Dear Second Grade Parents,
Please email me by February 27th with three Great Person presentation times that would work for your second grader. Parents are invited to be a part of our audience. We hope you can all attend.
Monday 5th & 12th – 8:30 9:00 10:00 12:00
Tuesday 6th & 13th- 8:30 10:00 12:00
Wednesday 7th & 14th- 8:30 9:00 10:00
Thursday 8th & 15th- 8:30 9:00 10:00
Friday 9th & 16th- 8:30 9:00 10:00
Mark your calendars: Our Great Person Hall of Fame will be the morning of March 22nd from 8:30 – 9:30. This is an Open House for all second grade parents and Stafford students to meet all the Great People across the second grade.
Senora Boyce visited the ranch and gave us our first Spanish lesson today. We will enjoy learning Spanish throughout the next few months. We are so grateful for her ability to challenge us with learning a new language. Thank you Senora Boyce for sharing your gifts and talents with us!
Mrs. Kriesel joined the mystery readers and read The Quiltmakers Gift to the ranchers. This book has such a beautiful message of the joy of giving. Mrs. Kriesel’s grandmother was a quiltmaker so Mrs. Kriesel has so many connections to this story. Thank you for reading to us and spreading your joy of storytelling Mrs. Kriesel!
Shelly Ellet surprised Devri on her birthday and brought the book The Gruffalo to the ranch. This award winning picture book is the story of a very clever little mouse who outsmarts her natural predators. We all agreed that Shelly read this story with amazing flair and expression. Thank you Shelly!
Lalit Rodich, Matea’s mother, was our next Mystery Reader. She read Ordinary Mary’s Extraordinary Deed. This book teaches the beauty of kindness that spreads around the world when one person makes a difference. Mary does a simple deed that spreads when others begin to do random acts of kindness as well. Thank you Lalit for making a difference in our lives.
Just a reminder that our online conference sign-ups will begin on Tuesday, February 14th. Please go to our blog and click on Spring Conference Sign-ups (on our sidebar under Pages) to get to the link. If you need help, just email me and I’d be happy to assist you.
Please notice that the passwords for the links on our blog are listed on the side bar under Pages. This should make it possible for you to get into our research links for Great People. I hope your research is going well with your child. If you’d like to visit the ranch and help your child make his/her great person, we’d love to have your help. Please email me if you’re interested.
Important Dates:
February 8th- Early Release
February 14th- Dad’s Valentine’s Day Breakfast from 7:50 – 9:00
February 17th- Staff Development-no school
February 20th- Holiday
February 28th, 29th and March 1st - Conferences (Sign-ups will be posted soon)
It’s never too early to start our journey to make a difference in the world. We have a young mentor who not only gives her time to the ranchers but is such a shining example of what it means to serve others. Thank you Priya Kadel for making such a difference in our classroom every week!
To the ranchers great surprise, Steve Strobeck visited our classroom and brought one of Kelly’s favorite books entitled Jolly Mon by Jimmy Buffett. This beautifully illustrated book taught us about kindness, friendship and adventure. The illustrations displayed a love for the ocean and the beauty of the Caribbean islands. Thanks Steve!
It’s our second grade tradition! Our Valentine’s Day Breakfast is on Tuesday, February 14th, from 7:50-9:00 am. We want to invite our dads (grandfathers, uncles or friends can step in to be “dad” if you can’t make it) to help us celebrate this special day. Dads will be serving breakfast and our wonderful party crew will be taking care of the food details. Our breakfast will include waffles with strawberries and whipped cream, milk and juice. We’ll play a Valentine bingo game and have one of our dads read us a story after the breakfast! (Any volunteers?)
A class list of sweethearts will be coming home soon so ranchers can begin making their valentines or our class photo can be used. If you are interested in helping with the food planning of this party, please send me an email.
