Our Second Grade Memories -- Day 11 and 10

Hello 2-3 Families,

We are in the final countdown of the school year.  We made a paper chain that included our favorite memory(ies) of the year.  Each day I will be posting 2 friends and their memories (with the exception of today since we just started this yesterday).  Enjoy!

Ellie
"My favorite part of second grade was seeing all of my friends because they are special."

Andrew
"My favorite part of second grade is that every day Mrs. Porte is nice, awesome, and kind."

Sara
"My favorite part of second grade was learning cursive."

Ava
"My favorite part of second grade was being friends with people, being in drama club, and being with Mrs. Porte."

An Early Biweekly Update

Hello 2-3 Families,

I know it isn't the end of the week, but there are so many fabulous things going on at Dryden that I wanted to give you an update a little early.

WEBSITE PHOTOS
As some of you may have noticed, our photos in the Mystery Reader section and Star Student section have not been updated recently and I have finally been able to solve the tech issue I was having.  It involved some handy work of deleting accounts and reconfiguring new ones, but this has allowed me to fix the problem I was having adding the photos to our website.  I am going to work this week to have both sections updated by next Tuesday.  Thank you for your patience and understanding!!  Technology can be both a blessing and a curse....ha!

END OF YEAR THOUGHTS
Today marks 11 days left of school.  Today we created a paper chain filled with our favorite 2nd grade memories.  Each day left 2 friends will each rip off a link in the chain to read their favorite memory.  By our last day of school, our final friend and I will read our favorite 2-3 memory of the 2012-2013 school year.  Each day I will post a photo of the friend and their memory. The first 4 will get posted tomorrow.  Stay tuned!!

FOOD DRIVE
We are working on our final school food drive of the year for the WHEELING PANTRY.  This week we will be collecting soups, macaroni and cheese, and potato products.  We would love to help stock the pantry shelves FULL before summer break. Any donations are greatly appreciated!!

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS LANDMARK PROJECT
Please take some time to see the incredible work your children did on their Arlington Heights Landmark Project.  Thank you Mrs. Powers for putting this video together and to Ms. Vankova, and Mrs. Schneider for helping with this project.

2-3's Landmark Project

BUTTERFLIES

Last week we wrapped up our Life Cycles unit with the release of our butterflies.  We were thrilled to be able to release them back into their natural habitats and hope they are enjoying this spring weather.  Check out our photo gallery below.

GERTRUDE

On Mother's Day, our beloved Gertrude became a mom to 10 ducklings!!  After a brief stay in the courtyard during the week, Gertrude was ready to escort her babies out of Dryden.  Check out this adorable video that Mrs. Breaux put together.....you may need Kleenex!!

BABY SHOWER

Where do I start?  Last week I was so overwhelmed by the surprise baby shower for our little man.  You are a very sneaky crew to get this one past me.  Thank you to Mrs. Colias, Mrs. Woodland, and Mrs. Washco for organizing such a fun afternoon with such thoughtful gifts.  Mrs. Woodland was kind enough to take photos and I am posting some of them below.  Thank you for making me and Baby Porte feel so special.

ALOHA!

We have our final spirit day on Thursday and we will be having a Hawaiian/Beach Day celebration.  Please remember our school dress policy must still be upheld while dressing for this spirit day.  No open-toed shoes, flip flops, bathing suits, etc.  Go wild with Hawaiian gear, bright colors, sunglasses, etc.  What a fun way to wrap-up our spirit days for 2013.

Just a friendly reminder that there is NO SCHOOL this FRIDAY 5/24 AND MONDAY 5/27.  I hope you all have a safe and fun Memorial Day weekend.  Let's hope Mother Nature cooperates with nice weather.

- Danielle Porte

Biweekly Update

Hello 2-3 Families,

It was a beautiful start to the week with a brisk end!  Here is a look at what we have been up to in 2-3.

TEACHER APPRECIATION/VOLUNTEER RECOGNITION
I first want to give a shout out to ALL of YOU and our wonderful PTA for making me feel so special this week.  From treats to cards to the fabulous Wordle I received, it has been such a great week.  I have the best job in the world and am thankful each day that I get to do what I do.  I appreciate all that YOU do for your children.  THANK YOU!

