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1/6/2021

We're All In This Together!

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FYI:
Sailors' Schedule:
​Specials - A day PE, B day Music, C day ABL, D day Health, E day Art  (Daily 12:00 - 12:30)
Lunch - 12:45 - 1:15
Library - Books due TUESDAY :) We have Library on Tuesdays from 8:30 - 9:00 


Important Dates:
Wednesday, January 13th - MAP testing: Math - Please be sure to send your child's Chromebook and charger back on Tuesday so that we can be sure the Chromebooks are all charged and ready to go for Wednesday's MAP test. :) Thank you so much!!
ELA MAP testing date TBD
Monday, January 18th - MLK Jr. Day - No School for Teachers or Students
100th Day of School is coming up at the beginning of February!  More details to come.


Baggie Books - I'm organizing all the baggie books I collected after break.  We're working on creating reading groups.  There are several Sailors I want to assess before I can finalize my reading groups.  I'll keep you posted!  In the meantime please have your child read their library books or other books they're interested in!  Whatever they LOVE to read is what they need to read right now.  
If they'd like to borrow a certain book from my room I'd be happy to share!  Let me know. :) 

Scholastic Book Club - Scholastic is offering shipping to your home now, too.  
Class Code - VJK36  

A Peek at the Week:
Math - We are back in action practicing subtracting two 2-digit numbers with and without regrouping.  We'll be assessing with our mid-year MAP math assessment this week (tentatively set for Wednesday).  On Thursday we'll review for our Chapter 5 assessment.  Finally we will wrap up our week with our Chapter 5 assessment on Friday.  

ELA - We're celebrating our realistic fiction writing on Tuesday.  The rest of the week will be spent learning more about our new nonfiction writing unit and Martin Luther King Jr.  We'll be getting our hands on lots of nonfiction texts this week and throughout this unit.

The weekly spelling focus is long u: u, u_e, ew, ue. We'll be hunting words that have long u all week.  We love this game!
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12/7/2020

The Stockings Were Hung by the Sailors with Care

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FYI:
Friday, December 18:  Pajama Day/Drop Everything And Read (D.E.A.R.)
Friday, December 18:  Last day of attendance before Winter Break
Monday, January 4: Teacher Institute Day (No students attend)
Tuesday, January 5:  Remote Planning Day (No students attend)
Wednesday, January 6: Students return
​

Sailor Tree Selfies - If your Sailor wants to send a picture or selfie or them with their Christmas tree, we'd LOVE to see them.  Thought it would be fun to see all the different ways families deck the halls!

Library - MPE library books due TUESDAY :) 


Scholastic Book Club - Scholastic is offering shipping to your home now, too.  :) These make great holiday gifts!
Class Code - VJK36  *The Deadline is December 7th*

A Peek at the Week:

Math - We assessed over Chapter 4 on Friday.  We're beginning Chapter 5 on Subtraction on Tuesday!  The assessments will be sent home with your Sailor this week.  

ELA - We're making a list and checking it twice!  We're doing a LOT of writing this week.  Some of it will be seasonal and some will be with our realistic fiction stories.  I am so proud of how their writing has grown so far.  

In our Wonders stories we're going to focus on comparing and contrasting two similar but different stories.  We'll also go on a word hunt this week!  We'll be hunting words that are "long o" with o, oa, ow, or oe.  We LOVE this game.  You can do this at home with whatever vowel sound or pattern you want!
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11/23/2020

Hello December!

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FYI:
Sailor Tree Selfies - If your Sailor wants to send a picture or selfie or them with their Christmas tree, we'd LOVE to see them.  Thought it would be fun to see all the different ways families deck the halls!

Library - MPE library books due TUESDAY :) 


Scholastic Book Club - Scholastic is offering shipping to your home now, too.  :) These make great holiday gifts!
Class Code - VJK36

A Peek at the Week:

Math - This week we'll wrap up Chapter 4.  We'll assess over it on Friday, December 4th.  

ELA - We're hard at work as authors and illustrators during writing time.  This week we're trying to add "Sparkle" words that will help our fiction stories SHINE!  We will also take a look at a check list to help us polish up our piece.  If you'd like to access the writing videos at home, I added them to our google classroom page.  Let me know if you need any help accessing them!

In reading we'll focus on beginning, middle, and ending for our weekly story. 

​We're going to add in some festive activities during our ELA time, too!  
 

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11/16/2020

"Killin' Me With Kindness"

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It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a DINOSAUR! Mrs. Hulick had a fun dino drop off on Friday.
FYI:
Baggie Books - Please return baggie books with your Sailor on Tuesday.  We'll let them sit this week so that you can head into Thanksgiving break with a new baggie of books!

Tie Dye Tuesdays - It's so fun seeing a sea of tie dye walk through our hallways during arrival and dismissal. 

​This Friday, November 20th -  Drop Everything And Read "DEAR" Pajama Celebration - We'll drop everything and read for 15 minutes on Friday, November 5th.   Your Sailor is welcome to bring in a book from home if they'd like to read it during that time, too.  
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Library - MPE library books due TUESDAY :) 


Scholastic Book Club - Scholastic is offering shipping to your home now, too.  :) These make great holiday gifts!
Class Code - VJK36

A Peek at the Week:

Math - We're rocking and rolling with 2-digit addition.  We're adding new strategies to our tool belt each day.  They're about ready to choose one or two that are their favorite!

