear a green shirt and green accessories for "I Can Keep My Mind and the Earth Clean."
     Thursday:  Wear a cap for "I Can Put a Cap on Drugs."
     Friday:  Wear jeans and a Galloway shirt.  "I am a Jean'ius:  Because I am Drug Free."

T-shirts were ordered and should be in within the week.  Wear the new shirts on Friday if we have them in time!

POPÇORN for sale on WEDNESDAY for a quarter.  Only one bag per student.

7th week of school

Yesterday  marked the first day of the new six weeks.  Report cards will be sent home on Thursday.  You may check your child's grades anytime by going to the Galloway website and clicking on ParentConnect.  

This is a good time to start with a clean slate.  We've made a lot of progress these past six weeks, both behavioral and academic.  

School pictures were sent home last week.  Some of you have paid for the package and others have not. If you do not with to purchase the pictures sent home, please return them to school.

I am sending home holiday Scholastic book orders today.  The orders and money are due on October 27.  Let me know if any of the books are a gift to your child and I will get the books to you without their knowing.  You are never obligated to buy books from the book clubs but some of these books are as cheap as $1. It's an inexpensive way to add books to your child's library.

What we are learning this week:

Math: Patterns and Place Value
Reading:
Social Studies: Government
Science: The Night Sky
English: Verbs
Spelling:  Is it c or is it k?  Words that begin with c are followed by an a, o or u.  Words that begin with k are followed by an e or an i. 
Spelling List:                                         

Much needed update!

Skippyjon  Jones fun!

Hey!  Mrs. Wuest's class has a Skippyjon too!

Calendar Math leader!

Skippyjon had lots of adventures at her house!                                                                                                                            

Everyone's loving Skippyjon Jones!

Here at school we have fallen into a successful routine that I am thrilled with.  Our class is becoming more independent with their learning such as going to the computer for acceleration when it's time, timing themselves, logging in and out on their own, etc.  I have a great group of helpers who have taken certain tasks upon themselves that leaves more time for me to teach.  Those types of things makes our days run smoothly and we get more learning done.  Thank you for having such wonderful children!

Guided Reading is in full swing.  Each student will meet with me certain days of the week.  Your child "knows" when their reading days (small group) is but I understand if they don't remember right away.  Your child should return their books in the bag every reading group day.

IMPORTANT:  Many of my students are telling me that they read their book at home by themselves.  Those books are not on an easy/independent level but an instructional level.  Please have your child read to you so you can help with unknown words.  We are learning strategies for figuring out unknown words at school. Your child should be able to at least start the word or come pretty close most of the time.  Do not encourage your child to sound out the word but instead find parts of the word that he does know and go from there.  If that doesn't work just tell your child the word.  Thanks!

Parent Conferences are the first full week in November. I will send home a note next week asking for sign-ups.  Times will be on a first come-first serve basis.  We will discuss reading levels and progress, Math CBA's (testing) and behavior plus anything you have questions about.

BOOK REPORTS ARE DUE ON HALLOWEEN!  Information went home today about the book report.  If you have any questions or if you need for me to buy your child a pumpkin, let me know.

Next Week's Learning:

Comprehension Strategies:  Types of Fiction and Story Elements
English:  word endings and their meanings, synonyms, the who or what in a sentence, syllables, verbs (past, present and future)
Math:  Money; Graphs
Science: Air and Weather
Social Studies: Presidential Election
Spelling: Adding endings to words with no change

Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah

Mrs. Cooper's Education:
I graduated from North Mesquite High School then spent my first year of college at SMU and the next semester at Eastfield.  In August 1983 I began attending Brigham Young University in  Provo, Utah.  I graduated in April 1986 with a degree in Early Childhood and Elementary Education. I am certified to teach pre-k through the 8th grade.  I earned my masters degree from Texas A and M Commerce in 2006.  This marks my 18th year of teaching (after being a stay at home mom for several years.)  The funny thing is that SMU's football team was ranked #1 in the nation the only year I was there and then BYU was ranked #1 in the nation while I was there!  HA!
   

More Skippyjon pictures

I am putting these up just in case I didn't earlier.  I'm loving these Skippyjon stories!

Skippyjon Jones and Friend

Skippyjon is still making the rounds!

Week 6

Here are what our t-shirts look like.  As you can see, our class will have purple shirts.  Each class has a different color shirt.  The guitar is made with words that have to do with the second grade and Galloway.  I am excited and I know that the second graders are going to love them.  I will send home the order form (for you to indicate size) tomorrow.  The forms need to be returned as soon as possible so we can get the shirts ordered.  We will have designated days to wear the shirts and hopefully each child will order one.  We will also wear them on play day, field trips and other special days.

