Oh a hiking we will go...

Thursday, May 15th is our hike from school to Joaquin Miller Park! Second grade hikers and parents will leave school at 9:30 am and return by 1:30 pm.

Students need to bring a “bag” lunch, water and a quick portable snack. Please, NO LUNCH BOXES or PLASTIC CONTAINERS. Students will need to carry their own lunches, so a small backpack would be great.

Don’t’ forget to put sunscreen on your child. The weather is looking great right now, and certain parts of the trail are very sunny. Sturdy shoes are recommended, Dress in layers.

Reminder if you have not yet completed the bright yellow student permission slip, please do so ASAP. Students without a permission slip will not be permitted to go and must remain on campus.

Thanks to Ronn and Mindy for organizing and leading us on this wonderful adventure, also to the parents who volunteered to accompany us!

MLK Regional Shoreline Fieldtrip

Just a reminder that our next fieldtrip is scheduled for Thursday, April 3rd to the MLK Regional Shoreline.

If you have not returned your child's fieldtrip permission slip, please send it with your child on Tuesday.

If you can drive, please send me a note on Tuesday. Many of you children indicated by the show of hands the Friday before spring break that some of you could drive. I need to be sure we have enough drivers send home parent driver forms for you to complete prior to our fieldtrip. Those will be send home on Tuesday.

Hope you have a restful spring break.

Fieldtrip-April 3rd

Our next fieldtrip is scheduled for Thursday, April 3rd to the MLK Regional Shoreline. Look for the bright yellow fieldtrip permission slip in your child's backpack.

I forgot to factor in that we will be on spring break next week, so I am asking that you complete the requested information and send the permission slip back with your child on Friday.

We will need 5-6 drivers for this trip. The trip will be cancelled if we don't have enough parent volunteers. Please write a note on the permission slip and the number of students you can take with seatbelts if you can help.

Have a safe and relaxing week! See you April 1st!

February Update

Just a reminder that Monday, February 11th is our Khadra dance performance. The students have been working hard and are very excited! Miss Brooke, the dance instructor, has asked if students could wear bright colored tops as we are going to the tropics for our dance. Girls can also choose to wear floral patterned dresses.

Two performances will take place. The first one is at 10:20 am followed by the second one at 11:00 am. Hope to see you there.

It was great seeing you at Marine Mammal Night this past Thursday. I was so impressed with the research and projects each student presented to the class. The excitement was so great; many of the students completed more than one and still want to continue research on additional marine mammals!

Details and instructions for another research project is on the way in Monday’s homework packet. Students are to choose an African American and complete a time line of this person’s life. It is due at the end of the month.

The fieldtrip permission slip for February 27th to the Jr. Center of Arts & Science will also be sent home on Monday. The district has totally changed our requirements for issuing permission slips for off-site trips, now there’s much more information for all of us to complete. Note the permission slip is two pages long. So check out the front and back of the form. Be sure to sign it at the end.

Thanks to the parents who are coordinating our Valentine’s party on February 14th and to those of you providing food and activities! It will be healthy and fun! If your child is planning to give cards, it would be appreciated that there be one for every student in the class. They will be responsible for delivering their cards to their friends via Room 6 mail service!

Just a reminder that Monday, February 18th is President’s Day, No School.

Oakland Zoo

Field trip; Reminders

Tuesday, February 5th is our fieldtrip to the Oakland Zoo. Thanks to our parent drivers: Anna, Arlene, Bill, Dave and Kevin.

Thanks also to the many other parents who volunteered to drive. We still have two more field trips that we will need drivers for,
February 27th, Jr. Center of Arts and Science
April 3rd, MLK Regional Shoreline

Students should bring bag lunches clearly marked with their names. If all possible please send a drink that does not require a straw, plastic twist top containers are preferred. This is for the safety of the animals at the zoo. You can also include a quick snack like a fruit or granola type bar, something that can be eaten quickly if your child might become hungry before we start our program at 9:30 am.

They should dress warmly and in layers. It can be cold and foggy at the zoo even when the sun is shining elsewhere. Time will be spend both indoors and outdoors so they should wear comfortable shoes that will stay on their feet. Let’s pray for a sunny day, but if not raincoats should be sent as we will do at least one outdoor activity.

I’ve already told the children that we will not go on the rides. We will also not go to the snack bar or gift shop so additional money is not necessary.

We’re looking forward to a great trip to finish off our Animal Camouflage unit!

January Update

Happy New Year to all of you! Just a quick note of what’s happening in Room 6.