ELA - This  past week we started our new writing unit.  It's called "Scences to Series: Fiction Writing."  I'll send the videos that we've been using to help us craft our very own fiction stories.  Feel free to watch them at home to see what we're working on!  This week we're going to write the words that go along with our illustrations that we created last week.  
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Super smile, Sailor!

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11/9/2020

Tie Dye Tuesdays and Turkeys, Oh My!

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I know the STEM projects are amazing, but I think the pictures with the SMILES are even better!!!
FYI:
Tie Dye Tuesdays - Your Sailor is welcome to wear their tie dyed t-shirt every Tuesday!  Since we won't have field trips to rock our shirts this year, we thought we'd rock them at school!

Wednesday, November 11th - Wear RED, WHITE, and BLUE in honor of Veteran's Day!

​
Friday, November 20th - First schoolwide Drop Everything And Read "DEAR" Pajama Celebration - We'll drop everything and read for 15 minutes on Friday, November 5th.   Your Sailor is welcome to bring in a book from home if they'd like to read it during that time, too.  

November Projects - We're LOVING all the Veteran's interviews that are coming in.  Great work, Sailors!  The disguised turkeys are INCREDIBLE, too!  
​
Library - MPE library books due TUESDAY :) 


Baggie Books - Due to some students being unable to return their baggie books recently, we've had to get a little creative.  Your Sailor's baggie books may look a little different, but I'll be getting leveled books into their hands. 

Scholastic Book Club - Scholastic is offering shipping to your home now, too.  :) 
Class Code - VJK36

A Peek at the Week:

Math - We began Chapter 4 last Friday.  This chapter will focus on 2-digit addition.  We're learning LOTS of different strategies.  Then they'll be able to find the strategy they're most comfortable using.  

Be on the lookout for their Chapter 3 math test.  It'll be sent home this week.

ELA - This week we'll assess over nouns - common and proper.  We're focusing on three letter blends: scr, spr, and thr but also continuing to practice the consonant digraphs from last week.  

Quiet Time - Each day we take 3 or 4 minutes after our mask break to quietly get ourselves ready for Math.  I put on a quiet song and once the song is finished, we get back to our work!  The Sailors LOVE having this time to choose what they want to do to help them refocus.  :)

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11/2/2020

Hello, November!

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FYI:

Tie Dye Tuesdays - Your Sailor is welcome to wear their tie dyed t-shirt on Tuesdays!  Since we won't have field trips to rock our shirts this year, we thought we'd rock them at school!

November Projects - Veteran's day interviews and disguised turkeys are a couple of at home projects due this month.  Have your Sailor get creative with what you have to work with for their turkeys!  They'll get to share them during our Morning Meeting or Afternoon Meeting.  If you have a special Veteran in your life, please send back the interview finished.  If not, we totally understand! 
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Library - MPE library books due TUESDAY :) 


Baggie Books - New baggie books this week!

Scholastic Book Club - Scholastic is offering shipping to your home now, too.  :) 
Class Code - VJK36

A Peek at the Week:

Math -
We're testing over Chapter 3 on Thursday.  The practice assessment will be sent home with your Sailor on Wednesday.  We'll begin Chapter 4 on Friday!

ELA -
Last week we went on our first word hunt during the story, Turtle, Turtle, Watch Out!  It was so much fun hunting for soft C and soft G words! 

This week in our phonics, we're working with digraphs-  ch, tch, sh, ph, th, ng, wh.
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Miss B taught us her "math thinking." We love sharing our strategies and ideas!
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Two thumbs up to Vivian for dressing for the weather!

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10/26/2020

There Goes My Hero

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FYI:
Friday, the 30th - Hero day! -- dress up as our favorite hero (superhero, dress up like our mom or dad, princess, firefighter, the list is endless). 

Tie Dye Shirts - Your Sailor will be bringing home a tie dyed shirt thanks to some awesome PTO helpers!  

Conferences - I enjoyed our phone conferences!  Thanks for your flexibility and transparency!  Your Sailors are so blessed to have such supportive families. :)
​
Library - MPE library books due TUESDAY :) 


Scholastic Book Club - I'll place our October order at the end of the month. This is completely optional. :) 
Class Code - VJK36
PictureSailor Knox added to his cousin's drawing during Quiet Time. Three minutes sure goes by quickly!!
A Peek at the Week:

Math -
We're adding so many strategies to our math toolbelt.  Some strategies to help us solve word problems and a whole lot of strategies for adding and subtracting numbers.  Soon we'll have a favorite strategy we prefer to use!

ELA -
Last week we put the finishing touches on our materials and assessments for conferences and looked closer at suffixes.  

This week in our phonics, we're working with soft c, soft g, hard c, and hard g.  We'll read about animals.  We're going to learn more about problem and solution.


