Joy's Joys

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5-22-2012

Parents,

As you know today was my last day at Great Oaks Elementary.  I will be 
traveling to Odessa tomorrow to help my mother with funeral arrangements for 
my father, Danny Dorsett.  The funeral is on Saturday at 2:00. Thank you for 
your prayers for our safe travel and our time together as we celebrate my 
father's life.

I want you to know that you and your kiddos will be sincerely missed. I have 
come to call so many of you friends and prayer warriors, and I am so thankful 
God placed you in my life. Thank you so much for the love and support you 
have shown me this year and for sharing your children with me.  You and your 
kiddos will forever be Joy's Joys... even when I am at England Elementary 
next year!!!

Before I leave I need to give you some info about a few things:

Report cards go home on Friday.  Your child's DVD with most of this year's  
pictures is in the report card envelope.  (There were sooo many that not  
all of them would fit on the DVD.)  You can also view many of them on our 
Second Grade Memories page.

This afternoon I published the last of our technology projects (our second 
grade digital scrapbook pages and second grade poems). Both projects allowed 
the kids to practice and apply their technology skills and reflect on our fun 
together in second grade.  Links to these pages are on the left navigation 
bar just below Class News.

On Friday morning during E-Slot, the kids will be making their end-of-year 
picture frames.  If you are out and about and would like to join Mrs. 
Guiliani and help out with this project, please do so. I am sure she would 
love the extra help. Please be here around 8:00 if you can help.  Feel free 
to call our classroom at 464-6908 or send a note with your child and let her 
know you are coming... or just surprise her and show up. :)  We could still 
use some glue dots by the way.

There are still items and volunteer opportunities available on the EOY party 
sign up page. Thank you to those of you who have already signed up.

Lastly, don't forget to come see me next year.  England is not across the 
ocean. It will be just down the street.  Come see me sometime so I can hear 
how my little geckos and you are doing.  *Ü*

Feeling extremely blessed!!
Tammy

5-18-2012

Hi Parents,
We had an awesome fun week.  However, pictures are always better than words. 
This week I am going to let the pictures speak for themselves. Please check 
out our Second Grade Memories 2011-12 page for pictures from Joys R Us and 
MAE Day.

5-15-2012

Hi Parents,

Can you believe the year is almost over and summer is just around the 
corner?  We have had a great year, and the kids have worked very hard.  I am 
sooo proud of them.  A celebration is definitely in order.  *Ü*

The End-of-Year Party sign up page is now ready for sign ups. If you are 
able, please the visit our class web page, and sign up to contribute items 
for the party and/or to help out with the party. The party will take place in 
our classroom on Friday, May 25th from 1:00-2:15 pm. In addition to supplies, 
Mrs. Bible will need help setting up and cleaning up.

To sign up, please click on the date modified at the far bottom of the sign 
up webpage. 
Then, type in your child's name in one of the boxes next to the item that you 
would like to bring. 
Next, type the class password. 
Now hit submit, and then click on the refresh button in your web browser. 
Your name should then appear in the box where you typed it.

Thank you again for sharing your little geckos with me! I hope you all have a 
wonderful time!!!

With sincere appreciation, 
Tammy Joy

5-11-2012

Hi Parents,

What a WOW day we had!!!! We had a lot of fun this week, but nothing compares 
to today's Wellness Day!!!  Our favorite activities were the by far the Water 
Games, but all of them were great.  I am exhausted! I bet the kids will sleep 
well tonight. *Ü*   Thank you soooo much to all of you who volunteered to 
help today or just hung out with us.  It was nice to have an extra set of 
eyes.

In social studies this week, we continued our Economics unit and talked about 
supply vs demand.  We also talked about factories and specialized jobs.  We 
even have our own experiment going with unit vs assembly line production for 
a "donut shop."  Next week promises to be another fun week as we continue our 
Economics unit and start preparing for our stores. We will make signs to 
advertise our businesses early in the week and open for business on 
Thursday.  The kids are sooo excited.  Thank you sooooo much for your help 
with this fun project.  Please send your kiddo's items to school on Wednesday 
or Thursday next week.

The kids practiced their multiplication and division skills with problem-
solving this week in math.  Next week, we will wrap up this unit and do a 
quick review unit on money with their real coins so that we are ready for our 
customers on Thursday.

In Reader's and Writer's Workshops we have been using the computers to finish 
our presentations and write and illustrate some acrostic poems about our year 
in second grade.  Next week we will finish up our research presentations and 
acrostic poems and then use Word to create our own digital collage pages with 
our favorite memories of second grade.  Can you tell this teacher loves 
technology. :)  Speaking of photos, I will make the DVDs next weekend (after 
MAE Day) with all of the photos I have from this year and get those to you 
the week of May 21st.

We also took some time out this week to make some little cards and gifts for 
Mother's Day.  Happy Mother's Day to our awesome Moms.  We love you!!!

Have  a great weekend!!!

May 16th - 23rd: Scholastic Book Fair here in the GOE library. 
		 Our days to shop are the 21st and 22nd @ 2:15 - 2:30.
Tuesday, May 22nd: KONA Ice Day 2:45 - 4:15
Friday, May 25th: End of Year Party 1:00 - 2:30 in our classroom

Tammy

5-9-2012

Hi Parents,

The kids and I are sooo excited about Wellness Day.  We hope you will be able 
to join us for some of the fun. 
Below you will find our schedule for Friday and some Wellness Day reminders.  
Please note the * for back-up locations in the event of rain on Friday.  The 
Wellness Day Program and Map are also attached to make it easier for you to 
find us.

Also, our room will be being used until about 12:30 for Sun Safety.  In the 
event that we can not go outside for our outside time, you will probably find 
us in rooms  511, 513, 515; these rooms are on our second grade hallway and 
will not be used for the Wellness Day presentations.

8:30AM – 9:00AM	  Opening Ceremonies in Library Courtyard

9:00AM – 9:20AM	  BC Community Swim in Room 510

9:30AM – 9:50AM	  Brushy Creek Trainers	in Library Courtyard/ *Wellness 
Portable

10:00AM - 10:20AM Zumba Assembly in Cafeteria

10:30AM – 10:50AM Outside

11:00AM – 11:20AM Camp Gladiator	in Playground Playscapes/ *Room 209

11:20AM – 11:45AM Outside	
        
11:45AM – 12:15PM Lunch	              Outside

12:30PM – 12:50PM Outside

1:00PM – 1:20PM	  Dental Smiles	        in Room 512

1:30PM – 1:50PM	  Hip Hop Dance Assembly in Cafeteria

Reminders: 
 Please remind your kiddo to:
 Wear his/her BLUE class shirt on Friday (or another blue shirt). 
 Come to school prepared for a day of fun and sun. Make sure to put sunscreen 
on before he/she gets here and wear comfortable shoes (NO SANDALS). 
 Bring a water bottle with your name on it to stay hydrated. We will have 
snack on Wellness Day so don’t forget to pack that!
 The Great Oaks Cook-out is on Wellness Day so if you plan on buying a lunch 
your choice is a hamburger.

Parents can join us also for our cook-out lunch. We’ll find somewhere in 
the front of the school to eat under the covered awnings.

5-4-12

Hi Parents,

We had an awesome fun week that flew by!!!  I can't believe we only have 
three weeks of school left!

Our week started off with a big bang with our Movie Date on Saturday.  Thank 
you all sooooo much for bringing my little film makers and joining me at the 
Alamo to see Claymation Clean-Up!  I have posted it to U-Tube now, so their 
message about taking care of our community can be seen all over the world.  
My little friends found it hard to believe that a lot of cities, including 
the one I moved from do not have recycling programs in place.

In science this week we wrapped our animals unit with food chains and food 
webs.  We learned about how animals depend on other animals, plants, and 
their environment to survive and that if an animal in the food chain or food 
web is endangered it causes other animals to possibly become endangered, 
too.  We also learned that in a food web the arrow points to the animal that 
is "consuming" the food or energy. The arrow points away from the animal or 
plant that is "producing" the food or energy.

In Readers' and Writers' workshop we are still working on our IIM research 
projects.  All of the kids have been using kid-friendly research websites 
such as Kids InfoBits, PebbleGo, and Britannica to do their research. All 
students should be finished with their products and ready to present next 
Thursday afternoon.  I will post their student-created PowerPoint slide shows 
and/or pictures of their paper projects the following week.

We started our economics unit in social studies on Wednesday.  We have been 
discussing wants and needs as well as producers and consumers.  Next week, we 
also talk about different kinds of jobs in our community and world in 
addition to advertising.  We will work on making signs to advertise or 
businesses the following week so that we are ready to open Joys R Us on 
Thursday, May 17th.  I know my little Geckos are excited about our Joys R Us 
store.  I hope you are, too.  Please remind your child to turn in his/her 
proposal next Monday if they have not already done so.

In math we continued working on multiplication and division.  My 
mathematicians have a good grasp of the concept and have enjoyed applying 
their new learning to our Multiplication Tic-Tac-Toe game in their extra 
time. You can find a copy of this game on our homework page. Next week, we 
will focus more on applying those skills to problem-solving and story 
problems.

On Thursday, Mrs. Aclin and I surprised our little friends with a game of 
kickball to start the day.  We had a great time playing with our Buddy 
Class.  Can you guess what game is now the most popular one at recess?  I 
will include some of the pictures on your child’s end-of-year DVD.

