January 30 in Room 11

• Room Eleveners left music class with smiles and a happy note from Mrs. Nelson, the music teacher. Good job, kiddos, you are an exuberant group!
• Students worked on their letter to a community helper this morning. Some hard-working community helper is soon to be the recipient of a letter of encouragement and gratitude labored over by a second grader.
• The final spelling test was a really difficult unit test. It is now over.
• Garrett's grandma, Mrs. King, helped with writing and math in our classroom today.
• Many students stayed in for recess to finish overdue work.
• The assigned job idea seems to be working well. Jacob was seen with a clipboard and check-off list this morning, asking students for their homework the moment they appeared at the doorway!
• The class continued writing about Hillcrest community helpers. They are getting a clearer idea of what kinds of work people at Hillcrest do just by thinking and writing about it.
• Work on "carrying" and place value continues in math class. Today many students used unifix cubes to figure out their work.

January 29 in Room 11

• Students worked on ABC order.
• Second graders began to write letters to a member of the Bay Area community.
• In the computer lab, researchers completed their information gathering on planets and satellites. In the afternoon, they drew and painted them.
• The Hearts-With-Faces project is nearing completion, too. The next step is gluing the cut-out faces to big red paper hearts to show the love and support people in our community have for each other.
• Students got new library books today. Zach read his already and got 100 percent on his AR test. Yay, Zach!

January 28 in Room 11

• Mrs. Craig played hula-hoop tag with the kids in P.E. today. They loved ganging up to catch her.
• Students worked on grammar usage, using "est" and "er" in the correct way.
• Spelling Gum-chewers: Meagan, Logan, Jonathan
• Math lessons are moving on to two column addition with regrouping without the use of manipulatives.
• Students are now old enough to take on some classroom chore responsibilities. They signed up for their job preferences this afternoonbut the teachers had final say in who got what job. Students appeared to be happy with their assignments. Some of them started today, others need some on-the-job training. Chore responsibilities run the gamut from sharpening pencils, watering the hibiscus, and keeping the board erased, to checking off who brought in homework and getting the recycling bin emptied. Good luck, community helpers!
• As part of our writing project about school community helpers and their responsibilities, for their second installment, second graders wrote about the responsibilites of being a student.

January 27 in Room 11

• Happy Birthday to Teron!
• Music today!
• Students worked with a partner to complete a comparison chart of this week's two reading stories.
• Regrouping and related concepts still occupy the most Math time, energy and thought in grade two. Getting a sense of numerical place value is a difficult and important concept that many of the students are only now beginning to understand. Their parents were expected to memorize the operations of borrowing and carrying. Today's second graders are taught to understand what process is actually happening when a number is changed, or moved from one column to another.
• Parents are reminded to have their children read as part of their homework Monday through Thursday evenings, and return their parent-signed reading charts to school on Friday.
• Teachers in Room 11 will soon be contacting people who wish to help with the Valentine's Day party.
• Students finished their shore bird projects this afternoon. Our Sandy Beach mural is alive with creatures who live along the shoreline!
• The class began a writing project about their school community. They brainstormed ideas about what work teachers do. They will be writing sentences about the work students do in their classroom and what kinds of things are expected of second graders at Hillcrest. when those sentences have been collected, they will organize their ideas and write them on one paper to make an essay about school community life.

January 26 in Room 11

• Room 11 class reviewed rules and manners for school. They practiced walking quietly in the hall and on the steps. There were also reminders about keeping hands to themselves, how to ask for help in class, as well suggestions for the most polite way to get to recess.
• Students spent time working on adding tens and ones using unifix cubes.
• Mrs. Craig hung up the reading class' graphic organizers of their fairy tale "problem, setting, characters, solution" project. Really cool!
• This morning began with a spelling word sort.
• The new story for the week is Grandpa's corner Store and Barrio. They discussed communities and compared and contrasted neighborhoods.
• Second graders worked on vocabulary.
• Students will soon be assigned to special chores as part of their classroom "community helper" participation. Mrs. Stebbins read the jobs that would be available, asking students to think about which jobs they would like to have and what they would be best at.

