newsletters

March 2015

Thu, 05 Mar 2015 18:19:08 +0100

Important Tuesday, March 3^rd - Spring Pictures

Dates Friday, March 6^th- Early Dismissal 12:41 Teacher Records

Popcorn Day

Thursday, March 12^th- 2^nd Grade concert 2pm

Friday, March 13^th – ELY application deadline

Monday, March 16^th – Home Links due

Friday, March 20^th- Report Cards sent home

Family Challenge and Book-It due

Popcorn day

Friday March 27^th - Spring Vacation (see you Monday, April 6^th!)

Home Links A new Home Link packet come home today. It is due on March 16^th.. This is required homework for your child. Along with this, continue to practice addition/subtraction facts up to 20, adding/subtracting two digit numbers, telling time, and counting money. These skills need to be automatic to your child before going to 3^rd grade next year.

Report Cards Report cards will be sent home March 20^th. We won’t have conferences

Conferences until after April 16^th so feel free to contact me with any questions. I will be setting up conferences with those I need to see right after Spring Break.

Book It Book It forms and Family Challenge forms are due back on March 20^th. Please be sure to put your child’s name on it so he/she can get credit for completing it. Since March is Reading Month the form looks different. Our school wide theme is Pioneers, so we will be doing some activities related to that throughout the month. Please check the calendar so your child doesn’t miss out on the fun! In the packet is a calendar and a Family Word Search Challenge to complete for extra prize opportunities. You can pick up more fish in the library after filling your first five. Make sure everything is back to school by March 20^th so your child doesn’t miss out on the opportunity to win prizes. Also, if everyone completes their Book It this month I will buy pizza for the class!

ELY I have spoken with many of you about the Extended Learning Year as an option for your child. This is a great opportunity for our students. If you still have questions or would like to discuss it more, feel free to contact me. The last day for applications will be Friday, March 13^th.

Snacks Please check the monthly calendar to see when your child’s snack is. I know that often times the children don’t give you much notice so feel free to send in your child’s snack early so it will already be here. J

Thanks,

Cheryl Hatfield

February 2015

Thu, 05 Mar 2015 17:37:23 +0100

Important Science Fair: February 11^th 6:00-7:00 pm

Dates No School: February 13^thProfessional Development

February 16^th Winter Break

Popcorn Days: February 6^th

February 20^th

Daddy/Daughter Dance: February 26^th 5:30-7:00 pm

Book It Very few children are reading and keeping track of the minutes

Home Links they read. This is REQUIRED homework! Please help your child start forming these homework habits. Just write in the minutes read and initial it each night. Home Links are also a part of required homework. They are great practice for your child!

Valentine’s Our Valentine’s party will be Thursday, February 12^th. Your child will need

Party to bring cards for his/her own class. It works best if you send the valentines WITHOUT putting names on them. It makes passing out valentines much easier and faster. Your child DOES NOT need a box for his/her valentines! We will be making them as a project in class. I will be sending notes home asking for treats. We will be having ice cream sundaes!

Science We have been learning and exploring matter and its properties in science. Ask your child to teach you what he/she knows about matter and about the experiments that we have been doing. They are very excited about what they know and are becoming matter experts!

Informational In both reading and writing we are focusing on informational text. To

Text help us with this we have been learning about penguins. The children are very excited about the information they are learning. I am sure

your child would be more than happy to share it with you. The children

are also becoming “experts” on a topic of their choice. Ask your child to

teach you what he/she has learned.

MOOSE We have had a hard time remembering our calendars and MOOSE Books

Books Please know that your child should be marking his/her behavior everyday and this is my way to communicate with you how things are going here at school with tag colors.

Classroom We are in need of some supplies if anyone could help us out. We could

Needs use: pencils, erasers, Kleenex, extra snacks, and Clorox wipes.

Recess Please be sure that your child is dressed for recess. We go out every day for 30 minutes. It has been very cold lately and many children are not prepared for the cold.

