by: Xavier I`m astonished that we did Karte today.

MaKinze L.:I`m astonished that we are out for 2 in a half weeks.

Reagan B.:I`m astonished that Christmas is just around the corner.

Chandler: I`m astonished we are decorating our ortements.

Ethan: Today has been RAINY!!!! And now it is SUNNY!!!!!!!!!!

Reece: I`m astonished that we are watching Prep and Landing.

Carmen: I`m gapsed that we are doing poster.

MRS. BRUNO'S NOTES: What a crazy day we've had! We've tried to clean up our room, get our ornaments in our backpacks, and get ready to leave for the holiday. We're all very excited!!!! Merry Christmas!!!

by: Carmen we gat awr elf ledrs

MRS. BRUNO'S NOTES: Our green reading group is almost finished with their book club selection Bad Kitty Gets a Bath. We've had lots of fun reading that book, and I'd like to read more Bad Kitty books. They're hilarious!!! We also worked on mental images using more text about Christmas around the world.

Twisted Tusday

by: Reagan P. Mrs. Bruno put up a little Chrstmas tree with lollypop's and candycanes on it. Im glad we did our Christmas party yesterday too! And yesterday we got our elf letter's and they were still cold from the north Pole! and there is 3 more days in till Christmas break! and we are going to Peach Tree.

MRS. BRUNO'S NOTES: Today the kids worked on some math problems to help them determine how many kids Santa might have to visit in Trussville. We also visited Mrs. O'Brien's planetarium. Her students compiled facts about the solar system, and we learned lots from them!

Dec. 14

by: Taylor we had a party to taday and had food and mad suffy.

MRS. BRUNO'S NOTES: Today was our Christmas party, and we had lots of fun. We made lots of ornaments and cards for our family and our nursing home friends. We ate breakfast foods and played Christmas games.

The Best Program

by: Makenzie Latham On friday is are progra. Avry 1 is happy.It is Crismas and i am very happy. For Crismas what do you whant. I a ds game for my ds. WE are going to git are eys thact.

Mrs. Bruno's Notes: We are looking forward to our 2nd Grade Christmas program. Mrs. Murray always puts on a GREAT show!

We're reading one of my favorite Christmas books, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. There was a movie made in the 80s about this book. Be watching for it over the holidays. It'd be a great follow-up to reading the book. Ask your children about the Herdmans. They'll give you an earful about how awful this bunch is!!!!

We have our vision screenings today, as well as getting to have a special lesson in the library on checking out and checking in our own books. That ought to be fun!!!

freeezy friday

by Ethan: Today is friday and it's freezing.Today we made presents for our mom & dad. We had ice cream with m&ms in it. Today was fun. chrismas is just around the corner. where done with our elf letters. we finished math around your school.

Mrs. Bruno's Notes: We had a great day today, but we're excited about the weekend, too. We're looking for SWIRLING (WOW word) snowflakes outside of our window in the morning. We're also betting that any plants that are still in bloom will be WILTING (WOW word) after this cold snap.

Happy weekend!!!!

colonial day

by: Chandler to day we went to the libery to do what people did in the colonial it was cool to do the things that the colonial people do.

MRS. BRUNO'S NOTES: We took a step back in time today to see what life in the Colonial period was really like. We dipped candles, made tin punches, made our own butter, created Colonial "cross" writing, wrote with quill pens and ink, danced Colonial dances, and made cornhusk dolls. We had a very busy morning. Look for lots and lots of pictures on our class website. What a great (but exhausting) day!!!

Working On Possessive Nouns

by: Keaton Today we are studying possessive nouns. Keaton`s is a possessive noun. Reagan`s exsided that tomarow is Colonil Day. We are going to waer our costums. Today is the last day of our reading program. Xavier is exsided about Colonil Day too.

MRS. BRUNO'S NOTES: Our Thanksgiving play turned out to be so much fun. We were very thankful for the support of our family and friends. I've included some pictures of our great actors!

We began book clubs today with our blue and green reading groups. The kids are quite excited about meeting with me to read chapter books and then having assignments to complete on their own, as well. I'm hoping this will help increase their sense of responsibility. We've begun working on vertical addition with regrouping. Most of us caught on immediately, and I'm looking for everyone to have mastered it within the next couple of days. It's amazing how much branching has helped the kids understand the concept of tens and ones. You can't believe how we used to struggle with, what I call, the "short-cut" method of carrying and borrowing tens. It's been almost second nature with these kids because they have more number sense. It's exciting to watch!!!

our Tanksgiving

by: Chandler

I can't wate for the play. we got to see a blackwidow. we are going to have a great Tanksgiving. I'm glad we got to wear are costume. We are exited about our play. The boys looked like skotish dansers. I'm glad we are going to have are play.

