It's Carnival Time!

Today is the day!  Parents and teachers have come together to put together a day of games, food, shopping and more!  Head on out to Bauerschlag this morning to join in the fun.  Proceeds benefit the students of Bauerschlag Elementary.  The Bear Fun Fest begins at 10am and ends at 2pm.

Texas 2 x 2 Reading List

The 2x2 reading list is a list of 20 recommended books for children, age two to grade two.  Each week, we read as many as we can and when we are done with the list the students will vote on their favorite.  I've attached a link to the Texas Library Association's homepage that has links to the book list and activities you can do with these books.  Look for the 2x2 book list poster at your local library!


Yesterday, we read Chicken Big from the list and it had the students in stitches!  It was a perfect book to support our unit on identifying author's purpose as it was certainly and book that was meant to entertain!  I read the book LMNO Peas from the list to my 5 year old at the beginning of the year and now the child eats peas!  Who knew?


TXLA 2x2 Reading List Page

Approximating Feet and Yards

We continue our study of measurement and length by exploring objects that are one foot and one yard in length. The students used their investigation to determine if objects should be measured in feet or yards based on their size.  Here are some photos from our one yard and one foot hunt.  A bat approximates one yard, while a piece of paper or textbook approximates one foot.  You can try this at home too!

Today's Reminders

• We have library tomorrow so please think about where the library books are.  Students who do not return books do not get to choose new ones.  
• The Thanksgiving lunch for Pre-K, Kinder, 2nd and 4th grade will be on November 16th.  We will eat lunch at 11:33 which is not our usual time.  Tickets must be ordered in advance to prepare the correct amount of food.  
• Our carnival will be here before we know it.  You can help by sending in a 12 pack of Coke product drinks including Dasani water.  For each 12 pack, your child will receive 4 tickets for the carnival.  You can also help by sending in monetary donations to buy raffle basket items and/or volunteer and hour of your time at a booth.  Please let me know if you have any questions.  

PUMPKIN DAY!

Boy, did we have some fun last Friday! We had pumpkin stations, a pumpkin research jigsaw activity, and completed a pumpkin investigation lab.  At the end of the day we completed a bat investigation called Come To Mommy to get us ready for Monday's lessons on bats.  Here are a few pictures from the day's events:

Pumpkin Browsing Box Reading

These are the research booklets we read in groups.

We took various measurements of our group's pumpkins including length.

We used a non-standard unit of measurement to measure the circumference of our pumpkin.

We counted the lines of the pumpkins and later learned that the lines give a clue as to how many seeds are inside.

This yucky stuff is called the pulp.  Some really stunk inside!

We really used our sense of touch to investigate the pumpkins.

Counting seeds is difficult when they are sticky, but we did it!

These are our results!  We did our best to get an accurate count of the seeds and noticed that the pumpkin with the smallest number of lines had the lease number of seeds.

Mother bats find their pups by using their sense of smell.  This investigation required a lot of focus!

Many thanks to all my parents for supporting this special day.  I know it's one the students will never forget.

Red Ribbon Week Kick-off

Tomorrow we kick-off Red Ribbon Week!  The student council did a great job of decorating the campus with red ribbons.  We will celebrate tomorrow by wearing red shirts to school.  Here is our schedule to celebrate the rest of the week:

Tuesday: Wear a Hat/Sunglasses AND wear your class shirt for the field trip
Wednesday: Dress Backwards
Thursday: Crazy socks/shoes
Friday: Crazy Hair

Investigations With Light and Shadows

Nope, the power didn't go off.  We conducted two investigations about light and shadows.  In one investigation, the students tested various materials to see how much light traveled through the material.  Then we used the same materials to see what type of shadow they made (dark or blurry).  We concluded that the materials that let the most light through created a blurry, light shadow and the objects that let almost no light through created a dark shadow.  Through this investigation, we were able to practice the steps of a science investigation and I am quite proud of the work the students collected in their science notebooks.  It was a lot to record!

Dinner With Dad and Book Fair Tonight

Don't forget tonight is our annual Dinner With Dad Night (or grandpa, uncle, etc.).  The ticket is just $1 per family and will begin at 6:30pm in the cafeteria.

The book fair will be open this evening in the library so stop by before or after dinner.  The book fair will also be open tomorrow and all next week (will close early on Friday) during school hours.  Parents can come shopping with their child or send their child to school with cash or a check that is all filled out in advance.  We will not send home a book order this month so that you may shop at the book fair.

Game Day Tomorrow - Sept. 30th

The class earned their first Game Day!  We have filled our marble jar to the brim.  The class gets marbles when we get compliments from other teachers and when I see them making good choices as a group.  Sometimes we lose marbles so it can take a while to fill the jar.

