Happy Turkey Day!!

I hope everyone is enjoying their time off from school. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day and I wanted to say that I am so grateful for this year and for all my students. You bring so much happiness into my life! I am grateful to be your teacher.

Sad Day :(

When I got to school this morning, I went to feed the fish as usual. As I approached the fish bowl I noticed no fish were swimming. Too scared to look, I asked Mr. Evensen if he could check out the situation. Surely enough, they had passed on to a far better place. :(

Cubes

Our class has adopted a way to help us stay on task-cubes. Each day every student starts out with 4 cubes that they keep in their desk. When they are having a hard time staying on task-they lose a cube. Our goal is to have everyone have all their cubes at the end of the day. I love this new idea and I think it has really helped the students.

Some of the reasons why I love it

• It is personal-they keep the cubes in their desk, where only they know the status of how many they've lost.
  
• It is tangible-they literally can see how many cubes they have at any given time of the school day. Also, when they need to give me one they hand over the cube and physically make the connection of the consequence of their action.
• I can quickly and quietly remind any given student that they want to end the day with all four cubes. Then, that child is able to do a 'self-check' and get back on task.
  
• It's individual-You have four cubes and only your actions could change that. No one can make anyone else lose a cube.
  

Here are the consequences of losing one or more cubes

• One cube-lose one minute of recess
• Two cubes-lose 5 minutes of recess
• Three cubes-lose 5 minutes of recess and Miss Bingham sends mom and dad a note home letting them know you had a hard time staying on task.
  
• Four cubes-All of the above, and a visit with Mrs. Densley
  

SEP Conferences

We are having SEP conferences tomorrow and Friday after school. If you still need to sign up, please let me know. I would love to meet with all of you and talk about how your child is doing in school. You can always call me-951-252-3533. Don't forget that the students get out at 1pm tomorrow and Friday. Thanks! I really appreciate all you do for your son/daughter. :)

P.S. Thanks to everyone (especially the students) for your patience while I was sick. Things got a little crazy, but I think we were able to make the best of it.

Fish Bowl Update

Thanks to the Patchell Family for the wonderful fish bowl to use for the guppies!!! Thank you so much!

Fish Bowl

Attention All!!

We have been offered guppies to have as a class pet, and now we are looking for a fish bowl. I don't want to buy one because I figure there is probably someone out there that has one we could use. If you have one we could use, please let me know. This is about the size we need:

Finally!!

We finally have a scholastic code to place orders online! Sorry it has taken so long! Here is the information you need:

user name: MissBinghamClass
password: books

Let me know if you have any questions!

Miss Bingham

Scholastic Books

Wasatch News

The Wasatch News that is emailed out from our school secretary involves a lot of important information that each parent should be aware of. It also involves a lot of information that doesn't have to do with your second grader. Here is a copy and paste edition of the Wasatch News about things that would apply to you and your second grader:

WASATCH NEWS No. 6

11 September 2009

1. School Picture Day - September 16th. The picture day forms that were sent home earlier this week were the wrong forms. They accidentally sent us the High School forms. Please throw them away (or recycle them)

New forms will be sent home on Monday with correct information regarding prices, packages and class pictures. Please watch for these and use these to order pictures. We are sorry for the confusion.

Every student will have their picture taken and be a part of the class group shot even if you choose not to purchase pictures so please have your student here on time and ready for pictures. Pre-Schoolers and/or family members are invited to have their pictures taken from 11:30-12:00 if you would like to have them come for pictures too.

2. Attendance Hotline 801-374-4911 - If your student will be absent from school or will be coming late, we want to know about it. Please call the HOTLINE and leave us a message detailing the absence. If your student is seen by a doctor be sure to get a note from the doctor and send it in to the office when your student returns.

3. Checking out a Student Early - On the rare occasion that a parent needs to pick a student up early from school, the parent must come into the office and sign the student out. For the protection of your kids, the teachers will not release them without notification from the office. We cannot let students leave without parent permission so please come to the office and we will call your student to come meet you there. Please do not go to get your students from class.

4. Phone Call Policies - Parents, please be aware that class time is precious and we are trying to protect the instructional time we have been given. Phone calls during the day interrupt instruction time and student learning. Just think that every time the phone rings it causes the students to lose focus on what the class is doing. If you need to contact your student's teacher please do so before or after school or e-mail them. We encourage you to do everything you can to make "go-home" instructions and other arrangements with your children before school in order to limit the number of interruptions made to the classrooms. If it is an emergency, we will always address it immediately. We appreciate your understanding.

5. School T-Shirts and Sweat Shirts - $9 for shirts, $18 for Youth Sweat shirts and $22 for Adult Sweat shirts. Sweat shirts will be zip up hoodies that are available in both black or red. Everything needs to be pre-ordered. If you want one they will be for sale on FRIDAYS after school outside the Main Office. Checks are payable to PAWS. They must be pre-ordered before Sept 25 if you want one.

