Newsletter December 14th - 18th

Newsletter, December 14 - 18

This Week… We will continue working on contractions, subtraction strategies, matter and energy and reading comprehension strategies. There will be a Math test on Thursday.  You can help your child prepare by reviewing double-digit subtraction with them. We will be finishing our final round of STEAM stations before the break.  Get ready for new stations in January! Wednesday is Disney Day - wear something Disney inspired! Friday is Crazy/Festive Hat Day - wear your favorite holiday hat! We will be passing our Six Flags Read to Succeed reading logs to start over break.  They will be due February 19th.  Your child must read for a total of 6 hours and turn in the paper in order to receive a free pass to Six Flags in the spring

Last Week… We tested the melting point of different candies as we explore our understanding of matter.   We participated in the Hour of Code.  Ask your student about their experience and have them help you try at home!  Go to Code.org to try it out.

Important Dates… Thursday, Dec 17th - Hundred Mile Club, Yellow Shirt Day Friday, Dec 18th - Hundred Mile Club December Dash (wear a festive hat) December 19th - January 4th   WINTER BREAK

We wish you and your families a wonderful holiday season!  We appreciate all of your support and time.  Enjoy your vacation and time spent with your wonderful child.

Wondering about how your 2nd grader is doing Common Core Math?  

They will show you--

Watch these math videos!

Adding 2 digits with different strategies:

Newsletter, Nov. 30 - Dec. 4th

What's happening this week...

• Book Fair begins today and ends on Dec. 5th. Kids will be able to purchase books at the Mundy Library during school hours. 

• Holiday Fair Trees are now on display in the main office.  Win a chance to bring one of these trees home for the holidays by purchasing raffle tickets at the main office or at the Holiday Fair on December 5th.  Ticket prices are: $1 for 1 ticket, $5 for 6 tickets or $20 for 25 tickets.

• Please join us for the Holiday Fair on December 5th from 10-2.  There will be holiday treats, Santa, local vendors, and the choir will be sharing their holiday carols

• Toys for Tots drive: Please bring a new unwrapped toy to donate to Toys for Tots this week. You can drop the toy off in a collection bin in the front office.

Student of the Month, December: CREATIVITY

We would love to congratulate our students of the month for creativity.  

Carl Estes

Carl is very creative.  He loves to use drawings to explain his thinking.  He shows attention to details and thinks outside the box.  His drawings are colorful and full of expression.  Carl also has a wonderful imagination.  He tells great stories and always has a picture to go with it.  He is also creative when he thinks of ways to solve problems in the areas of STEAM.  He doesn't just work on one solution, but tries to think of all the ways to solve things.

Emily delaCruz
Emily is always being curious about all things.  She continually thinks outside of the box to solve problems and express herself.  She has a great imagination.  Emily's creativity helps her make connections in STEAM because she is able to stretch her brain.  It's a delight to watch Emily share her creativity with the class.

Our next character trait for the month of January will be CARING.

What we did last week...

We made videos explaining our math strategies!  Check this blog to see some of our videos!  http://mundy2ndgrade.blogspot.com/2015/12/blog-post_1.html

We started new STEAM stations!

Leaving our own marks with Tracks and scat #mundySTEAM @JohannMundy @DinwiddieUNC pic.twitter.com/ms4oCy7nAt

— Stephanie Bundenthal (@SBundenthal) November 18, 2015

Our music teacher Mrs. Umar is hoping to purchase some ukuleles to use in her classroom. Please use this link if you would like to make a donation. http://www.donorschoose.org/project/wishin-and-hopin-and-singin-and-strum/1697560/?rf=link-siteshare-2015-11-teacher-teacher_2770811&challengeid=20537872

Newsletter, November 11-20

CONFERENCES - NOVEMBER 16th - 20th

Every student will need a conference with their homeroom teacher.  Please plan to have your student attend.  If you are in Mrs. Johann's class, please make sure you sign up on her sign-up and if you are in Mrs. Bundenthal's class, sign up on hers.  

Please remember that the 16th - 20th are minimum days and students will be released at 12:15 everyday.