MRS. BRUNO'S NOTES: The day of our play has finally arrived. I hope that we remember our dialogue and our blocking. But, most importantly, I hope that we are able to teach people something about the Colonial times. We wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Fantastic Friday

Emmy wrote: Today we are haveing fun making owr set for owr play. And we are so happy abawt owr play.

MRS. BRUNO'S NOTES: After much stress and loss of sleep, I'm finally beginning to think our play will come together. The kids had me a little worried, but they're really coming through for me. We can't wait to share our knowledge of the Colonial days with our families. The kids have done a wonderful job on the sets. I'm very proud of them!

We're really looking forward to our Thanksgiving holidays!!! Have a good weekend!

The Wednesday

Reagan B wrote I cant wate in till are book is the Libearey.Icant wate in till the play is over.

MRS. BRUNO'S NOTES: What a crazy and hectic day we had today. Not only did we run to the amphitheater to try our first run-through of the play, but we also started set design today. We are really feeling the pressure!!! Lots of people didn't even have their scripts at school today, which makes it really difficult to run lines. We're a little nervous and hoping we'll be ready in time.

WE'VE BEEN PUBLISHED!!!

I forgot to have the kids write about our math book being ready to publish when we blogged Monday. You can see our final copy at http://paineprimarypublishers.shutterfly.com/

We're so excited. We're ordering a copy of our book for our classroom library, as well as for our school library. If you'd like a copy of MATH AROUND YOUR SCHOOL, you can order it at the above sight!

Seeing Our First Space Shuttle

blog by: Ed

I am so excited that I soll a secent spase shuttle in my life.I am excited that our class soll a spase shuttle in Florda. Sebastian Fun to see the shuttle lonch.I was excited that I soll a space shuttle.

MRS. BRUNO'S NOTES: This morning, I gave a crash-course in space. The kids quickly learned the history of space flight, in order to prepare them for today's shuttle launch. I'm very passionate about space and always wanted to be an astronaut. I remember being glued to the television on a snow day when the Challenger exploded, as well as exactly where I was and what I was doing when the Columbia caught fire upon re-entry a few years ago. I took my daughter to her first shuttle launch this past March, and I had planned to attend this launch on its original launch date of Nov. 12. When it was postponed, I cancelled my trip. I love to bring these experiences to my class, so today, at 1:28 pm CT, we watched as Space Shuttle Atlantis launched and began its voyage to the ISS.

Your children sat mesmorized while they watched, just as I did as a child. They asked great questions, and I assume they'll come home talking about it this afternoon. You might not believe it by their conversation, but we did do other things in school today, as well.

Unfortunately, the space shuttle fleet will be retired after 2010, so if you have the opportunity to take your child to one of the remaining launches (Feb, March, July, and September 2010), I highly recommend it. I plan to go to at least one more.

Ooooooo . . . Friday the 13th!!!

This afternoon, we learned new math. We began practicing subtraction with regrouping, and we're finding out that sometimes we have to borrow from the next-door neighbor to make a problem work. We used branching. Mrs. Bruno took someone to "Math Jail" for going the wrong way down "Subtraction Street." She cuffed him in the number 8! (Hee hee!)

Emmy's step-dad is headed to New Mexico, so we found it on a map. We decided it was west of Alabama.

We're finished with our math book. We have to go back and proofread all of it with a fine-toothed comb. Look for details on how to purchase your own copy coming to you soon! We've sure enjoyed writing and illustrating it.

We also finished our read-aloud, Clementine.

Have a happy weekend!!!

Sluggish "Second Monday"

After a vacation day yesterday, we feel like we're starting the week all over with our "second Monday."

We're excited that Mrs. Ward will be sitting with us during Mrs. Bruno's two meetings. We finished taking our pictures today for our math book. We gave our book a title Tuesday. It will be called Math Around Your School. We tried to finish putting it together, but had trouble with the internet connection. We'll try again this afternoon! We only have a few more pages to go! We're also finishing our letters to our elves this morning! We are so glad that we didn't have another soggy day yesterday!

Beginning Monday, students will be typing the blog, instead of Mrs. Bruno. All of the ideas and sentences have come from the students, but Mrs. Bruno has been the typist. We'll be taking over on Monday! Yippee!

