Mrs. Q’s Update 1/24/11

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DSC_0054Brrr!  It’s so cold outside!  Because of this, we have a lot of sickness going around.  Please be sure to stay home when sick and take care of yourself!  I feel so sorry for the kids when they are having a hard time just being present when they don’t feel good.  I need to listen to my own advice as well, as I have a bad cold too.  It won’t be long and we’ll be seeing spring around the corner!  We’ve got to hang in there!

Right now in math, we are talking about time.  Hopefully, you are seeing your second grader begin to understand how analog clocks work.  Please review 5 minute increments with them on the clock.  The more practice at home, the quicker the concepts take root.  This week, we begin talking about 1 minute increments.  This can be a challenge for some!  In time, all will begin to understand and “lightbulbs” will go on!

We had our first “Chapter Book Club” lunch on Friday!  Six kids made it!  I can’t wait to have lunch with everyone as they make their 10 punches.  It’s a highlight of my week!

In social studies, we are talking about being a good citizen and our responsibilities as citizens.  We have had some great conversations as a class! Ask your student their responsibilities to their community and others!

Finally, thank you parents for your help in getting supplies ready for your student’s “How To” presentations!  I am looking forward to seeing these!  It should be a good experience for your student.

Have a great week!  -Mrs. Q

Mrs. Q’s Update – 1/12/11

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TN_31-08-07_04Hi Everyone!  Hope this post finds everyone in good health and good spirits!  It is good to be back in school.  Routine is good for all of us!  Last week the kids were sleepy.  This week — not so much!  🙂  We’re back to our normal energy levels!  Whew!  I wish I could bottle it!!  🙂

We have started our “How To” writings! Watch for your student’s story to come home because I would love for them to present the idea that they are writing on.  For example, one student is writing on how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  I would love it if she could bring some supplies to demonstrate her writing.  More will be coming home on this idea for next week.

We are also beginning a unit on telling time next week.  Your student will need to be able to tell time up to five and one minute intervals on an analog clock (non-digital).  Another math item to help with is working with your student on adding and subtracting fluently. In other words, being able to add and subtract quickly without using their fingers.  Using fingers occasionally is not a bad thing, but I am seeing students use fingers to add 9 + 1!  Grabbing some flashcards to practice daily for a while would surely help!

One more thing!  You may have heard your child mention “Chapter Book Club“!  As a fun way to really get into chapter book reading, every time your student reads a chapter book, he/she will get punches on their “Chapter Book Club Card”.  When he/she gets 10 punches, we’ll have lunch together and I’ll serve brownies!!  So all Mrs. Q’s Book Buddies, Keep On Reading!!

Have a great rest of your week!  Love – Mrs. Q

Mrs. Q’s Update 11/29/10

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TN_28-11-08_20RHi Everyone!

Just a few notes to keep everyone updated on the upcoming busy month!  Tomorrow is the Holiday Gift Shop for students.  We have an awesome spread set up in the library available for the kids to shop for Christmas at very reasonable prices.  The students just love this because they can surprise their moms and dads!  🙂 And the gifts are wrapped too!  So if you would like your child to shop, send in a little money with them tomorrow and they can pick out gifts.

Also, moms and dads, this year we are going to have Christmas goody bags for all of the students!  I have ordered some cute Christmas bags for the students to hang with their names on them.  If you could buy 27 little items (erasers, pencils, candies, etc.) and send them to school, your child can drop 1 of each into every person’s bag.  (Kind of like valentines!)  Then at the Christmas party, students can open their bags and see what they have gotten from each other.  Hopefully, this will be a cheap and economical way to give a small gift for the holiday!  So you will not be buying any other gift, just the small goody for each bag.

Last of all, be sure to have next week’s holiday concert on your calendar for December 9 at Ressurection Life Church.  More info will be posted on that as we draw nearer!

Have a great week!  -Mrs. Q

Have You Gotten A Flu Shot? Mrs. Q’s Update!

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sick personHappy  Thanksgiving Everyone!

Just a quick note!  If you haven’t gotten a flu shot, you will definitely want to get one!  I just got over a week’s worth of flu and boy was I miserable!  I have added complications when I get a cold because I have asthma.  This can wreak havoc on my ability to breathe.  I came back to school on Thursday after being out for two days trying to breathe.  I thought I was on the mend.  Then Friday morning I got up running a fever and aching everywhere.  I could not even hold my head up.  That took two days to get through, but now I am definitely on the mend!  And I am so happy to be feeling good!  So get that flu shot if you are like me and don’t have patience for getting sick!  I missed the kids terribly!!!!

Two days of school is all we have this week before Turkey Day!  Math Games will be played on Tuesday, Nov. 23 from 1:05 until 2:00.  Thank you to the parents who volunteered to come in and help out!  I will look forward to seeing you around 1:05 p.m. on Tuesday.

