Sunday, May 22, 2016

Last Week of School

Dear Parents,
The end is here. It is time for me to give you back your children, the same children you confidently entrusted to my care last fall. I give them back pounds heavier, inches taller, months wiser, more responsible and more mature than they were then.

Although they would have attained this growth in spite of me, it has been my pleasure and privilege to watch their personality unfold day by day. I give them back reluctantly, for having spent nine months together in the narrow confines of a crowded classroom, we have grown close, have become a part of each other, and we shall always retain a little of each other.

We have lived, loved, laughed, played, studied, learned and enriched our lives together this year. I wish it could go on indefinitely, but give them back I must. Take care of them, for they are precious. They are gifts from God.

As your children come home this week, I pray that they will continue to hunger for God's word daily. I pray that they will keep their feet on the path of righteousness. I pray that their minds will grow in the knowledge of the Lord, and I pray that that God will protect them and bring them healing and wholeness.

I wish them well, I'll cherish them as they walk out the door. Wherever life may lead them, they're in my heart to stay! Thanks for an amazing year!

Love,
Mrs. Klug



Sunday, May 15, 2016

Week of May 16th

I can hardly believe that this is the last full week of school!
Although there are only 8 1/2 days left, there is still a lot going on! 
Let's take a look back on last week before getting into this week's objectives, and end of the year reminders...

My heart melted on Wednesday when your children boldly shared the Gospel at chapel.  They did an amazing job! 
#ilovelutheranschools







The author celebration was also a huge success! 
Thanks for taking time out from your busy schedules to come and rejoice in your child's writing accomplishments. I'm so extremely proud of all of their hard work!








We will wrap up our plant unit this week with one final science test on Thursday. 
Look at how our seeds have grown!






We watched how water is absorbed with celery...


We learned about photosynthesis and tried demonstrating it to the class...
We explored chlorophyll and experimented striping the chlorophyll from spinach...



RELIGION
The children have really enjoyed looking though all the religion books, reading new stories, and re-reading favorites. I encourage you to use these books for some summer reading when they come home!

This is the last week for memory work, and it is going to be a little different. Each child will be saying their favorite memory verse! It can be a verse we've had this year, or a different one. I'm asking you and your child to really think about a favorite, and the meaning of the verse (why it's a favorite). On Monday, I will send home a paper for your child to fill out the verse (including where to find it in the bible). During the week at school they will illustrate mental images of the verses to share with the class. They will still be responsible for saying their verse on Friday.

NO SPELLING this week!! Spelling is over for the year!! However, PLEASE keep your children writing over the summer and keep them accountable for using the spelling patterns we've learned AND make them responsible for spelling sight words correctly. Whether it's writing a grocery list, creating a story, or responding to a book, keep those kids writing!!! They are great writers! Please shoot me an e-mail if you'd like a list of the second grade sight words. 

Freckle Juice? Ever tried it? I'm really excited to finish up the year with a class book club based on the book Freckle Juice by Judy Blume. We will be reading and responding to the book this week and next, between all of our other fun activities. My hope is that this will inspire them to try written responses to reading over the summer.

SCIENCE
We will wrap up our plant unit this week. The test will be on Thursday. Your child will receive a study guide today (Monday, May 16th).

NEWS and NOTES
  • May 16th - Field Trip to Botanical Gardens
  • May 20th - Field Day - See Mrs. Knost's e-mail for instructions
  • May 26th - last day of school - 11:00 Dismissal!
    • meet at Kirkwood Park after school for the school picnic

Sunday, May 8, 2016

Week of May 9th

My heart is overflowing from all the love I received last week.
You are all amazing and really made me feel appreciated!
Thank you so very much for all the goodies and the gift card.
What a blessing this bunch has been...
 Our plant unit has starting blooming!
Your children LOVED learning about the life cycle of a
plant and planting their own beans and flowers.

 What do you know about a seed?
It has a coat...
 an embryo...

and this is the cotyledon.

 Lima bean plants...

 Watching germination...
 Seeds are sprouting...



 Will they grow in the dark?


We had a presenter from Federal Reserve bank last week.
Mr. Beuthe came to teach us more about saving.
It was a fun, interactive discussion!


