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Page Last Updated Feb 07, 2012
Number of Visits: 1435
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2/7/12 Parents, the Progress reports are not printing correctly. I will figure this out this afternoon and send then out tomorrow.
Naty ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2/2/12 Thank you for coming to the Animal Expo! We had 100% turn out! Your children were nervous and excited at the same time but they did an excellent job. Their hard work doing research on their animal paid off.
On another note: This week was the 4 1/2 week mark of the current grading cycle and Progress Reports will go home on Tuesday.
Naty Barrera ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1/31/12 Your children have a hard copy of this note that went home today but here is an electronic one as well. I hope you can join us for part of the time.
Queridos padres de familia:
Por favor de venir a nuestra Exposición de animales el miércoles, 1o de febrero, 2012 (mañana). Todo Segundo Grado participará. Los expertos (sus hijos/hijas) compartirán su conocimiento de animales con Ustedes. La exposición será en cada salón de clases de las 2:00-2:45 p.m. El arreglo será tipo museo así que pueden ir y venir a su gusto.
Dear Parents: Please join us for our special Animal Expo event on Wednesday, February 1st, 2012!!). It will feature ALL of 2nd Grade’s Animal Experts. The Experts will be sharing their knowledge of the Animal Kingdom with you. The Animal Expo will be located in each 2nd Grade classroom at 2:00 to 2:45. This special event will be set up “museum-like” so you may come and go anytime during the Expo.
Thank you and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow. Naty Barrera ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1/12/12Scholastic Orders The Scholastic orders are due by Tuesday, Jan. 17. Remember that for your convenience, you may order online at https://clubs.scholastic.com/?catalogId=10001&storeId=11151. If you have not registered as a Scholastic parent user, it is very easy to do. Just follow the prompts once you get started. Our class code is J837J. You may copy and paste the link or just go to the Scholastic homepage and click the parent tab.
Thank you, Naty Barrera ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1/10/12 The students have some graded papers in today's Tuesday folder. That is work from the last grading cycle that ended December 16, 2011. One of the assignments is from Mrs. Diaz in LDC. Please return this assignment as it will go in the portfolio.
Please take note of the reading grades on Fotos familiares and the passage on Abe Lincoln. Many students are still developing comprehension when it comes to independent reading therefore many had very low grades.Those two passages were read independently. It is natural for comprehension to drop when they reading silently on their own. For that reason, I am doing a lot more scaffolding during reading this cycle. You may have noticed this with the reading homework on cause and effect.
Tomorrow I will send grade papers again and those papers are for the current grading cycle that started on January 3, 2012.
Thank you, Naty Barrera ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1/3/12 Important dates: 1/3-1/13 LDC 1/6 Report cards go home 1/11 Early Dismissal
Welcome back! I want to thank everyone for their contribution in making our class party a success and I would like to especially thank Jill Wells for keeping the students engaged and excited in the games/activities during the party. Everything ran smoothly and the treats and activities were great.
I want to also thank you for your kind and generous gifts. You helped make my Christmas that much nicer. Our YMCA child also received many gifts from you of things he needed and things he will enjoy. Thank you for making his Christmas a special one.
I hope everyone had an enjoyable and relaxing break. This semester will be a busy one as everything seems to go very at this time of the year. This month we will administer the Tejas Lee for the second time and again in April for the 3rd and final time. The Tejas Lee is the reading inventory HISD uses to monitor student progress. The results will go home at the end of the month soon after we turn in the data.
Lastly, report cards go home on Friday as the 2nd grading cycle ended right before the winter break. That means today was the first day of the 3rd grading cycle. The students have cleaned out and made room in their homework binders.
Current PYP Planner We continue to work on the How We Share the Planet planner. This week the students will finish taking notefacts of the animal research. Using the facts they've gathered, they will create a book and a riddle as final products. The research information will also be used in LDC.
LDC We attend LDC this week and next week from 2:00-2:45 each afternoon.
Spanish Reading/Language Arts This semester we will be doing weekly reading comprehension passages. I will also focus more on the phonics/spelling patterns and grammar. This week we are focusing on the diphthong and natural hiatus. The focus in grammar is on regular verbs and verbs in the future tense.
I want to let you know of an observation I made today in class. As we started to go over diphthongs and natural hiatus today, I saw some very anxious faces. It made me see that at times the students have a lot of information coming at them and at times it may seem overwhelming. I could see that today.
However, I took a lot of time going over the explanation. We made an organizer of the characteristics of a diphthong and a natural hiatus and we practiced together identifying each type of word. Once we finished doing all that together, I could see their faces relax. I asked the children about how they felt at the beginning of the lesson and how they felt at the end. I listened to them express their feelings. I told them I could see their anxiety and I made sure they knew that we will practice a lot together in class and more with the homework in order to scaffold the learning process.
I'm telling you this because I want you to know that some things we cover may seem very hard and some may seem easier. However, I intend to give the students the support they need to be successful in class. I could read their little faces this morning more than ever and I could feel the tension and rightly so. Those words seem foreign when you first hear them and more so in Spanish.
Math This week the focus is on Time and Temperature.