TN_thanksgiving_58Have a fabulous Thanksgiving and try not to eat to much!  Love, Mrs. Q  🙂

Mrs. Q’s Update! Getting Ready for Fall Party!

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21700272.thmThis Friday, Oct. 29th, we will be having our Fall Harvest Party from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m.!  Students are invited to bring their costumes to school in a bag, and I will dismiss them around 12:30 to change.  We always have extra parents around to assist with getting all our ninjas and princesses into their garb. 🙂  I will be taking pictures for the blog and parents have a nice party planned. Please do not allow your student to bring any weapon of any sort to school. Safety, as well as fun, will be our goal for the day!  🙂

Mrs. Q’s Update

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IMG_1851Good morning parents and students! Hope this post finds everyone doing well on these beautiful October days! We’ve been busy here at school as we are preparing to meet with parents coming up in the first week of November. If you have not been on the survey to put in your best time and day for conferences, could you please shoot me an email to let me know what works for you? I am looking forward to meeting with everyone and discussing how your student is making progress in second grade!

I have been individually reading with each student to establish new reading levels since the beginning of the year. So far EVERY student has made gains. 🙂 I am so proud of the work they are doing. Thank you for your continued support by reading every night with your child and for working on the weekly homework packets.

Our new math classes started yesterday! Due to the volume of students in the “On Grade Level” math class, Mrs. McIntyre and I will be switching from unit to unit to teach the students. This time I am teaching the “On Grade Level” group, and for Unit 3 in math, I will be teaching the “Challenge” group. I am really looking forward to working with both groups. Mrs. McIntyre is an excellent math teacher and we are so grateful to have her working with us!

Thanks for all the chapstick that has been sent in! We hope to win the extra recess! Also, one more note! If all students in our class make their Reading Counts goal by Nov. 29, we’ll have a class pizza party and movie sometime in the first week or two of December!

Have a great week! -Mrs. Q 🙂

Mrs. Q’s Update 9-27-10

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Hi Families!

We are off to a great start here at school!  Reading Counts is underway, and for the most part, I think every one is getting it!  Today a sheet came home (computerized) that tells what your child’s goal is for this trimester, how many quizzes they have taken, the titles of the books, and whether or not they passed.  You may want to talk this over with your son or daughter.  Remind them that they should be reading every night and quizzing almost every day.  Many days we have a long list of students to get through, and only one computer in our room.  However, on Wednesdays, we should be able to get through everyone and we’ll do our best on Fridays too!  Some days we have a tough time getting to the library as well (like today for example).  On Mondays, open library falls on our recess and no one wants to go then!  So, if no book comes home, just read a book from home.  If we don’t have a quiz here, then the kids can write a book blog for our classroom blog!  It’s a simple form found on further on down this blog page labelled RC Book Blog.   You can help them fill this out from home!  🙂

Also, new spelling words came home today.  Now we will be working on these weekly.  So please help your student study for these every week.  There will be some sort of an assessment on each Friday.   This week the students will be writing sentences with the words in them and they will have to spell the words correctly in the sentence.  So thanks in advance for your help!!  Also, thanks for the help you are giving your student on their weekly homework packet!TN_ 21_clipart_16

Hope you have a great week and be sure to call or email me with any questions!  Thanks!

Mrs. Q  🙂

Mrs. Q’s Update!

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IMG_1489Hi Georgetown Family,

Just a few reminders for the weeks remaining.  School Carnival is this Saturday, May 15th.  Our field trip to Meijers Gardens is Monday, May 17th.  If you have not sent in your student’s $5.00 fee to get in, please do so as quickly as possible. Our Just Write celebration is on Monday, May 24th from 1-2:00 p.m. For more details on these events please scroll further on down the blog!

In two weeks, your second grader will begin keyboarding in the computer lab every day for two weeks.  It would be great if they could keep practicing using the proper keyboarding techniques.  There are plenty of great free keyboarding sites online.  When you see them using the computer, encourage your student to keep their fingers on the “home row” keys and reaching all other letters from this position.  Check out “Dance Mat typing” located on our links on the blogroll.

We are starting our final science unit on plants this week.  In math, we are working on multiplication.  We have so many great readers!  I am baking brownies like crazy lately for “Chapter Book Club”!  The end of the year gets very busy here at school, as well as at home!

Hope everyone is doing well!  Please email with any questions/concerns you may have!

Love – Mrs. Q

Mrs. Q’s Weekly Update for 11/16/09

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Cornucopia_6Just in case I don’t see you, Happy Thanksgiving to all of my students’ families!!  I can hardly believe that we are only a week and a half away from Thanksgiving already!!  It was wonderful to meet with all of you for conferences.  I appreciate your support in providing your child with a good education.

Just a few notes to pass on:

Reading Counts ends again on December 11th. This will come fast, so please remind your children to be reading every night!  If they do not come home with a book, please have them read one of their own and bring it to school to take a quiz.

