Snowflake Instructions

We Are So Proud

GPS was honored this week for being Santa Clara's #1 scoring school in ELA and #3 in math last year. We are so honored and proud of our kids!

Our Kindness Project

This month, we are learning all about random acts of kindness in 2nd grade. To put what we are learning into action, we are going to have a can food and sock drive.  You can bring your donations in anytime before vacation. There will be a box set up in room 14 starting this Friday.

We are collecting:

• canned or boxed food.
• new socks (adult and child sizes)

Field Trip This Friday

If you have not turned in your student's permission slip, please do so ASAP!

November 17th is Pajama Day!

No Spelling Test This Week

We are hard at work on our Country Reports, so I've decided to skip spelling this week.  We will go back to the normal schedule after vacation.

Book Orders

All book orders are due November 16, 2016.  Please make sure to put your name on your order before turning it in. Hopefully the books will be here when we come back from Thanksgiving vacation.

Classroom Donation Request

I have a new Donor's Choose project. We are trying to raise funds for wiggle stools for our classroom. For any donations made before November 20th, an anonymous donor will donate $10 more! Please check out our project on this link.
https://www.donorschoose.org/project/wiggle-while-you-work/2320009/?utm_source=dc&utm_medium=project&utm_campaign=facebook&rf=facebook-siteshare-2016-11-project-donor

We Need Toilet Paper Rolls!

We have a project we are doing next week and we need 60 toilet paper rolls by Wednesday. Any donations will help! Thanks!

Spelling Tests

There will be no spelling tests for the next two weeks.

Conference Week

We will be having parent conferences from October 31  to November 1.  School will get out at 1:00 each day.  Please be sure to make arrangements for your child to get picked up on time.
Each student was sent home a pink conference invitation. We had a shortage of space, so all 2nd grade conferences will now be held in room 14. We hope you see you all there.

Halloween Carnival is this Thursday

Be sure to come to our school Halloween carnival this coming Thursday at 3:00.

Field Trip

Our next field trip is on December 2nd.  More info to come!

We loved visiting with you!

Thank you to all of the parents that came to morning coffee today.  You support is always so appreciated.

We Had A Great Field Trip!

Field Trip This Friday

This Friday we will be going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We have lots of wonderful parents coming along. It should be a great day!

Things to remember:

• Please have your student in full uniform. They do not need a book bag, but a sweater is a must.
• If your student is going to bring a lunch, please have them bring it in a labeled paper bag. We do not want to have to carry thing around the aquarium, so please bring packaging that can be thrown away.
• I will have a the crate that stores the lunches in front of the classroom. All lunches should be placed there before school starts.
• We will not be back until 4:00 so please plan accordingly.

GPS In The News

 

This is from an article in the San Jose Mercury News. We are so proud of our little school! To read the whole article go to http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/09/27/bay-area-best-schools-for-low-income-students/

This Week

Language and Writing
This week in language, we are working on identifying different parts of speech. 

• nouns
• verbs
• helping verbs
• pronouns
• reflexive pronouns
• articles
• adjectives

In writing we are adding adjectives to our sentences to give them more detail.

Reading

This week we are reading fairy tales and tall tales. 

• We are focusing on identifying the problem and the solution in a story. 
• We are talking about elements in a story that are real and elements that are fantasy.

Please be sure to have your child read every night. We don't want them to fall behind in AR.

Field Trip

On October 14, we are going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Permission slips are going home today. The first 10 chaperones get in free! Email me at vhudson@navigatorschools.org if you would like to attend! 

Happy Friday!

We Love To Show What We Know

Middle School Girl's Volleyball

Our girl's volleyball team won the first game of the year yesterday! Way to go Lady Gators!

GPS Football Team

Did you know that GPS has a middle school football team? Well we do, and they just had their first game of the year. Here are some pictures. Go Gators

!

Just Another Great Reason To Attend GPS!

I found this very interesting article on the benefits of a K-8 grand school model. http://www.scarymommy.com/top-dog-study-eliminate-middle-school/?utm_source=FBJ

Dot Day Project - App for iPad

We did a dot art project that came to life with the help of a fun App.  I promised the kiddos to share the link so that they could download it and play with it at home. Enjoy!
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/quiver-3d-coloring-app/id650645305?mt=8

Spirit Day Is This Friday!

Get out your capes because it is Super Hero Day! Come dressed in your favorite super hero gear. Please remember to follow the school dress code.

This Week's Focus

This week we are focusing on comparing and contrasting two similar stories.  Ask your child to show you how to do a double bubble thinking map. 

We are also working on adjectives. We are adding details to our sentences by adding adjectives.  For those of you that are rusty on diagraming sentences, an adjective describes a noun.

               Ex. The mean girl is reading.

Things You Can Do To Help With Nightly Reading

Many of you have asked what you can do at home to work with your child. Here is a great article on what you can do during their nightly reading time.
parents/http://www.cultofpedagogy.com/reading-homework-tips-for-parents/

Way To Go Stingrays!

Stingrays Win The Golden Gator!

This weeks Golden Gator goes to the Stingrays for having wonderful lines in the hallways! Well done Stingrays!

What We Are Working On This Week

Now that we are back into the school grove, I will be posting what skill we are focusing on each week.  It serves as a great study guide.  You can also look on the Language, Reading, and Writing pages for more information.

In ELA....
This week we are working on reflexive pronouns.  That is a pronoun (like he or she) with self added to it.  Students need to be able to pair the reflexive pronoun with the noun it is being linked to.

