Enjoy your Thanksgiving

Families,

Report cards for the first trimester are now available for you to view on PowerSchool. If you haven't created a PowerSchool login, you'll need to do so in order to view your child's grades. Parents without access to the internet can come to CJE and use one of our computers.

Our bread making day was a huge success!! Students learned about the science involved with yeast and rising bread. Many were surprised to learn that yeast is a living cell. All 23 loaves were baked to perfection. We also made butter with heavy whipping cream. It took hours of shaking our Mason jars, but the end result was delicious. Students brought home a copy of the recipe we used today. You'll be amazed at how easy (an inexpensive) making bread at home can be!

 Students were not given a homework packet, but were reminded to read for at least 20 minutes as many days as possible. November reading calendars are due on Monday, December 1. I hope you all enjoy your Thanksgiving break. Safe travel wishes to those of you venturing off during the next week.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mrs. Hoschouer

Inclement Weather and Snow Days

Here's a note from West Ada School District:

With the start of winter storms, West Ada School District is again planning and ready for the possibility of school closures. The decision to close schools is a process that is not taken lightly by the district. As storms approach, district staff monitors weather forecasts to be prepared to check road conditions during the night and into the early morning before the start of school. If school is cancelled because of poor road conditions, information about the closure will be posted on the district web site and local media will also be notified.

The decision to close school needs to be made between 5 AM and 6 AM on the morning that school will be closed in order to have adequate time to alert parents, students, staff and the community of the school closure.

Important Info. and Updates

Second Grade Families,

          This week students will not bring home a homework packet. Students will not have spelling words this week either. Students will receive their new spelling words for next week on Friday, November 14. Please continue to encourage your child to read 20 minutes each night and track their reading on their November reading calendar. Also, students should complete their turkey in disguise and return it tomorrow. Finally, if your child has not returned their bread day slips that came home last week, please do so as soon as possible. Volunteers are still needed for the morning from 9:25-10:45 am and in the afternoon from 3:00-3:50 pm on Friday, November 21.

 

 

Turkeys in Disguise

Dear Families,

        Thanksgiving is just around the corner and you know what that means…turkeys everywhere are going into hiding. Yes, that’s right! Turkeys will do just about anything to avoid being your Thanksgiving meal. Help Tom Turkey survive this Thanksgiving by creating a disguise.

        Your child will bring home a blank turkey template on Friday, November 8. Please help this turkey make it safely past Thanksgiving by disguising him through the holiday he fears the most! Turkeys that have made it through in the past have been dressed like ballerinas, football players, farmers, hula dancers, Elvis, snowmen, Spiderman, a princess, Santa, and even yours truly, Mrs. Hoschouer.

Your main focus is to dress your turkey in attire that will help him blend in with your family so he will go unnoticed at the Thanksgiving table!

Please have fun and be creative! You may use anything you can think of to decorate. Turkeys in the past have been decorated with crayons, macaroni, craft feathers, tissue paper, wallpaper scraps, dried beans, rice, clothes and shoes cut from newspaper ads, ribbons, fabric scraps, etc.

Please follow these directions when disguising your turkey:

1. Cut out the turkey

2. Decide how to disguise him

3. Have fun decorating

Turkeys are due no later than Thursday, November 13, 2014.

 

Thanks and have fun! See below for some examples.

 

 

Field Trip

Families,

A permission slip for our field trip to The Discovery Center on November 12 will come home tomorrow. Please sign and return it (along with a $3 donation if possible) at your earliest convenience. I have space for 1 more chaperone. Let me know if you're interested. The first to respond gets to go!

First Trimester Grades

Families,

Grades for the first trimester will be available to view on Thursday, November 20. If you have not created a PowerSchool login yet, you must do so in order to view your child's grades. If you need assistance, please stop by the front office. We have computers and staff who can help you!

Music Program

Families,

Mark your calendars! This year the second grade will be performing a music program on Tuesday, November 18, 2014. The performance for parents and other family members will be at 3:00 pm. This year's theme is all about being thankful.