Our first field trip to the Oakland Zoo is coming up in a couple weeks, February 5th. Due to the overwhelming response of drivers, I will not need everyone to drive on this trip. I will let you know this week so we can finalize our plans.

Does anyone have a Oakland Zoo membership card and will be willing to loan us the card for the day? This will enable us to get free parking. I have one and will bring it along, so we need four more.

We have two additional off-site field trips scheduled for the year and will need drivers for both.
February 27th Jr. Center of Arts and Science (African Inventors)
10:00 am – 1:00 pm

April 3rd MLK Shoreline (Wetlands Study)
8:50 am – 12:00 pm

Just a reminder, Marine Mammal Night is on Thursday, February 7th, 6 – 7 pm. It is conjunction with our annual JM Book Fair Night. Second Grade Marine Mammal Projects will be on display in the MPR. Projects are due February 5th. We already have a couple students who have completed their projects and have shared with the class. Students are completing a mini research report that they have had the opportunity to work on during school time, many of them also doing research at home. They’re all so excited and are doing an excellent job!

JM’s Martin L King Oratorical takes place this Friday, January 25th. If your child is interested in participating, practices will be held this week during lunch. There is a permission slip for participation, but you may also write a note indicating that you give permission for your child to participate. Students should have their speech or poem in written form. Speeches must be memorized for Friday’s oratorical.

Next Monday, January 28th is a non-student day. Teachers will be completing Staff Development on this day.

Mark your calendars for our upcoming Khadra Dance Performance. It will be held Monday, February 11th, 10:30 am and 11:00 am, same performance twice! We are in the theme of the tropics, so we can pretend its warm in our 40-degree weather! I will let you know if there is any request for dress for the performance from our dance teacher. We are in the process of making paper leis! They’re looking good!

One last request, can you please save cereal boxes. I want to teach students to read the Nutrition Facts on the sides of the boxes, mainly focusing in on the amount of sugar. There are truly many surprises in the amount of sugar there are in different cereals. They can be collapsed and brought in flat for storage purposes.

Thank you for your continued support in making your child’s second grade experience special. The many hours from parent volunteers is greatly appreciated. Also thanks for assisting and reviewing your child’s homework. Just a note, occasionally the math workbook pages will come home, not all completed. Often times I do hands-on activities that are recorded in their math journals. Uncompleted pages may be done at home as a review and do not need to be returned unless I attach a note.

Quick Notes!

Just a couple quick notes:

The Winter Festival Dance Program, scheduled for December 9th, did not pan out. The students had a dance lesson last Wednesday and their seemed to be a lack of communication with the Oakland Parks and Recreation contact person and the dance teacher as to the goal of our dance lessons. We, the second grade teachers, felt that our classes would not be ready to perform with only two weeks of practice.

Thanks for a wonderful Feast. The students really enjoyed their experience, as did I. With all your help, it was a great success. Just a reminder if you borrowed a costume from JM, we would appreciate you laundering the costume and return it in a ziplock bag. Indian costumes should be returned to Mrs. Green in room 5, pilgrim costumes to Mrs. Williams in room 10. We would appreciate their return Tuesday, November 13th.

Have a great long weekend. See you Tuesday.

October/November News

Reminders:
∑ Halloween Parade, Friday, October 31st. Parade begins at 12:40 p.m.

∑ Fall Auction, Saturday, November 3rd

∑ Veterans Day, Monday, November 12th, NO SCHOOL

∑ Thanksgiving Day Holiday, November 19th - 23rd, NO SCHOOL

Goodness, I can’t believe it’s Halloween this week. So much has happened since the start of school and still going!

Halloween Festivities
Children should not wear costumes to school in the morning. You are welcome to pick your child up at 11:45 am if you would like to dress them in their costumes at home, but plan on being back at school by 12:30 pm. Please let me know if you plan to do this. Students are welcome to bring their costumes to school and change during lunch. Please send them in a bag with their name on it.

Our class Halloween Party will follow the parade. Thank you to the parent volunteers for bringing our classroom treats! (Volunteers setting up our Halloween party may due so between 12:00 and 12:30 pm.) Students will be dismissed at 1:25 pm as normal.

As you know via email from Anna, our class has been asked to walk with the Wells Fargo stagecoach to the Montclair Parade at Montclair Park. If you plan to have your child participate in this event, please let Anna know. Meet at the old firehouse between 2:15 and 2:25 pm. Should be a fun event for the children!