For example:

Joey ate the whole cake by himself.

In reading...
We are working on finding the evidence in the story.  When you ask your student a question about what they are reading have them find the place in the story that proves their answer.

Questions to ask about what they are reading:
What is the setting of the story?
Who are the main characters?
What is the problem in the story?
What was the solution?

What Student's Can Work On At Home

We will be going over our homework policy at Back To School Night. Basically, we don't send home homework packets.  Ms. Hill and I think that our students work very hard all day long.  We do not want to give them more to do at night.  We would much rather they spend that time playing with friends, having a family dinner, participating in a sport, and talking with their parents.

This is what we expect them to do each week at home:

• Read 30 minutes each night.
• Practice their math facts.
• Study their spelling words. A spelling list is sent home on Mondays.  It has an optional word search attached. This does not have to be returned. 

If a student does not finish his work in class, or has something specific they need to work on, we will send that home as homework.

Something that they can also work on at home is learning how to spell their last name.  I have noticed that several of them do not know how to write their whole name.  That is something we will be working on over the next few weeks.

Book Orders

Book orders were sent home this week.  If you would like to place an order, please send it in with your child by September 2, 2016.

Please check out the link below to help fun classroom needs.  Thank you for supporting our kids!

https://www.donorschoose.org/project/modeling-great-expectation/2111781/?rf=link-siteshare-2016-08-teacher-teacher_2460927&challengeid=20453478

This Years Classroom Wish List

Incoming second grade parents, here is our classroom wish list.  These are items that the students will share as a class.  Anything you can contribute would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
http://www.teacherlists.com/schools/117652-gilroy-prep-school/609994-mrs-hudsons-classroom-wish-list/mrs-hudson/wish-list

Penmanship Packet

I am putting penmanship packets in the Thursday folders this week.  Please pull them out and set them aside for summer practice.  Summer vacation is almost here!!!!

Field Trip Reminders

Our Field Trip is on Thursday!

• Please be at school ready to get on the bus at 7:40.  We need to be on the road before school starts.
• Please bring lunches in throw away bags with their name on it.  Chaperones will be carrying the lunches so we do not want to have to bring lunch boxes home.
• We will not be back at school until 4:00.  Please be there ready to pick up you student.  
• It is going to be a long day, but it should be lots of fun!

Some Summer Reading Inspiration

Congratulations Stingrays! You are this weeks Golden Gator Class!

Spirit Day

Sprit Day is next Thursday.

March 23, 2016

Come dressed in you craziest mix and match outfit.

Please remember to follow the school free dress code.

All School Egg Hunt

Parent Club is hosting an all school egg hunt next week.  We need each student to bring 12 plastic filled eggs to school by March 22.  See your Thursday folder for more details.

Animal Reports - What We Need From You

This week we are starting animal reports. Student’s will be researching a specific animal and writing several paragraphs on their topic. We will be exploring the habitat, diet, and life cycle along with several other aspect of our animal.

The reports are done in class.  We will be using the  public library, our own classroom library, and the internet to do our research.  The students are very excited and can't wait to get started.

We ask that each student donate $3 towards the supplies needed to make the display boards.

 If you can make a donation, bring it in to Mrs. Hudson as soon as possible.

Thank you for supporting our students.

Book Orders

Book orders went out last week.  Anyone wishing to place an order should get it to me by the morning of March 18th.  

We had the best time celebrating Read Across America today!

This year's Read Across America theme was "magic" and we had plenty of that today.  The kids got to travel with Ms. Frizzle on the Magic School Bus, Climb a beanstalk with Jack, and visit Hogwarts to make their own magic wands.  We had the best time.  Thank you Miss Hill for being our brave leader!  And thank you to the parent volunteers that helped make all the magic possible!  

Thank You Ace Hardware!

Thank you Ace Hardware for donating supplies used in our Read Across America Day.  Your support to our school and community is very much appreciated.

What's this word?

When your child is trying to decode a word, don't read the word from them.  Use these strategies to help them decode it themselves.

Congratulations to our Student of the Month winners!

We Need Help!

We are in desperate need for volunteers for next week's Read Across America Day. It is next Wednesday, March 2nd. If you can help out please contact me ASAP. vhudson@navigatorschools.org.

Don't Forget Those Valentiens!

We will be exchanging valentines tomorrow.  There are 30 students in the class, so be sure to bring enough for everyone.  Can't wait to share all the love!

Visitor from the San Jose Museum of Art

We were lucky enough to have a docent from the San Jose Museum of Art come to the classroom to share some amazing artwork with us.  These were two of our favorite pieces.

Some Of Our Own Amazing Artwork

We just love it when Ms. Sutter comes with her art cart.  This month we are working on hearts.  These are some of their pastel creations.

Field Trip

We will be going to the Gilroy Library on 

Friday, March 18th.  

We need parents to walk with us to the library, help out while there, and walk with us back to school.

We will be leaving the school at 9:00 and should be back before 2:00 (we are shooting for 1:00). 

Please let me know if you can help out. vhudson@navigatorschools.org

We Need Parent Volunteers!

Prefix Champions

Congratulations to Kai and Diego A. for winning our prefix challenge today! 

They know their prefixes and they answer with lightening speed!  Good job boys!

Book Orders Are Due Tomorrow!

If you have a book order, please get it to my by the end of the day on Thursday.  I will be placing the order on Friday.