We also had another Brain Food Café on Thursday.  The whole class was able to 
attend!  My favorite game is still Head Bands. *Ü*

Speaking of fun things to do, I hope to see you at the annual GOE Carnival on 
Saturday!  Thank you soooo much to those of you who are able to help out 
and/or work a game or booth.  And, thank you to all of you who will attend.  
I am very thankful for PTA’s hard work and all that they do for our school.  
Just today, I turned in a receipt for your DVDs, DVD envelopes, and DVD 
labels.  Without the help of PTA so many of the great things that happen at 
GOE would truly not be possible!!!

On a personal note, my dad is still in the hospital in Paris.  I talked to 
Mom last night, and Daddy is heavily sedated with pnemonia and swelling on 
his brain.  Thank you for keeping both of them in your prayers.

Thank you as always for your continued help and support! You and your 
children bring so many smiles, laughter, and fun to my life!  I truly count 
you all among my blessings!

See you Saturday!!!

Saturday, May 5th: GOE Spring Carnival
Friday, May 11th: Wellness Day and Cookout
May 16th - 23rd: Scholastic Book Fair here in the GOE library
Friday, May 18th: MAE Day
Friday, May 25th: End of Year Party 1:00 -2:30

4-27-2012

Hi Parents,

We've had a great and very busy week, which I am very thankful for.  It has 
kept me focused on your children. And, it has kept my mind off of my own 
parents. I know some of you must have noticed my small breakdown during the 
pledges and the moment of silence during KGOE.  For those of you who haven't 
heard, my parents were on vacation in Paris, France this week when my dad 
fell down some stairs at the Arc de Triomphe.  He is in critical condition 
and they have been keeping him sedated due to swelling and bleeding on his 
brain.  He has also developed pneumonia as of yesterday.  My mom called me 
early this morning to give me an update and our conversation was fresh on my 
mind as I lifted her and my father up in prayer during the KGOE moment of 
silence.  My faith is very strong even in the midst of this storm, and I am 
doing well thanks to my many partners in prayer who have been lifting me up. 
Please know that despite my tearful moment this AM, a lot of fun, learning 
happened this week, and I am still doing my personal best to educate my 
little friends. And, we have lots to look forward to in the four weeks of fun 
learning ahead.

The highlight of our week was definitely this morning's Claymation 
celebration! I owe a special thanks to Mrs. Oliver, Mrs. Albright, Mrs. 
Bible, Mrs.Boardman, Mrs. Wagner, and Mrs. DeVaney for their help in 
decorating the room and taking pictures this AM.  Thank you for helping me 
make my film makers feel like shining stars!!!

Thank you sooo much to those of you who came to join my little film makers 
and me for a private showing of Claymation Clean-Up and popcorn.  I hope some 
of you can make it to the Alamo tomorrow.  I know you have already seen our 
movie and you can watch it at home anytime via our website, but I know the 
kids will love seeing it again on the big screen in a real theater.

In science we continued our research on animals.  The kids enjoyed several 
scavenger hunts around the room, looking for interesting facts about 
amphibians, mammals, birds, and fish. They also enjoyed doing a fun 
experiment about bird beaks and watching some very cool very educational 
videos on United Streaming, including their favorite Magic School Bus Gets 
Eaten to learn about the food chain.  We will learn more next week about how 
animals, people, and plants depend on each other and their environment.

We continued our IIM research unit on animals in reader's workshop. Most of 
the students have finished with the research portion of their project and are 
working on their project which they will present next week.

In math we started our unit on multiplication and division.  My little 
mathematicians caught on very quickly!!  We'll continue having fun with this 
unit next week.  The kids also took a math benchmark and some timed math 
facts tests.  I will share the results with you in their portfolios next week.

In the mean time I know my little friends are really looking forward to 
tomorrow's Austin Premier of Claymation Clean-Up. As of today during lunch 
there have been 32 tickets sold.  There are about 100 left.   Remember, the 
5:15 showing is the only one that will be featuring our film in its 
entirety.  Who knows, if we are lucky the Alamo crew will like our film so 
much they might show it in parts as part of their fun pre-shows.

Note: We skipped today's spelling test since they had two diagnostic spelling 
tests this week over different sets of words that help me and their teacher 
next year identify their strengths and weaknesses. This snapshot gives me 
much more accurate data than a weekly spelling test. I will share the results 
of these two tests with you next week in your child's portfolio.

Upcoming Events:

April 27th: 5:15 Movie Date at Alamo Lake Creek 
 to see Pirates: Band of Misfits
Wednesday, May 2nd: Early Release Day; 12:45 dismissal
 Spring Conferences/Portfolios go home
Saturday, May 5th: GOE Spring Carnival
Friday, May 11th: Wellness Day and Cookout
May 16th - 23rd: Scholastic Book Fair here in the GOE library
Friday, May 18th: MAE Day
Friday, May 25th: End of Year Party 1:00 -2:30

4-20-12

My surgery went well yesterday, and I am home resting comfortably.  I will be 
back to school on Monday.  Thank you so much for your prayers and well 
wishes.  Despite having to have surgery and being out for two days, I did 
have a great but short week with my little geckos.

Although I am sure the kiddos will enjoy the Junior Choir Concert this 
afternoon, I think most of my little friends would still agree that Monday's 
fun, educational field trip to the Austin Science and Nature Center was the 
biggest highlight of our week.

As their teacher, it has also been a thrill to watch them apply their 
research skills and see them work so excitedly during Reader's/Writers' 
Workshop on their IIM animal research projects. They have such a thirst for 
knowledge! I can't wait to see their finished projects and hear my junior 
experts report to me and the rest of the class on what they have learned. We 
will continue our research projects and animal unit next week.

I am also very proud of how hard they worked this week on their math 
benchmark and on their reading/writing benchmark last week.  They did a 
fabulous job overall!!! Next week, we will wrap up our measurement unit in 
math and learn about measuring weight. The following week we will start our 
unit on multiplication.

I am so excited about our Claymation Celebration next Friday during E-Slot! I 
hope some of you will be able to join us in OUR CLASSROOM (AKA Joy's Theatre) 
to celebrate the hard work of our little film makers.  I am still working 
with Alamo Theatre to schedule a date for the kiddos to see their movie on 
the big screen.  I will let you know more when I hear back from them.

Spring Conferences are scheduled for the afternoon of Wednesday, May 2nd. IF 
you feel the need to have a conference to discuss your child's academic 
progress and readiness for third grade, please visit our Spring Conference 
page and sign up using the password that was e-mailed to you earlier today.

Upcoming Events:

April 24-26th: STAAR testing for 3rd - 5th; closed campus
Friday, April 27th, 8:15 - 8:45: Red-Carpet Claymation /Earth Day 
 Celebration in OUR ROOM 
Wednesday, May 2nd: Early Release Day; 12:45 dismissal
 Spring Conferences
Saturday, May 5th: GOE Spring Carnival
Friday, May 11th: Wellness Day and Cookout
May 16th - 23rd: Scholastic Book Fair here in the GOE library
Friday, May 18th: MAE Day
Friday, May 25th: End of Year Party 1:00 -2:30

4-13-12

Hi Parents

We had a great week.  We have been having so much fun studying animals that 
the week has flown by for me... even with having to stop and take a benchmark 
for reading and writing... on which the kids did fabulous job if I must say 
so myself. *Ü*

The butterflies did immerge over our long weekend.   All but 1 made it.  We 
started off the week with a fun scavenger hunt about butterflies and then we 
let them go during recess. One cool thing we learned this week about insects 
was that butterflies are active during the day and moths are active at 
night.  Now we know when we see what looks like a butterfly during the day it 
probably really is a butterfly not a moth.

We also learned about arachnids and reptiles this week and made some cool 
projects for our Animal Planet portfolios which will go home at the end of 
our animal unit. Speaking of reptiles, did you know that a Komodo dragon can 
eat a horse????  Next week we will learn about amphibians and mammals.

In math we continued our unit on measurement.  The kids really enjoyed making 
Gallonbot and measuring their smiles.  We will continue our unit on 
measurement next week with some more fun, hands-on activities.

Today, during E-Slot we went to the computer lab and practiced using the 
Frames program in small groups.  This is the program that we used to make the 
claymation movie, but now the kids are learning how to use it more 
independently so that maybe they can use it next year when they are in third 
grade.  We went back to the computer lab in the afternoon to play with the 
claymation program a little more, but since we were having some technical 
issues with the software we practiced the life skill of flexibility and got a 
jump start on our IIM research for next week.  We will be spending the next 
two weeks in Reader's/Writer's workshop working in small research groups to 
research animals and prepare our products and reports.

We had some extra fun with our extra recess today. Thank you sooo much for 
returning all the forms.

Don't forget about tomorrow's clean-up at the Brushy Creek Community Center. 
We will meet in their meeting rooms at 16318 Great Oaks Drive.

We are really looking forward to learning about all kinds of animals and the 
adaptations they make at the Austin Nature Center on Monday at our field 
trip!  Mrs. Albright, Mrs. Bible, Mrs. Boardman, Mrs. Oliver, and Mrs. 
DeVaney have graciously agreed to come along on the field trip as 
chaperones.  We will leave the school around 9:30 and return around 2:15.  
Please make sure your kiddo:
* eats a healthy breakfast
* wears his/her blue class t-shirt
* wears sunscreen
* has on comfortable shoes for walking
* has a jacket in case they get cold on the bus or in the classrooms at the  
  Nature Center
* brings his/her sack lunch (unless they ordered one from the cafeteria 
  already) (It would be very helpful if you could put your kiddo's lunch in a 
  gallon-sized Zip-Lock bag.  This will keep it from getting wet or leaking 
  in our ice chest.)

