Week of Sept. 19, 2011

Last week we completed our first five day week!  We made it!  Our second graders were DIBELS tested, and we met with our Math Intervention Groups on Friday.  We took our first spelling test as second graders, and your child should be bringing home that graded test on Monday, Sept. 19th.  Speaking of spelling, the focus last week was on short vowel words, and this week's focus is long vowel words with a silent "e".  They are as follows:  page, nose, space, size, fine, mice, late, huge, blaze, race, rice, and vote.  The first book order was sent on Thursday, Sept. 15th, in your child's blue homework folder.  I then sent another piece of information on Friday in your child's blue homework folder.  I apologize for not sending it with the actual book order, but I was having difficulty getting our class activation code for online book orders, due to the fact that there is another "Judy Varney" who teaches in New Mexico!  I finally contacted Scholastic by phone, and they helped me with our class activation code.  Additional catalogs are online, so you do have more options other than the paper order form I sent.  If you do order online, our class will receive a $3.00 coupon for a free book!  It's perfectly fine for you to order using the form I sent, so no worries.  It's your choice if you decide to take advantage of purchasing books from Scholastic.  It's just something that is made available to you and is certainly not mandatory.  We have a Market Day Fundraiser kickoff on Monday afternoon in the gym.  This is the main fundraiser for PTA this year.  I hope all is going well with your second grader.  They are a great group of children!

Signing off until next week,
Judy Varney

Week of September 12th, 2011

Monday, September 12th, will be the first official day for homework in my class.  Your child's blue homework folder will come home on Monday with the homework assignment inside of it.  It will be to write this week's spelling words three times each.  The test will be given on Friday.  The spelling words for this week are:  chop, desk, drum, dust, job, list, mess, rib, rock, sack, sad, and tag.  On Tuesday evening, your child will write the first four words in a sentence.  On Wednesday evening, your child will write the next four words in a sentence, and on Thursday evening, your child will write the last four words in a sentence.  Your child should return his/her homework from the previous night on the next school day.  Good luck to everyone on the first test this Friday!  This week we will only have spelling homework.  Next week I will add Poetry Night (Tuesday) to their homework agenda.  Each child will bring home a purple poetry folder with a poem and a poetry reading sheet inside.  Your child may read the poem to as many people he/she can and can use this time of reading as his/her nightly reading time.  The poetry folder should be returned on Wednesday, and I will send it again the following Tuesday with a new poem.

I also wanted to mention that Wednesday envelopes will be coming home this Wednesday with lots of pertinent information included.  Please sign the front sheet (taped on the envelope) and return the envelope on Thursday with your child.  (Don't forget to empty it and return any sheets that needed to be completed.)  Thanks to all who sent back the required information for the beginning of school.  If you have not returned yours, please complete it and return it as soon as possible.

This year your child will not be receiving menus for the month in the Wednesday envelopes.  They are available online for you to print at home.  I will be announcing the menu for the next day at school too.  Amy Uecker, our cafeteria manager, also informed me that these choices will be available each day in addition to the entree listed on the menu:  Chef Salad, Cheese Sandwich, and Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich.  Your child will make his/her lunch choice every morning.

We are starting Reading Street this week in our classrooms.  On Friday your child received the hardback book to keep in his/her desk.  Last week we worked on a lot of beginning of school activities and created class books to share with our classmates.  We learned a lot of information about each other and had lots of "connections".  We are looking forward to a great week at Amelia Elementary!

Open House Thank You

Parents and students,

It was fabulous meeting a lot of you last night at Open House!  If you were unable to come, I look forward meeting you in the near future.  I'm looking forward to the first day of school, and I hope your child is excited and anxious to begin.  If you ever have any questions, please do not hesitate to e-mail me @ varney_j@westcler.org or call me on my phone in my classroom (943-3816).  If I am unable to answer the phone when you call, please leave a message, and I will return your call as soon as possible.

Judy Varney

Week of May 2nd

Unbelievable! It's May already! We have been so busy here at school! We are getting ready to take our math test on Unit 11--only one more unit, and we will finish the workbook! We are on the last unit of Reading Street also. Where has the year gone? We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our books written by the second graders. Watch the Wednesday envelopes and the homework folders for information about Author's Night. I will be sending home all the Reading Street tests, Everyday Math tests, and the 100 Facts tests taken during the third quarter. It just took a few hours to organize them all! :) They are now ready to be sent home for your viewing. Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there! We keep hoping for some rainfree days--not that we don't like a little rain here and there, but our students need to get outside! Enjoy the rest of the week!