This week we will be learning about:

Math:  paired numbers, patterns in numbers
Science:  Weather
Social Studies:  Communities
Reading:  Monitor Comprehension
English:  antonyms, nouns and syllables
Spelling Words:  was, off, because, friend, were, when, old, gave, best, most, father, children    These words are from our word wall.

College Facts:

There are 60 women colleges in the United States in 24 states.  The state with the most women’s colleges is Massachusetts with 8.  Pennsylvania comes in second with 7.

Parent-Teacher conferences:  November  5 - 7.  You will be hearing about this more in a week or two.

Deedee Cooper

Hope you enjoyed another long weekend!  The teachers were busy at meetings preparing to better teach your children.  We're looking forward to using our new knowledge.

Special Notes:  *Popcorn will be sold for $.25 on Friday.  The students should bring their quarter in early so teachers may place their "order."
*PTA needs more members!  If you need another envelope, tell your child to tell me and I will send home another one.
*Our t-shirt design is in!  Order forms will go home next week!  I will post it on this blog if I can figure out how.  Right now it's not working...

Remember, breakfast is 7:15- 7:45!  If you want to eat, don't be late!

Studies for the Week:

Reading:  Monitoring Comprehension; Asking Questions 
Writing:  Writing information text
Spelling:  Hard and soft g and c
       This weeks words:
cabin, came, cash, circle, cent, circus, giraffe, giant, gym, golden, glue, guy
Math:  Patterns, patterns and more patterns!
Science:  Weather and Air
Social Studies: Types of Communities

College tid bit for the week:

The first college established for African-American students was the Ashmun Institute on April 29, 1854. It was named after Jehudi Ashmun (1794-1826), an American minister who helped establish Liberia.  In 1866, Ashmun Institute was renamed Lincoln University.

Oberlin college was the first college to grant degrees to women in 1841.  It was also the first college to grant a bachelor degree to an African-American woman in 1862.

We're so proud of our parachutes!

Ready, set, go!

What chaos and what fun! We are learning that air is everywhere and that air is a gas.  Air is invisible yet we know it's there because we can feel it and breathe it and have fun with it, like these parachutes!

Spelling Practice

I found a website that has fun ways to practice spelling words. You just type in the words for the week and choose what you want to do!

 http://www.spellingcity.com/

Have fun, and let me know what you think!

One more parachute video

Skippyjon and Student

Our class during R-time.  R-time is a program Galloway as a
school follows.  It teaches young children respect and manners.

We are exciting about our second grade t-shirts. I will send home a note soon if you have not sent in the money.  I can't wait to see my class in their shirts for all of our special events.

Mrs. Mingle wanted to send out a reminder that breakfast is served 7:15 -7:45.  Any student coming in after that time won't be able to eat.  Our cafeteria staff have to start making our lunches!

Our College Information for this week:

In the United States, there is little difference between the terms “college” and “university”.  However, the term “college” in other countries, such as Canada, refers to a junior college or trade college, whereas a “university” is larger, more research focused, and usually contains multiple colleges.

Here is what we are learning:

Reading:  Monitoring Comprehension.  I also still leveling the students so I can better teach your child in the areas needed.

Math:  Subtraction strategies

English:  Writing and nouns, both proper and common

Spelling: One and two syllable CVCe words with blends and digraphs

Word List:  cupcake, bedtime, baseline, swipe, state, shake, smile, grape, shade, grade, close, chose

Science:  Air

Social Studies:  Freedom and symbols of the United States

PLEASE JOIN THE PTA!!  We could win a popcorn party!  I'm thinking of planning something special for all who join in our class...

Third week of school

The Skippyjon Jones project is going great.  Skippyjon is at his fourth second grade home tonight and is having so much fun!  Thank you for your participation and making the time your child has with him a special one.

School pictures are THIS THURSDAY!  I will send the order forms home tomorrow!

I am focusing on listening to my students read this week to determine what level they are on.  I know books are not going home yet but have your child practice the poems in the black fluency folder when it comes home and read any other books you have. I do let the students take home my personal books as long as they ask first and return them promptly.  They have library books as well.  TOMORROW we will start returning and checking out more books!

I also update our grade level blog weekly.  Check it out to see what we are learning this week.  

http://galloway2ndgrade.blogspot.com/


As always, I invite you to stay in touch with me by email, phone or note. I care about what is happening in your child's life and am always willing to discuss school progress with you.  Let me know when you want to come by or send me an email at dcooper@mesquiteisd.