Lockdown Drill

Families,

As you are all aware, CJE was scheduled to have a practice lockdown sometime during the month of October. This afternoon we had a school-wide lockdown drill. Students were in the computer lab when the drill was announced. In its entirety, the drill took less than 15 minutes.

PowerSchool Reminder

Families,

If you have not registered with PowerSchool, please do so as soon as possible. The information was given to you during our parent-teacher conference. You will need to have your registration complete in order to view your child's grades for the first trimester on Thursday, November 20.

Field Trip

Families,

We will be going on a field trip to The Discovery Center on Wednesday, November 12. The exhibit is all about Leonardo de Vinci. A permission slip and parent volunteer sign-up will come home next week. A BIG "thank you" to the CJE PTO for providing funding for our transportation!

Great News!

Families,

Our grade-level was awarded a grant for $500 worth of science supplies through the Donors Choose website. Chevron fully funded this project. We're excited to being using our new science kits soon!

Calling All BSU Bronco Fans

Our BSU Bronco basket is still in need of items! This basket will be auctioned at the PTO Carnival on October 3. If you are able to donate any BSU Bronco-themed items, it would be greatly appreciated. Presently, we only have 5 small items for the basket and really need additional items to fill the basket. Thank you in advance for your donations!

Volunteers Needed!

Families,

The second grade is hosting the football toss game during the PTO Carnival on Friday, October 3. We are still in need of volunteers to help run this booth. If you are able to donate 30 minutes between 5:30 and 9:00 pm, please let me know. We currently only have two parents from the entire grade level willing to help.

Sign-up Parent/Teacher Conferences

Families,

Parent/Teacher conferences are scheduled for October 8 and 9. If you have not scheduled your conference with me (see directions on a recent post), please do so as soon as possible. If you do not have internet access or are having trouble using your smartphone (there have been reports that scheduling on a smartphone can be challenging), please let me know and I can input a time for you.  Just send me an email and I will respond with some available times for us to meet. You can also use a computer here at school. My goal is to have 100% attendance at conferences. Together we can help your child be successful!

Thank you for Attending Parent Night

Families,

Thank you to those of you who were able to come to Parent Night last night. I appreciate you taking the time to find out more about our classroom and the 2nd grade curriculum! It was a pleasure meeting some of you for the first time and seeing others of you again. It is such a pleasure to have the opportunity to teach your children.

If you were not able to attend, please know that a red folder will come home today with your child. Inside, you'll find a copy of the PowerPoint presentation I gave, a brochure containing information about the second grade curriculum, and other information. Please be sure to update your email address, if necessary, and return the half sheet on pink paper that is in the folder. Also, there's a page stapled and address to you from the office. Please check to make sure all of your contact information is current and make changes as necessary. This should also be returned to school. There is another sheet in the red folder that explains how to sign-up for your child's Parent/Teacher Conference. The same information is located in the post below this one. Please make sure you register at www.westada.org and follow the directions on the page to schedule a time on October 8 or 9 that works for you. It may take a few days to have your registration approved, so the sooner you register, the sooner you'll be able to make your appointment. Finally, a sheet containing your child's password for PowerSchool was included in the red folder. A hard copy of your child's report card will no longer come home. You'll need to sign-in to PowerSchool to view final grades at the end of each trimester. If you do not have access to the internet, we have computers available for your use here at CJE.

If you haven't done so, please consider signing up to receive updates from my blog. You can register your email on the right side towards the top of the page.

The second grade recently applied for a grant on the Donors Choose website. We are looking to receive enough funds to purchase some science materials to supplement our curriculum. Donations made in the next 4 days will be matched dollar for dollar. All donations are tax deductible. Please consider donating...even $5 will make a difference. It takes less than 3 minutes to make a donation! Here's the link Second Grade Scientists Exploring Exciting Topics in Tubs

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to contact me. Email is the best way to communicate with me. My email address is hoschouer.ana@westada.org.

Thanks again,

NEW! You Can Now Sign up for Parent/Teacher Conferences Online

The new district website (www.westada.org) and our school website (http://www.westada.org/chiefjoseph) are a great resource for parents and students.

