This week it is the students' turn to blog. Below is their writing about some of their favorite activities and places at DeSales.

The best laid plans... don't always work out when there is technology involved!  The students all wrote about different activities we do at DeSales and it should have been posted last week but the internet was down at DeSales and the weather caused an electrical delay so I am just getting this up.  The writing is a collaborative effort involving the whole class.  They really enjoyed being "reporters" so we will probably do it again soon.  Since this was a new way to write, we tried not to edit too much.  I liked letting the children's "voices" show through in their writing.   And now for the students' writing:

Monday Morning Meeting is fun.  At Christmas we sing Christmas songs and we talk about kind stuff to do for other people.  We learn not to bully.  Morning message is a fun way to have conversations with each other.  You do tons of singing and dancing.  All of these teachers have something new to say every year for us to learn and, by the way, there is a can for any kind of change you have left over.

Music is the coolest thing.  We do instruments.  We do funny things and the parachute.  Sometimes we watch a movie if we are good.  One time the music made me laugh.  I picked Music to write about because I love to sing songs.  In Music we once got to play the drums.  We also get special awards for good behavior.  This is what happens if the class is good; we earn a star.  When we get 30 stars we get to sit next to a friend. Sometimes we sing a song about puppets.  I love music.

I like gym.  Gym is fun.  We play Grinch Tag and basketball.  I like Gym, it is fun.  PE is my favorite special ever.  It is fun.  You get hot and sweaty.  We play games.  Our teacher is Mr. Wilson.  He is fun.  He lets us play Dodgeball.  I like P.E because you get to run and it is fun.  You get to play fun games. 

I picked the library for my favorite place in the school.  It is fun because you can pick out books.  The library teacher is Mrs. Deeks. Library is very fun.  We get 2 books.  the teacher tells us a story.  Sometimes we get candy canes.  Library is the best!

In Technology we do fun games and we do writing.  We read about countries and continents.  We play math games.  I like playing games and creating a car. I like Tech.

Art has always been a favorite thing of mine to do.  I have been doing art since I have been little.  I like to draw and make objects out of paper.  My two favorite drawings were my "Fingers" and "Jungle" pictures.  I even had my projects hanging up in the Market Street Art Gallery and in a restaurant.  This is why Art is my favorite.     I love Art!  That's why I picked it.  I liked the gumball machine we did.  Art is my favorite.  The best part about Art is Mrs. Kruse.  Art is the best class ever!  I like Art because it is fun, but not just fun, it is so cool at Art.  In all of the grades they make stuff.  We are making a tree of life.  It is hard but it is so, so, so, so, fun!                                                

I love playing in the snow at school.  One day when I was playing outside in the snow, I fell on a pile and slid down it.  I did not get hurt, it was fun.  I can't wait to go out again.  I like snow recess because I like going down the slide and bumping into the snow pile.

Sr. Mary is a  Headsprout teacher.  She helps us read our books.  I will help Sr. Mary when she needs it.  Sr. Mary is a very helpful lady.  Sr. Mary was a good teacher for all of us.  I went through 80 Headsprout reading levels.  Sr. Mary and I are best friends.  At the end, Sr. Mary gave us a chapter book.  I love Sr. Mary.  Sr. Mary is the best teacher in the school.   Dear Sr. Mary, thank you for teaching me Headsprout and helping us and making us good readers and being nice and kind and helping us spell words.  (It is very sad for all of us that Sr. Mary is no longer at DeSales- she will be missed.)

I hope you enjoyed the students' writing.  Here are a few more photos from our activities.  Above, the middle schoolers came around to carol to all of the classes.

We loved presenting our traditions to the class.  Some of the children are showing items that they brought in to talk about.

The students did a great job on their sandwich book reports.  This class loves reading!

    Thank you again for all of the lovely gifts, you were very generous.  Enjoy your vacation!

Traditions!

We had a special visitor come in this week to read this week's reading selection, Officer Buckle and Gloria, to both of the second grade classes. 

We worked on our invitations for the Generation Celebration on Jan. 8th.  Grandparents are invited to come worship with us for this special mass in their honor.  There will be light refreshments after the mass.

The second graders joined together to take a "trip around the world" as we learned about Christmas celebrations and customs from different countries.  In our room we "visited" Iceland where we watched a ppt, colored the Icelandic flag, made a Yule angel, and received a traditional Icelandic gift- a candle.  In Miss Agostini's room we "traveled" to Australia where we viewed Australian Christmas cards, heard an Australian Christmas carol, colored the flag, and made place mats with scenes from Australia.  We will visit two more countries next week.

We have been talking about traditions this holiday season.  Above the students are checking out one of my traditions- musical Santas for the classroom.  Reminder: the students should be prepared to present one of their own family traditions on Wed., 12/18.  They can bring an item to show or just tell us about the tradition.