Mrs. Cooper

Happy Birthday!

Week Number 2

This week we will be practicing to activate background knowledge to help reading comprehension.  Our new word wall words are when, were and old.  Your children will be held accountable for being able to read these words.  We are doing more addition in Math, again practicing the strategies doubles, near doubles (neighbors), making tens, counting on and big and bigger numbers.    In Science we will be learning about "air" and in Social Studies we will be learning how to be a good citizen and to identify historical figures (Paul Revere, for example.)

We began a home reading/writing project last week.  Each student will get a turn to take home the Skippyjon Jones stuffed animal, a Skippyjon Jones book and our notebook for a few days.  Your child's job is to have someone read the book to him/her, write a story and put in the notebook and to have fun with Skippyjon!  Please help your child as needed.   It's already turned out to be a fun project.  Every student is looking forward to their turn.  Oh, and please take a picture or two of your child with Skippyjon if you can.  If you aren't able to print them out, email them to me and I will print them.  I'm excited about watching our notebook fill up.

I am also still collecting t-shirt money.  Please send it in ASAP so we can get the shirts ordered.

If anyone is interested in serving on the PTA board this year, please let me know and I will pass your name along.  We have several positions open.

Have a great week!
Mrs. Cooper

These first two days have flown by.  Today we read David Goes to School and discussed what David does that is wrong and what is right.  The students enjoyed seeing what a problem he is and of course nobody in our class would every act like that!  We are making our own "Davids" and will write about rules and why they are important.

In reading we are working on short vowels and blends.  We are learning the routine and expectations of our learning stations (word work, fluency, books and writing.)  I will add listening station in the next few days.  I have to say that I have a wonderful class this year.  They are doing very well staying on task in stations, for which I am grateful!

Have a great week!

Welcome to 2nd Grade!

Our fabulous team!
From top left: Mrs. Thompson, Mrs. Wuest, Mrs. Friedman
Bottom Left:  Mrs. Cooper, Ms. Navarro

Last night was a blast!  We have never had a school supply drop-off before and were thrilled at the response.  I believe 15 out of my 20 students came.  I enjoyed meeting and chatting with each of you.  Our first day of school should go smoothly now that we have so many of our supplies out of the way.

We have many routines to learn these first few weeks but we will jump right into our academic learning on the very first day.  

Spelling:  CVC words with blends and digraphs (review from first grade)  Words on Friday's test will be flag, skip, plus, print, jump, fast, slept, stamp, bath, with, when and brush.  This year word wall words will also be on the last spelling test at the end of the grading period so have your child learn to read and write those words as well.  Word Wall Words:  was, off, because, friend

Other subjects will be added later today.

My email address is dcooper@mesquiteisd.org   Email is the quickest way to get in touch with me although you may call the school  972-882-5101 and leave a message at the desk.

I am looking forward to getting to know my new students.  We are going to have a great year!

Mrs. Cooper

End of the Year

We had lots of fun on the last day of school.  Everyone got to choose which desk they had for the day.  We sang and played games and did Calendar Math.  We ate pizza, chips, fruit, cookies and cupcakes and drank fruit punch and soda.  The school year went by quickly and I can't believe it's over.  I'm sending my babies to third grade!

I hope everyone has a fun summer. I think about everyone just about every day, wondering what exciting things are happening.

See you in the hallway!

Children's Book Week

Another fun day!  One of our book week activities was to make a class mural depicting our favorite book.  After narrowing down the choices, we as a class chose Magic School Bus.  They liked it because you can learn science from it while being entertained.  Each student was assigned a different part to add to our mural (which was done it chalk.)  I'm loving the school bus, planets, characters such as Liz and Mrs. Fizzle, the sun and stars!  The class really came together to make one big picture instead of lots of little ones. It's amazing what they can do when they put their minds to it.

There is a contest and the winning class gets snow cones!  I love snow cones and I HOPE WE WIN! (OK, I did do my part. I wrote the lettering and drew the circle for Jupiter.  The rest of the credit belongs to the students!)

RESEARCH PICTURES

 Some students who don't seem to have a shy bone in their body suddenly get shy when the camera is out.  Ha!  Very cute presentation!

 Fabulous game show!  I'm so proud of these students who worked together and got creative!

 Thank goodness for friends who do things so you can do them too!  Good job boys!

 Blizzard group

 Tsunami group

 Earthquake group

 Volcano group


















Wildfire group

Tornado group