Thank you so much. If you have any questions or concerns please send me a note or an e-mail at nbarrer1@houstonisd.org.
Naty Barrera ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 12/12/11 ***The chaperone cost is $6.00. Mrs. Isgur wants us to collect the money from each chaperone and she will pay for all of the chaperones at the gate in order to save some time. See me in the morning if you will chaperone.***
Homework for today 1. Continue taking or organizing notefacts on the animal research. 2. Start on the Secret Gift of Words writing. 3. Get an animal book if you don't have one yet.
FIELD TRIP TOMORROW Wear your green tie-dye t-shirt and tennis shoes Bring a sweater/jacket because of the cool weather Bring a sack lunch and don't forget a drink If you are chaperoning, be here early because we will leave around 8:45 a.m. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~12/2/11 YMCA Holiday Gift Giving This year again, the Mark Twain teachers and families are participating in the YMCA Holiday Gift Giving. We are fortunate to be able to give during this holiday season and I thank you in advance for your contribution. The child my class will provide for is an 11 year old boy. Below you will find the sizes, and items the child would like to receive. As you will note, there are only 3 items listed and none of those items are toys. It would be nice if we could provide the needs and a couple of toys to this child. ***Note***1. I prefer that you buy the actual item than provide money to me to purchase the item. I will collect the items through Friday, December 9. Any items that remain unpurchased by the end of the day on Friday, I will purchase over the weekend. 2. Look for a Field Trip permission slip in the Tuesday folder. This permission slip will be to permit me to walk to the YMCA on Monday morning with the students to deliver the gifts to the YMCA.
Age: 11 Sex: Boy Shoe size: 13 Pant size: 13 Shirt size: 13
Wish list (these are on the list and we should get these first): rain gear clothes shoes
Extras we may include: You tell me, what are 11 year olds into these days?
Thank you very much! Naty Barrera ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 12/2/11 High Frequency Word Evaluation (HFWE) Today your children were given the High Frequency Word Evaluation Report to take home. Please check their backpack for the report. This is the 100 word reading evaluation in Spanish. If they missed one work, for example, it will say 99% correct and 1% incorrect. It also shows a pie graph for the results. Keep that report for your records and one will be kept in your child's personal record at school
Everyone have a great weekend! Naty Barrera ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 11/29/11 FYI: Progress reports went home in the Tuesday folder. Please look over, sign and return to class. I will return a copy for you to keep.
Reading assessment The students have an assessment on Main Idea and Details (in Spanish) in their homework folder. The results were low and there is a lot of room for growth. I am reteaching that skill this week and will reassess on Friday.
Another evaluation on Making and Confirming Predictions will go home tomorrow after we review it in class. That grade will not count as the results were extremely low. This skill is one of the hardest to master and I will be reteaching that skill next week and reassess at the end of the week. Do review the evaluation with your child but know that the grade will not count. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 11/28/11 Important Dates: 12/13 Field trip to Bayou Wildlife Park 12?15 Tentative date for the classroom holiday party 12/16 Field Day
Welcome back! I hope everyone had an exciting and restful holiday break. I want you to know that we had an excellent day today. Your children are showing such maturity and independence in the classroom.
Today was a reminder of how much I enjoy this time of the year. It is an exciting time of the year because of all the holiday festivities but in the classroom it is the time of the year when we, teachers, start to see growth and development coming around.
Having said that, it is very critical that we use the next two weeks and part of the last week to the maximum. The curriculum will begin to accelerate and there will be more expected of the students. I have reminded the students that classroom time is for learning. We will have distractions the week before the winter break but I know we can remain focused on the time we will have in class for learning.
Thank you for entrusting your children to me and our school. They are great children and students who come from great families. Thank you again.
Homework this week There are some slight changes to the homework this week due to the Poetry feast and the very short week last week. We will continue with the same Spelling word list and Vocabulary list as we have not completed all the work. We have gone over the homework packet and the class focus for this week and the students uderstand what they are expected to do for homework and what we will cover in class this week.
Just for you to know, for tonights homework some students will be writing the words in ABC. Students who already did that, 2 weeks ago, have a choice of selecting 9 words and writing a sentence. A second choice is to define the 3 words that each table defines from the assigned Spelling list.
This is how the words to be defined are assigned: Table 1 defines words 1-3, table 2 defines words 4-6, table 3 defines words 7-9, table 4 defines words 10-12, table 5 defgines words 13-15, and table 6 defines 16-18. The words are to be defined, not to use the word in a sentence and the definitions need to be in Spanish.
Current Planner We started a new planner this week. The theme is How We Share the Planet. The Central Idea is Relationships among living things advances or hinders survival. The inquiries are the interactions of species, food webs/food chains and adaptation. There is a whole lot a grown up words in thereand for that reason today we went over the central idea and the inquiries in class. Each was broken into small parts and discussed so that the students can have an understanding of the theme. It was an excellent group discussion.
This is it for now! Naty Barrera ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 11/22/11 Happy Thanksgiving I want to wish everyone a joyful and safe Thanksgiving holiday. May you be surrounded by family and friends. I am thankful for all that you do for our school and students. I will see you on Monday, November 28.
