All About Me Shares

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Our team finished our "All About Me" balloons and shared with our peers this week.  We will be hanging our balloons in the kiva area so please be sure to check them out when you come to school for conferences.  We continued our All About Me/ Community unit this week by talking about communities and began team building activities through cooperative learning.  We will continue to develop our team work skills through cooperative learning next week.
We are finishing our first unit in Fundations and will begin Unit 2 next week.  We have been learning about digraphs and blends and will begin learning about bonus letters and glued sounds soon.  In Writer's Workshop we are continuing to write "Small Moments" pieces.  We learned about non-fiction text features in Reader's Workshop and will move on to text to self connections next week.  Our guided reading groups have started up and we are having lots of fun getting back into routines and learning in those groups.
We completed unit one in math this week.  This unit spent a lot of time on fact strategies and fluency.  Our next unit will move into working with two and three digit numbers.
Please check this week's Friday Folder for our October share and have a great weekend!

A Very Exciting Week!

Whew!  Firefly Second Grade has had many wonderful learning opportunities this week.  What a terrific week it has been.
We began our week with some taste testing of one of Mrs. KillKelley's favorite treats-fried green tomatoes.  Almost everyone was willing to give them a try and many friends really liked them and have decided they are one of their favorite treats too!
We had the perfect day for our field trip to Shelburne Farms.  Our team had a fun morning exploring Shelburne Farms and visiting the farm yard.  It was great to see all the animals and spend some time doing team building activities.
Our time with visiting authors Philip and Erin Stead was packed full of learning about how authors and illustrators create their masterpieces.  It was nice to be able to follow this up with a picnic with friends from other teams on the town green.
Fire Prevention day taught us many important things to remember if there is a fire.  We talked about the difference between "tools" and "toys" and what the safest things are for us to do in a fire.  Then we had an opportunity to crawl through a smoke house and practice "Stop, Drop and Roll".
A huge thank you to our Hands On Nature parents for a terrific lesson about insects.  We enjoyed a puppet show and learned about what makes an insect an insect.  We also learned about similarities and differences of various insects and spent some time outside observing a variety of insects and bugs.
Tim Guiterman joined us today to kick-off our Active Schools program for the school year.  We learned a variety of exercises we can do to make our heart rate go up and prepare us for learning.  A big thank you to Tim for his help with this program. 
Thank you to everyone who came to Curriculum Night.  For those of you who were not able to fit it into your busy schedules, a curriculum packet is coming home in this week's Friday Folder.  In addition to that, the Curriculum Night Power Point Presentation has been posted on the Firefly webpage for your viewing.
This week's Friday Folder includes a Number Rack for your child to keep at home to help them with their math homework and math practice.  I have included a picture of a completed Number Rack in this week's slideshow.  They are mostly already assembled, but I would suggest taping the pipe cleaners to the back to make sure they don't fall apart.
Please remember that our new school start time is 8:05 am.  We will start our Morning Meeting promptly at 8:05, so if your child is late, he/she will miss this very important inclusive way we begin each day and set the tone for the remainder of our day. 

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Next Week is a Busy One!

Firefly has a busy week ahead of us.  Tuesday we will get fingerprinted at the cafeteria, and have Curriculum Night in the evening.  Wednesday is Fire Prevention Day,  Thursday is picture day and we have our field trip to Shelburne Farms and the Town Center to see visiting authors Phil and Erin Stead.  On Friday we have Hands On Nature and will be learning about insects.  Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately for Shelburne Farms and has a lunch from home that day as we will be enjoying a picnic on the Town Green after meeting Phil and Erin Stead.  Also, please remember to return your child's picture order before Thursday-they are coming home in today's Friday Folder.
This week we learned about sorting and graphing and worked toward becoming more fluent with our number facts through the use of a number rack in Math.  We finished reviewing letter formation in Fundations and have been working hard on Small Moments in writing.  We have been reviewing what good readers do in reading and have been reading a book together called Mrs. Noodlekugel. We will begin guided reading groups the week after next.
Please sign up for a fall conference on the Firefly webpage when you have time.  The conference schedule is now available.  I will be doing conferences on Thursday, October 17th.  If you have a need for an early morning conference, please go on as soon as possible to sign up as there are several early morning conference slots available.
Have a great weekend and enjoy the slide show!