This year parents can use the website to sign-up for Parent-Teacher Conferences from the convenience of their own home or office!  

The following steps should take no more than a few minutes, but it is important that you complete Step 1 as soon as possible due to registration approval. Otherwise, you may not be registered in time to have your first choice of conference times.

 

Step 1: Register at www.westada.org  ASAP!

·        For information on the new website and directions on how to register, go to the www.westada.org and click on the ‘Welcome to the New Website’ link under ‘Today’s Top Stories’.

·        Note: The approval process may take 2-3 days, so please register today so that you are ready to sign-up for conferences on September 17.  We anticipate posting available conference times that day.

o   Be sure to check your junk/spam folders for the confirmation e-mail

Step 2: Sign-Up for Parent-Teacher Conference

·        As noted above, you will be able to sign-up for conferences on/after September 17.

·        After having registered successfully, go to www.westada.org and click ‘Sign-In’ (top of the page).

·        Enter your User Name/Password and click Sign In

o   At the top of the page, click on ‘Select a School’ and choose ‘Chief Joseph School of the Arts’

o   Click on ‘Teachers & Staff’, Mrs. Hoschouer, and ‘Class Calendar’ (calendar will default to current month)

o   Change the calendar to October using the drop-down menu to the top right of the calendar

§  Available conference times will be listed on October 8^th and 9^th

·         Register for your desired conference time (only one per student) by clicking on the desired time slot, clicking on ‘Register’ in the Registration Box, and confirming by clicking ‘Register Now’

§  Note: If you need to change your conference time, please repeat the process for a new time slot AND remember to cancel your registration (for the slot you had previously selected) by clicking on that slot and then ‘cancel registration’

Classroom Updates and Important Information

Parent Night

Please join me on Tuesday, September 16 from 6:00-7:30 pm for Parent Night. Our evening will begin promptly at 6:00 in the CJE gym with a brief introduction from Mrs. Hart. After that, I'll be sharing important information about your child's second grade experience in our classroom (N11). I will be available to answer any questions your may have.

Spelling
We are still waiting for our internet-based word study program to work properly so that all students’ spelling inventories can be graded. This will allow us to place each student in a spelling group at their instructional level. We expect to have differentiated lists by the week of September 22-26. This means one more week of a single list in our class. It will come home, as always, in the B.I.R.D. folder today.

Lock-down Drill
We will have a "practice" lockdown drill sometime in September or October. This is simply for practice and to ensure students and staff are prepared in the unlikely event that CJE is involved a lockdown situation.

 
Skills Groups
Second graders began going to reading skills group this week. Based on beginning of the year assessments, second grade teachers placed students into a reading group. In each group, the focus will be on specific essential skills students need to become better readers. These groups are fluid and students may be placed into a different reading group after the IRI and reading MAP test results are available.

School Carnival  Please read the information that came home today in the B.I.R.D. folder about the PTO-sponsored school carnival on Friday, October 3 from 6:00-9:00 pm. The second grade is collecting BSU-themed items for a basket that will be auctioned during the evening of the carnival. If you are able to donate a new BSU items for our basket, it would be greatly appreciated! All proceeds from the BSU basket(s) will given to the 2nd grade to purchase items that support and promote learning.

CJE Second Grade Teachers Need Your Help!

Hi Families, I want to make sure my students have the materials they need to succeed, so I just created a request for my classroom at DonorsChoose.org: Second Grade Scientists Exploring Exciting Topics in Tubs Give to my classroom by September 21, 2014 and your donation will be doubled thanks to DonorsChoose.org. Just enter the code INSPIRE on the payment page and you'll be matched dollar for dollar (up to $100). If you chip in to help my students, you'll get awesome photos and our heartfelt thanks. Thanks so much, Ana P.S. If you know anyone who may want to help my classroom, please pass this along!

Homework

Families,

Our first spelling list and corresponding homework came home on Friday, August 29. Please make sure your child completes at least three spelling activities before Friday, September 5. Students should hand-in their spelling activities as part of homework that is due on Friday.