Thank you also to all of our incredible parent volunteers.  Mrs. Sessler and Mr. Robinson created such a wonderful event for you this year.  Mrs. Kenny did a beautiful job decorating the LMC.  Your involvement at Dryden is such a tremendous help to us all and it is such a wonderful place to be because of your help.  Thank you for taking time out of your day(s) to be involved here!

SPRING ASSESSMENTS
We have wrapped up all of our spring assessments and you will receive those scores with your child's final report card on the last day of school.  The kids have worked so hard this year and I am very impressed with how well they did on their spring tests.  While I know that the upcoming summer break is a time for relaxation and fun, I cannot stress enough how important it is for your child to continue to practice their reading, math, and writing skills. We will be sending the kids home with a summer skills packet to continue to reinforce the skills that were learned in 2nd grade.

BUTTERFLIES
Well, our caterpillars formed their cocoons this week and we are patiently waiting to see the emergence of our butterflies.  We are continuing to make scientific observations and taking pictures to add to our upcoming butterfly album.  Hopefully they do not emerge while we are gone for the weekend!

MULTIPLICATION AND DIVISION
As you have probably noticed, we started learning multiplication and division in 2nd grade!  As I have been telling the kids, multiplication and division are opposites just like addition and subtraction.  Multiplication is a fast way to add!  While we are in the beginning stages of learning these new operations, it is still very important that the kids continue working on their addition and subtraction facts.  Having a solid grasp of those will help with their understanding of multiplication and division.

AIR CONDITIONING
Our air system has been changed over this week from heating to air conditioning.  I have no way of turning the vent off in our room and on days like today, our room may seem a little chilly.  Feel free to send your child with a sweatshirt or jacket even on the nice days because it may feel much cooler in our classroom.

To all the moms of 2-3....

I hope you have a wonderful weekend celebrating YOU!  YOU have the hardest job in the world and I am amazed at how you effortlessly seem to be able to handle it all.  You have such amazing children and I am thankful that you trust me to spend time with them every day.  This week I told the kids, "Close your eyes and think of the most important lady in your life.....Who is it?"  Without hesitation, the class erupted into a cheer of "MOM!"  I have no doubt that there are some days where you feel less than appreciated, but please know how important you are to your kids and that they love telling me things about YOU!  I wish you all a Happy Mother's Day!

Have a wonderful weekend,

Danielle

2 Important Reminders

Talk about a beautiful day!!!  Just two quick reminders that I wanted to inform you about.

1. MAP TESTING
Tomorrow morning 2-3 will be taking their spring MATH Map test.  Please make sure your child gets a good night's sleep and a healthy breakfast in the morning.  On Friday, they will take their READING Map test right after lunch so make sure they have a good lunch on Friday.

2. APPROPRIATE SCHOOL ATTIRE
As the weather gets nicer, I want to remind everyone of Dryden's policy for appropriate warm weather attire.  Students must wear closed-toed shoes that have a back to them.  The kids are not allowed to wear flip flops or open-toed sandals.  The students are also NOT allowed to wear spaghetti strapped tops.  Finally, sunscreen must be applied at home before sending your child to school.  Please help us at Dryden keep your children safe and follow these rules.  Thank you!

Biweekly Update from 2-3

Hello 2-3 Families!

I hope you all had a chance to enjoy the spring weather this weekend.  We have sure waited long enough.  Here is a look at what has been happening in 2-3.

SPRING ASSESSMENTS
This coming week, the students of 2-3 will take their spring reading and math MAP tests.  We will be testing on Wednesday morning and on Friday right after lunch.  Please make sure your child gets a good night's sleep and eats well before each of these tests.  I will also be conducting the AIMS Web assessment this week.  During this test, the students will read 3 separate 1 minute passages aloud so I can assess their rate and accuracy of fluency.  

MATH
Last week we completed Chapter 10 in math and began Chapter 11.  You may have noticed on your child's homework that the addition and subtraction skills are being taken to the next level.  The students have been working hard at learning to "carry" when completing double-digit addition and "borrowing" when subtracting.  We will work on borrowing again this week in math.  This is still a developing skill for many students and I continue to remind the kids that "PRACTICE MAKES PROGRESS."