Think Sunshine,

Cheryl Hatfield

January 2015

Sun, 04 Jan 2015 20:23:52 +0100

Dear Families,

Welcome back! I hope everyone enjoyed their nice long break. Thanks again for your generosity with the party and gifts. I have put important dates on your child’s monthly calendar for you. If you have any questions please feel free to ask. Thanks for staying tuned in with what is happening in our classroom!

Home Please continue to work on the Home Links. They are great practice for

Links your child and they let you know what your child has been learning. It also gives

your child the opportunity to teach you the skills he/she has learned. Remember that returning homework, both Home Links and Book It, is part of being a responsible 2nd grader. Also, the more time your child spends on Front Row or Moby Max will also be beneficial.

Acting Up All of the 2nd grade classes will be writing and performing their own plays with the help of the Acting Up Theatre Company. We will be working on our play for the week (1/26-1/30) and will be performing it on Friday, January 30th at 1:30 pm. Mark your calendars so you can come and watch. It is sure to be a spectacular event!

Recess The weather can be VERY cold as we all know so please be sure that your child has the appropriate clothing for recess. We go out each day for 30 minutes unless the temperature is below zero. Some of the children aren’t even bringing hats and mittens! Please be sure that ALL of your child’s winter gear is labeled with his/her name.

Parent Both the children and I enjoy having parents volunteer to help out in our

Volunteers classroom. I do ask that if you want to come in and work in the classroom that

you set it up with me in advance. This allows for the best use of your time while

you are here.

Classroom Since we are now into January and the children are getting closer to being 3rd

Expectations graders, the expectations within our classroom will be higher. We struggled with

listening, following directions, and doing our very best work before break. These

skills are very important and will be expected in everything we do. We still have a

lot to learn in order for us to be prepared for 3rd grade. This could mean a few more tags removed so I wanted to make you all aware.

Popcorn January 9th and January 23rd are popcorn days this month. The cost is $.50 a bag.

I think that is all for now! Enjoy the snow.

Thanks,
Cheryl Hatfield

December 2014

Sun, 04 Jan 2015 20:16:29 +0100

Party I would like to have a pizza party. Our party will be Friday, December 19^th. I am asking that every child bring in $2.00 for pizza and pop for the party. I will also need some help from someone on that day to go and get the pizza for me. We will be having pizza and watching a movie.

Home Links The new packet will be due on December 8^th. This is required homework! Your child should be able to complete these independently. The extra practice does make a difference. Please count with your children at home. Count by 1’s, 5’s, 10’s and 100’s from any number to 1,000 is the end of the year goal.

Book-It Keep filling out those calendars! 20 minutes for 20 days. This is required homework. The only way we will become better readers is by reading, reading, reading! Please take the time and have your child read at night.

Special Days December 15^th Red and Green Day

December 16^th Christmas Tree Day

Math Mania Night 5:30-7:00pm

December 17^th Present Day

December 18^th Candy Cane Day

December 19^th Holiday Headwear Day

On these special days you can have your child dress up, wear a pin, or any other creative way you want to participate.

Clothes Please make sure your child has boots, a hat and gloves or mittens. They need these things in order to go outside to play. We all go outside for 30 minutes every day! If they do not have boots please make sure they have inside and outside shoes.

Report Report cards will be going on December 5^th. Please look for them and let me know if you do not receive

Cards it.

Work Many of my friends have been getting a little lazy lately. We are having trouble following directions,

Habits doing quality work, and using our time wisely. Please help reinforce the importance of these skills with your child. Children will also owe me classroom cash if these behaviors continue.

Gifts We will be doing a stocking exchange this year. Each child puts a small, inexpensive gift in each child’s stocking. The children really enjoy the little treats and have a lot of fun filling stocking. I have attached a separate note explaining how this works.

I also do not need a thing for Christmas, many families have given me wonderful gifts over the years but really it is not necessary. If you feel you must get me something I would much rather get a nice book for our classroom library or a gift card for Wal-Mart to put toward supplies for the classroom. Please don’t feel like you have to get me anything.

Wanted We are in need of some classroom supplies if anyone is interested in donating. We could use post-it notes, Kleenex, and other items suitable for the classroom store.

