December 19 in Room 11

• Mrs. Lojkovic led a school Christmas sing-along this morning. She told jokes between songs. Some teachers held up signs telling everyone whether to laugh, chuckle or groan. Austin told his teacher that although the groan wign was held up, he thought it was a pretty good joke!
• Elf Books: finished, bound and ready to be enjoyed.
• Crafts: painted, repaired, wound, strung, wrapped and packed. If you haven't seen these items, check the bottom of your child's backpack.
• For some old-fashioned Christmas cheer, Room 11ers cracked nuts with hammers, ate oranges and peanuts, popped popcorn and watched Horton Hears a Who this afternoon.
• Two children left their crafted gifts on their desks.
• Five jackets, four sweatshirts and a swimming suit remain hung on hooks in the classroom.
• The class spent ten minutes feverishly cleaning up the classroom before leaving for home.
• This blogger is currently standing on nut shell fragments and bits of yarn.
• This blogger is exhausted but thinking about how much she loves her job.

December 18 in Room 11

• Thank-you, thank-you to the moms who came and helped with the crafts today. It gives great satisfaction to the children to be able to have a gift to give someone special.
• Wasn't the Holiday Concert terrific? We heard comments like, "You could see your kid!" "It was so well organized," "I was impressed," and "They really learned some music." Applause for the student mucicians at Hillcrest!
• Room 11 won the contest for the most cans brought in by the second grade this year, so we are giving ourselves a pat on the back. Thanks, too, for the parents who helped out by donating cans.
• The second graders did two things with their Elf Books today. First, they finished making page 4. Second, they went to the computer lab and designed a cover using the Word program.
• All of the second graders and their teachers really enjoyed making crafts for their families. Keep your eyes open for Christmas tree centerpieces, portrail ornaments. puzzle reindeer and yarn God's Eyes.
• School sing-along tomorrow.

December 17 in Room 11

• Illustraters of "Little Elf" finished page three.
• Learning about teamwork ad well as having fun, the children played relay races in P.E.
• The second graders had a lot of advice for the Grinch this Christmas.Math test today.
• The spelling pre-test produced one gumchewer: Jonathan. Way to go, Johathan.
• Math test.
• The entire second grade practiced lining up on bleachers, singing and performing like little angels for the concert at the High School this evening.
• A visitor arrived in the aquatium in the fourth grade hall this mornig. A small red crab sporting a huge Santa hat glowered in the corner of the tank. A sign said "Santa Claws."

December 16 in Room 11

• This week's spelling words are much tougher than usual. Students wrote their words three times each. Extra practice at home would be helpful, too.
• The music concert tomorrow is causing great excitement throughout the second grade. Some students are very, very nervous, others can't wait to get on that stage and show off! the concert is at North Bend High School the 6:30. Second graders need to be there by 6:15.
• Page 2 of the "Little Elf" books has been completed.
• James and the Giant Peach is draws to a close with great fanfare.
• Mrs. Craig read How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which generating a class discussion of advice to give the Grinch for Christmas this year.
• Room 11 Bakers spent writing time considering good descriptive words for their apple pie experience before and after the pies were baked. Writers were to think of a word appealing to each of these: hearing, tasting, seeing, feeling to touch, smelling and feeling in the heart. One writer reported hearing people talking with their mouths full.
• The children wrote their favorite descriptive words into sentences.
• There is a mural of a sandy beach in Room 11. The Scientists of Room 11 drew and cut out pictures of creatures that would live on a sandy beach, and taped them onto the mural, making a colorful addition to the front of the room.
• After school today, the second grade teachers met over a piece of pie supplied by the Bakers of Room 11. Thank-you, class!

December 15 in Room 11

• Second graders began illustrating and constructing "Little Elf" booklets.
• In P.E. everyone played dodge ball.
• In math Mrs. Stebbins
• Students got practice reading a recipe, measuring and working in teams as they made apple pies.
• They used a little machine with a crank to peel and core the apples, then cut them up and put the chunks into a pie shell.
• Each child had the opportunity to add sugar and cinnamon, pinch the pie crusts together and dab on some butter.
• Mrs. Lampe came to school to help make the pies. Mrs Craig came back to school for the afternoon just to be part of the pie-making process. Mrs. Green baked them over the lunch hour.
• The children wrote sense words (sweet, crunchy, sticky...) describing their apple pie making experiences.
• Eating pie was the best part of the day!

