Mrs. Ballnik's Second Grade

Classroom News from Mrs. Ballnik’s Class
My email is ballnic@dearbornschools.org
Friday, October 26, 2018
Important Days and Notes to Remember
½ day on Friday, November 2- Students in morning only
Math Tests- I send home the tests if parents request and they sign and return them.
School calendars are located under the District news at the Dearborn Website.
Gym on Monday- Please remember to wear tennis shoes and bendable clothes (not jeans).
Parent Conferences are on November 8, 13 and 15 from 4:00 – 6:30 p.m. Thank-you for signing up for parent conferences at Open House. I will be sending home times for the parent conferences, next week. Please send back that you agree on the time, when you get it.
PLANNER -Please bring them every day. Use it as a homework folder, or supply your own, if you choose.
FRIDAY SPELLING TESTS – Next week’s spelling words start with vowel combination for long /i/ sound spelled with /i/, /y/, /ie/. The spelling words are; try, pie, tie, wild, dry, fry, die, cry, lie, mild. The 5 Dolch words will be; be, have, like, will, went. These are the 15 spelling words for October 29 –November 2.
Every Friday, there will be a spelling test. Please study the words and the spelling pattern. They will also get 5 words from the Dolch words (very common words in reading list) to practice. These will be written by your child in their planner on Mondays. Please practice every day with your child so that they will do well on the Friday Spelling test. I have added an extra credit word from the words I introduce in reading for the whole class. This word will be above grade level and randomly chosen from these 5 or 6 words. It is to challenge the student that gets a star on their spelling every week. I do not expect all students to study these very hard words. We will have a worksheet each week to expand vocabulary. These words are good to know and above the second grade spelling level. Your child will not be marked down if they miss the 16th word on the spelling test.
Spelling tests will be corrected and sent home on Monday. I don’t have time to correct and record them on Friday.
MATH –Please measure things with your child. It would be really important to get a ruler with centimeters and inches at the dollar store and have your child measure things with your help. Thank-you for saving the Parent Helper homework sheets for review at home. Please help your child use all the language in math concerning measurement. Our next test will be on measurement and comparing measurements.
SCIENCE We will guess a few mystery bags a day. Keep asking your child to describe things with properties using their 5 senses. We learned about insulating as a property, last week and melting as a property, this week.
SOCIAL STUDIES – We are starting Unit 2 about geography and maps.
READING- Read, Read, Read! The Book It calendar was just sent home to earn free Pizza Hut mini pan pizzas. Please fill in the beginning of the month and start with today to record the reading that your child does EVERY DAY.
Please be sure that your child reads something at least 30+ minutes per day. In addition, reading aloud to your child is important also. Please go to the beautiful Dearborn libraries to get additional books. I give new book bag books after I bring them back from the library located at the other end of the school. I sometimes just ask students that want to switch book bag books to come up (because it takes valuable reading time). I usually have reading groups switch books, to be sure that I get to everyone.
Star of the Week!
We started the Star of the Week by having a name picked out of the can of sticks with everyone’s name on it. Each child will make an “I like (student’s name) because” _______page for the Star of the Week book that each Star will get. The Star also takes home a poster to fill out and bring back the next day to present to the class. Star students will get to be the line leader and have other special jobs.
Remember, the easiest way to communicate with me is by email, ballnic@dearbornschools.org and look at my BLOG on the Dearborn schools website. Links to RAZKIDS and FRECKLE are there, also.
October 31st CELEBRATION
At 2 pm or so on October 31st, there will be a school parade (parents are invited to watch on the outside track or inside if it rains). Students do not have to dress up. Students will change to costumes, if they choose to dress up, after lunch. We decorate bags, if you want to send things in such as, pencils, little rings, stickers, small trinkets and/or candy. There are now 23 students in our class.
We also have snacks sent in and someone sends in juice packs. I ask students to ask at home to see if anyone wants to contribute food to the class. A large bag of pretzels, cheezits, chips, fruit, etc. could be distributed and add to the special day. Thank-you if you are able to send things in.
MANY STUDENTS NEED PENCILS AND A SHARPENER! MY ELECTRIC SHARPENER IS NOT WORKING WELL. STUDENTS STOP CLASS WHEN THEY ARE NOT PREPARED. I have given out many, many pencils. Thank-you to the parents that have sent in pencils and send in pencils next week.

Cheryl Ballnik