January 23 in Room 11

• The children wrote thoughts about their favorite story in their journals.
• It was a musical day in Room 11 today. Besides music class, Mrs Craig played some Beethoven music and asked the students to make their crayons "dance across the paper" in one continuous motion while they listened. Then they traded drawings and completed a paper about the piece of art, answering these questions, "What does this remind you of?" and "How does it make you feel and why?" It was a really fun activity.
• Spelling final, scores not in yet.
• Math was a hands on project. Students were asked to use cubes to show tens and ones, then combine the ones to reconfigure their groups, placing them in order on math work mats. Because it was a new activity, most of the students were confused, but after trying several examples, many of them understood and became fun. More work of this type is in the offing.
• Mrs. Callery helped students look up a shore bird of their choice on the computer, then print it out. After that, they produced a scientific drawing of their bird, cut it out, and pasted it on the Sandy Beach mural in the front of the room. Not everyone finished this project. More time will be spent on it later.

January 22 in Room 11

• ABC order skills are improving!
• The class made a pictograph of how many teeth students in this room have lost. The graph shows in a very clear way which kids have lost the most teeth, and which kids will probably be losing some soon. A discussion of graphs ensued. there will be more on graph work as the year progresses.
• In the computer lab, some students looked up planets, and others researched constellations. This information will be used for a painting of the night sky.
• Mr. Dunn assigned a picture of a shore bird from each child. He requested that students note the bird's special features, like feet and beaks. Knowing these details helps scientists learn more about how the bird lives.
• The class learned more about how to get pictures on the computer, and how to get a small image to switch to a larger image.
• The class finished reading Rumplestiltskin. Some of the students have already taken a computer (AR) test on it and got 100 per cent!
• The entire second grade class was tested in reading fluency today in the gym. This is called a D.I.B.E.L.S. (Dynamic Indicaters of Basic Early Literacy Skills) test, and is a tool to help teachers evaluate just how to assist individual children's reading needs.
• The ongoing "Faces in a Heart" project keeps everyone busy with scissors and magazines.
• The class painted in art today. Woo-hoo!!

January 21 in Room 11

• Students did a spelling word-sort based on what pattern their words had. (ee, ea, e)
• Because reading testing was going on in the gym, P.E. was cancelled, so students began an art project. It is a combination Martin Luther King and Valentine's day project, based on Mr. King's beliefs in the triumph of love and community. They are cutting out faces from magazines, of all kinds of people and will be pasting them on large hearts. This will be finished with a poem in the center of the heart of faces.
• The big pre-spelling test and self-correct produced four gum-chewers: Logan, Trinity, Garrett and Riley.
• Babe came to school today to cheer everyone with her enthusiastically wagging tail!
• Second-grade mathematicians did two worksheets today, still concentrating on place value.
• During a discussion about the inauguration, the presidency, and the oath of office, Mrs. Craig and Mrs. Stebbins were both pleased to hear how much students remembered about the Constitution. The kids also brought up some interesting ideas about Mr. Obama's job and family.
• Just about everybody has finished their writing paper about life on a communications satellite.
• The reading group listened to a tape of this week's story: Jamaica Louise James.
• Most students have a good grasp of the relationship in adding ones ond tens. The next step is adding two columns.

January 20 in Room 11

• Most of the students at Hillcrest had the opportunity to watch history being made in the inauguration of Mr. Barak Obama as the first African-American to become president of the United States. In room 11, Mrs. Craig found CNN on her computer and projected it onto the class SmartBoard.
• The writing and portrait projects on the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. have been completed.
• This week's spelling pattern is "when two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking and the second one is silent," with examples of ee, ea, and ie words.
• In math, students are still working on place value.
• Mr. Dunn taught about waves in our M.A.R.E. class. Students experimented with wave creation and size using rocks, straws and corks in a pan of water. Then they wrote sentences answering questions about waves.
• The students worked with partners as they read their Weekly Readers. After the class had read it, they took a Senteo test. This is a survey-like multiple-choice questionnaire projected on the SmartBoard. Students each have a remote ("clicker") with which they record their answer by pressing a button. Its a fun way to review and record, and they are getting better at it.