Also, thank you for the time you spend encouraging and helping your child finish their homework packet.  I know that most families are very busy and that’s why I send it home in a packet, so that you can space it out.  Please know that if something goes unfinished, we do catch it here at school and children do give us a little of their time at recess to finish it up.  I do appreciate it when mom and dad do look it over with their children before sending it to school.  And one special note – no homework packet the week of Thanksgiving!!!  No spelling words as well! We will just review what we have learned thus far!

I want you to know how thankful I am to be your child’s teacher!  I have 22 of the sweetest, brightest students on the planet and I am very thankful to teach them each and every day!

Have a great couple of weeks!

Mrs. Q

Mrs. Q’s Weekly Update for 11/2/09

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TN_thanksgiving_80Hi Everyone!

Hope you had a chance to check out the Halloween pictures I’ve posted!  If not, just scroll down!

Also, another important article from Mrs. Reagan is posted below.  Our computer program that runs all of the report card information has crashed.  🙁 I had all of our grades and comments in and ready to go, I just hadn’t printed them!  Hopefully, all of the information will be there when they get it back up and running and I’ll get those report cards home as soon as possible!   We will have conferences next week as scheduled and I do have all of your students’ grades on hard copy.  It just won’t be in report card form.

Reading Counts for the first trimester has ended.  We are now starting all over again with new points.  Some students may have the number of points for their goal heightened.   We will be retesting just after Christmas in order to change levels.  Students are doing a great job!  Our whole class made their goal!  In celebration, they earned a whole hour of fun and free time in the computer lab!

I look forward to meeting with all of you!  We have such a great class!  Thank you for sending me such wonderful children every day!

Mrs. Q

Mrs. Q’s Weekly Update

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20022454.thmWe certainly have a lot going on for the next few weeks!  This coming Friday is our Halloween Party beginning at 1:00 until 2:00!  Costumes may be brought to school in a bag and students will be excused to change around 12:45.  Moms and Dads, if you are coming to our party, you may want to come around that time if you think your student needs help with their costume.  Otherwise, Mrs. McIntyre and I will be available to help out!  Also parents, please refrain from sending any type of weapon to school with your child, even if it comes with the costume.  I’m sorry but no weapons are allowed of any kind here at school.

Reading Counts, the first period, ends this Wednesday, Oct. 28.  Hopefully, your child will have reached their goal to be eligible for the first round of prizes and drawing!  Remember, parents, this goal does not reflect in their grade.  It is a motivational tool used for skill building and to build a love for reading!

The following week, Nov.2-6, we are having parent/teacher conferences.  You should be getting a slip home this Monday (10/26) informing you of your conference date and time.  Please let me know if this works for you.  I will do everything possible to accommodate your schedule.

We have almost finished our individual testing for reading levels and I am proud of how much our students have grown already! Thank you for taking our “Flat Stanley” pictures with your child in front of a business, school, police department, church or etc. (community oriented).  I hope to have a cute display up for you when you come for conferences!

Thanks parents for all that you do in helping your child become a life-long learner!  Have a great week!

Mrs. Q

The Weekly Update 10/5/09

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21638230.thmHi Parents and Students,

I would like to thank Jacob’s dad for coming in last week to talk to us about how police officers keep a community safe.  The kids asked great questions and we learned alot! We also had many students participate in the Walk-a-thon, and I would like to thank everyone for their contributions.  We didn’t end up walking due to the rainy weather.  We had an indoor “Game-a-thon” instead!

One thing I would like to mention is that our first Reading Counts period ends on October 23.  This will be the last day that your child has to take a quiz in order to reach his/her goal.  Students are doing a great job of getting on and taking quizzes.  Please note on the computerized report coming home, your child’s goal and the points that have been earned this far.   Many children will have to take 3 quizzes or more a week in order to reach their goal by Oct. 23.  For this first period, if your child reaches their goal, they will win a small prize and get a ticket to put in a drawing for a larger prize on Dec. 15th.  Students can also earn extra tickets by going on the Reading Counts Book Blog located on the Georgetown Elementary blog.  If a student reads a non-reading counts book, and fills out a form on the book blog (directions are posted there), he/she will also receive an extra ticket for the drawing.  🙂  So please encourage your readers to READ, READ, READ!!!

TN_26-10-07_29I also want to emphasize, parents, that your child’s Reading Counts level is not the level that goes on the report card.  Reading Counts is purely a motivational tool to help your child improve his/her reading skills.  Currently, I have started testing for individual levels using a leveling system developed by Fountas and Pinnell.  This system is much more individuated and gives me a lot of information about your child’s decoding abilities, fluency and comprehension.  I work one on one with your child to establish this level.  This gives me a very personal and upfront knowledge of how your child reads.  I always enjoy this one on one time working with your student!  🙂

I sure enjoy working with your children each and every day!  Have a great week!      Mrs. Q