Happy Holidays,

Cheryl Hatfield

Stocking Gift Exchange

Dear Families,

For our gift exchange we have chosen to have the children fill

stockings for each other. The children each bring in a stocking

with their name on it to hang up in the classroom. The stockings

will be sent home on December 19^th. Each child brings in 20 small

inexpensive items to put in each child’s stocking. We have found

that dollar stores are good places to find things. Some ideas

children have done in the past are stickers, candy, pencils,

erasers, markers, or any other creative idea you have. Please do

not spend a lot of money. This is meant to be inexpensive. If

anyone needs help with this please let me know and I will be

happy to help. Please be sure that your child’s stocking is here by

Thursday, December 11^th with his/her name on it. We will start filling

stockings on the last week of school with a few children doing it each day.

It is fun to see who can keep their treat a secret and who can’t. Finally,

at our Christmas party the children get to empty their stockings and see all

the treats from their friends. The children enjoy surprising their friends

with a treat and we enjoy watching the excitement. If you have questions

please ask.

Happy Holidays,

Cheryl Hatfield

November 2014

Sun, 04 Jan 2015 20:05:47 +0100

Thank I wanted to thank all the parents that helped with the Halloween party. I

You greatly appreciate all the help. It was a great party and the children had a

blast! Thank you!

Home A new set of Home Links was sent home last week. These are an important

Links part of our math curriculum, offer great practice, and are required homework.

It works best to send the whole packet when your child is finished rather than

one at a time. Please be sure your child has his/her name on it!

Book It 20 minutes for 20 days is the goal! Write it on the calendar and send it at the

end of the month. Those children meeting the goal will get the coupon for a

free personal pizza from Pizza Hut.

Calendars Check your child’s calendar each day! They should be coloring it to match their

card each day. This gives you information about how your child’s day went. If

your child is on red or blue I will be initialing it.

Important Monday, November 3rd- Professional Development-No School

Dates Friday, November 7th-Popcorn Day

Monday, November 10th – Home Links due

Wednesday, November 11th – Mother/Son Dance 5:30-7:00 pm

Friday, November 14th- Play at Kirtland ($5)

Wednesday, November 19th – Spelling Test

Thursday, November 20th – Book Order due

Friday, November 21st- Early Dismissal at 12:41 for Teacher Records

Popcorn Day

Wednesday, November 26th – Spelling Test

Thursday, November 27th – Thanksgiving Break

Friday, November 28th – Thanksgiving Break

Recess Please be sure that your child has the appropriate clothing for recess. The

weather is getting colder and many of the children are coming to school

unprepared for recess. The children are expected to go out for

recess for 30 minutes each day.

Box tops Please keep sending in those box tops! Every one helps out. We appreciate all

the help we can get. We are also collecting labels. THANKS!!!!

Book A new book order will be coming home this week. These would be great ideas

Order for Christmas gifts for your child! Orders will due back on Thursday, November 20th.

School I would like to start the school store this month on Fridays. I have been lucky

Store enough to have several volunteers that want to help. I would like to set up a

schedule so parents only have to come once a month. I am hoping to have a parent

be in charge of this schedule. If you have any items to donate feel free to send

them in at anytime so we can get them sorted.

Thanks,

Cheryl Hatfield

October News 2014

Thu, 02 Oct 2014 16:59:45 +0100

Important Tuesday, October 14^th-Smoke House

Dates Wednesday, October 15^th- Home Links due

Monday, October 20^th- book order due

Wednesday, October 22^nd – Parent/Teacher Conferences 4-7pm

Thursday, October 23^rd – Parent/Teacher Conferences 1-4pm

Thursday, October 23^rd-PreK-2 Pumpkin Night 5:30-7:00pm

Friday, October 31^st-Halloween parade at 1pm (party after)

Monday, November 3^rd- No School: Professional Development

Math We are working in Unit 2, which focuses on addition strategies. It is important that the children learn their addition and subtraction facts along with their doubles facts. It would be a good idea to practice flash cards with your child for a few minutes each night. Please be sure that your child is doing the Home Links sent home. The first packet is attached to this letter and is due on October 15^th. These are an important part in helping your child be successful. These are also a required piece of homework. I have sent home our first Checking Progress test. Please help your child fix the areas that he/she missed. Many of us had trouble with the number grid and adding/subtracting by 10’s. We have already been working these skills in small groups and will continue to do so. Please continue to work on counting by 1’s, 2’s, 5’s and 10’s and with your child at home as well.