Mrs. Johann's Conference Sign-up Genius

Mrs. Bundenthal's Conference Sign-up Genius

2nd Grade Holiday Tree

We are having our annual Holiday Fair on December 5th from 10:00 to 2:00.  Each grade level is responsible for putting together a tree to raffle.  Please check the link to see if there is anything you might be able to donate for our tree.  We would like donations by the 13th of November, but can take them a bit later if we need to.

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/904054ea8aa2ba13-date

COME SEE US DANCE!!

Your second graders have been working hard for the last two weeks to put together their dance performance.  We are tentatively scheduled for 2:00 on Friday the 13th to perform for parents.  Please come and watch if you are available!

Important Dates

November 11 - NO SCHOOL

November 16 - 20, CONFERENCES - students are released every day at 12:15

November 23 - 27 THANKSGIVING BREAK

November 4th - 18th  Canned Food Drive

November 30th - Dec. 5th Book Fair

Newsletter, November 2nd - 6th

This week's news...

We will be starting dance lessons with Royal Dance this week.  Everyday, your child will be working with a professional instructor in the MPR.  Since the entire school will need access to the MPR for these lessons, we will be having lunches outside, picnic style.  Students who get hot lunch will still go to the MPR first to receive their lunch.  To make things go more quickly and smoothly, it would be great for as many children as possible to bring their own lunch to school for the next two weeks.

NO SCHOOL FRIDAY - this is a teacher workday for report cards, enjoy your weekend!

In Reading we will be finishing up our study of habitats and working on a final project.  Students are finishing addition strategies and moving onto subtraction.  Check with your student to see if they have their basic facts memorized.  These will help them be more successful as they move onto bigger numbers and more complex math.  Students should also be reading for at least 20 minutes every night.  

CONFERENCES - NOVEMBER 16th - 20th

Every student will need a conference with their homeroom teacher.  Please plan to have your student attend.  If you are in Mrs. Johann's class, please make sure you sign up on her sign-up and if you are in Mrs. Bundenthal's class, sign up on hers.  

Mrs. Johann's Conference Sign-up Genius

Mrs. Bundenthal's Conference Sign-up Genius

THANK YOU!!  

Thank you to all of our room parents who organized our awesome Halloween party and thanks to all the parents who came to help!  The kids had SO much fun.  We SO appreciate all of your help and support!

Here are some snapshots of what your students were doing last week.  Check out this great video of one of our students explaining a math strategy.

Using expanded notation to add double-digit numbers! @SBundenthal @NMTimberwolves pic.twitter.com/q6o5FUNl8z

— Rebecca Dinwiddie (@DinwiddieUNC) October 26, 2015

Important Dates:

November 6th - NO SCHOOL

November 11 - NO SCHOOL

November 16 - 20, CONFERENCES - students are released every day at 12:15

November 23 - 27 THANKSGIVING BREAK

Newsletter, October 26th - 30th

Thank you to everyone that donated items for our STEAM stations and signed up to help with the Halloween party!! 

PLEASE CHECK THE SIGN-UP GENIUS FOR HALLOWEEN.  WE STILL NEED DONATIONS.

This Week:

We are celebrating Red Ribbon week this week!  Here are the scheduled spirit days.
October 26-30

Ø  Monday: Boot Day [Give a boot to drugs]Ø  Tuesday: Shades Day[My future is bright!]Ø  Wednesday: Wear Red [Red Ribbon Week]Ø  Thursday: Crazy Sock Day[Sock it to drugs]Ø  Friday: Halloween Costumes [Say Boo to drugs]

Thursday is picture make-up day.

HALLOWEEN

Halloween Update:  Friday, October 30th we will be celebrating Halloween.  We are expecting the parade to begin around 1:20.  After the parade, we will be having snacks and a few fun stations.  Your child may wear their costume to school.  They may not bring weapons of any kind and masks or hats must be off while in the classroom.  Please make sure that your child is comfortable enough in their costume to make it through the day and be able to use the bathroom on their own.  The costume MUST follow school dress codes.  

Please check our sign-up genius to see how you can help!
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/904054ea8aa2ba13-halloween

Important Dates:

Friday, Oct. 30th Halloween Parade and Party

Friday, November 6th - NO SCHOOL

Wednesday, November 11th - NO SCHOOL

November 16-20th - MINIMUM DAYS for parent conferences

November 23rd - 27th , NO SCHOOL, Thanksgiving Break

Newsletter, October 14-23

Sorry this is late!  This newsletter will be for this week and next week.