HOMEWORK
The students in 2-3 are getting closer everyday to becoming 3rd graders.  I am expecting more effort on their part when completing their in-class assignments and homework.  If you child does not complete his/her homework or in-class assignment by the time it is due, they will have to stay in for recess until that work is completed.  I understand that everyone has busy schedules, but homework is not an option.  The work assigned to the class to be completed at home is designed to reinforce the skills taught during the day at school and should not take a lot of time to complete.  Each day the kids write down their assignments and the work they write down should be completed by the following day.  Thank you helping make sure your chid is completing his/her homework on time.  

AH HISTORICAL MUSEUM FIELD TRIP
Thank you Mrs. Lytle and Mrs. Gavin for joining our class on our field trip to the AH Historical Museum.  We had such beautiful weather for our trip!  I am so proud of how well-behaved and respectful the kids were during our field trip.  It was great seeing the kids make connections between what they have learned in class during our AH unit with what they learned during our field trip.  We will be taking our AH unit test on Monday and have started our NEW science unit of Life Cycles.  Stay tuned for updates about observing our caterpillars grow into butterflies.  

SPRING IS HERE?!?!
Spring is trying desperately to arrive, but unfortunately we cannot always count on our weather forecast.  As the weather continues to fluctuate between warm and cold, please make sure to send your child to school with appropriate outdoor weather gear.  Sometimes it does not warm-up until the afternoon and temps are still on the cool side when the kids head out for morning recess.  Having appropriate layers will allow them to stay warm and cool as we transition into warmer weather.

It's hard to believe that we only have 26 days left of the school year.  We will keep working hard and having fun as we wind down our time together in 2nd grade.

- Danielle

Counting Area with Partial Coverage

Hello 2-3 Families!

This week in math, we discussed counting the area of an object that wasn't completely square or filled-in.  I noticed some confusion with the last problem on Home Link 10.7 so I wanted to review this information with you.

When calculating area of an object that is not completely shaded in, less than half of a box shaded does not count at all towards the total area.  Exactly half of the box shaded in counts as half.  More than half of a box shaded in counts as 1 towards the total.

The last problem on HL 10.7 was this.........

Each fully shaded box would count as 1cm squared.  Since the rest of the boxes were exactly half filled in, they would count as 1/2.  The total area in cm squared would equal 9cm squared.  If less than half of the box was filled in, the box would not be counted in the total.  If more than half of the box was filled in, it would count as 1 cm squared.

The students and I discussed this during our math lesson this morning.  If you have any questions or concerns, let me know!

I hope you are staying safe and dry today in the storms!

- Danielle

News from 2-3

Hello 2-3 families!

We sure crammed a lot into our 4 day week last week!  Here is some information I wanted to pass along.....

OUR NEWEST CLASS MEMBER
I was so excited finally announce this week that Baby Porte will be joining our Dryden family. To make this announcement, we played a game of Hangman and at the end it looked like this......

The kids have been so sweet about our upcoming arrival and asked if they could vote on a name to add to our baby name list.  We will take our vote in May and then see what happens once we meet our little man this summer.  Thank you all for your kind words and support, Jeremy and I are very excited.


AU AMAZING ANIMAL RESEARCH PROJECTS
All I can say is....WOW!!!!  The students of 2-3 did an ABSOLUTELY AMAZING job researching their Australian animals.  Check out our photo gallery below to see how creative 2-3 is.




AH RESEARCH PROJECT
We launched our History of Arlington Heights unit last week and we will be working with the LMC to conduct research on an AH Landmark.  Thursday I sent home a list of choices for the kids to pick from. Since there are so many wonderful places to study, we will not be allowing any duplicates of landmarks.  These are being assigned on a "first turned in/first assigned" basis :) I look forward to seeing the kids work on this project.  If your child did not return their AH Landmark sheet today, please try to return it ASAP so I can assign the landmarks.

SHOE DRIVE!!!
This SATURDAY (April 13th)is the JUST MOVE IT CHALLENGE 5k.  During this event, we will be hosting the SHARE YOUR SOLES SHOE DRIVE.  Please think about cleaning out your closets and donating any gentle used shoes to support this wonderful charity.  I will be running the booth during the race so even if you don't have shoes to donate, make sure you stop by and say HI!!

Don't forget, there is NO SCHOOL TUESDAY APRIL 9th.  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and enjoyed some spring-like weather!

- Danielle