January 16 in Room 11

• Room 11-ers had music today.
• Students watched a movie about the Reverend Martin Luther King's life, work and legacy. It would be worth the time to discuss the meaning of his work with the children at home, as many of the students had comments and questions that were not able to be addressed in class.
• Many students had great success on the final spelling test.
• The second graders seem to be grasping the meanings of place value and what the numbers look like. Spelling out the words (e.g. one hundred fifty eight) still remains a challenge.
• So far, the salmon eggs remain eggs. Two are reported to have died.
• Thanks to Jacob's and Logan's moms for their help in school today.

January 15 in Room 11

• As a journal project, first thing in the morning, everyone wrote about "My Favorite Place to go in Our Community," and why. Some samples of fovorite places are below. Spelling has not been edited because theachers accept "kid spelling" in journals, as it keeps the students' writing honest and fresh. Spelling and punctuation is added in more formal projects. Many of the entries are accompanied by delightful drawings.
• "I like tacobell because I like their food. I like there opinion. It is fun to go to their. I like the inside." --Jacob
• "My favorite place is the mall. The mall has a lot of thigs the mall is fun it is so cool My famaly and I go there a lot."--Adolfo
• "The place I Love to eat food at is Chines food. it is yume. We go on fridays and Saturdays. I Like going to Lucky Star."--Trinity
• "I like the playground so I can play wallball. I can play football. I can play baseball. I can play socerball."--Spencer
• "My favorite place it The Scate park so i cane scate and i cane do trics and i cane do lots of cool things i like The scate park because i like To Scat"--
• "I like restaurants Because I get to order the food I want and I get to order the drink I want. now I well Tell why I like it Because iT has gumBall musheains."--Riley
• Second-graders researched planets on computers. One student was heard explaining that "Pluto is not called Pluto anymore. They call it Pluti." A person can learn a lot on computers.
• Room 11-ers finished reading Martin Luther King and filling out thier KWL chart. They learned a lot from a book, too!
• This was the last day for touching up communication satellites. Art class was full of very busy workers. Thank-you to John's mom who came to help.

January 11 in Room 11

• In P.E. the parachute came out. What fun!
• Results of the spelling pre-test are in. Gum chewers for the week are Spencer, Krissy, Jonathan, Zoe, Logan, John, Jacob and Ryan. Congratulations!
• After listening to more of Martin Luther King, students added to the class KWL chart.
• Once again, place value took a front seat in math. Students grouped tens. They had to answer questions like "How many tens are in forty?"
• In the afternoon, Mrs. Craig and Mrs. Stebbins attended meetings to educate themselves about the latest educational methods, help make district policies and become better teachers.

January 13 in Room 11

• Students had music first thing in the morning.
• The second graders are learning about Martin Luther King. They are listening to a book about him by Linda Lowery. They made a chart about what they knew about him already and what they want to learn. Later they will add a section to the chart labeled "What I Learned."
• Facts about Martin Luther King, what happened to him and what he accomplished and why generated many thoughtful questions and observations.
• Still working on place value in math.
• Tom Rumreich, of the Oregon department of Fish and Wildlife visited Room 11. He demonstrated the life cycle of the salmon by using puppets, explained, with great animation, some basics about salmon, and gave directions on what each child would be doing when they received their own salmon egg:
• Name it
• Hold it gently
• Walk it carefully to the special cold fish tank in the fourth grade hall
• Dip it ten times into the water of the tank to acclimate it to the temperature
• Drop it in
• This rite was carefully performed shortly after Mr. Rumreich's departure.
• There are now twenty-some infant salmon named and loved by some second graders which are growing and getting ready to be launched into the waters of the world.

January 12 in Room 11

• Second graders are still laboring over ABC order. Putting things in order either alphabetically or numerically is a crucial skill in primary grades.
• Numerically speaking, learning and ordering place value still takes a front seat in math this week. Written work centered around drawing and writing number representations and trading ones for tens.
• Organization is part of writing this week as well. Students are putting the sentences they wrote about satellites in order; numbering, then recopying them into paragraph form.
• Reading groups were introduced to vocabulary words and some Spanish accompanying the reading story of the week. The teachers' accents are wanting, but effort and intent are heartfelt.
• Students are also learning the meanings of "true" and "false."
• Comprehension of an idea or story is also being emphasized in second grade.
• That classic American game of P.I.G played under the tall hoops in the gym was introduced to the P.E. group today. It's a challenge for those second graders who are under six feet tall.
• If work is finished early, students have the opportunity to fold, cut and design snowflakes.