Unfortunately, our Claymation Celebration will have to be moved to Friday, 
April 27th.  I apologize for the inconvenience; I know some of you had 
already saved the date. Thank you in advance for your understanding and 
continued support.  I hope you can look at this as an opportunity to go out 
and find some really cool costumes, sunglasses, hats, feather boas, or 
whatever it is that your child wants to wear for our Claymation Celebration.  
I am still working with Alamo Movie Theatre to let the kids watch their movie 
on the big screen.  I have requested Saturday, May 18th, as the day for it; 
however, I haven't heard back from the event person about whether or not this 
is possible.

I hope you have a great weekend! Thanks again for your continued help and 
support!

Upcoming Events:
Friday, April 6th: Good Friday - no school
Monday, April 16th: Field Trip to Austin Nature Center
Friday, April 20th: Kona Ice after school in various locations outside
April 24-26th: STAAR testing for 3rd - 5th; closed campus
Friday, April 27th, 8:15 - 8:45: Red-Carpet Claymation /Earth Day 
 Celebration in OUR ROOM 
Wednesday, May 2nd: Early Release Day; 12:45 dismissal
Saturday, May 5th: GOE Spring Carnival
Friday, May 11th: Wellness Day and Cookout
May 16th - 23rd: Scholastic Book Fair here in the GOE library
Friday, May 18th: MAE Day
Friday, May 25th: End of Year Party 1:00 -2:30

4-4-12

Hi Parents,

We had a great short but fun week.  The highlight of our week for me was 
releasing our ladybugs to a rose garden belonging to Mrs. McLemore, who is 
the sweet grandmother of one of my former students who lives behind the 
playground of Great Oaks. I think the highlight of the week for most of my 
little friends was watching some very cool science videos about insects and 
spiders.  There was lots of oohing and awing :) It's so funny to see them 
excited about learning and yet grossed out over a tiny little caterpillar. *Ü*

Unfortunately the butterflies are still in their pupa stage and are still 
hanging in their chysalids.  I am taking them home over the long weekend in 
case they emerge as adult butterflies.  I am of course praying they don't, 
but if they do, I will have some sweet smelling purple flowers inside their 
butterfly habitat waiting for them.

We finished our shape E-book on Wednesday in the computer lab.  The book is 
very cute, and I think my little techies did a great job with inserting 
shapes and text boxes, editing the size and font style, changing the size and 
color of the shapes, etc.

In math we began our measurement unit and practiced using our rulers. We will 
continue or measurement unit for at least two more weeks.

In Readers' Workshop and Writers' Workshop we researched butterflies and 
prepared for next week's benchmarks.  Mrs. Grindle library lesson on Tuesday 
about plagiarism and making sure we put our research in our own words tied in 
great with our research unit.

We also visited one of our counselors Mrs. Rivera twice this week for lessons 
on being safe around strangers.  She talked to us about not talking to 
strangers even if they ask us for help looking for their cute lost puppy or 
offer us candy or money.  She gave us some very good advice.  An activity 
book that went with her Child Lures presentation was in your little gecko's 
Wednesday folder.

I hope you and your families have a wonderful long Easter weekend. *Ü* T

Upcoming Events:
Friday, April 6th: Good Friday - no school
Monday, April 16th: Field Trip to Austin Nature Center
Friday, April 20th, 8:15 - 8:45: Red-Carpet Claymation /Earth Day 
 Celebration in Cafeteria
Friday, April 20th: Kona Ice after school in various locations outside
April 24-26th: STAAR testing for 3rd - 5th; closed campus
Wednesday, May 2nd: Early Release Day; 12:45 dismissal
Saturday, May 5th: GOE Spring Carnival
Friday, May 11th: Wellness Day and Cookout
May 16th - 23rd: Scholastic Book Fair here in the GOE library
Friday, May 18th: MAE Day
Friday, May 25th: End of Year Party 1:00 -2:30

3-30-12

Hi Parents,

We had a very exciting week with lots of new additions to our classroom.  I'm 
sure you heard that we have some new friends that will be here for another 
week or so; their names are Hissafina and Bob. They are Madagascar Hissing 
Cockroaches!  And, they do hiss.  I have some very brave Geckos who begged to 
pet them every day.  Our ants also arrived this week.  They are Harvester 
Ants and arrived last night.  I put them in their habitat last night, and 
when we walked in this morning, they had already made a lot of progress on 
digging their tunnels.

Our caterpillar and lady bug friends are already starting their pupa stage.  
Two of our caterpillars are already in their chrysalids. And, at least 3 of 
our ladybugs are in their pupa stages. We noticed this afternoon that one of 
our ladybugs had transformed into a bright yellow ball and had gone from her 
larva stage to a pupa.  I just checked on them before beginning this email 
and several more ladybugs have entered the pupa stage.  Our little ladybug 
that was a yellow pupa is now a dark black pupa - which is normal. I am 
praying that the insects emerge into the adult stage while the kids are here 
next week so they can see it.  If they are still in the pupa stage on Friday, 
I will take them home over the long weekend and try to catch the event on 
film.

We have also been learning about plants.  We learned about their needs and 
how animals and people depend on them.  We also learned about their parts and 
the jobs of the roots, stems, leaves, and flowers.  We started two plant  
experiments over plants' needs on Monday.  Despite my lack of a green thumb, 
all of the plants are still alive.  We predicted either the plants with no 
water or no food will die first, but we know they will all eventually die 
because all of their needs are not being met.  We planted radish seeds on 
Monday, and they are doing great.  We planted them in clear cups next to the 
edge of the cup so we could better observe them.  Several of the kiddos's 
plants have broken through their seed coat and are starting to sprout.  The 
kids made sure to give them plenty of water for the weekend.

Next week, we will still observe our plants, but we will start our research 
on animals.  This unit will last through the end of April.  In Reader's 
Workshop we will be using the IIM (Independent Investigation Method) to 
research butterflies starting next week.  Then, in the next few weeks ahead 
the students will work in small groups to research the animal of their 
choice. They will become the experts about their animal and teach the other 
students interesting facts about their animal.

We wrapped up our unit on shapes this morning by using tangrams in E-Slot to 
create animals.  Afterwards, the kids wrote stories about their animals.  We 
should have all of those finished and published outside our door on Monday or 
Tuesday.  We also used shapes to continue making our class E-book in the 
computer lab today.  Some of the students are finished, but a few are not 
quite ready to publish. We will go back to the computer lab on Tuesday 
afternoon and hopefully finish our book then.  We start a three week unit on 
measurement next week.  The kids will be learning about measuring length, 
weight, and capacity with both metric and standard units of measure.  Any 
time you can take advantage of those teachable moments to reinforce these 
concepts at home would be greatly appreciated. Measurement can be very 
abstract for second graders, especially when you are talking about capacity 
and weight.

Don't forget to turn in your child's signed report card envelope and field 
trip permission slip if you have not already done so.

Have a great weekend!!!
Tammy Joy

3-23-2012

Hi Parents,

We had a great week.  The highlight of our day will probably not be found in 
your kiddo's newsbook this time, as it happened at the very end of the day.  
We got a special delivery of BUGS!  Not the stomach bug that has been going 
around... but bugs meaning ladybug larva and caterpillars.  They are both in 
the larva stage right now.  We will be watching them grow and go through the 
remainder of their life cycles over the next couple of weeks.  I have also 
ordered harvester ants so the kids can see how hard they work to make their 
tunnels.  Those should arrive in 2-4 weeks. No worries, I've never had any 
escape!

This week in science we tracked the phases of the moon.  We have not been 
able to find it in the sky with the cloudy weather we have been having, and 
yesterday we had a new moon.  We are hoping to find it in the sky next week 
as it starts to wax instead of just tracking it via the internet.  Next week, 
we will start our unit on plants, and then after that we will start a unit on 
animals.  In May we will start our economics unit and open up our store to 
our first grade buddies in Mrs. Haji's class.  Our store will be called Joys 
are Us.  If you have had a sibling or a friend in second grade before you 
already know the next couple of months are going to be lots of fun!!!!!

This week in reading we worked on main idea and summary.  The kids also 
started their new book clubs.  They are really enjoying them and are eager to 
read with their club mates in Readers' Workshop.

In Writers' Workshop we have been learning more about when to use apostrophes 
in our writing.  We learned that we use them with contractions and to show 
possession. We also worked on revising and editing stories for grammar and 
word choice in our language workbooks.

We have been learning about 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional shapes in math.  
We will continue with our geometry unit next week and learn more about 
vertices, edges, and faces.  Thank you for sending in the 3-D shapes.  We 
will start our measurement unit the week after next.

In the computer lab on Tuesday we worked with Powerpoint to create our own E-
Book about shapes.  Each student is writing one page of the book.  We hope to 
complete the book next Friday when we return to the computer lab.  As soon as 
the kiddos are all finished, I will compile their pages and publish the book 
to our class website.

On Thursday, Dowser Dan came and spoke to second grade about the water cycle 
and how to conserve water.  His presentation very entertaining as well as 
informative. We already knew much of what he was telling us about, but we did 
learn some new things, too.  He also gave the kiddos each a pencil and a 
magnet.

Today in E-Slot the kiddos finally had the chance to present their fractured 
fairy tales.  I tried to record them, but our microphone could not pick up 
the kiddos voices from under their stage.  However, I did take a picture of 
the kiddos, and I'm attaching it for you.  I was very proud of their fluency 
and audience behavior during the Reader's Theatre.

SAVE the DATE: We have a field trip coming up soon on Monday, April 16th, to 
the Austin Nature Center.  Please do not schedule any doctor's appointments 
for this date unless you want to have a very unhappy little gecko in the 
house.  It will be an all day trip with us leaving the school around 9:30 and 
returning no later than 2:30. Also, please let me know if you would like to 
be a chaperone.  I will only need 5 parents.  We are limited to the number of 
people we can bring due to limited space in the classrooms where the 
presentations will take place. First come first served. I will send more 
details regarding admission and transportation for parents later as well as 
permission slips with trip details for the kids.