Here are some of our final pictures that will appear in our math book:

Very Busy Morning

This morning we headed to the library and started publishing our math book. We ran into lots of problems, but we were able to figure them out with the help of Mrs. Brockman. We learned that we couldn't have a page in our book with just text. Every page must have at least one photograph. If our particular group wasn't typing, it began a new problem for the book. We'll get together and vote on which additional problems we want to add to our storyboard. Only two groups were able to complete their pages today, and we'll continue working on them tomorrow.

We just got back from lunch, and we'll head to counselor after reading another chapter in Clementine. It's been a very busy day!

Spectacular Friday

We made our clean copies of our word problems today. We have a date with Mrs. Brockman on Monday to begin our next step . . . publishing. Yes, we're FINALLY there! We'll add our pictures in, and be almost done. We're hoping that we can ask for our parents to buy us our published book for Christmas!!!! It's precisely what we would like!

Mrs. Bruno announced that Mrs. Schmitt would be observing our class today, and she came to visit at 9:45. Ms. Morris did a wonderful job with her phonics lesson today. She taught us the schwa sound and had cute apparel to go with it! A blue t-shirt hung on our board that said "Schwa happens!"

We are hoping to have a mellow weekend and come back to our fellow students relaxed and not glum.

Did you notice the WOW words in italics? We're actively expanding our vocabulary!

Thursday Thoughts

Today, we added, yet another word to our WOW words on the ceiling. Today's word was "wobble." I challenge you to use this word with your children three times this week. Tomorrow's word is "anxious," but the kids don't know it, yet. I'm ANXIOUS to let them in on the secret!! : )



The children shared their favorite things of the day with me. Here they are:

Reece liked it when we went to the halls to take pictures of teachers for our math book illustrations.

Jordan was excited about our compliment party this morning.

Makenzie W. is in the editing stage of the writing process for her letter to Santa's elves.

Reagan B. can't wait until we finish our math book.

Keaton is excited about today being ART day! : )

Emmy can't wait for the elves to write back.

Xavier is looking forward to Mrs. Schmitt observing in our room tomorrow.

Ethan is impressed with the big vocabulary words we discussed.

Edward is excited about learning who the room mother was when we finished our current read-aloud, Gooney Bird and the Room Mother.

Sebastian liked it when we took a listening comprehension test on Gooney Bird and the Room Mother.

Kimberly really liked the way that Gooney Bird pronounced "suddenly" in our read-aloud book.

Taylor is thrilled that we have so many WOW words on our ceiling.

Beginning a New Month

We've started a new month in second grade. Can you believe it's already November and almost time for Thanksgiving? How time flies!!

We've had a fun-filled week of school, but we've also learned a lot. From working on word problems and continuing to write our math book to studying nouns and doing readers' theater, we've been working our fingers to the bone. Here's what some of our classmates said about the past few days of school:

Emmy-We took some great pictures for our class math book.

Kimberly-We are practicing writing friendly letters by writing to Santa's elves.

Jordan-I liked going to the Good Character program the other day because it taught us about having good character.

Keaton-I really enjoyed taking our math book pictures.

Makenzie W.-I enjoyed voting on which pictures would be included in the book.

Edward-Taking the pictures on the playground seemed like extra recess, but it was really school work.

Reagan B.-I can't wait until we publish our book!

Ethan-I'm excited about an extra music class. We're calling it our "special" special! : )

Carmen-We listened to Christmas music this morning to get us in the mood to write to Santa's elves.

Reagan P.-I am almost done with my note to Santa's elves, and I can't wait until one of the elves writes me back!

Westin-I started my letter to the elf!!!

We're about to begin working on our Thanksgiving play, and, boy, will that be a blast!!! Happy Wednesday!!!

Freaky Friday

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Today was Good Character Superhero Day! We dressed up as superheroes, and we saw a program about having good character.

Mrs. Morris gave us candy after our phonics lesson, and Reece's mom brought us good bags! Yum! Yum!

Each group completed their first word problem today. We even had the chance to begin taking pictures, but we didn't take all of them. We didn't want to publish lots of pictures in our silly costumes!!!

Thoughts from Thursday

Our favorite part of the day was this afternoon when we wrapped up our government unit by talking about laws and why they are important. After the serious part of the discussion, Mrs. Bruno showed the class silly laws that are still on the books in different states of our country. For instance, in Alabama you're not allowed to put an ice cream cone in your back pocket. Does that mean it's okay to have it in your front pocket???? You're also not allowed to flick boogers into the wind. . .Yes, we're serious!!! It's illegal to push a moose out of a flying airplane in Alaska. (Who DOES that?) In Florida, if you tie your elephant to a parking meter, you have to pay the meter as if your elephant was a vehicle. (You can't make up stuff this good!!!)