We can’t wait to celebrate our reading achievements at our Evening of Poetry and Song on Thursday, January 26th from 6:30-8:00 PM. We will be singing songs together as a second grade community in the MPR and then going to our classrooms for poetry readings. On January 26th, ranchers are invited to dress in their finest and meet in our classroom at 6:15 before the performance.
We are thrilled to share with our families the joy of reading and writing poetry. It will be an amazing evening!
In this week before we celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. we will be looking at the idea of beauty in diversity and the power of our words. Dr. King’s message was about the importance and the beauty of diversity in our world. His words remind us to look at a person on the inside. He encourages us to judge a friend based on their character and not by how they look on the outside. He reminds us to look at the things we have in common: a belief in the good in all people, a hope for a bright future and a love for all.
His words also inspire us to work hard to bring about positive changes in the world through peaceful ways through our words. Words can make people happy, they express our feelings, they can change lives and they can inspire us. However, words also have the power to make people sad and to hurt feelings. We will invite Ms. Barbour to talk about the power of our thoughts and our words in helping us to have a positive attitude in our daily life.
We will also talk about friendships and how to be a good friend. We have talked about how each of us is unique and special. We have different tastes, different interests and different opinions. We are learning to see the good in others and compliment them. We are learning how to discuss our differences in a calm way. We are learning to listen well and respectfully to each other so we can expand our friendships. We are learning to admit mistakes to our friends and say, “I’m sorry” when we have hurt their feelings. We are learning strategies to help us stop unkind actions.
These are not easy goals, but Stafford is a place where students are kind and caring and they work on their friendship skills. Let’s commit ourselves to these goals in the new year. It’s a beautiful world and we have the power both to see this beauty around us each day and to help create it.
Hello Ranchers,
My name is Erne. I’m a North American Bald Eagle from Montana. I was orphaned when I was just a small chick. Lucky for me, I was found and raised by a wonderful family who taught me to fly and soar high in the sky like the other birds. I learned other things too. I learned that if you are kind, gentle and helpful to the people you know and meet, good things will happen to you.
When I heard of your ranch, I knew I found my new home. I can help watch the ranchers and I can be a friend when someone needs one. I can also fly to the desk of anyone who needs help.
Please let me live at the ranch and I promise, (even though I LOVE salmon), I won’t eat any at the ranch because I ate before I left Montana and quite frankly….I’m stuffed!
Now let’s get busy and learn something. I’m ready to spread my wings and soar into the knowledge clouds with you. Whoo Hoo! Here we go!
Soar high ranchers,
Erne
Becky Luther visited the ranch last week and read Auntie Claus to Grace and the Room 26 Ranchers. We learned that giving a gift with love is the most precious gift of all and that it is far better to give than receive.
Matea’s father, Bryan Goode read the book Read All About It! This book had many messages but one of the most important ideas was that books can open up whole new worlds and ideas for all of us to enjoy if we only will look in a book!
I wanted to thank all of you for the very thoughtful script, cards and gifts along with the many hugs, smiles and words of support and encouragement. I truly am overwhelmed by your thoughtfulness and generosity. A heart-felt thanks goes out to you all. Of course, the best gifts of all are your precious children. They are such a blessing to me!
Our Polar Express Party was so much fun! Thanks to all of our parents who came to celebrate and help make our party such a success.
Enjoy this precious holiday time with your families. See you in the New Year!
Joann~
In January we will be reading poetry and creating our own poems. We are looking forward to presenting our poetry to you at our Evening of Poetry and Song, Thursday, January 26th from 6:30-8:00. It will be a great night where we celebrate both our reading skills and our incredible second grade community. Please mark your calendars for this memorable evening.
Last Friday, Marcus Jones read The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. Chloe was thrilled along with all the ranchers to hear this story. A vibrant discussion followed about the lessons learned and the author’s message to all of us.
Mike Zoormajian surprised Michael and read Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel to us this morning. Mike brought one of his favorite books to share with the ranchers and we talked about the connections and lessons we could learn from this book as well.