December 12 in Room 11

• The James and the Giant Peach character sketches are finished and really good!
• As for music class and Christmas concert practice--Room Eleveners are becoming proficient at marching on and off risers--Bleacher Pros!
• Students are making "stained glass" panels by coloring a printed design with their chosen color pattern.
• Seven outstanding spellers produced outstanding final spelling tests today. The rest of the class did very well, too.
• Hillcrest children played inside during recesses because of stormy weather.
• Students wrote final comments on the Take-Apart-the-Computer project. Feedback was positive, although many of the students would have preferred choosing their own work team. Tyler said he liked the project because it was "tricky," and he likes "tricky."
• Second graders each received a Hill Bill this afternoon because Mrs. Johnson did not notice them passing her classroom door because they were sooooo quiet.

December 11 in Room 11

• Students catagorized some of the characters in James and the Giant Peach. Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge were among them, as well as the fellow insect travellers. O.K. students, what were these characters like? Grasshopper...Ladybug...Centipede...Earthworm...Miss Spider...James?
• Makes some predictions--how will this story end?
• Library Day
• Students worked more on constructing their Communication Satellites during art. Wire and plastic materials were added for use. Besides hammers, some students used pliers.
• Three students needed cold treatment for banged thumbs.
• The class lined up according to height so children can be seen as well as walk on and off the bleachers easily on the day of our concert. Things are getting really exciting!

December 10 in Room 11

• First thing this morning, students were asked to write in thier journals answering this question: "What is the best part of a second grade day?"
• Students self-corrected spelling tests. Three gum chewers emerged--Zoe, Garrett and Jonathan.
• The class enjoyed playing "Run Octopus, Run!" in P.E.
• Floating high above the ocean in a giant peach, James and his super-sized insect friends narrowly excaped the cloud men!
• Students read silently and took Accelerated Reader tests if they finished a book. Some of them are really racking up the points!
• Mrs. Stebbins demonstrated next week's Holiday card bin art project.
• Report cards were sent home in backpacks this afternoon.

November 9 in Room 11

• Room 11 had a substitute teacher this morning. Her name is Mrs. Franklin.
• The class worked on more patterns in math. Some of the patterns were numbers, others were shapes and colors.
• The second grade will continue working more on understanding odd and even numbers, as well as on skip counting.
• The class practiced for our Christmas program in music. All parents should have recieved a green paper today notifying them of the times and location of the Christmas program. (6:15 at the High School)
• Mr. Stallings came to school to help Mrs. Stebbins and Mrs. Callery wrap up the computer project. He works with computers at his job. It was nice to have an extra set of hands and help. Thanks for sharing your dad, Ryan.
• John's mom opened the Hill Bill store for our class this afternoon. Sadly, not everyone in our class got a turn to visit the store, but they will be the first ones to go when we open it again.

November 8 in Room 11

• Students wrote a "Guess My Present" riddle this morning. This descriptive writing task took most of the morning and is now posted on the bulletin board outside room 11.
• Second graders played kickball in P.E.
• The class is working on pattern counting in math.
• Mrs. Craig told the class about the Positive Paws program in school where kids who go beyond the call of duty to do something good without any expectation of reward get some recognition.
• Our class has collected seventy five cans of food so far.
• Riley, John and Gregory each received a free book from the P.T.A.
• The computer engineers in Room 11 wrote steps on how to disassemble a computer. Many of them illustrated their directions.
• Holiday excitement is in the air!