Thanksgiving Feast
The Feast, our second grade living history day, is fast upon us; in fact it’s a week from this Thursday, November 8th! Thank you for helping your child to memorize their speech. We’ve been practicing at school too! The goal is no paper on the day.

Just a reminder, if your child needs a costume for the event, you need to send a note to school ASAP. There are still a few costumes available for loan. If you are participating in the event in the morning, we ask you come in costume. There are some adult ones available for you too. If you plan to come for the speeches, you can come as you are. More information to follow as well as the permission slip in the next week and a half. Lets keep positive thoughts for a sunny day!

Winter Festival Dance Program
Joaquin Miller second graders have been invited to participate in the annual Winter Festival Dance Program sponsored the Office of Parks and Recreation. We are one of 20 schools. The actual program will take place Sunday, December 9th at Laney College. Dance instruction will be provided at school for students to learn the simple dance movements. There is a mandatory dress rehearsal on Sunday, December 2nd. More information to follow as we meet with the dance instructor. Even if your child is unable to participate on the day, they will still participate in the dance instruction.

Classroom
Our class continues to work hard and exhibits great enthusiasm for learning. We try to visit the new front gardens on Mondays to do our journal writing, weather permitting. It is also a time for them to make observations of the plant they adopted for the year, watching for changes as the year progresses. We’ve been fortunate to observe the insects and birds that have taken up residence in our garden. We have a couple of hummingbirds that have visited every time we’ve been out there. We also watched a female spider spin her silk around a bee that got caught in her web!

We continue working on numbers to 1,000, including place value, expanded notation, comparing numbers greater and lesser than and interpreting graphs for information. Just a note, sometimes math workbook pages come home incomplete. These are often not completed in class, as much time is spent on hands on activities and worksheets that I have created. The pages can be completed at home for additional practice.

We continue our physical science unit of Balance and Motion. We are investigating rollers, using our prior lesson knowledge to build on new concepts. We’ve already learned about balance and the purpose of counterweights. Investigated things that spin and rotate, tops and zoomers. All this information is being used as we investigate things that roll.

Parent Teacher Conferences will begin mid to late November and continue into December. I will let you know when I post the sign-ups outside Room 6. Please don’t hesitate to send me a note if you have a question or concern regarding your child. I don’t check my school email very frequently, so it is not the best way to communicate with me, sorry!

Thank you for all the donations from our wish list and to the many parent volunteers. Also thanks for your continued support of your child in completing their homework. We’re off to a great year!

Welcome

ROOM 6 NEWS
September 2007

Welcome to all new and returning JM families! I look forward to an exciting year ahead and will do everything possible to provide a positive, safe and stimulating learning environment for your child and our class.

Your child should have brought home a large manila envelope last Monday. It contains a lot of material you will find informative and may answer many questions you may have about Joaquin Miller. If you have not returned completed forms and an earthquake bag for your child, please do so ASAP! Thank you for your attention to this request.

Back to School Night is scheduled for Wednesday, September 19th. Our second grade program will take place from 6:30 – 7:15 pm. At this time I will share our academic year with you. This will include information about the second grade Living History day, the reenactment of the first Thanksgiving, which will take place early November. Please make arrangements for childcare, as this is a parent night. Mark this date on your calendar, hope to see you then!

Remember that every Wednesday, is a minimum day. Your child will be dismissed at 1:25 pm.

Have you checked out the Joaquin Miller Website? www.joaquinmiller.org

Our class has a web page where I hope to go into a reduced paper world by posting my newsletters, and reminders for the year on the page. (Once you’re on the site, click on classes, Mrs. Fong’s class.) I am asking for your email address. Whenever there’s an information update, I will send you a notification via email! Please complete the attached yellow form. Our room coordinators will develop a class roster with this information, to be used for room 6 communications only.

Thanks to Anna Bizzack (Ethan) and Amy Schoenblum (Jordan) for volunteering to be our Room Coordinators.

Our class also needs a couple parents to help out during computer lab. This commitment, if we get two volunteers, is every other week. Our time in the lab is Thursdays, 1:50-2:50 pm. If you can help, sign up on the bulletin board by the lab or send me a note and I will sign you up.

The first official homework packet comes home today! As you probably noted, your child has a homework folder. Homework is sent home on Monday and is due back Friday. The weekly homework packet includes a writing assignment, spelling words and math. Writing should be done in their journals. This way both you and I can track their progress throughout the year. A spelling pretest is given on Mondays, final spelling test on Fridays.

It’s been great getting to know the students in Room 6! They are eager and already hard at work! I look forward to an exciting year.