Game Day is a day when students can bring games from home to play with their peers and it's a great time to practice social skills.  I ask that you keep electronic games at home along with trading cards (because of their value).  It will also be a great way to celebrate a birthday we have in the room and to celebrate finishing our first big test (in Science, don't forget).

Also, thank you for supporting the Wildfire Penny Drive.  We added a lot of pennies to the jug today just from our class.  Your kindness is greatly appreciated and the students were so happy to contribute.

Pennies For Wildfires

While we were in the library today, I couldn't help but notice the grade level jugs for the penny drive.  We are collecting pennies (or other denomination) for Texas Wildfire victims   The grade level with the most will get a popcorn and juice party.  I think the jugs the student council made are too cute!

Ours

The competition

LIbrary Day Tomorrow!

Don't forget to bring your books to school tomorrow...even if you want to recheck them.  We must bring them in each time to renew them or exchange them.  We get to keep a trophy if everyone in our class remembers to bring their books on the correct day!

Our Special Lesson Today

Can you guess where we went today?

Here's another clue!

Ok...one more!

You guessed it!  We went to the computer lab.  It was our 2nd official visit of the year.  Each student practiced logging on with their own id numbers. We started making a publication using Microsoft Publisher that will help us remember what we learned today about the Past, Present and Future of League City (thanks to Mrs. Littlejohn). We also practiced saving and renaming a document. They did a great job and they are excited to finish the project next time we go.  

Library Expectations and Open Library

When we go to the library, there are a few expectations I have and try to stick by each visit.  The students are to select two "just-right" books to check out and I give them approval on the level of the books.  They are to read the first page and preview the book to determine if it's a match for them.   Sometimes, the first page is the easiest page in the book and the rest of the book turns out to be too challenging. Occasionally, a student will forget and not bring me their books for approval or we run out of time.

I encourage students to utilize our open library opportunities.  Since they keep 5 of my classroom library books in their desk and have 2 from the school library, they should have plenty of new material to read weekly.  As they finish their library books, they are allowed to go to the library with a pass and check out a new book.  Please know that I am not there to check their levels and it is possible they may come home with a book that is too easy or too challenging if they go to open library.  If I see that a student is making incorrect choices over a period of time, they may not be able to go to open library time until we review the rules for selecting a "just-right" book.  You can help your child remember to get new books with a reminder in the morning.  It always helpful to know that you want them to get new books because then I'm sure you are done with them at home, but it's not required they say you told them to go.  If you have any questions, please let me know!

Book Order Thank You

After our 1st book order, our class earned over 100 bonus points plus $10 in free books instantly!  These are the 3 books I selected.  I can't wait to add them to our classroom library.  We still have lots of books that are in need of repair.  I can send these home with students a few at a time if you think you have the time to give them some TLC.

Communities...Chapter 1

Chapter 1 in Social Studies focused on places where people live, work, solve problems and play.  The students drew examples of each and combined them to make city maps.  Above are some examples of their maps and one example of each type of place. Can you identify them?

Guess Who Went To The Library?

Today the class went to the library for the 2nd time this year!  We were so busy that when we came back, we didn't have time to put the books away so they laid them on the rug and jumped right into Science.  This week in Science they are learning that good scientists make predictions based on observations.  They made plans and tested ways to separate beans from sand using different types of colanders and slotted spoons.  In the end, the students learned that the best tools were the ones with many holes that were just smaller than the beans themselves. They also learned that the tools in the shape of a spoon or cup worked better than the flat tools. Most importantly, they learned to work in cooperative groups.

Math Tools

Our first unit of math is wrapping up!  The students have spent the last 4 weeks leaning math routines, making plans for math, and testing out different ideas using a variety of math tools.  In my class, all of my students have played the Hiding Game (with blocks, but you could use anything you can count and hide in your hand).  Ask them to show you how to play!  It's a great way to show if you know all your combinations to 10.

Who's Mrs. Pace?

Welcome to 2nd grade at Bauerschlag Elementary. I am honored to be your child's teacher this year.

My childhood school days were spent near the bay in La Porte, TX.  Looking at the clip art on this page, you may have noticed that I attended the University of Houston. I graduated from the University of Houston-Clear Lake with a Bachelor of Science degree in Reading with a special concentration in Math and Life/Earth Science. I also attended Stephen F. Austin State University and took classes in the San Jacinto College System.  This will be my 11th year in teaching and my 7th year at Bauerschlag Elementary.

In my free time I enjoy scrapbooking, baking, and simple sewing. Some might say I have a slight addiction to using coupons. I appreciate all genres of music and literature. My husband and I enjoy our UH Cougar football tickets and ritual tailgating. I am a proud police officer's wife and we have one 5 year old son.