If your child did not complete and return the All About Me Puzzle, please return it ASAP. We will be doing a community building activity with it and need all students' pieces for the activity to be successful.

Today your child brought home a homework packet. This packet is due back on Friday, September 5. Please make sure to read the pink note about fluency practice and be sure to complete that portion of the homework nightly. The remaining pages can be completed throughout the week at your family's convenience.

A reading calendar for the month of September will come home tomorrow. Please keep this at home during the month and color each day that your child reads at least 20 minutes during that day. Reading calendars are due at the end of the month.

Thanks for your support!

Welcome to the 2014-2015 School Year!

Families,

Welcome to the 2014-2015 school year. I am so excited to have a great bunch of kiddos. We have been working hard to learn our classroom routines, procedures, and expectations.

I have also been administering math and reading assessments to help me place your child into skills groups. Skills groups will begin the week of September 8. We will have skills groups from 2:30-3:30 every afternoon. There will be 30 minutes of reading and 30 minutes of math.

Each student has a B.I.R.D. (Being Incredibly Responsible Daily) folder that should come to school and go home each day. Inside of the B.I.R.D. folder is a behavior calendar. This calendar is a way for you to see how your child's behavior was each day. It is based on the behavior clip chart we have in class. The behavior calendar should be initialed nightly and kept in the B.I.R.D. folder. Students start on "Ready to Learn" (green) each day. I ask students to move their clip up when they make good choices. Students who are off-task, distracting others, or not following directions will be given a warning and will then be asked to move their clip down if the behavior continues. Students' clips can move up and down throughout the day. Please know that I have used this system for a number of years and have found it to be a method that encourages positive behaviors. If you are ever concerned about your child's behavior, I would be happy to discuss your concerns. I will talk more about our behavior chart at Parent Night on Tuesday, September 16.

Homework will come home every week on Monday (or the first day of the week) in the B.I.R.D. folder. Homework is due on Friday (or the last day of the week) in the B.I.R.D. folder. The fluency portion of the homework is to be completed each night Monday-Thursday. In addition to the homework packet, a list of spelling words will come home for your child to practice. The words are to be cut out and sorted. There will be a list of activities to choose from for practice. A reading calendar for the month of September will come home on Friday. Students are expected to read 20 minutes or more at least 20 days during each month. I will send home a decodable book each week that aligns with our basal reader story. This can be used to read at home and should be read multiple times. Students may also read books they check out from the CJE library, the Meridian Public Library, or books you have at home. Reading calendars should be signed by a parent and returned at the end of each month. Students who read at least 20 minutes for 20 or more days during the month will be invited to eat lunch in the classroom during our 20/20 Lunch Bunch. An award and a small treat will be given during this celebration.

We have Library on Mondays. Students will begin checking out books on September 8. Please make sure your child returns their library books each  Monday so they are able to get new books to read.

We have P.E. on Wednesdays and Fridays. Please make sure shoes that are appropriate for running and other activities are worn on these days.

A newsletter came home today. I will begin emailing the weekly newsletter to save paper. If you would prefer a paper copy be sent home with your child, please let me know.

Here are some Upcoming Events you may be interested in marking on your calendar:

• Monday, September 1--No School (Labor Day)
• Tuesday, September 2--Picture Day
• Tuesday, September 16--Parent Night 6:00-7:30 pm (Two sessions available)
• Friday, October 3--PTO Carnival 6:00-9:00 pm at CJE

If you have any questions or concerns, please send me an email. This is the best way to reach me as I am unable to answer my phone during instruction time. My email is hoschouer.ana@westada.org

Thank you for allowing me to teach your child! I'm looking forward to a fantastic year of learning!

Field Trip to Boise Foothills Learning Center

Families,

Here are the pictures of our field trip to the Boise Foothills Learning Center =)

Animal Diorama

Families,

Here are the steps to complete our animal diorama project...

Step 1: Design a background for the inside of your box. A shoe box works best, but you can use any box with the flaps cut off. Think about your animal's habitat. What does it look like? Where does your animal live? You can paint the inside of your box, cut out pictures from a magazine, use printed pictures from the internet, or any combination of these for the background.