I hope you have a great weekend and have the opportunity to spend some 
quality time playing in the beautiful sunshine.

Thanks as always for your help and support!!!!!!!!!!!

Upcoming Events:

March 27th and 28th: Closed Campus - STAAR testing for 4th and 5th; 
 please do NOT plan to come eat lunch with 
 your kiddo on one of these dates. Sorry.
Friday, April 6th: Good Friday - no school
Monday, April 16th: Field Trip to Austin Nature Center
Friday, April 20th, 8:15 - 8:45: Red-Carpet Claymation /Earth Day 
 Celebration in Cafeteria

3-9-12

Hi Parents,

We had a fabulous week.  The highlight of our week was finishing our 
Claymation movie!!!  Water Conservation Expert Jessica Woods came back as a 
guest speaker on Tuesday and gave us the last bit of information we needed to 
help us better conserve water.  Then, today we used her tips along with all 
of the other facts we have learned this year and combined them with our 
voices and the great pictures you all sent in.   While we were trying to 
insert sound and be extra "quiet on the set," the kids had fun making their 
own board games and comics to teach other students about reducing, reusing, 
and recycling and/or the water cycle.  They also worked hard to finish 
writing some entertaining, informative stories in which they are raindrops 
traveling through the water cycle.  Below are some other notable things that 
happened this week.

We have a new student named Anessa!  We are excited to have her join our 
class just in time to participate in our claymation project.  She is fitting 
in great and has made several friends :)

In addition to working on our rain drop stories, we learned about 
contractions in Writer's Workshop and played Monster Contraction Match to 
practice using them.

In science, we learned more about the water cycle, and we have a couple of 
ongoing experiments that we will continue after Spring Break. We also 
continued tracking the weather in our weather journals and did an experiment 
called Icy Temps to practice reading thermometers and to see how fast the 
temperature of water can change when you add ice.  They were thrilled to see 
that we had collected 1 3/5 centimeters of water in our rain gauge this 
morning when we did our weather check... before we got some more much needed 
rain in the afternoon.

In math we learned about probability and did a few fun math experiments.  
The probability that we will have fun over spring break is very high!
  
Thank you as always for your help and support! I pray you have an awesome, 
fun, safe Spring Break and enjoy your extra time with your little geckos!

Upcoming Events:

March 12th - 16th: Spring Break - No School 
 
March 21st: Spring Class Pictures @ 10:50

March 21st, 5:30 - 7:30: Chick-Fil-A night @ 620 Location

Thursday, March 22nd @ 9:30: Dowser Dan to visit 2nd grade

Friday, April 6th: Good Friday - no school

Friday, April 20th, 8:15 - 8:45: Red-Carpet Claymation/
 Earth Day Celebration in Cafeteria

3-2-2012

Hi Parents,

We had great week filled with lots of great fun, technology! The highlight 
for me was watching my little friends think like scientists to use technology 
as well as their observation skills to track the weather.  They were beyond 
excited to see that we actually had some rain in our rain gauge earlier this 
week.  They have also been tracking the wind speed, current weather 
temperatures and conditions, as well as looking out the window every day to 
draw a picture that matches the current weather in the sky.  They were so 
happy to finally be able to use their blue crayons today instead of using 
their pencils to draw gray smudgy clouds.  It was the first really sunny 
morning we've had all week.  We will continue tracking the weather next week 
and do a couple of experiments.  In addition, we will also start our study on 
the water cycle.  I have noticed that several of my sweet excited little 
friends are coming to school already aware of the weather forecast for the 
day and/or the remainder of the week Thank you sooo much to those of you who 
have been reinforcing this concept and helping to build a thirst for 
knowledge at home.

In math, we continued working on problem-solving and practicing double-
digit addition.  I am not a lover of worksheets; however, I must admit I 
loved hearing my kiddos say a worksheet was too easy compared to problems I 
give them each morning in our morning math!  I know I've said it many times, 
but I'll say it again... I am sooo proud of how much my little friends have 
grown in math this year!!!!  Next week, we will start a one week unit on 
probability.  Then, after spring break we will start a two week unit on 
geometry.  A note asking for you to help you little gecko collect different 
sized shapes around the house went home in today's News via e-mail, and a 
paper copy of the note will go home in your kiddos' Wednesday folder next 
week.  You will not need to send in the items until the week of March 19th, 
but you are welcome to start collecting them at home now.

In Reader's Workshop your little geckos have been continuing their study 
on author's purpose, and they have been writing for their own various 
purposes in Writer's Workshop.  Their letters to Mrs. Stowe requesting a 
class pet were quite interesting and humorous.  We also squeezed in some work 
on our Claymation film since our real-world purposes for making the film tied 
in so nicely with this week's reading and writing objectives.

Another fun highlight for the kids this week was our Skype visit in the 
library with published children's author Todd Parr.  He read two books to us, 
and then we got to ask him several questions.  We were both entertained and 
informed. *Ü*

Today during E-Slot, we continued working on inserting sound into our 
claymation movie and the kiddos also worked on making posters.  The goal  for 
their posters is to provide informational  tips about recycling, reducing, 
and reusing in an effort to persuade other students in our school to reduce, 
reuse, and recycle.  In addition, our awesome friend, Mrs. Boardman, came and 
took more pictures for the research portion of our movie. What a fun, busy 
morning we had!

Technology and the use of film also made for a fun time in the computer 
lab today. In celebration of Doctor Seuss' birthday, we went to the computer 
lab and listened to Tim Tebow read Green Eggs and Ham on the computer and 
then completed a research/trivia contest for prizes from our fabulous 
librarian, Mrs. Grindle.

Thanks as always for your help and support!  Be sure to check out the 
Wednesday E-Folder for news, events, and updates.

Upcoming Events:

Monday, March 5th: 
Kindergarten Round-Up - Enrolling 2012-2013 Kindergarten Students

Wednesday, March 7th:
* Guest Speaker, Jessica Woods, to return and visit more with our class 
 about conserving natural resources 
* Early Release Day - 12:45 Dismissal

March 12th - 16th: Spring Break - No School 
 
March 20th - 21st: Spring Class Pictures

March 21st, 5:30 - 7:30: Chick-Fil-A night @ 620 Location

Thursday, March 22nd @ 9:30: Dowser Dan to visit 2nd grade

Friday, April 6th: Good Friday - no school

Friday, April 20th, 8:15 - 8:45: Red-Carpet Claymation/
 Earth Day Celebration in Cafeteria

2-24-12

Hi Parents,

We had a short but very busy, fun week.  The highlight of our week for me 
was seeing my little researchers in action in Reader's Workshop as they 
worked in small groups of two or three to read, write and report on 
historical figures.  It's hard for me even me to believe but, yes, seven and 
eight year olds were doing research on their own.  We used the IIM 
(Independent Investigation Method) and the kids did a phenomenal job.  What 
makes me even more happy is that several of my sweet friends CHOSE to 
challenge themselves and do more research this morning during E-Slot on other 
historical figures while I worked with small groups to record their voices 
and insert them into our Lego WeDo math movies.  To say I am proud of my 
little geckos is an understatement.

Speaking of WeDo, their math movies are published and on our class web page 
on the WeDo Lego Math Movies page for them to share with you now.  (I had to 
save them as smaller video files so I would have enough space in my teacher 
web storage, but I will send home a CD or DVD with larger files of their 
movies at the end of the year.)

In math we continued working on double-digit subtraction with regrouping.  
The kids are doing a great job with mastering this concept.  Next week we 
will work on using our problem-solving strategies to solve and create both 
addition and subtraction story problems.

This week in our Writer's Workshop we learned more about media literacy and 
persuasive writing.  We compared magazines and commercials and discussed how 
persuasive advertisers make products look appealing, and when we visited 
PBS.org we discovered that the yummy looking ice cream and hamburgers we see 
in commercials and magazine ads are really not so yummy after all.  Next 
week, we will use our persuasive writing skills to write Mrs. Stowe a letter 
to convince her to let us have a class pet [they should really be writing to 
me ;)] and to write you a letter to persuade you to make them something extra 
yummy for lunch.

Next week in science we will be tracking temperature and weather patterns.  
If any of you take a daily paper and would be willing to share your copies of 
those, that would be great.  You can also help spark interest in science at 
home by discussing the nightly or morning weather reports on your tv or 
computer... or smart phone ;).

Have a great weekend enjoying the beautiful weather, and be sure to check 
out the Wednesday Folder for important news about Wellness Day and more.

Upcoming Events:

Wednesday, February 29th: 
Skype visit with children's book author Todd Parr

Thursday, March 1st: 
3rd Grade's Water to Thrive Book Sale-The book fair will be held in the 
science lab. Most books will be around $1.00. Proceeds from this service 
learning project will be used to help build a water well in Ethiopia.
 
Monday, March 5th: 
Kindergarten Round-Up - Enrolling 2012-2013 Kindergarten Students

Wednesday, March 7th:
* Guest Speaker, Jessica Woods, to return and visit more with our class 
 about conserving natural resources 
* Early Release Day - 12:45 Dismissal

March 12th - 16th: Spring Break - No School 
 
March 20th - 21st: Spring Class Pictures

March 21st, 5:30 - 7:30: Chick-Fil-A night @ 620 Location

Thursday, March 22nd @ 9:30: Dowser Dan to visit 2nd grade

2-17-12

Hi Parents,

We had another marvelous week.  Tuesday was especially fun. I'd like to send 
out a virtual hug and thank you to all of you fabulous parents who sent in 
the Valentine's Day party supplies and a very special thanks to all of you 
awesome moms who showed up to help with the party.  The kids and I had so 
much fun!!!
	