Our second grade holiday tradition is to conduct a Polar Express Party. It will be held on Friday, December 16th from 8:00- 9:00 in our classroom. Students are invited to wear their pajamas, robes and slippers to school. We will enjoy apple strudel toast and hot chocolate as we begin our party. We will enjoy a few activities from 8:00 – 9:00 before we watch the holiday movie, The Polar Express. All Aboard!
During this season of giving we have been given an opportunity as a school to make a difference in the life of a student at Pakati School. We have been challenged by a service learning group (an enrichment class) here at Stafford to help send at least one student to school for a year by raising $25.00 before the holiday break.
They are asking each Stafford student to bring in pennies and put them in their classroom’s Pennies for Pakati box. What a great way for us to help make a difference in the life of others–one child at a time. Let’s do what we can to support their efforts.
We had a wonderful Africa Bridge assembly on Friday, November 19th. We met Barry, Jennifer, Rebecca and Emily and listened to their stories about our friends at Pakati School. They presented us with 7 beautifully hand-woven baskets as a gift to Stafford School students, as well as thank you letters written by the students. We will display them in the library next to the Pakati Primary picture and mat we received last year.
The Africa Bridge Team made a video thank you card from our friends at Pakati School and from Barry Childs of Africa Bridge. It is precious to see their faces as they watched the video gift we sent them (A Simple Gift) for their celebration of their new classrooms in October. We can’t help but feel more and more connected to our friends in Tanzania! We are grateful for our friendship and look forward to learning more about each other. Enjoy this precious video thank you card!
It’s hard to believe it is November and Thanksgiving Break is here. I would like to express my gratitude to all of you who so graciously support our classroom at school and at home. I sincerely appreciate you and your amazing children and enjoy working with them each day. Have a happy and relaxing time with your family.
Ranchers will begin sharing their tradition reports the week beginning November 28th. Please email me a day and time that works for your family. If you volunteer at the ranch, it’s easy to schedule your child’s presentation during your scheduled time. If not, we can be flexible around your schedule. We look forward to hearing the stories about your family’s special traditions.
As a continuing part of our study of “Communities” we will start to document life stories of our families and relatives. Throughout November and the Thanksgiving Holiday, we want to interview family members to gain a better understanding of the importance of the family unit as the foundation of a strong community. Spending time with family members and listening carefully to stories they tell about their lives is an important way we learn about family values and traditions. This is the perfect time of year to look to our families and listen to their stories. Enjoy this time over the next four weeks documenting the life stories of your family and relatives. Second graders will also be thinking of special traditions that their families cherish. Between Thanksgiving and the Winter Break, we will be presenting family traditions to our classmates. Look for detailed instructions in a blue folder in your child’s homework envelope.
Click on this link to download more Interview forms: Interview 2010-11
Katie, a former rancher, volunteered in our classroom today. She donated her day off to mentor students in first, second and fourth grade. It was so nice to have Katie model how students can make a difference in our lives. Congratulations Katie! Thank you from the new classroom of ranchers!
I’d like to thank our first three mystery readers who arrived and stirred up the love of reading and excitement at the ranch!
It all started with Tara Brown, Jacob’s mom, who surprised Jacob on his birthday with an Amelia Bedelia book.
The second Mystery Reader was Lane Kadel who read to us Skippy jon Jones.
Our third Mystery Reader was Shelly Ellett who read the 3 Little Dassies.
What is a mystery reader? Mystery Readers are special guests who come to our classroom to read a story to students. A mystery reader can be a parent, grandparent, relative, friend, sibling or educator.
When do mystery readers come to read? A Mystery Reader emails me and we set up a flexible time that works for both of our schedules.
Why should I be a Mystery Reader? This is a great way to model your love for reading and enjoyment for books.
How does the Mystery Reading Program work? The first step is to email me and we will confirm a time and date for you to visit. Start thinking about the book you would like to read to us. A few days before you come to our classroom, please email 5 clues about yourself so we can try to guess who you are. Clues should be somewhat general and at the end be a bit more specific.
I’ll be anxiously awaiting your emails!