Step 2: Create your animal using clay, playdough, construction paper, or any other material. You can also use a plastic version of your animal. Make sure your animal is big enough so that it is the focal point of the diorama.

Step 3: Create the natural environment where your animal lives. What types of trees or plants are found in your animal's habitat? Is there water? What about mountains or other land forms? What does your animal use for shelter? What does your animal eat? The more details you add, the more interesting your diorama will be to look at.


Here are some examples of dioramas students have made:

 

 

 

 

If you're looking for more examples, Pinterest is a great resource. A Google image search for "animal diorama" will also provide many examples. If you have additional questions, please let me know. I can provide some basic materials such as construction paper and paint if need be. A shoe box works best, but any box with the side flaps removed will work! Projects and animal reports are due on Friday, May 30, 2014. Students will present their animal dioramas and reports on Monday and Tuesday of next week. I am sending home a presentation outline today for students to complete to help them with their presentation. This sheet can be used during the presentation to keep students on track with their oral report.

 



 

Non-fiction Book Report Trifold

Families,

Today students will receive a non-fiction book report trifold to complete for reading homework. All students were able to check-out a non-fiction book from the library last Friday. Those who did not return their books picked a non-fiction book to check-out under my account, which will be kept here at school. Today we reviewed all text features commonly found in non-fiction texts. If you have questions, please send me an e-mail. Trifolds are due on Friday, May 2, 2014. Students will present their book reports the week of May 5-9, 2014.

 

 

 

Talent Show

Families,

Chief Joseph will be hosting a talent show on the last day of school (June 4). If your child is interested in trying out to perform in the talent show, they must return a form to Mrs. Miller, our librarian, by May 6. Students can get the form from Mrs. Miller or Mrs. Hill (computer teacher). I'm looking forward to seeing the many talents our class has to offer!

Upcoming Test Dates

Families,
As many of you know, students will soon be assessed using the Idaho Reading Indicator (IRI) and the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP). Students' fluency will be assessed by the IRI on the afternoon of Tuesday, April 29. The reading MAP test will take place on Thursday, May 1. The math MAP test will be on Wednesday, May 7. Please make sure students get plenty of rest the night before, eat a hearty breakfast, arrive to school on time, and bring a healthy snack. If you have questions about any of these tests, please let me know.

Spring Art Walk Around the World

Families,

Mark your calendars for our 2nd annual Spring Art Walk Around the World from 11:55-1:15 on Thursday, May 22. All families are invited to come to Chief Joseph School of the Arts. There will be art, music, and food sampling stations. Family members are encouraged to come eat lunch with their child(ren) and admire the art displays. The cafeteria will be closed, but a "cold lunch" will be available for purchase. Please call ahead to order. Families are welcome to bring their own lunch and can enjoy a picnic outside, weather permitting.

Hope to see you there!

Meridian Health Clinic Consent Forms

Families,

Last week I sent home an information packet for the new Meridian Schools Health Clinic. Inside of the information packet was a consent form. In order for students to be transported to the health center or receive medical care, the consent form must be signed and returned. If you have not completed and returned the consent form, please do so as soon as possible.

Short on Supplies

Families,

Many students are completely out of glue sticks, crayons, and pink erasers. Please ask your child if they need any of these supplies and bring them as soon as possible.  Thank you to those of you who have already donated pencils, Kleenex, and other supplies for our classroom.

As many of you know, the school no longer collects a classroom supply fee at the beginning of the year, as per Meridian School District policy. Without a classroom budget, I cannot purchase any supplies for our classroom. Please help provide your child with the necessary supplies to complete classroom activities.

Field Trip to Foothills Learning Center

Parents,
A permission slip for our field trip to the Foothills Learning Center on Thursday, May 8 is coming home today. Please sign and return it promptly. If you are interested in chaperoning this field trip, please indicate so on the permission slip. We can have up to 4 parents from our class attend.

Students should plan on bringing a cold lunch for the field trip, as we are eating lunch at the Foothills Learning Center. Students are encouraged to bring a "no waste" lunch--one that leaves little or no waste.