We had another fun morning in E-Slot today, working on claymation and our 
fairy tales.  I think are about finished with taking pictures for the movie, 
and we will be ready to start adding their voices next Friday.  We had some 
water conservationist from Round Rock and Brushy Creek  share information 
with us this week through some very interesting presentations.  They talked 
to us about water conservation and recycling and gave us some great 
information for the research portion of our movie/service learning project.

In math we started our unit on double-digit subtraction with regrouping. Most 
of my young mathematicians grasped the concept right away.  To reinforce 
their double-digit subtraction skills we went to the computer lab to play 
some math games.  I sent the link to one of those games to you via email 
earlier today along with the usernames and passwords your little gecko needs 
to access some of the great educational resources for which Great Oaks has 
subscriptions.

In social studies we finished our research project about Harriet Tubman.  The 
kiddos did a great job picking out the most important facts about her life.  
Much of the information we learned about her is on our second-grade timeline 
in the hallway. There you will also find information on six other famous 
people researched by the other second grade classes.  We will research these 
famous people in our smaller research groups next week.

I had hoped that we would be able to finish adding sound to their double-
digit addition Lego stories this week; however, we had such a fun, busy week 
that we just couldn't finish that project by today.  We hope to get those 
published before next Friday.

I hope you have an awesome 3-day weekend and enjoy spending some extra 
quality time with your favorite little gecko!  See you Tuesday!!

Tammy Joy
    
2-10-12

Hi Parents,

We had an awesome fun week of WeDo, building Lego robots in the computer 
lab to practice our math skills. The kiddos created all kinds of robots 
including ferocious lions that roar, silly monkeys that play the drums,  
hungry alligators who will snap your finger, and so many more.  We finished 
recording all of them, and we finished writing our math stories. We owe a big 
thanks to Mrs. Oliver, Mrs. Boardman, Mrs. Albright, Mrs. Devaney, and 
Weston's Gigi - Mrs. Tipton.  They were a huge help!!! 
   Next week we will work on recording our voices as we read our double-digit 
addition math stories and putting them into our Lego videos. We will also be 
working on double-digit subtraction with regrouping.  Unfortunately, we will 
not get to use the Legos for this unit; we had to pass them on to another 
class. Even though we are sad to see the Legos go, we are also feeling very 
thankful since we are one out of only eight classes at all of Great Oaks who 
get to use the Lego WeDo kits this year.  
   In social studies we are learning about historical figures. Each second 
grade class is researching a different person.  Our class is researching 
Harriet Tubman. At the end of next week, we will put all of our facts in the 
hallway to make a big time line for our research on historical figures.  In 
the weeks ahead we will be working in small groups to research historical 
figures such as Amelia Earhart, Thomas Jefferson, Rosa Parks, George 
Washington, Abe Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Helen Keller, Eleanore Roosevelt, 
and more. We also had a fun program on Tuesday called African Safari!  It was 
so much fun! We are so thankful that PTA brings us such fun educational 
programs.
   In reading we continued working our reading comprehension and also learned 
about fables and folktales.  Many of the kids were very surprised to learn 
the ugly duckling was not a duckling and he wasn’t ugly.  Do you know how the 
chipmunk got his stripes or why we have the sun? We do.
   Our 5th grade buddies came yesterday and made Valentine Baskets with us.  
Today in E-Slot we made Valentine cards for them.  The kiddos in the scene 3 
group also took pictures for Claymation with some extra help from Mrs. 
Boardman. Next week we have two guest speakers who will talk to us about 
recycling and conserving water.  They are going to help us with our research 
for our Claymation movie.  This service learning project is coming along very 
nicely!!
   Even though my little friends might have had more fun this week than any 
other week this year so far, I know my little friends are already looking 
forward to next week's Valentine's Day party. Thank you so much to those of 
you who have already sent in items for the party.  Thank you in advance to 
those of you who will send in items next week and/or help Mrs. Albright with 
the party.  You all did a wonderful job with the Winter party, I have no 
doubt Tuesday is going to awesome, too.

Have a great weekend.  Be sure to check the Wednesday folder and Great 
Oaks Calendar for upcoming events.

Tammy Joy
     
2-3-2012

Hi Parents,

We had another terrific week! Our favorite part was by far working in the 
computer lab all week on WeDo.  The kiddos are writing math stories and then 
using the Lego WeDo computer program make their robots move and act out the 
stories. It is pretty awesome!!!! I am soooo amazed at how tech savvy today's 
children are and how quickly they catch on.  The kids are doing a fabulous 
job; however, we couldn't get by without a little help from these awesome 
ladies: Mrs. Albright, Mrs. Oliver, Mrs. Boardman, and Gigi for helping us 
out!  We will continue with this awesome fun next week, and I hope to be 
posting their videos by the end of the week.

We also worked on Claymation today.  We took pictures for scene two today.  
We will continue working on this each Friday until we are done.  It is going 
great!! I can't wait till we are finished and they can show off their hard 
work, but it will still be at least three months before that day comes.  Save 
the date for Friday, April 20th! We will have our Claymation Celebration in 
the cafeteria that morning for E-Slot.

We have still been reading fairy tales and working on our comprehension in 
reading.  Next week, we are going to read fables and continue working on 
sharpening our comprehension skills. Thank you for working with your kiddo at 
home, too.  I am very proud of the growth I am seeing in my little friends' 
reading skills.

In science we learned more about natural resources and had a scavenger 
hunt.  In social studies we talked more about the past, present, and future. 
We had some very interesting ideas presented for what we think schools will 
look like in the future.  Next week, we will start researching historical 
figures.

The week after next we will have our Valentine's party.  I sent out a class 
list with names earlier today, and I will also send out a hard copy of the 
names on Wednesday in the Wednesday folders.

Have a great weekend!!

Don't forget to check the Wednesday folder for more news and upcoming 
events.

Tammy Joy

1/27/2012

Hi Parents,

We had a wonderful fabulous fun week - maybe our best yet! I think my 
favorite part of the week has been watching my little friends working so hard 
on their Fractured Fairy Tale Puppet Shows this week.  They are so cute but 
so funny to watch.  They are so excited about performing their fairy tales 
for the class… almost as excited as they are about our Claymation movie. We 
took the pictures for scene 1 today during E-Slot and continued working on 
their fairy tales. I think we have a few hams in our class. *Ü*

We worked on fractions again this week.  Today in the computer lab they 
used Kid Pix to write stamp or sticker stories. The kids are making such 
progress in math. The kiddos are very excited about the 100th day of school.  
It is on Wednesday next week.  We are asking the kiddos to bring baggies of 
100 small objects to use in writing and solving double-digit addition stories 
with regrouping. Don’t forget next Wednesday we also have an early release 
day.

In science, we are still learning about natural resources. On our rainy 
day we had fresh water falling from the sky, and it was the perfect day to 
share some of my beautiful blue salt-water pictures with dolphins and other 
sea creatures from the Caribbean.

Most of all, they are excited about WeDo for next week. We are going to be 
making movies with Lego robots!!! Thank you so much to those of you who have 
signed up to help.  If you would like to sign up, please sign up on our class 
website.  The password was sent to you again via email on Friday.

Hoping you have a fabulous weekend,
Tammy

Upcoming Events:
Feb 1st: Early Release 12:45 dismissal
	 Progress Reports go home in the Wednesday Folder
February 7th: Special Assembly for African American History at 9:45  
February 14th: Valentine's Day Party 
February 20th: Staff Development/ Student Holiday

1/13/2012
Hi Parents,

We had a fabulous week at school.  Here are some of the highlights from our 
week.

*  In social studies we have been studying past, present, and future.  In 
addition to realizing how old I am and how many things I used as kid are no 
longer around, we used something from the past called a VCR to watch a very 
interesting video about MLK. :) We had some great discussions about what our 
country might be like if it were not for people like Martin Luther King Jr. 
who tried to make a our country and our communities a better place.

* We have been working on poetry in writing.  The students have been working 
on two poems this week.  Their winter poems, which are similar to the Autumn 
poems, are hanging in the hallway.  In addition, they worked in the computer 
lab today to type up their funny friendship poems and will finish them on 
Tuesday next week.  I will start posting them on our class website's student 
work page later next week.

*  In math we have been studying fractions.  The kids are doing a fabulous 
job since we got a head start on them by comparing fractions with coins in 
our morning math each week.  The kiddos made some interesting pizzas in math 
to show fractional parts.

*  Thank you to all of you who were able to show up for Math Night.  I hope 
you had fun. You can access many of the games at home from our website at 
http://schools.roundrockisd.org/greatoaks/grade_2_mathnight.aspx 
  
*  In E-Slot today the kids made posters for the Souper Bowl of Caring which 
kicks off next Monday on MLK day and wraps up on Friday, February 3rd. We 
will put up our posters around the building next week to remind everyone to 
bring food for the food drive.  Your help in helping us collect food items 
for this event is greatly appreciated.

*  Of course there is no school on Monday as it is a holiday.  But, I do hope 
some of you will be able to come to the MLK event at Great Oaks Elementary 
from 10:00 - 12:00.

*  In order to ensure that our students are prepared for third grade, 
beginning January 23rd all of second grade is going to begin giving weekly 
spelling tests every Friday.  The tests will also include a dictation section 
that will contain 2nd grade sight words as well as words from the current 
week OR previous weeks.  The teacher will pick ten - twelve words off of the 
sort for the test so students are encouraged to study all words in order to 
understand and apply the weekly spelling rule.  The students in our class 
have already been doing this ALL year in their Word Work Notebooks, so the 
only change you will see at home is that the graded tests will now come home 
in the Wednesday Folder instead of staying in your child's WW Notebook.