Besides the silly part of the afternoon, we began writing friendly letters to Santa's elves. Mrs. Bruno is going to mail them to the North Pole. She's done this with several classes, and the elves always write back. They're always sent back "Special Delivery" from the North Pole, and they're even COLD when they get here!!! We can't wait!!!

We're still working on perfecting our addition with regrouping using branching. We had "Branching Boot Camp" at Mrs. Bruno's round table. We also have branching homework.

Wednesday Work

Today, we played the "Jumping Game" that Mrs. Bruno made up at the beginning of school. It's a kinesthetic way to practice our math facts. We also jammed to the "Number Hustle." Our class seems to be great disco dancers. We worked on addition with regrouping using branching. Our small groups continue to work on our math project as often as we can! We're excited that each caterpillar has formed a chrysallis. We took our digital camears home this week to work more on our vocabulary dictionary. We got some great shots. Check them out on our class website under VOCABULARY DICTIONARY.

We Skyped with author Greg Tang!!!!

We did it!!! We Skyped with author Greg Tang. Many of the kids don't understand the magnitude of this, but, as I've told the children, Greg Tang is the Hannah Montana of math books. Mr. Tang is the author of several math books that I've used in my classroom for several years. We've now had the pleasure of speaking with him personally!

We asked Mr. Tang many questions. Although I am doing the typing, here are the words that your children had to say about our experience:

Edward---I was shocked that Mr. Tang wrote one of his books in only 8 days, even though he said he'd been thinking about that book for 2 years.

Reagan B---It was fun to Skype Mr. Tang because I never, ever met any other author.

Emmy---I learned that Greg Tang's favorite book he's written was Math-terpieces because he enjoyed combining a little art history with a little math.

Keaton---I learned that Mr. Tang wrote his first book when he was 40 years old.

Sebastian---I thought it was funny that he brings his laptop with him everywhere he goes. He even takes it with him to his kids' hockey games and writes while they're not on the ice.

Ethan---It was very fun because I've never Skyped with an author before.

Kimberly---I had never Skyped with anyone before, so I liked that part.

Makenzie L---It's going to be interesting when he sends us his math game. We hope it will make us even better at math.

Taylor---It was very exciting when we Skyped with Greg Tang because Mrs. Bruno says he's the Hannah Montana of math books.

Reagan P---I thought it was interesting that he told us he always begins with the rhyming part of each book, instead of the math part of the book.

Xavier---It was interesting that we Skyped because I've never talked with or seen a real author before.

Reece---I liked it when he said that he wasn't a very good writer when he was a kid. That makes me know that anyone can grow up to be an author.

Kylan---I loved it when we asked him the questions because we got to learn about him.

Makenzie W---My favorite book Greg Tang wrote is Grapes of Math.

Jordan---I learned that Greg Tang likes working with BIG numbers because most people aren't good at using big numbers. He wants to help them learn big numbers.


As you can tell, this was a very meaningful experience for your children. Mr. Tang gave us lots of tips and things to think about as we continue working on publishing our own math book. He even offered to look at some of our writing as we progress through the writing process.

We sure appreciate the time that Mr. Tang took out of his busy schedule to speak with us. We learned a great deal!!!!

Greg Tang Skype

Last Thursday's technology conference was so very interesting. It was also a little overwhelming. There are so many things that I really want to do, but the work load for our class is already more than heavy. My ultimate goal is to teach the children how to blog for parents to be able to see what we're accomplishing in class. For the time being, however, I will be the one writing our blog posts.

We were supposed to be Skyping with Greg Tang right this very minute, but he, unfortunately, had an unexpected meeting with his editor. So, I'm taking a moment to post our new information while Mrs. Morris is doing a great phonics lesson with our boys and girls.

We've postponed the Skype session until Monday morning. It's really a relief because I'm not altogether sure we were quite ready. We've worked very hard on math story problems for our upcoming book. We'll be asking Mr. Tang questions about how he starts books, as well as the problems he faces while in the midst of writing his publications.

Keep watching for more posts, and eventually posts from your own child!!!!

TETC

Today, while my students are beginning fall break, I've had the opportunity to attend our system's technology conference. The class I was looking forward to the most was the blogging class that I signed up for. I'm hoping that I can get my class involved in blogging to let parents know what students are learning and enjoying doing in class, as well as to let parents respond to students on a regular basis. We'll see how it goes. My fingers are crossed!