Where: At the ranch
When: Friday, October 28th
What time: 12:30 – 1:45
Ranchers will be celebrating this Friday, October 28th for our first official class party! Simple costumes are optional and can be worn for the party. We will have game and craft stations along with cookie decorating. If you’d like to help with the party, please email me and I’ll connect you with the planning crew. What a fun way to end our week together…no tricks about it!
You won’t want to miss this exciting and informative PowerPoint slide show that was presented to the entire second grade community today. Thank you Scott for allowing us to share your presentation with our parent community. We are thrilled to add this PowerPoint to our resources for salmon research.
Click on the link below to view the presentation.
Stafford_Salmon_Presentation(102110)_NOTES
October 12, 2011
We are happy to announce the arrival of approximately 500 salmon eggs. They are happily nestled into the rocky gravel of our second grade aquarium. We will observe these eggs as they develop into alevin and then fry. As young wildlife biologists, we will be tracking their growth over time and will keep a log filled with our observations. Thanks to a PTSA grant we have an underwater camera, so we can watch them “live” on our projector from the classroom. Let the salmon study begin!
In our study of communities we learned that “a community is a group of people who live together and care for each other”. We may not live so close to our friends in the village of Ntandabala. In fact, Tanzania is 9536 miles (19 hours and 48 minutes) away from Oregon. We know that “friends can be friends wherever they are”. We speak the same language, the universal language: MDLL which stands for Music, Dance, Laughter and Love.
The video we are sending to our sister school in Ntandabala, Tanzania is called A Simple Gift. It was made for our friends at Pakati School. The idea for this project came from a group called The Africa Bridge Kids Team, who have been working together with Jody Amri and the second grade classes over the past 3 years to build our relationship with the students at Pakati School. Thanks to the current 5th graders Hannah, Katie, Sheridan and Courtney for their creativity and dedication to making a difference in the lives of others! They are role models for us on how to think globally and take action to reach out to help others all around the world.
Watch our movie! It is a simple gift for our friends but it has a big message.
One Night in Frogtown is a Pacific Northwest Musical Storybook written and composed by Philip Pelletier. Phillip wrote this book with the intention of teaching children the value of cultural diversity through innovative musical storybooks. Stafford students were thrilled with the amazing assembly last week meeting Phillip and two of the performing musicians working with him. Get ready to jump into the pond as you listen to Tad shout, “Listen to you – it’s a start! You’re playing together instead of apart!”
What a great community we have at Stafford Primary School! I really enjoyed being able to talk to our new rancher parents at our Curriculum Night! We will have anothr opportunity to talk at our Parent Conferences next week.
The city of West Linn is such a great place to live. This week we will begin to look at the people in our community and the important roles they play in our lives. Tuesday we will have the police department here to talk to our classes. Later this month the fire department will come and talk about their jobs. On Wednesday we will visit a bank, the library, the grocery store and an orthodontist to hear about the important goods and services they provide us. One of our learning goals is to be thinking about our own set of skills and talents and exploring the different types of jobs we might want to do when we grow up.
We will continue to learn more about the power of community and how we can make a difference in the lives of the students at our sister school, Pakati Primary, in Tanzania. It is a week packed full of activities and learning around our understanding of what a community is. That is exciting!
We will be visiting Market of Choice, Key Bank, Sierk Orthodontics and the West Linn Library as we explore what it means to live in a community and and learn about the different goods and services our community provides us. Please return your child’s permission slip by Friday, September 30th.
Look for homework packets to arrive home today! Your child will have until Friday to complete the required work assignments. The challenge work is provided for extra credit. Our first spelling test will be on Friday so helping your child achieve mastery of the weekly words is appreciated. If your family needs extra time for homework packets to be completed, the following Monday is always a flexible due date.
There are several opportunities to extend your learning in the enrichment section of your homework packet this week. You can find fun opportunities such as Investigations and Dance Mat Typing. Look for the links under Math and Language Arts. Enjoy!