*  From January 30th to February 10th our class will be using the WeDo 
robotics kits to create and model math stories.  The children will actually 
be using a computer program to direct the motion of the lego robots that they 
make.  I would love to have some parent volunteers on Tuesday, January 31st, 
and Thursday, February 2nd, and then again on Tuesday, February 7th, and 
Thursday February 8th, from 9:45 - 10:45 to help the kids build their robots 
and create the motion sequences in the computer program.  If you are willing 
and able to help, pleeeeeeeeeeease let me know.

*  I know it's very early, but I am already posting a sign up for the 
Valentine's party on Tuesday, February 14th.  The password was sent to you 
via email on Friday, January 13th.  Thank you in advance for signing up to 
contribute supplies and/or goodies for your child's Valentine's Party.  It 
will be held from 1:30-2:30 pm.

Thank you for your continued help and support!!!
Have a wonderful weekend!!

Calendar:
Monday: MLK Day of Service from 10:00 -noon; School Holiday

Around the Corner:
January 26: Science Night hosted by 5th grade
January 30 - Feb. 10 We Do Robotics during math time
February 1:  Progress Reports go home for midpoint of 3rd nine week grading 
period
February 1: Early Release - 12:45 dismissal
February 14: Valentine's Party 1:30 -2:30 in the classroom

12/16/2011                                                      
Hi Parents,

We had a very merry week filled with lots of fun holiday events. But, before 
I share the details of our week, I'd like to give a few shout outs to you!!!

I'd like to start with a big thank you for the sweet gifts you sent with your 
children this week! You truly spoiled me, and I am truly thankful for your 
kindness and generosity.

The kids and I owe a very big thanks to Mrs. Albright who planned the 
Christmas party.  The party was very well organized, and the kids had soooo 
much fun playing games.   Ask your little gecko about the snowball fight.  It 
was hilarious. I'd also like to give a big shout out to all of the parents 
who helped provide the yummy snacks and treats for the party.   You really 
came through!!! *Ü*

As I already stated, we had a very merry week. It was so packed with fun that 
we never found time today for Newsbooks.  I can't tell you about the two 
secret gifts that the kiddos are supposed to put under the tree for you; 
however, I can share some of the details about our week with you.

Our biggest event this week was comparing media literacy to other forms of 
literacy.  We read the Elf on the Shelf, Olive the Other Reindeer, The 
Grinch, and Polar Express.  Then, we compared some of the print versions to 
some of the G Rated film versions.  The Polar Express was by far our 
favorite, and we drank some yummy hot cocoa while we watched it.  But, before 
the movie started we had a very special delivery from the North Pole.  Santa 
had Rudolph make a special delivery to our school, and he sent us some jingle 
bells.  Rudolph flew sooooo fast to get them here to our school that the 
jingle bells were still ice cold when we got them.  After making his long 
trip again on Christmas Eve, I'm sure Rudolph will be very happy to see the 
special Reindeer Food that I gave the kids to put out for him and the other 
reindeer on Christmas Eve.

We also did a lot of writing this week around the books and movies that we 
watched.  The kids have some cute letters to the Grinch about his bad choice 
to steal presents from the Whos in Whoville.  We are proud of him for giving 
the presents back, but we all agree that he should treat people the way he 
wants to be treated. :)

In math we continued practicing our problem-solving skills with some holiday 
themed math problems.  I continue to be amazed at how much my little friends 
are improving with both solving the problems and explaining their thinking.

On a side note, I would also like to mention that I received a very special 
call today from Scholastic.  (Yes, the same people who publish all those 
books we buy at the book fair and Barnes and Noble and everywhere else that 
you buy children's books) Some how they found last year's Claymation movie on 
my class website.  They are going to put the movie on their interactive 
website.  I mention this because I told the kids about it... and I want you 
to know it is the bullying/friendship movie from last year... not this year.  
This year's movie is still in production. But, wow! What great news!!! I am 
so proud of the way our school approaches service learning!!! I feel so 
blessed to be a part of Great Oaks.  I am looking forward even more now to 
getting back to work on this year's Claymation project!  Thank you for 
everything you continue to do to support our efforts to educate the 
children's minds and hearts!!!

Wishing you and your sweet families a very very Merry Christmas and blessed 
new year!!

Upcoming Events

* December 19-30: School Closed: Winter Holidays 
* January 2: Student Holiday; Teacher Workday/Staff Development
* January 2 -9: Mrs. Joy is gone; please call the office if you need to get 
  in touch with Mrs. Thomas.
* January 3: Classes resume for students: First Day of 2nd Semester 
                      STAAR Information Meeting for Parents, 
                      Library 8:00 a.m. or 6:00 p.m.

<align="right">12/9/2011 </align="right">

Hi Parents,

We had another fun week and continued enjoying some holiday fun. We are 
almost finished with our secret holiday projects.

Here are some of the highlights from our fun, busy week:

* Our most exciting event is most likely getting our Elf on the Shelf.  Most  
  of the kids are trying very hard to be extra good knowing that Santa has 
  sent a scout elf to report on their good behavior.

* In the computer lab we continued working on making our powerpoint slides on 
  our pilgrim dolls.

* We made snowman bookmarks during Reader's Workshop and read some fun 
  holiday stories about Santa Claus and his family and helpers.

* The kiddos made adorable gingerbread houses to hold their Secret Pal 
  notes.  I will deliver the first notes tonight, and they will be waiting on 
  the kiddos's desks when they come in on Monday morning.  The kids are very 
  excited!!!

* We enjoyed listening to the Cedar Valley Middle School choir sing holiday 
  songs to us on Wednesday.

* We started our study on rocks in science; we will continue studying rocks 
  after the new year.

* In math we have been reviewing counting money and working on solving 
  holiday-themed story problems.  We will review telling time next week.

* Our pajama and book drive is still going on.  We have only collected three 
  pairs of pajamas and two books in our class so far, but we are hopeful that 
  we can bring in more next week.   The drive ends on Wednesday.

* Today during E-Slot we made Christmas cards for our soldiers and our 
  5th grade buddies. We are getting together with our buddies on Tuesday to 
  read our favorite holiday stories.

Upcoming Events:

December 13: GOE Junior Choir Concert 6:30 p.m. Cafeteria 
December 15: Polar Express/Read-in/Pajama Day - 
 Please refer to the note and/or email that went out on 
 Wednesday with more details. Please do consider picking up a 
 pair of pjs and a book for the pajama drive when you are out 
 shopping for your little gecko.
December 16: Class Holiday Party at about 1:30 - 
 Thank you soooooooo much to those of you who signed up to 
 bring items for the party AND/OR for our Polar Express Day. 
 A note from Mrs. Albright went home on Monday with info 
 about the party.
December 19-30: School Closed: Winter Holidays 
January 2: Student Holiday; Teacher Workday/Staff Development
January 3: Classes resume for students: First Day of 2nd Semester 
 STAAR Information Meeting for Parents 
 in the Library 8:00 a.m. or 6:00 p.m.

12/2/2012        
                                                           
Hi Parents,

We had another fun week, and we have already started enjoying some holiday 
fun. To say the kids are excited about the things we have coming up in the 
next couple of weeks is an understatement.

Here are some of the highlights from our fun, busy week:

• We started collecting new pajamas and books for our pajama drive
• A fantastic visit from awesome Austin author Liz Scanlon who talked to us   
  about being a writer
• Reading some fun Gingerbread stories in Reader's Workshop and making a mini 
  book to recall the important details
• Writing Gingerbread stories in Writer's Workshop
• Practicing double-digit addition with regrouping in math
• Playing a fun game of Four in a Row to practice our mental math strategies
• Typing, experimenting with font, and inserting pictures into powerpoint  
  slides about our pilgrim dolls in the computer lab
• Learning how to use the computer to help us find a book in the GOE library
• Having a guest speaker and learning a little about some of the things 
  someone not born in the US must do to become a US citizen
• Listening to music in the cafeteria - I know the Watch Dogs will appreciate 
  this one *Ü*
• Making SECRET holiday projects - Hmmm. Our carpet at school looks a little 
  shiny, too ;)
•PTA movie night tonight featuring the Smurfs

Please don't forget to check the E-Folder for important notes!!!!

Upcoming Events:
December 2: PTA Sponsored Family Movie Night 
 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. in GOE Cafeteria 
December 7: Cedar Valley Choir Performs for GOE 9:00 and 9:30 a.m. 
 Chick-fil-A School Spirit Night 
 Early Release Day, Students Dismissed at 12:45 
December 8: Holiday Lunch for 1st Grade, 3rd Grade, 5th Grade 
 (Our lunch time is 11:30 instead of 11:45 on this day.)
December 13: GOE Junior Choir Concert 6:30 p.m. Cafeteria 
December 15: Polar Express/Read-in/Pajama Day - 
 Don't forget to pick up a pair of pjs and a book for the pajama 
 drive when you are out shopping for your little gecko.
December 16: Class Holiday Party at about 1:30 - There is a sign up page on 
 our class website and a note from Mrs. Albright will go home 
 next week with info about the party.
December 19-30: School Closed: Winter Holidays 
January 2: Student Holiday; Teacher Workday/Staff Development
January 3: Classes resume for students: First Day of 2nd Semester 
 STAAR Information Meeting for Parents in Library 
 8:00 a.m. or 6:00 p.m.

November 21, 2011
Hi Parents,

I will be out tomorrow.  My husband's 91 year old grandmother, Mee Mog, died 
yesterday, and we are going to be trying to help Ron's parents with funeral 
arrangements as we love on our family and celebrate Mee Mog's long, blessed 
life and her going Home.