Progress Reports Progress Reports will go home on Tuesday, November 29th.
Naty Barrera ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 11/8/11 Storybook Characters Parade: Nov. 15th is the Storybook Characters parade. Your child may dress up as their favorite story book character. Please talk to your child about selecting a character and dressing up for the parade!
Student-led conferences: Nov. 16th is the date for Student-led conferences. The 3:00-3:30 slots are almost taken. There is one left as of now. There are several for the 3:30-4:00 and 4:00-4:30 p.m. times. If Nov. 16th does not work for you, please let me know and we can arrange for you to meet with your child on a different day.
The Student-led conferences are a special time for your child to have a conversation with you about what they have been learning in school. Every child must have a conference therefore if you cannot meet with your child this semester, let me know and we will have a teacher conference with your child.
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10/17/11 PICTURE DAY TOMORROW For the pictures tomorrow your children may wear what you want them to wear for the picture otherwise they may wear the school uniform as usual.
Naty Barrera ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 10/11/11 Conference Invitations I've scheduled conferences through next week and am waiting to see which ones come back confirmed tomorrow. Based on the confirmed conferences as of tomorrow, I will send more conference invitations home tomorrow to those families whom did not get one today. I don't get a break tomorrow as I am eating with my class in the classroom due to early dismissal but I will try my best to get the invitations out tomorrow to the rest of you. Graded papers I know there are some concerns regarding the grade papers that went home today. Just to give you an idea, 5 students of the 24 scored below an 81 on the reading test, Sr. Putter y Tabby toman el te'. The test was an open-book test. Regarding the 2 math tests, the Topic 2 test had good results because there was mainly computation problems. Topic 3, on the other hand, had lots of story problems and that's where the vocabulary got a lot of the students if they did not understood some of the vocabulary or if it was not interpreted correctly. Isabel (teacher from Spain) and I started conferencing with the students on the math tests yesterday. We continued conferencing today. I will start conferencing with them on Thursday on the reading. What I am telling the students right now is that most of the ones that are scoring low on the reading or math story problems is due to not understanding some the vocabulary. As you know, it takes 5-7 years to develop a second language and we will continue to develop vocabulary all year so that the students' vocabulary expands and comprehension increases. I've also told the students that I am not so much concerned about the number on the paper but that I teach them the tools (reading strategies) and that they apply those strategies to get past the obstacles. With practice, there will be a change in understanding and with that the grades will begin to improve. That's the purpose of the conferences. I want the students to understand that together we will get them to where they need to be. It will take time, they will need to stay focused, and they will need to use the reading strategies and to think critically at all times. Please rest assured, and reassure your children that they will get to where they need to be. Thank you, Naty Barrera ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 10/3/11 Important dates: 10/5/11 Class party at 5:30-7:00 p.m. 10/12/11 Early Dismissal 10/7/11 Dual Language Coffee 8:00 a.m. 10/21 Report cards go home 10/22/11 Spooky Spaghetti 10/29 Free Dress Day
Today was a very exciting day as your children were campaigning, made speeches, and got to vote for class officers. This hands-on activity gave them a firsthand experience on the voting process in electing our public officials. It also culminated our planner on How We Organize Ourselves. The next planner falls under the PYP theme Who We Are. We will start with this planner towards the second half of the week.
On another note, I cannot believe we are already in the month of October. This school year is already speeding by us and soon it will be report card time. I will start scheduling parent-teacher conferences starting next week. The purpose of the conference is to inform you and also give you an opportunity to get answers to any questions you might have.
I will schedule conferences on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Some of the times will be in the morning during my planning at 11:15 a.m. and other times will be after carpool at 3:15 and 3:30 p.m. I figured I can schedule around 8 conferences each week. That will put me through October 28 which is a week after report cards have gone out. I will e-mail each one of you before the end of the week inviting you to a conference with me.
At the conference I will share with you the Tejas Lee results from a couple of weeks ago, the benchmark from the beginning of the year and other formative and summative assessments in Reading and Math.
Wish List Purchases/Thank you! I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone whom made a purchase of an item off the class wish list. Your generosity is appreciated and the resources benefit your children.
HFWE (High Frequency Word Evaluation List) I have received a copy of the 2011/2012 HFWE list. I will send a copy home for your use. The students will be assessed on reading aloud the words to me twice in the year according to the testing calendar. The first assessment window is scheduled for Nov. 7-18 and the second assessment window is scheduled for March/April.
Collected Items and returning them to parents From time to time I collect items from students when they become distracted by them during instruction and/or distract other students. The students know that I will only return the item to a parent. If a water bottle is collected, the student is not allowed to bring another bottle the next day until the collected bottle has been collected from me by a parent. The reason for this is that it gives me an opportunity to inform you why the item was collected and get your support by talking to your child about it at home.
The students are not allowed to go in my closet or desk and retrieve the item. It defeats the purpose of me collecting the item in the first place if I don’t have the opportunity to communicate with you. I am available to return collected items after school after carpool duty which is around 3:15 p.m. In an effort to not disrupt the morning routine in the classroom, I will not be returning collected items in the morning. Thank you for your support in this matter. Naty Barrera |