Social Studies In social studies, we are learning about communities. We have learned about what makes up a community, why people live in a community, different kinds of communities, and have compared communities as well. Along with this we have also been studying maps and learning to use and make maps.

Website I wanted to let everyone know about our class website which is 2ndgradefriends@yolasite.com. I will be putting monthly newsletters, calendars, classroom information, pictures, and other important information about our classroom there.

Book-It We are going to be participating in Book-It this year. We set the same goal for all children. The goal is to read 20 minutes for 20 days. Just record the minutes your child reads each night and initial it on the monthly snack calendar. When your child hands in the monthly calendar at the end of the month, he/she will get a certificate for a free child’s size pizza at Pizza Hut if they have met the goal. This program goes through March. This is also a required piece of homework.

Smoke House Again this year the Grayling City/Township Fire Department will be

bringing the Smoke House to Grayling Elementary for us to experience. Our class will be going on Tuesday, October 15^th. This is a great opportunity for our children. It does not use real smoke but if you do NOT want your child to go through the Smoke House please send us a note. Otherwise we will assume that it is ok for your child to participate fully.

Snack Please be sure to check the snack calendar for your child’s snack

day. You can also find the schedule on our classroom website. The children look forward to it and need it. We currently

have 20 children in our classroom. Thanks!

Halloween Our party is going to be on the Friday, October 31^st after the parade. The parade will be at 1:00. If anyone is interested in planning the food, games or both for the Halloween party let me know. We would love to have your involvement! I will be contacting you about sending items for the party. If you are asked to send in items for the party please be sure that they are here by 9:00 am that morning. Please do NOT send in things on that day unless we ask, otherwise we end up throwing lots away. If anyone is interested in planning the party let me know. That would be a great help!

Supplies We owe a huge thank you to Karlie Smith and Marqus Parker and their families for helping us get our water bottles. These have been for allowing us to stay hydrated! We could still use Clorox wipes, extra snacks, coffee filters, Kleenex, and items for our classroom store. Thank you to all of you who have donated already! We all appreciate it!

Calendars Please check the calendars in your child’s MOOSE book daily! Your child is supposed to be coloring it daily to match what color his/her card for that day. Not only are these there to keep you updated on what is happening at school but also to keep you informed on what color your child’s card is each day. The children are allowed to color their own cards if they are on green or yellow but I must initial it if they are on red or blue. Those children who have stayed on green all month earn the privilege of eating with me in the classroom at the end of the month.

Classroom I am looking for a parent that would be interested in helping with

Store our classroom store. I would like the children to be able to shop

and spend their classroom cash twice a month. If you are able to help with this please let me know. I appreciate the help and support!

Happy Fall,

Cheryl Hatfield

Don’t forget those box tops -they sure do add up!

September News

Wed, 17 Sep 2014 21:09:31 +0100

September News 2014

Ms. Hatfield 2^nd Grade

Ear Buds We have been lucky enough to be given a classroom set of iPads to use in out classroom. The children are already enjoying them! I am working on getting each child a pair of ear buds from the dollar store use here at school. I have only been able to get a few at a time so far. If your child accidently bring s these home please return them back to school. Thanks!

Calendars Please be sure to check your child’s calendar each day. He/she is coloring it to match his/her card color. Many are not following this part of our end of the day procedure. It helps if parents are also checking this calendar daily. Thank you!

Homework Please start recording the number of minutes your child reads each night. We are working on increasing our stamina so hopefully we will see this number increase each day. I would like them to be doing Read-to Self for about 15 minutes right now and work up to 20 by the end of the month. Our first set of Math Home Links will be sent home on Monday.