January 9 in Room 11

• Students colored their place value scenes. Scenes ranged from a fiery dragon to the layout of a football field.
• The children are continuing to work on their papers about their satellites. They are to imagine that they are living, playing and working on their satellite. The object of this project is a step by step walk-through of how to write a story.
• Math involved more place value practice.
• Title 1 teachers checked reading progress of many students today using the D.I.B.E.L. oral test. It's fun to be able to note improvement so clearly.
• The class made a graphic organizer on local community helpers. They added lots of extra "arms."
• Alphabetizing continues to be difficult for many children. "Fix and return" papers may be appearing in backpacks."
• The class got their free time today. It was a long time coming and hard earned!

January 8 in Room 11

• The assignment for journal writing was, "What do you want to be when you grow up and why?
• Math and art went hand-in-hand today. Students made place value art. they used " hundreds" blocks, "tens" sticks and "ones" squares to create a scene.
• They also measured yesterday's "Snowpals" with and inch ruler. (How tall is the hat? How tall is the biggest snowball? etc.)
• Students went to the library this afternoon but many of them did not retrieve their chosen books in time to bring them home. Books should make it home tomorrow.
• This was the last day for satellite construction. Next week these sculpture masterpieces will be painted.
• Because it is getting to be halfway through the school year, and second-graders will be heading towards third grade, its time to instill a stronger sense of responsibility for assignments. Mrs. Craig and Mrs. Stebbins are cracking down. If schoolwork is missing on the due date (which is almost always the day it is assigned or it becomes the evening's homework and can be handed in the next day), students will miss recess until work is in.
• A reminder to parents: In Room 11 we do not have Show-and-Tell. If students have something special they wish to share, arrangements should be made with the teacher before children bring anything to school.

January 7 in Room 11

• The kids worked on sorting out their spelling phonics sounds, had a pre-test and self-corrected their work. Gum-chewers: Trinity, John, Jonathan, Riley, Meagan, Ryan, Zoe, Kelsey, Spenser and Krissy. Wow!
• Dodgeball featured twice in the lives of room Eleveners today--
• Students were assigned to write sentences about how they would eat or play in space. Several children wrote about playing dodgeball in space.
• They played dodgeball in P.E. today, too.
• In conjunction with the reading topic for the week, students read about fire safety, then identified the main topic and the supporting details.
• Yesterday's chalk snowmen received names and personalities this morning, making them more than just drawings of snowmen. They are "Snowpals."
• We live in a rainy winter wonderland!

January 6 in room 11

• The spelling pattern for this week is -ai, -ay words. Students practiced these words this morning.
• The reading skill for this week is to identify the main idea for the story and pick out supporting details. Second graders worked with a partner to find the details in A Trip to the Firehouse."
• After listening to the read-aloud "The Snowman Storybook," students used chalk on paper to create their own snowman.
• Mr. Dunn brought different types of stuffed shore birds to Science class. He demonstrated different types of beaks and feet and showed how birds used these "tools" to move and find food. Students studied birds close-up and wrote their own observations.
• Everyone enjoyed the math lesson--cutting and pasting groups of hundreds, tens and ones onto correct boxes. Plugged nozzles, a short supply of scissors, and bursting glue bottles added to the afternoon's pleasures.
• In Health, students again got to cut and paste. This time they matched healthy habit pictures to a correct sentence.

January 5 in Room 11

• Tyler arrived today with two big changes in his life. He is moving to Portland, and he broke his arm. His classmates busily signed his cast. We will surely miss him.
• Our day began with P.E. What a terrific way to start the new year!
• A new boy joined us today. Adolpho and Krissy knew each other from their old school!
• Ones, tens and hundreds were the stars of the math show. Students manipulated blocks of blue cardboard to demonstrate their knowledge of place value concepts.
• Families will have a chance to purchase new books at a very low price through the Scholastic Book order form that went home today. Orders must be returned with a check by January 15.
• Students also brought home their spelling lists today.
• In Reading, they listened to a story about a fire station and firefighters.
• Mrs. Stebbins asked the class to imagine what it would be like to live on the communications satellite they created, if it were really in space. Students will be thinking and writing about this subject all this week.
• Students will be experimenting with independently folding and cutting snowflakes as part of the bin project this week.