Please Help!We still need a few things for STEAM stations.  

• 6 pumpkins, 5-10 lbs. each

• old large, XL or bigger tshirts

Please email either Mrs. Johann or Mrs. Bundenthal if you can bring any of these items.

Progress Reports:  Your child brought home a progress report last week.  Please make sure that you sign the master copy and return it to your child's teacher as soon as possible.  

Accelerated Reader:  Your children are doing a wonderful job of completing their AR goals at school.  Please make sure they are also doing their 20 minutes of reading each night.  They can take quizzes for books they have read at home during their AR time at school.  They need to complete their goals by November 4th.

Halloween Update:  Friday, October 30th we will be celebrating Halloween.  We are expecting the parade to begin around 1:20.  After the parade, we will be having snacks and a few fun stations.  Your child may wear their costume to school.  They may not bring weapons of any kind and masks or hats must be off while in the classroom.  Please make sure that your child is comfortable enough in their costume to make it through the day and be able to use the bathroom on their own.  The costume MUST follow school dress codes.  

Please check our sign-up genius to see how you can help!
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/904054ea8aa2ba13-halloween

October's Character Trait:  Risk-taking

This week:  This week we are comparing and contrasting habitats around the world.  We will be reading non-fiction pieces and finding important information.  In grammar we have started discussing regular and irregular verbs.  We have had a great time at our new STEAM stations and are continuing our study of cycles in nature.

Great STEAM engineers building famous structures!

Newsletter for October 5 - 9

We will be starting new STEAM stations this week.  Check this SIGN-UP GENIUS to see if you have any of these items around the house or that you could provide us.  We are also still accepting old smartphones and chargers to add to our tech toolbox.  

Last Week:  The kids went over their first math assessments to understand expectations and how to make improvements.  Reflection is always an important part of the learning process.  Each student practiced knowing the difference between common and proper nouns so they can start using capital letters appropriately in their writing.  They read myths and discovered how these folktales originated in different cultures to explain things in nature.  We have shifted to our Cycles in Nature Unit.  Knowing so much already about the life cycle of insects has allowed all the kids to transition seamlessly to our new unit.

Your teachers were at the California Science Teachers Association Conference in Sacramento Friday and all weekend learning to better facilitate learning through our new science standards.  We had lots of fun and came back with lots of new ideas.  Check out the Twitter feed in the right-hand bar to see our adventures!

This Week:  Your students will be working together in Language Arts to read and collect information from text.  They are synthesizing that information to develop ideas and write about them.  They will be exploring place value in Math and we will continue our unit on cycles with plants.  Students will be designing and testing their own pollinators using engineering practices.

Important Dates:

Board Presentation - STEAM @ Mundy

Last night, a few of our 2nd graders represented their classmates and presented to the FSUSD school board about all the things they have been learning in the classroom.  Their focus was the integration of the Common Core, STEAM, and the new NGSS.  They practiced every day and they did a really great job.

They told the board members how learning is different for them and how excited they are to create and try new things.  Here is the video from last night's meeting if you would like to watch their whole presentation.  ENJOY!



Common Core - Nelda Mundy Elementary [09-24-2015] from Fairfield-Suisun USD on Vimeo.

Newsletter - Sept. 21-25

Here is our weekly newsletter.  Enjoy!

This week:  In reading class we are starting to read fables to find their similarities and analyze their lessons and morals.  These are great for reading and sharing at home.  In math, we are finding the relationship between our addition and subtraction strategies to get ready for an assessment on Monday of next week.  We are continuing our bee unit by creating scientific models of bees with paper mache.  Soon, we have a beekeeper coming in to talk to us about bees and beehives.  In each of these subject areas we will be writing, writing, and writing.  

We will also be sharing what we have been learning at this week's school board meeting.  Some of our 2nd graders will be presenting at the meeting to tell the board about STEAM, our bee unit, and how it all works with our Common Core standards.  The presentation will be a the district office Thursday night at 5:00.