Judy Varney

Week of March 14th

I hope everyone has had an opportunity to experience working on www.pearsonsuccessnet.com in conjunction with Reading Street. There are some really cool games to help your child "think quickly". Please let me know what you think. Last week we took our test on fractions, and the students did surprisingly well! We are jumping into measurement head first this week and have measured with tape measures and rulers! This Friday our class is wearing pajamas and watching a movie due to filling our marble jar! They are very excited about it! Yesterday we started working on our books to be published. Oh, did I forget to tell you? Your children are becoming authors and illustrators! Each child will write and illustrate his/her very own hardback book. Second grade applied for a grant to help with the cost, so the cost to each student will be minimal. We will celebrate together with "Author's Night" later in the spring after the books are printed and mailed back to us. We will let you know when the final plans for this become available. Don't forget to mark your calendars for Literacy Night next Thursday night, March 24th! Each child will receive a free book, snacks, and will get to see a fabulous show by Madcap Puppets! I'm looking forward to seeing everyone there! Ms. Varney

February 25, 2011

Hello to all! All the teachers had an exciting day of learning! I will be sending home parent letters from Reading Street, which explain how your children can log into Reading Street at home. This is all new to me, too, so luckily, there is an "800" number at the bottom of the letter which may help you if you need assistance. Happy Reading! Please let me know how you are doing with this! Have a great weekend!

Ms. Varney

February 17, 2011

I sent home a spelling list for next week today. Since we will only be in school for three days, I thought some of you might want to get a head start on the words. If your child was sick today and did not receive a list, here are the words: cook, stood, full, wood, July, shook, push, pull, brook, book, hood, and put. Enjoy your four day weekend!

Ms. Varney

Week of February 14, 2011

We had a great afternoon yesterday! The students had such fun exchanging valentines with each other! They were thanking their friends, and that was very exciting to see! Thanks goes out to Maddy's mom for putting together our treat bags! We celebrated the 100th Day of School today by making a booklet in our homeroom class, and in our skill group, we tried our hands at writing poetry. We added lines to a poem about the 100th day. We started taking the math test on Unit 7 today, and we will still be working on it tomorrow. We just moved our desks in our classroom, and we are doing well with the new configuration. In Reading Street, we will be talking about adjectives the next couple of weeks, and we will be starting fractions in Unit 8 of Everyday Math. I hope everyone enjoys the extended weekend coming up and stays safe and well. Remember, there is no school this Friday, February 18th, and next Monday, February 21st. We will return on Tuesday, February 22nd. See you then!

Ms. Varney

Week of February 7, 2011

With all the predictions of snow for the past weekend, we lucked out again! We even saw the sun! This week is a review week for Reading Street Unit 3. We are reviewing long e vowel patterns, long o vowel patterns, compound words, long i vowel patterns, and comparative endings -er and -est. We are also working on Author's Purpose (to inform or entertain), drawing conclusions, comparing and contrasting, fact and opinion, inferring, plural nouns, and past, present, and future verb usage. Your children are recognizing our "Amazing Words" in the texts we are reading, and that is very exciting! They are making connections with texts they have read previously, and that is equally exciting! Since this is a review in spelling, I am sending a list of high frequency words. The words are: pretty, won, parents, school, only, been, buy, half, many, their, hour, and money. In math we will be working on doubling numbers, halving numbers, measuring lengths using inches and centimeters, graphing, and finding the median (the middle value) of a list of numbers. If they can remember to put the numbers in order from smallest to largest first, that is the trick! The "crossing out" then is a piece of cake! So long for now! I'll talk to you soon. I'm looking forward to conferences again on Wednesday! Ms. Varney

Two Snow Days in One Week

So we had two unexpected vacation days in one week. Since we missed our spelling test on Friday, we will review on Monday and take the test on Tuesday. If you have a chance to visit the building, please check the wall outside our classroom to see our "snow people". They are awaiting visitors.