I have left some Thanksgiving themed activities for tomorrow that I hope the 
kiddos will enjoy.

I pray you have a happy and safe Thanksgiving break and enjoy some quality 
time with your little geckos.

Counting my family as well as you and your sweet children and a pumpkin pie 
delivered early in my top-ten on my list of blessings,*Ü*

Tammy

November 18, 2011

Hi Parents,

We had another very busy fun week. Below is a list of some of our favorite 
things that happened this week:

* We got several great new books from the book fair for our classroom 
  library.  Thank you to those of you who were able to contribute.
* We can not all agree on the food at the Thanksgiving Day luncheon, but most 
  of the kids said the pie was their favorite part.
* Most of the students finished their Turkey Stories in Writers' Workshop.  
  The stories did not fly out into the hallway for all to see - sorry.  We   
  are going to be reading them out loud next week for our  read aloud time on 
   Monday and Tuesday next week.  The kiddos will take them home on Tuesday 
   along with their scarecrow stories.
* We discussed cause and effect in Readers' Workshop this week and read lots 
  and lots of Thanksgiving stories.
* In social studies we learned about how the Native Americans helped the 
  pilgrims, and we took a virtual field trip to a museum called Plimoth 
  Plantation thanks to the folks at Scholastic.  It was awesome!!!  You and 
  your family can check it out at 
  http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/ There were some actors 
  dressed in period costume who pretended to be pilgrims and Wampanoags. I 
  don't think any of us would trade our nice warm houses for the houses they 
  lived in back then or want to eat eel.
* In math we have been working on double-digit addition with regrouping.  We 
  also played some games in the computer lab today to practice our math   
  skills.
* We started building our set for our claymation movie today.  We should 
  finish on Friday, December 2nd.  That would mean we can start taking   
  pictures on December 9th.  The kids will be working on some top secret  
  holiday projects that day while I take the pictures for the characters who  
  are in the movie for each scene.... so, I am taking back my request for 
  parent help with the pictures.  I think we will be fine - and this will 
  allow the kids to work on their project without spoiling your surprises.

Upcoming Events
* Don't forget the Pilgrim Doll projects are due on Monday, November 21st; 
 thank you for your help!!! I hope you are enjoying it. NO homework for next 
 week :)
*Wednesday - Friday, November 23, 24, 25: Thanksgiving Holiday 
*Thursday, December 1st: Author Liz Scanlon to visit
*Friday, December 2nd: PTA movie night
*Wednesday, December 7th: Early Release Day - 12:45 dismissal
*Tuesday, December 13th: Junior Choir Concert at 6:30 - more details will be 
 going home from Mrs. West later.
*Thursday, December 15th: Polar Express/Pajama Day and Flashlight Read-in- I 
 will be sending out a request for cocoa, 16 ounce Styrofoam cups, mini-
 marshmallows, peppermint candy canes, as well as supplies and treats for 
 the Winter Holidays party later. If anyone knows how to make a great cup 
 of cocoa and wants to bring that, let me know; otherwise I will just ask 
 for someone to bring 20 packages of instant cocoa. I have a coffee pot at 
 home that I can bring and use to heat up the water.
*Friday, December 16th: Winter Holidays party from around 1:30 - 2:30 Our 
 awesome room moms will be asking for volunteers to help set up the 
 classroom (between 12:45 and 1:30) for the party while the kiddos are in 
 the computer lab.

Have a blessed weekend,
Tammy

11/11/2011

Hi Parents,

Wow! What a busy, fun week we had.   Every day was filled with fun and 
learning, but I’m sure most of the kiddos would agree today was the best! 
They are soooo excited about the Book Fair and eager to show you their Wish 
Lists that they wrote at our Book Fair Preview today.  We saw lots of awesome 
books that we would love to add to our libraries.   Don’t forget our day to 
go shopping as a class is Tuesday November 15th, from 1:00 - 1:20. Students 
can also go shopping anytime with a parent on Tuesday or Wednesday during 
book fair hours 8:20 - 2:40.

Most of the kiddos finished their scarecrow stories this week during Writer’s 
Workshop.  I will be hanging their cute stories out in the hallway next week 
along with their adorable scarecrow glyphs.  The kids are really improving as 
writers, and I am very proud of the growth I am seeing in each of them. Who 
knows, maybe one day I will be buying one of their books at a book fair!

We wrapped our unit on patterns in math this week.  My little friends amazed 
me with how well they did on their problem-solving tasks! Some of them even 
complained that one of the problems I gave them this week (which is supposed 
to be a challenge) was too easy!  Next week we will work to improve our 
problem-solving strategies while using and improving addition and subtraction 
skills.
	
In science we learned about force, friction, and motion.  We did two fun 
experiments with spinning and sliding. We had a “rolling” good time on the 
ramp in the hallway.

In Reader’s Workshop we worked on making connections with different kinds of 
text and discussed the different types of text features.  The kiddos are 
doing such a great job making text-to-text connections, and their fluency and 
comprehension skills are improving as well!!  Thank you for reading with your 
kiddos every night at home! I know they love spending that quality time with 
you, and I appreciate your extra support.

Next week, we will start our unit on settlement patterns in social studies.  
As part of this unit the kiddos will have a special homework project in which 
they will be decorating old fashioned clothes pins to look like pilgrims… but 
not the ordinary pilgrim that you see in Thanksgiving decorations – no, we 
would like each kid to decorate a clothes pin like a pilgrim so that it 
is “dressed” to match your family’s heritage – or at least part of it.  I 
will send you a couple of pictures of some examples so you will know what the 
finished project might look like.  The end product turns out very cute, but 
the understanding the children gain of their own heritage as well as the 
heritage of their fellow classmates through this project is really the best 
part of this unit.

Thank you in advance for your continued support and for partnering with me to 
educate your child’s mind and heart, especially this week as we honored our 
veterans and the next couple of weeks ahead as we work together to help your 
kiddos learn about their heritage.

Calendar:
Monday: First Grade Service Learning Project: Food Drive for RR 
Serving Center Continues ...If you have not had a chance, please think about 
bringing a donation for the collection barrels. The pantry shelves are close 
to empty.

Tuesday: Holiday Lunches for TWC, K, 2nd, 4th (Our special lunch time 
is 11:30 - 12:00.)

Tuesday: Reflections Awards 7:00 p.m. in the Cafeteria

Tuesday and Wednesday: Book Fair

Wednesday: Progress Reports for current grading period

Around the Corner:
November 23, 24, 25: Thanksgiving Holiday

Have a blessed weekend!!!
Tammy Joy
                                                               11/4/2011

Hi Parents,

We had another fun, busy week at school.  Here are some talking points for 
some of the things that happened this week:

•Our science experiment with magnets and buried treasure (magnetic, 
  nonmagnetic, attract, and repel)
•Two experiments about light
•Beautiful autumn poems hanging in the hallway
•Making patterns in math with cube buildings and paper clips
•Deciding what our Claymation set will look like and what materials we need – 
  Barbie food, plates & cups, Legos to build tables and benches; the kids are 
  planning to bring in those items no later than Friday, November 18th
•Making music and duck noises with dancing kangaroos in the computer lab as 
  we practiced our key boarding skills

Things we are excited about for the upcoming weeks:

•Veteran's Day Celebration - Pppplease don't forget to send in pictures for 
  the Wall of Honor of your favorite veteran's! Thank you to those of you who 
  have signed up to bring breakfast items.  
•Book Fair - We have a preview on Friday, November 11th, from 1:00 - 1:20, 
  and our day to go shopping as a class is Tuesday, November 15th,from        
  1:00 - 1:20. Students can also go shopping anytime with a parent on Tuesday 
  or Wednesday during book fair hours 8:20 - 2:40.

Calendar:
Reflections contest: Diversity means... - Projects are due no later than 
 Monday, November 7th
First Grade Service Learning Project: Food Drive for RR Serving Center

Around the Corner:
November 8: TAG Information Night
November 11: Veterans Day Program 8:15 - 9:00 in the Cafeteria; Veteran's 
Day breakfast in the Science Lab (Rm 509) 8:45 - 9:15
November 15: Holiday Lunches for TWC, K, 2nd, 4th; our time is 11:30 - 12:00 
November 15: Reflections Awards 7:00 p.m. in the Cafeteria
November 15-16: Book Fair 8:20 - 2:40
November 16: Progress Reports for current grading period
November 23, 24, 25: Thanksgiving Holiday

Blessed beyond measure,
Tammy Joy

10/29/11
Wow Parents!

What an awesome turn out we had for today's clean up at the Brushy Creek 
Clean Up!  I am so proud of my little geckos!!!  Who knew picking up trash on 
a cool Saturday morning could be so much fun!!! Thank you, parents, for 
leading by example and encouraging my little friends to make a difference in 
their community.

Inspired and grateful,
Tammy Joy
                                                                    10/28/2011
Hi Parents,

We had a great week of fun and learning.  I think my favorite part of the 
week was watching my little TV stars in action as they made a short Public 
Service Announcement video to persuade students at Great Oaks to attend the 
clean up for the Brushy Creek water ways.  When you see their movie, you will 
know why I lovvvvvve my class and bouncy castles, too.