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10/19/2020

Going a little BATTY ;)

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FYI:
Tie Dye Tuesday! - Our amazing PTO is helping us tie dye t-shirts in celebration of Dawg Walk.  These t-shirts will be created Tuesday and coming home soon. 

Spirit Fridays - 
Thursday, the 22nd - Hat day!  - We will celebrate this on Thursday due to no school on Friday the 23rd.
Friday, the 30th - Hero day! -- dress up as our favorite hero (superhero, dress up like our mom or dad, princess, firefighter, the list is endless). 

Conferences - I can't wait to connect with you over phone conferences!  I have so many great things to share about your Sailor and the work we've been doing but I'd also love to hear how YOU are doing.  I'll be sending home folders filled with lots of goodies!  The student work will help us navigate through our phone conferences together.
​
Library - MPE library books due TUESDAY :) 


Scholastic Book Club - I'll place our October order at the end of the month. This is completely optional. :) 
Class Code - VJK36
A Peek at the Week:

Math -
We're learning lots of strategies to help us add in Chapter 3.  Last week we focused on using the doubles strategy, doubles plus one or doubles minus one strategies, and circling two to add three numbers.  

During car rides, ask your Sailor addition facts with sums to 20.  :)

ELA -
Last week we took a closer look at Fables.  We noticed that they teach us a moral or lesson.  

During our ELA block, we took a "developmental word knowledge inventory" to track our spelling.  This will be done a few times this school year to show their growth and help direct the spelling patterns that need more practice and attention.  This week, we also took time to do an independent writing sample to include in our conference folders.  

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10/12/2020

Let's Sail-ebrate!

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We got in place and I counted down 3, 2, 1, mask off! ;) Look at those gorgeous grins!
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Look at that socially distanced line!
FYI:
Spirit Fridays - 
This Friday - Favorite Color day!
Thursday, the 22nd - Hat day!  
Friday, the 30th - Hero day! -- dress up as our favorite hero (superhero, dress up like our mom or dad, princess, firefighter, the list is endless). 

Conferences - I can't wait to connect with you over phone conferences!  I have so many great things to share about your Sailor and the work we've been doing but I'd also love to hear how YOU are doing.  I'll be sending home folders filled with lots of goodies!  The student work will help us navigate through our phone conferences together.
​
Library - MPE library books due TUESDAY :) 


Baggie Books - We get new bags of books for our Baggie Books this Tuesday.

Scholastic Book Club - I'll place our October order at the end of the month. This is completely optional. :) 
Class Code - VJK36
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I'm jealous of this reading spot! Way to get cozy and read your baggie books, Sailor Tatum!
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A Peek at the Week: 

ELA- 
This past week we read stories about realistic fiction.  We noticed several words with prefixes while we read the story A Visit to the Desert.  We got a little crafty and whipped up some candy corn prefixes!

Math - 
This week we persevered through fire drills and pajamas and did an awesome job preparing and taking the Chapter 2 assessment.  I'm so proud of all our Sailors!  To "Sail-ebrate" our achievements, we'll be enjoying a Blow Pop during our mask break (or sending it home if we run out of time).  They earned it!

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Grace (4) thought it was the coolest thing ever that she got to wear pajamas at SCHOOL just like Mama! ;) Chip (almost 2) got to participate, too!

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10/5/2020

Oh My Gosh, I'm a Squash!

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Double the Sailors reading...
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Double the fun!!!
A Peek at the Week: 

ELA- 
This past week we read several stories about jobs.  We discussed jobs at home, jobs at MPE, and community jobs.  We listed lots of important jobs and then decided to write to one that was meaningful to us!  Our Sailors brightened the day of several people at MPE with our special thank you notes.  

We ended our week with a sweet story called The Ugly Pumpkin that led to a wonderful discussion of empathy.  We loved the part when the pumpkin discovered, "Oh my gosh, I'm a squash!" 

Math - 
This Friday we will take our Chapter 2 Test.  We will work on a practice test together in class on Thursday.  We'll be doing lots of fun practice to prepare this week!
FYI:
Spirit Fridays - This Friday MPE will celebrate with Lincoln Trail and we can rock PAJAMAS or COZIES!  We have earned it!  The following Friday will be Favorite Color day, then Hat day, and Hero day will take place the day before Halloween.  We can celebrate by dressing up as our favorite hero (superhero, dress up like our mom or dad, princess, firefighter, the list is endless!). 
​
Library - MPE library books due TUESDAY :) 


Baggie Books - Keep reading those books with all your loved ones!  Send pictures of your Sailor if they want to share their cozy reading spot.

Scholastic Book Club - I'll place our October order at the end of the month. This is completely optional. :) 
Class Code - VJK36

Dawg Walk - Our school wide VIRTUAL celebration was AWESOME!  Ask your Sailor their favorite part.  Our incredible PTO will be helping us tie dye our Dawg Walk shirts on Tuesday, October 20th.  So special!
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Super STEM Star!

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    Mrs. McGill

    ​2nd grade teacher, Illini Swim Coach's wife, mama to Grace and Chipper, lover of pumpkin spice lattes, diet coke and the Illini!

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