We also thoroughly enjoyed looking back at all of our writing pieces from the year.
Each child could really see their growth from the beginning of the year -
to what it looks like now.  
We are getting SO excited for the Author's Celebration!
Don't forget - it's after chapel THIS Wednesday!





RELIGION
In religion this week we will continue to look back through some favorite bible stories. God shows His love for us by giving us a sign of Jesus' power and by strengthening our faith to believe in what He can do!
MEMORY WORK
Sing to the Lord, bless His name; tell of His salvation from day to day. Psalm 96:2

SPELLING and GRAMMAR
This week in spelling we will spell words with er, eer, ere, and ear spelling patterns. In grammar we will identify adjectives that compare people, places, or things using er and est.

LIST ONE
dear
deer
steer
verb
perch
near
ear
cheer
here
where

LIST TWO
dear
deer
steer
verb
perch
rear
here
appear
cheery
term

BONUS - germination

WRITING
I hope you are excited about the Author Celebration! We have been feverishly preparing, and can not wait! If you haven't RSVP'd please let me know as soon as possible.

SCIENCE
We will continue to learn and explore plants this week. Students will chart and make further predictions about the plants they are growing, and we will take it a step further, learning about how plants make their own food through photosynthesis. We will also tie in some nutrition information as we discuss fruits and vegetables. It's going to be a fun week! The plant test will be sometime next week.

NEWS and NOTES
  • May 11th - Chapel presented by our class (Author Celebration immediately following)

  • May 16th - Field Trip to Botanical Gardens 

  • May 20th - Field Day

  • May 26th - Last Day of School - 11:00 Early Dismissal




  • Sunday, May 1, 2016

    Week of May 2nd

    I cannot believe it's May! 
    I cannot believe we have less than 4 weeks of school left! 
    I cannot believe how far we've come and how much your children have grown this year! 
    Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your child's life every day. 
    They continue to amaze me. 

    This week we looked at Earth's natural resources.
    This was when we studied two different types of soils... 
    Later we explored erosion.




     This was a sugar cube experiment to understand weathering. 
    Ask your second grader about it!








     We were also THRILLED to finally present our biome boxes. 
    Mrs. Braun's Kindergarten class came to our class to learn. 
    Your children did an amazing job as teachers!






     If you follow us on SeeSaw or Twitter, you already knew this, but each child wrote a letter to the president this year, and he wrote us back! 
    We all had goosebumps! It was such great mail! 
     Happy birthday to Madeline!


    RELIGION
    This week we will explore a few favorite bible stories that focus on Jesus and His power over sin, death, and the devil. As we discuss this we will be reminded that He has called us to share the Good News of salvation with others! 
    MEMORY WORK 
    Jesus said, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation." Mark 16:15

    SPELLING and GRAMMAR 
    This week in spelling we will identify spelling patterns and spell words with r-controlled vowels. In grammar we will continue to review with daily editing, and explore the use of "a" verses "an." 

    LIST ONE
    chair
    rare
    stare
    fair
    pair
    pair
    dare
    care
    shark
    star

    LIST TWO
    chair
    rare
    stare
    hare
    stair
    spark
    garlic
    cart
    snare
    flair

    WRITING 
    Have you RSVP'd to our Author's celebration? Be sure to mark your calendars for May 11th... First, join us for chapel, and then meet us in classrooms B&C on the church side of the building. Your children are very excited to share all their written works with you! We have a variety of genres to reveal! We will work hard to get one more narrative published by the end of the year! 

    SCIENCE 
    Now that it's spring it's time to take a closer look at plants. As we explore plants, we'll begin with the life cycle, then we will study seeds, and we're also going to learn about and understand the structural characteristics of a plant. We will grow plants of our own too! Your children will make inferences and record data while exploring. This is going to be a great unit to end our year!


    NEWS and NOTES

  • May 11th - Chapel presented by our class (Author Celebration immediately following)
  • May 6th - Field Trip (Storytelling festival) @ the library 
  • May 16th - Field Trip to Botanical Gardens 
  • May 20th - Field Day
  • May 26th - Last Day of School - 11:00 Early Dismissal