Valley Fire Fundraiser: Please help Mundy raise funds to help victims of the Valley Fire.  Many families have lost their homes and everything they own.  If you would like to help contribute, we will be taking donations this week.  Just bring your donations in to your teacher.  Our donations will be contributed to the Redwood Credit Union, and funds will go directly to families in Lake and Napa Counties. Thank you in advance for your generosity in helping a family in need!  If you have any questions, email Shareen Choy, 5^th grade teacher at shareenc@fsusd.org. 

Last week:  We created scientific bee diagrams, created giant hive diagrams for our walls, and worked on how to have meaningful conversations with our partners and groups.  We finished non-fiction text features and our subtraction strategies.

We have also been working on critical thinking and creativity.  Here are some good things to think about when helping your child be more creative at home.

Important Dates:September 24th, 5:00 - Mrs. Johann's and Mrs. Bundethal's class presentation to the District School Board
September 25th - Picture Day

Newsletter, September 14 - 18

This week:  This week we will continue our exploration of bees.  Your child will be learning subtraction strategies and learning more about non-fiction text features.  

A letter for GATE testing is coming home today.  If your child is not already GATE identified they will be tested next month for GATE.  The letter coming home is an OPT-OUT letter only.  You should only fill out and return the letter if you DO NOT want them tested.

Your child will have PE everyday except Wednesday.  Please make sure they are wearing appropriate and comfortable clothes and shoes.  Remind them to bring their library books on Friday.

Attention - Donations Needed:

Last week:  We compared bees to other social insects living in colonies, like ants and wasps.  After reading more about ants and bees, we wrote short essays about their similarities and differences.  We had a great day at our STEAM stations on Wednesday.  In Math, we were practicing our addition strategies and using problem solving skills.  

Important Dates:  

• 100 mile Club is running Thursday and Friday
• Picture Day is September 25th

Newsletter, September 8-11

This week:  We have a short week this week!  Please remind your students to bring their library books this Friday for our library time.  

Last week:  We learned about multiple meaning words, context clues, and read about the island of Borneo.  Ask your kids about all about the animals and plants that live there.  We are learning about insects to start our big Bee Unit!  Your child knows the difference between complete and incomplete metamorphosis!  We learned a song to remember the parts of an insect.  Watch our YouTube video here.  

Wednesday, we had our first round of STEAM stations with students using Build with Chrome, creating habitats, and solving Tangram puzzles.  On Friday some of us discovered what makes up soil and some of us designed ants in the STEAM Lab. 

Reminders:  

Check your child's backpack every night for important papers and to see if they have homework.  Until it becomes habit, they may need a reminder. 

September's character trait is RESPONSIBILITY.  It is always a great idea to chat with your student about responsibility and how they can show their parents, teachers, and friends how to be responsible. 

The Hundred Mile Club is starting this week.  Please check your email for updates if your child is signed up.

• September 11th - MCA/Second Cup of Coffee w/ Mrs. Dinwiddie
• September 25th - Picture Day

Newsletter - August 31st - September 4th

What we've been up to...

This week we had a lot of fun.  After watching this video...



Some of us went home and tried it ourselves!  It is great to see students extend their learning and experiment on their own!  Here are a few of our own...









We also played with the scale of objects by working with photography and perspective.  Love the creative ideas.

We are learning to be creative and explore our learning.

Keep up the good work 2nd grade!

Newsletter - Week of August 24th - 28th

Back To School Night for Bundenthal/Johann

Just a reminder to all of our parents:

We will be having our Back to School Night on Monday 5:30-6:30.  NOT Tuesday!  Please leave children at home.

This is different then the whole school Back to School Night that is on Tuesday.  If you are interested in being a parent volunteer or chaperon for a field trip you MUST be fingerprinted.  They will be fingerprinting at Mundy on Tuesday night during the whole school back to school night.  We will be meeting as a team because Mrs. Bundenthal will be out of town Tuesday night.  Please come and hear all we have planned for our exciting year in 2nd grade.

If you have any questions or concerns please email us ASAP.

Thank you for your understanding in this matter.

Mrs. Bundenthal/Mrs. Johann

Back to School Newsletter

Please take a moment to read the newsletter for the week of August 17th.