November 16-December 7

Hello Families!
As Thanksgiving approaches, we have been sharing what we are thankful for. I am thankful for so many things- including my class and their families! Thank yo for your ongoing support of your child and their learning. Thank you for your time and energy supporting the classroom through homework help, volunteering in the classroom, donating for parties, helping with home projects, reading with your child...thank you for being you!
Here are some important events/reminders:
Mrs Dahms' Store: The kids have been earning pennies for two months (exchanging for bigger coins at times) and FINALLY, the Mrs. Dahms store opened. The kids were able to use their earned money to buy items like pencils, small toys and coupons like "Bring a Stuffed Animal" for a day. An additional incentive for the kids is to save their money for a Dahms Dollar. Every every 100 cents saved, I will exchange for a Dahms Dollar. The first Dahms Dollar earned wins lunch in the classroom with Mrs. Dahms and a friend. The child also gets to spend the dollar in the store. It was a big hit this month!
Wave Field Trip: I am looking for 1 volunteer for the Wave Field trip on Wed. Dec. 5th (9:00-2:00). If there is a lot of interest, I will pick a name from a hat.
Holiday Book Order: Please consider ordering a book or two from the book order to help our classroom earn free books.
Stuff the Bus: Thank you for your generosity for this drive. Our school collected more food than our bins could hold!
Fabulous Fluency Friday: Every Friday one of our reading groups presents a Reader's Theatre script which they have been practicing throughout the week. The class will listen for great fluency and enjoy a new story in a fun way!
Ask Your Child:
How does an object get set in motion (a force)
How did you get paper cups to roll in a straight line?
Can you retell the class read aloud book- Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew- Thanksgiving Thief?
What is a constructed response?
Which book club are you in? Tell me what you know about your character.

November 2-November 16

Hello families! Our first quarter of second grade is almost complete. Report cards will be going home in 2 weeks. I am so proud of the growth every child has individually made already this year! I'm excited to continue learning and growing through the next 3 quarters.
Visiting Tonawanda Experts- we have been fortunate to have our school's reading specialist, Mrs. Gerhke, join our class for 4 lessons on retelling. The class practiced retelling the story The Snow Day starting with characters, setting, what kicks of the story, the events in order and how the story is tied together. Mrs. Olson, our school math specialist, came in to practice building our fact power. She will continue to visit our room to build fact fluency and demonstrate how to best write a constricted response in math..
Ye Olde School House- We had a great day traveling back at the Ye Olde Schoolhouse. Scroll down to see our photos
Kind Words Are Falling Out of Our Mouths- The kids successfully made all the Fall leaves fall from our tree by using kind words like "Are you okay?" "Please" 'Thank you" "Excuse Me"
Holiday Book Orders- In the next couple weeks, the second grade team will be sending home a stapled pack of scholastic books orders. In efforts to continue build up our classroom libraries, we are trying to collectively earn 7,000 bonus points to use towards free books. If we collect $350 in book orders as a second grade, we will earn the bonus points to share across our three classrooms.  Please consider taking advantage of the deeply discounted prices on books, maybe as holiday gifts, to help our classrooms earn free books.
Candy Donations- Thanks to a Tonawanda 3rd grader's great idea, our school was able to collect A LOT of candy to donate to the kids at Children's Hospital. Thank you to all kids and families for your generosity.
Stuff The Bus- Our district elementary schools are teaming together this year to donate non-perishable food items for the Stuff the Bus drive. We have made a district goal to donate 8,000 pounds of food. Donations will be accepted through November 16th.
Ask Your Child
What is the compliment giraffe?
Which 3 book characters are running for president in the classroom?
What is the title of the personal narrative (small moment) you published?
What are some of the strategies you can use to tackle tricky words?
Reminders-
The all school field trip slip and fee for our trip to see The Wave is due next week.