November 4 in Room 11

• Journal entries this morning attempted to find out what second graders would say to a frog. Many would ask a frog about jumping.
• The class used the Splat squares to play a skip-counting game on the SMART Board during math.
• In the computer lab, students typed in each of their spelling words one time correctly. Then they practiced highlighting words, and changing the font, color and size of the letters.
• The Hill Bill winners for 100% on the spelling test were Zoe, Jacob, Spencer, John, Riley, Krissy, Kelsey and Colby. Mrs. Craig commented on how proud she was of everyone's spelling test this week. Wow,there has been some major studying going on!
• Jacob's sentence was used for the dictation of the week.
• Mrs. Callery came in again to show Room Eleveners more about the insides of computers. The excitement in the room could be felt. Here are some bits of overheard conversations: "He had the screwdriver for a long, long time." "Now, we have to get all those wires." "Hey, check this out!" "See? Here's the motor..." "We got the motherboard! We got the motherboard!"

December 3 in Room 11

• Second graders, writing more and more, are getting really good at it. They began writing short fables today. They have begun to explain math problems in words. They practice their spelling words in sentences.
• Here are the rules for using spelling words in sentences: The group of words must be a true sentence. It must have at least seven words in it. Each sentence must begin with a capital letter and end with a period. The spelling word must be spelled right. (Hmmmmmm.) Each week, an outstanding sentence will be chosen to be used for Friday's dictation.
• Frog Pond was the game-of-the-day in P.E.
• Even and odd numbers were the lesson-of-the-day in math.
• Students corrected their own work in both math and spelling. Studies have shown that self-correction helps students learn better by seeing their own mistakes immediatly.
• Dylan and Jonathan are gum chewers. Hooray for them!!!
• Room Eleveners are working on solving their own problems, whether its a math problem, a classmate disagreement or a playground issue. Usually talking about it together can take care of things. Seven-year-olds can come up with some really creative and kind solutions. Teachers emphasize, however, that big problems (like getting seriously hurt ) need to be brought to the attention of an adult.
• Babe came to school today. She thinks Hillcrest kids are her pack. She joined them at recess and chased balls and chased balls and chased balls...

December 2 in Room 11

• Students practiced writing spelling words as their bellwork.
• Everyone received a HillBill in music for their super singing!
• The children read four fables and worked with a partner to begin filling out a comparison chart. There were questions like, "Who were the main characters?" and "What was the main event?" And the big fable question: "What was the moral of the story?
• In math, students are working on wordering numbers. This is really easy for most of the kids. However, when it is their turn to stand in front of the class and try the speed answers on the SMARTBoard game, it is so scary, some students forget how to do it. Our class is working on being quietly encouraging.
• In Mr. Dunn's science class students worked in groups drawing scientific (realistic) drawings of different types of clams. Who knew there were so many different kinds right here on the coast?
• Hillcrest Hound Dog came in and paid us a visit explaining about hungry people in the community. Students were encouraged to bring in a can or a box of food to give to others. Our class will be competing with the other second grades to see who can bring in the most items.
• Families and friends are invited to come join the North Bend Community in this joyous start to the Holiday Season, Thursday, December 4th. Festivities begin at the North Bend Community Center at 5:45 p.m. Santa will be arriving at 6:00 p.m., just in time to help Mayor Wetherell light the Christmas tree. Santa will be handing out treats to all of the boys and girls following the tree lighting. The City of North Bend will be giving away two bicycles. The children must be present to win. wouldn't it be cool if someone in Room 11 won a bike?

December 1 in Room 11

• Students did ABC order for Bellwork.
• This week is dedicated to fables. Students discussed the meaning of "moral of the story," read Tortoise and the Hare, and worked together to fill in a fable chart.
• P.E. provided variety as athletes moved from one station to another for different games: Pogo-Ball, Hula-Hoops, Jump-Rope and Catch-and-Throw.
• James and the Giant Peach--WOW! Cloud men! Watch out!
• In math students learned more about ordering numbers. They completed a "More than, less than" paper then played a team computer game on the SMART board to practice this concept.
• At the end of the day, second graders partnered up to complete some skill papers together. They used a chart, multiple choice bubbles and a crossword puzzle.
• Hillcrest students will be participating in a canned food drive. Watch for details. We'll be competing with other second grade rooms!