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September PTO Minutes

Convene at 6:05

Introductions with many new faces

Biggest meeting yet!

Reviewed/Approved minutes

Principals Report:

-school recognized as a top performer in the state

-Part 2 after school is off to a great start: 71 kids in the census already, a nearly 50% increase

-lots of professional development over the summer

-enrollment stable @763

Budget

-reviewed line items

-budget approval in October

Team Reps Update:

-straightened out curriculum nights

-signed up team reps

Fundraising Update:

-directory sales are up to $1620 already 

-can now donate online through Paypal 

-looking to a new fundraiser for Red Barn potentially

     Ideas: Yankee candle, Equal Exchange, Plant Sale w/Red Wagon, Amazon storefront

-Price Chopper tools for school

-Hannafords helps schools

-Genevieve fundraiser starts 9/10, ends 9/24 use team name not teacher

     -now have photo cards!

     -80% of profits go to the teams

Sally Stevens talked about visiting artist program

-Flynn Artists/integrating the arts

-brought in two artists from the Flynn using a grant

-One hour of planning, 4 hours of in class help

-$3500: $1000 PTO and $2500 grant

-fund using visiting artist program 

Mark your Calendars

Walking Wednesdays on the town green at 7:30 (in front of Jamie Two Coats)

12 Oct: Newberry Cup Bake Sale

22Oct: UA Curriculum night and Genevieve Gift Wrap distribution

Help Wanted

-School directory data input (Leslie@borrok.com)

-Flower garden help (lisawvt@hotmail.com)

-PTO bulletin boards: sweeneyrs@gmail.com

-Newberry Cup Bake Sale: amybknight@gmail.com

-gift wrap distribution on 10/22: campwestwick@gmail.com

-ALSO REMEMBER: you can sign up for helping at any event at any time online.  Access through the PTO website: www.cssu.org/site/Default.aspx?PageID=365 

Other Business:

-the cold weather clothes donation box will be out soon.  The sooner you donate the better.  Lots of folks use all of these donations

Thanks yous:

Rita Daley and Teresa Shuptrine for the bulletin board

Valerie Richardson and Teacher's Breakfast helpers! 

First Day Greeters

Everyone who filled out a volunteer form

Field Trips and Other Events

A huge thank you to everyone for getting the family information sheets in already.  They are very helpful in making sure everyone gets to the right place after school every day.  Please be sure to get your health and permission forms in within the next week.  Without permission signatures, students will not be able to go on upcoming field trips and I will not be able to post any pictures on our team blog.

On September 19^th the Firefly Team will be visiting Shelburne Farms for a team building activity.  We would love to have some parents join us for this event.  We will be leaving the school at 8:15 and returning by 10:45.  If you are interested in joining us, please let me know by email before September 19^th.

Upon returning from our Shelburne Farms Field Trip, Firefly Second Grade will then be walking to the Flying Pig bookstore for a visit from authors/illustrators Phil and Erin Stead at 11:00.  Please be sure to pack your child a lunch from home on September 19^th.  We will be returning to school at noon and will be eating our lunches in the Firefly space.  There will be an order form in next week’s Friday Folder for books written and illustrated by Phil and Erin Stead.  If you would like to order a book for your child, please fill out the form and return it by Monday, September 16^th.

PTO gift wrap will also be coming home in next week’s Friday Folder.  This is a big fundraiser for the PTO and generates a lot of money for SCS teams.  Please be sure to return this to school by September 24^th. 

There will be a ½ Curriculum Night taking place on September 17^th.  We are inviting families to meet in the Firefly space at 5 PM to share information specifically about the Firefly team.  At 5:30, the presentation will move to the cafeteria where all ½ teams will share information about curriculum , school wide policies and procedures,

Please check this week's Friday Folder for a  revised schedule for Firefly Second Grade.  There have been some minor changes in our lunch/recess schedule this week.  Our class now goes to lunch at 10:55 every day, followed by recess.

Have a great weekend!