Book Order Book orders are typically due the 20^th of each month. If anyone has an order for this month please send them by Monday, September 22^nd. All checks are to be made out to Scholastic.

Spelling There was some confusion about the spelling test since my sub sent the list while I was gone. I apologize for this! The spelling test will be on Monday, September 22^nd. These first few test will seem a bit easy but they will get harder after that.

Thank you Thank you to all of you that have been sending in donations, snacks, and helping in the classroom. We have a great class of children and parents!

I think that is all for now! If you have questions please feel free to call or send me a note! Have a great week!

Cheryl Hatfield

September 2014

Mon, 01 Sep 2014 21:59:08 +0100

Welcome Welcome to 2^nd Grade! I hope you had an exciting and relaxing summer. It always goes too fast. I am excited to start working with all of you and your child this year. We all have to work together to make your child successful in school. Like I told your child, we are to have a “BRIGHT” year this year.

Important Papers Emergency sheets and early dismissal forms are due by this Friday.

Please check over them and any corrections necessary. These are VERY important! Please get these turned in as soon as possible. Believe it for not children get sick the first few weeks of school and we want to be able to get a hold of you if that happens.

Snack I put a snack calendar in your child’s MOOSE Book. You will also be able to find it on our classroom website. We have 21 children in our class. I will put your child’s snack day as close to his/her birthday as possible. Please try to send in healthy snacks except for birthdays. We eat snack around 2:15 am so if you could have snack here by 12:00 pm that would be great. I know that we are all very busy but please try to remember your child’s snack day. You can always send them in a early. We would gladly accept any donations of extra snacks for days when we do not have any snack. The children really look forward to snack and it does help their “brain power”. If you have a problem with providing snacks just let me know.

Calendar Your child will have a monthly calendar to keep in his/her MOOSE Book each month. It will list snack days, special events, and also your child’s card color on our conduct chart for each day. If your child stays on green all day he/she has had a great day and should be congratulated. If he/she had to change their card to yellow that simply means a warning was given. Once a red card is received, all privileges will be lost for the rest of the day and a behavior plan will be written. A blue card receives the same consequences as a red card plus your child will be making a phone call home to you explaining his/her behavior. If your child receives a red or blue card my initials will be on their calendar for that day. Otherwise your child will be responsible for coloring his/her own calendar at the end of each day. These calendars are to be kept in his/her MOOSE Book for the entire month and turned into me at the end of the month.

Wanted We could use Kleenex, disinfecting wipes, hand sanitizer, cups, napkins, coffee filters (snack bowls), pencils, glue sticks, and extra snacks. Thank you to those of you who have already donated supplies!

Volunteers Please read over the attached sheet if you are interested in volunteering. You can fill it out and return it to school. Also, if you are planning on volunteering or chaperoning any field trips this year you are required to fill out the attached sheet and return it to the office. This is for the safety of our students and you’re your information will be kept confidential.

Book Order Book orders will be go out monthly depending on how many orders we get. You can make the check out to Scholastic. This is a great place to get books for your child at a reasonable price. My goal is have them out around the beginning of the month and due back by the 20^th.

Water Bottles I would like to have water bottles for the children here at school. Water helps children learn and is healthy for them as well. It also keeps 21 mouths from touching the drinking fountain! They need to be able to close so they don’t spill on our precious work. I have found that if everyone has the same water bottle it works best. If anyone is interested in getting these for us or donating the money please let me know. It would be greatly appreciated. Wal-Mart and the dollar stores usually have some for around a dollar each. It would be helpful if we could have some parents volunteer to help wash them as well.

Contacting Me I am sure I have forgotten something so if you have questions please feel free to ask! I am here by 8:00 am in the morning and sometimes after school. My daughters are involved in sports so we are at games many nights. If you want to meet with me just call and we can set up an appointment. I would be happy to talk with you and answer your questions. I also sent out the directions home at Open House so you can sign up using Remind to receive text messages about classroom information. If you need the direction action let me know and I can send them again with your child. It is strictly for me to send messages out to parents. It is not set up for me to respond to messages.

Thanks for taking the time to read this!