We tried making our film in the library on Tuesday with the KGOE “green 
screen”, but there was a problem with the sound.  The kids were a little 
disappointed the next day when I told them the microphone didn’t work and our 
movie was not going to be on KGOE that day… until I told them we would just 
have to try again.  Then, my little hams were jumping for joy.  We ended up 
making the movie in our classroom thanks to some help from our friend Mr. 
Weiler, and we were able to get everybody in it at the end. They all did such 
a great job, and they know it!!!  One of my little starlets even said she was 
going to make an autograph book so she could get everybody’s autographs.  *Ü*

Tuesday’s field trip to Pepper Rock Park for the Box Top Celebration was so 
much fun.  I hope you enjoyed the pictures I sent you by e-mail on Tuesday.  
We are so thankful for the help you gave us by sending in those Box Tops and 
other labels as well as for the extra help you gave us on our way to the park 
and back.

We took our writing benchmarks on Wednesday.  I am eager to grade them this 
weekend and see how much progress my young authors have made.  On Thursday, 
we made lemonade and wrote “how-to” papers.  We had a great time with reading 
their directions and trying to literally follow them.  Today, we worked on 
writing and editing our autumn poems.  They are sounding beautiful and 
looking fabulous.  With the cool front, today was a perfect day for writing 
about autumn. I am hopeful that we will be publishing these masterpieces in 
the hallway on Tuesday.  Our cute spider diamantes from last week should come 
home this Wednesday.

We began our unit on patterns this week in math.  We had a fun lesson with 
additive patterns.  I was very pleased with how quickly most of the kids 
caught on to the rules of making them.  We will continue working with 
patterns in tables next week.

We learned about sound in science this week.  We did a fun experiment on 
vibrations and pitch with soda cans and watched a Magic School Bus movie.  
Ms. Frizzle is sooo smart!!!

For E-Slot today, we teamed up with the rest of second grade to do our part 
for the second grade service learning project for Veteran’s Day.  With some 
help from Weston’s Gigi and Noah’s mom, Lisa, we were able to make lots and 
lots of chains to decorate the hallway.  We also owe a huge thanks to Ema’s 
mom, Xenia DeVaney, for cutting all of the red, white, and blue strips in 
advance for our chains!  A note with more information about the Veteran’s Day 
event went out through the e-folder this week.  I will send more information 
about this project next week.

Thank you so much to those of you who are planning to join me tomorrow for 
the Brushy Creek Clean Up.  I know the weather is going to be a little colder 
than what we have gotten accustomed to these last several months, but the 
kids who have said they are coming are sooooo excited.  I can tell it means a 
lot to them to know you support them and take an interest in what they think 
is important.  My hubby, Ron, and I will see you there at 9:00.

Calendar:
Reflections contest continues.  Diversity means....
First Grade Service Learning Project: Food Drive for RR Serving Center 
Wednesday: Site-based Advisory Team Meeting - Library 3:15 - 4:30

Around the Corner:
November! Book fair, holiday lunches, Thanksgiving holidays!  Good times, and 
busy times, ahead!
November 8: TAG Information Night
November 9:Campus Leadership Meeting: Data Analysis  - location moved to the 
science lab * DATE CHANGED
November 11: Veterans Day Program  8:15 - 9:00 in the Cafeteria
November 15: Holiday Lunches for TWC, K, 2nd, 4th  
November 15: Reflections Awards 7:00 p.m. in the Cafeteria
November 15-16: Book Fair
November 16: Progress Reports for current grading period
November 23, 24, 25: Thanksgiving Holiday

Hi Parents,

I hope you had as much fun this week as we did.  The kids worked so hard and 
did a great job, especially in math and writing.

As you know we were one of the winners for the Box Tops contest this 9 
weeks.  Thanks to your help, we raised almost $100 for our school and have 
won a field trip to Pepper Rock Park!  We chose to go on Tuesday, since we 
are keeping our fingers crossed that the weather man's prediction for rain is 
correct for Thursday and Friday.  Wednesday was out since it is an early 
release day.  A permission slip should be in your child's homework folder 
tonight.  I also sent out a digital copy earlier today through email and a 
copy of the note can also be found on the notes page of our class website.   
Please return your child's form signed and completed on Monday.  If you are 
interested in coming along, please email me and plan on meeting us here in 
our classroom at 1:45 on Tuesday. 
	
Speaking of enjoying parks and much needed rain, today in our enrichment hour 
my sweet little friends continued working on our recycling/water conservation 
claymation service learning project and made posters for next weekend's 
Brushy Creek Clean-Up.  We posted our posters around the school today after E-
Slot in places we thought they would best be seen.  The kids didn't know it, 
but they were working on persuasive writing *Ü*.   They are also going to 
make a short PSA video on Tuesday in the library with Mrs. Grindle to 
encourage others to join us and help clean up the Brushy Creek waterways.  
Mrs. Grindle will play their video on KGOE next week to promote the clean-up. 
This cleanup event will be held from 9AM to 11:30AM on Saturday, October 
29th. There are badges to be earned for boy scouts and girl scouts... hint, 
hint.  Snacks will also be provided, and there will be a bouncy castle at the 
end for the kids who participate.  The event starts at the Creekside Park at 
4300 Brushy Creek Road.  We will wear our blue class shirts and meet at the 
park playground for a safety orientation where we will be given supplies and 
directions to the area we will be cleaning.  I am hoping several of you can 
join me.  (For their safety, children who are coming must be accompanied by a 
parent or another adult friend or adult family member who can monitor the 
safety of the child.) A flyer with more information was sent out via email on 
Friday, and it can also be found on the notes page.

In math this week, my brainy mathematical friends worked on making and 
interpreting graphs.  Each student made and conducted their own tally chart 
survey on Monday.  Then, we used those surveys all week long to study 
graphs.  Our bar graphs along with statements about our data are currently 
proudly hanging out in the second-grade hallway; our pictographs will be out 
there the week after next week after we finish presenting them to our 
classmates in our morning math meetings.  We will use the data from the other 
tally mark surveys each week to keep our graphing skills sharp.  I am 
extremely proud of the teamwork the students used to make their graphs this 
week and amount of effort they put forward.  As always, I continue to be 
amazed each week with their improvement in problem-solving and explaining 
their mathematical thinking.  Mrs. Stowe stopped by on Thursday and stayed 
for our graphing lesson. She, too, was pleased with their efforts.

The students are also very proud of their cute spiders and spider diamante 
poems that they made this week during Writer's Workshop.  Those will be on 
display next week, too.  We also worked to write our hooks this week for our 
scarecrow stories.  Next week, we will work on setting the scene.  In 
addition, we will work on writing procedural text.  I can't wait to see what 
they say about how to make lemonade.

We had many fun moments this week, but using their cardinal directions to 
find treasure on Wednesday was probably a favorite of many of my little 
pirates.  I'd like to give a big shout out to Ema's fabulous mom, Xenia 
Devaney, for putting the treasure bags together and to Noah's terrific first 
mate, Lisa Boardman, for guiding my tiny buccaneers around the school.  No 
one had to walk the plank, everyone got to keep their treasure, and according 
to Mrs. Boardman they did a terrific job of reading their treasure maps and 
navigating their way to their treasure.

We also went to the computer lab this afternoon and took our first AR test(s) 
to check our comprehension. This was after another Brain Food Cafe and our 
Friday's Friend, Ema Ann, showed off her guinea pig, Spike.  He was sooo 
adorable... don't be surprised if you see a guinea pig on your kiddo's 
Christmas wish list.

Next week during E-Slot we will work on making patriotic chains to hang in 
the main hallway during the week of October 31st to celebrate Veteran's Day.  
If you would like to help us with making these, we would greatly appreciate 
your help as we have a lot to make. Enrichment hour starts around 8:00 on 
Friday.  Just bring your staplers.  The kids will be using staplers instead 
of glue since we have so many to make, and it would be nice to have some 
extra eyes on duty.  We will have our own little assembly lines going with 
the chains, and depending on how many parent helpers we have, we may have a 
station to make patriotic place mats.

In addition to making patriotic decorations for the week of Veteran's Day, 
second grade would also like to ask our fellow teachers and students to help 
us create a Wall of Honor for the family members of GOE students, faculty, 
and staff that are currently serving or have served in the military.

We are asking our GOE families to share copies of (not original) pictures of 
their family members who have served or are currently serving in the 
military.  We would like to post these pictures in the main hallway along 
with a 3x5 note card below the picture that gives information about that 
veteran or service member. If you do not have a picture but would still like 
to help us honor your family member(s), there will be a paper star going out 
later that you and your child can decorate.  The stars will be used by our 
fabulous 5th grade students to make a banner for the Veteran's Day 
celebration.  Of course, we would love for you to do both projects.

Speaking of prized possessions and dearly loved family members, I hope you 
have an awesome weekend enjoying your little ones.

Thank you in advance for your continued support in educating your child’s 
mind and heart.

Below are some upcoming events:

Calendar:
Reflections contest continues. Diversity means....

October 11th - 25th: Coins for Coats Fund-raiser

October 24th - 28th: Red Ribbon Week
  Monday: Decorate Your Shoes Day.  “I’m walking through life drug free.
  Tuesday: Mix and Match Day.  “Drugs and I don’t mix or match.
  Wednesday: Dress for Your Future Day. “Drugs have no place in my future."
  Thursday: Crazy Socks Day.  “Sock it to drugs.”
  Friday: Team Shirt Day. “I’m teaming-up against drugs.”

Tuesday October 25th: Library day and Walking Fieldtrip

Wednesday, October 26th: Early Release and Campus Planning/Staff Development

Saturday, October 29th: Brushy Creek Clean-Up

First Grade Service Learning Project Continues: Food Drive for the RR Serving 
Center - Watch for Details!

Around the Corner:
Friday, November 11th: Veteran's Day Celebration

Monday, November 14th - 16th GOE book fair in the library

Looking forward to many more fun learning adventures,

Tammy Joy
<a href="mailto:tammy_joy@roundrockisd.org">e-mail</a>

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