The classroom is looking very festive with our holiday projects.  Pictured are gingerbread man glyphs.  Glyphs are a way to present information with symbols rather than words.  Using the legend to translate the meaning, you can find out what kind of cookie the student likes, how many letters are in his/her name, etc.

We collaborated on our writing project this week.  Each student wrote about a tradition which was then typed and displayed on the Smart Board.  As a class we helped each other revise our writing to give more detail and organization.  The students decorated trees on which to paste the writing. These wonderful stories will be sent home in time for Christmas.

Reminder: the sandwich book reports are due on Monday.  We have already enjoyed some that were brought in; the students are doing a great job.  
 Our Christmas party will be on Thursday, 12/19 from 2-2:30.  We are treating it as a birthday party for Jesus.  The room mothers will be contacting parents to bring a treat.

We will be rocking the house at the Christmas mass on Friday.  The mass starts at 9AM to allow time for all of the Christmas carols we sing.  Everyone is invited.  It is a half day so if you want to take your child home after the mass, just send in a note that morning.

NO spelling, vocabulary, or reading test this week!! We will have a +4 test on Wed. and a chapter test in math on Thurs.  Review pages will be coming home on Wed.

Lots of Blessings!

The students enjoyed making the Friendship Snack for the outreach center.  Each student made several bags which I brought to St. John's for them to distribute with their Thanksgiving items.  Each year they are grateful for our special addition to their offerings.

We had fun cooking up corn muffins which we enjoyed with some leftover Friendship Snack for our own little "feast" at snack time.

The smell while the muffins baked in our room made our mouths water!

We made our own butter while watching a Scholastic video about a reconstructed model of the Mayflower.  Actors dressed as Pilgrims spoke of the dangerous journey.  Butter is so easy to make: Pour heavy cream into a jar with a tight fitting lid and shake... and shake... and shake some more.  It takes 10 to 15 minutes depending on how hard you shake.  First it looks like whip cream and then it separates into butter and whey.  Pour off the liquid and you have fresh, unsalted butter!

We had great fun putting on our Thanksgiving plays for some of the other classes.  This is great practice for our end of the year plays to which the parents will be invited.

Reminder: Monday, Dec. 2 I will be sending in the Scholastic book order so that we can get it in time for Christmas break.

We have a new access code for the students to view our Scholastic News.  These issues supplement our Social Studies and Science curriculum and the website offers videos and games to go along with the issues.  We usually visit the site in school but the students really enjoy the activities that the site offers so you may want to view it again at home.  Go to:
www.scholastic.com/sn2 and click on "Student Access".  Our password is: crofts1


We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving feast in lunch on Friday.  We decided to eat in the room so that we could really enjoy the food and each other.  Mr. Will, our cafeteria manager, really outdid himself!

 We have been practicing our Thanksgiving plays this week which we are putting on for some of the other classes.  It is a great way to practice reading fluency and public speaking.  One of our plays, The Meal Must Go On, is a lesson of cooperation and the other, The Ugly Turkey, is based on The Ugly Duckling.  These performances are just for the students but I promise, we have plays at the end of the year that the parents will be invited to.

There will be NO spelling, vocabulary, or reading test this week!  The week is too short and we have more fun things to do.  On Monday we make the Friendship Snack for the Outreach Center, on Tuesday we are experimenting with magnets, and on Wednesday we make corn muffins and butter.  We are looking forward to a low stress week- no studying allowed (except maybe those math facts)!

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble!

Today we read an article that described a butterfly with clear spots.  I told the students that I would try to pull up a picture of one but we ran out of time.  Please show your child this beautiful photo of a butterfly with clear wings. Before last year I didn't know that was possible!

Every year I am amazed by the creativity shown in the decorated turkeys.  I hope it was a fun, family project for you.  I love hearing from my veteran parents, "We still have my daughter's turkey from when she was in 2nd grade."  Enjoy the turkey show below:

Only at DeSales:

We hosted our 5th grade reading buddies today and one of our families happens to have a child in my class and in Mrs. Rosenberg's (the 5th grade teacher) class ; so the siblings were both in my class reading with their buddies.  Well, in walks the third sibling, an eighth grader who empties my recycling.  She exclaimed, "Hey both my siblings are in here!"  I HAD to take a picture!                                                                             We jumped from adding two double digit numbers to adding 3 or more.  Though it was a little more difficult, it taught us that neatness counts and that we have to be very, very careful when adding so many numbers.  I really think the students are enjoying the challenge.                    
Thanks to everyone who has already sent in their donation for our Friendship Snack.  We will be making it on Monday the 25th so I would appreciate it if all the items were in by the 22nd.                                                   
Report cards go home on Thursday, 11/14.  Remember, we are no longer using alphabetic grades.  Refer to the key on the report card to determine what the numbers mean.  The numbers indicate to what degree the student has mastered the skill being assessed.  A "2" means the student has shown competency in the skill but more practice is needed before the student is considered proficient. I look forward to discussing this at our conference.