Cheryl Hatfield

May 2014

Wed, 14 May 2014 19:27:09 +0100

Get ready to mark your calendars because we have lots of things going on this month.

Special Events

Wednesday, May, 7^st- ACES 10 am

All Children Exercise Simultaneously

Wednesday, May 21^st – Hartwick Pines (CH/AC) 11:30-2:30

*sack lunch

Wednesday, May 22^nd- Bike Safety

Friday, May 23^rd - School Picnic and Field Day (1:00-3:00 pm)

Monday, May 26^th- No School: Memorial Day

Monday, June 2^nd – Yogi Bear/Jellystone (2^nd grade and 2/3 multiage)

sack lunch

Tuesday, June 4^th – Yogi Bear-rain day (2^nd grade and 2/3 multiage)

sack lunch

Thursday, June 12^th- Last day of school

Dismissal at 12:41 pm

Field As you can see we have lots of fun things planned. If you would like to join

Trips us for any of these fun things just let me know. I could use some help at Jellystone Park. This is a fun day. If you can only make it for an hour come on out, your child would love to see you.

Sack Please make sure your child has a cold lunch in a disposable bag on to take

Lunch to Hartwick Pines and Jellystone. Thanks, it makes it easier on all of us. You can order one from the kitchen and be charged like a regular hot lunch too.

Homework Please be sure to continue working on Home Links with your child. We still

need the practice and still have a lot to learn. It is very important that you keep reading with your child. These skills are critical for us to be ready for 3^rd grade!

There may be other things that come up so be sure and check the MOOSE Books every night.

Thanks for all your support this year!

Cheryl Hatfield

April 2014

Wed, 14 May 2014 19:25:10 +0100

Dear Families,

I hope that everyone had relaxing spring break! We still have a lot to do and learn in the next nine weeks of school. Here is a look at what is coming up in April.

Home A new packet of Home Links will be sent home today. Please be sure your child

Links is completing these. Your child should be able to do these independently. If you have questions feel free to ask. Along with these please continue to work on addition and subtraction facts up to 20 with your child. These need to be automatic by the end of the year.

Social We have started a new unit on economics. The children have been learning about wants,

Studies needs, goods, services, scarcity, opportunity cost, natural resources, human resources, and capital resources. Ask your child to be a student teacher and teach all that he/she is learning.

Science Once we finish up our economics unit we will be moving into a unit on plants. This should be by the end of the month. This will be an exciting time of inquiry and investigation.

Writing We are working on writing realistic fiction stories right now. At our last class meeting the children decided that they needed more practice with writing at home and want to write more stories at home. So, for the month of April we have set a goal of 4 books to be written at home. They can get books from school to take home to use. The class will be voting on a reward or those children who meet the goal.

Recess It may be April but we still have snow and cold weather. The playground can be wet and muddy this time of year so please be sure your child has inside and outside shoes as well the appropriate clothing for outside recess.

Conferences Parent-teacher conferences will be held next Tuesday, April 15^th from 3:30-6:30 pm.

I am not meeting with all parents this time. I have already sent notes home to those parents that I would like to have a conference with. If you did not receive a note for a conference and would like one please let me know and we can set up a time to meet.

Important April 11^th: Popcorn Day

Dates April 15^th: Parent Teacher Conferences

April 14^th-17^th:: Book Fair

April 18^th: No School

April 21^st: No School

April 22^nd: New Kindergartner Night

April 22^nd: Preschool Fair

April 25^th: Labels contest ends

April 25^th:Popcorn Day

April 28^th-May 9^th: NWEA Testing

Snack Please remember to send snack when it is your child’s snack day. The children do get very hungry in the morning and enjoy the snack.

Happy Spring,

Ms. Hatfield

newsletters

March 2015

February 2015

Valentine’s Our Valentine’s party will be Thursday, February 12th. Your child will need

January 2015

December 2014

November 2014

October News 2014

Cheryl Hatfield

September News

September 2014

Cheryl Hatfield

May 2014

April 2014

Valentine’s Our Valentine’s party will be Thursday, February 12^th. Your child will need