6. Lunch Reminder ‑ There is a NO CHARGE policy for lunch. School Lunch prices are $1.75 each and the lunch computers will not allow students to charge so please plan ahead. If there is not money on the account your student will not be allowed to eat school lunch. You can pay for school lunches with cash or check in the office (payable to Wasatch Elementary School). You can also pay online with a check or credit card by visiting the District Child Nutrition Website .

7. Free/Reduced Lunch applications are available. Anyone who was free or reduced for school lunch last year, and has not reapplied this year, your lunch status from last year will expire on 9/25/09. At that time your child will be switched to full pay lunch. Please be sure to get in a new application ASAP so you don't have an interruption in your lunch status. You can turn them in to the school any time. Parents are responsible to pay for lunches or provide one from home until your application has been approved. They usually take 10 days to be processed, so get them in early. The sooner you turn your application in to the office the sooner it will be approved.

8. Fall Festival - Fri September 25th 4:00-8:00

Mark your calendars for Friday, September 25 from 4:00 - 8:00 for the annual Wasatch Fall Festival! The festival will be located in back of the school this year (to the east of the lunchroom and the gym). This will give everyone extra parking to the south of the school and provide a great enclosed area for the games, food, and fun!

If you haven't yet signed up to help with your assigned classroom game for a thirty minute time slot, please say "Yes" to your teacher's room rep when she calls you to volunteer. Everyone needs to help out to make this a great festival for your children!

Watch for upcoming information on the Pop Parade and Silent Auction! Call Tia Hayward at 801-375-1623 if you have any questions or if you want to help. We can't wait to see you there!

9. Calling on All Wasatch Stars to give generously to the silent auction. The paparazzi is hot on our tail. We need to act fast! We would like each family at Wasatch to donate 1 item to the silent auction for the Fall Festival! Desired items are hand-crafted, services or local business donations (gift certificates or items).

*drop items off at main office by Monday, Sept. 21, if possible

*attach information such as 1) your name 2) donated by whom 3) retail value

*if a letter is needed for tax purposes, contact Kim Santiago at kbsantiago@gmail.com

*questions, contact Stasie Rose at 801-358-9885 or Kim at 801-836-3008

*WASATCH ALUMNI items will be spotlighted

10. Class Baskets for the Silent Auction - Every year, each class has the opportunity to put together a basket that is then donated to the silent auction at the Fall Festival. Each class has a theme and we are asking parents and students to send in NEW items that coordinate with your class theme. The baskets are then assembled and auctioned off at the fall festival. All items need to be brought to the TEACHER by Wed Sept 23 so that the room reps have plenty of time to assemble the baskets. If you have any questions please contact Coreena White 801-473-1128 or Kimberly Lohner 801-319-5157. Below is a list of the classrooms and their assigned basket theme:

K-Werner: Items a baby uses and needs

K-Whitaker: Anything Disney

K-Laurie Porter (kindergarten): Dolls, Doll houses or Barbie

K-Perry: Scrapbook stuff or handmade cards

1st-Loveless/Li: Anything to make a fun "date night"

1st-Ord: lotions, bubble bath, treats and things to "pamper me"

1st-Stewart: Dress ups, pretend play things for girls or boys

1st-Toluta'u: Games, puzzles, Treats for a family fun night.

1st-Julie Porter (1st grade-Morning class): books, or books on tape

1st-West (morning class): Hair necessities

2nd-Avery: Super hero things

2nd-Bingham: Planes, Trains, Transformers

2nd-Wilde: 72 hour kits/first aid supplies

2nd/3rd-Evensen: Art/craft supplies

3rd-Archibald: Halloween Fun

3rd-Dickson: Cooking things

3rd-Nelson/Mattinson: Christmas things

4th-Park: DVD's snacks, movie passes and movie fun

4th-Starr: Musical Fun

4th-Whatcott: Festival of Fall-items to do with fall

5th-Davis: Chocolate Anything

5th-Lovell: Gift Wrapping Supplies

5th-Hatch: Anything about Pets

6th-McFarland: Harry Potter, magic anything

6th-Stocking: Fun in the sun-sports, summer, beach gear

6th-Workman: Traveling games, coloring books, car kits

Be creative and bring something fun to contribute to your class basket. These are always a hit!

Thank you,

Jayne Smith

Secretary

Wasatch Elementary School

801‑374‑4910

Homework Packet

Some of you were a little confused on what was expected on the homework. I've changed it around a little and tried to make it easier to understand. I've included a page where the students can write out the list of words with different vowel sounds, and I simplified the paper for spelling. I think these were the two biggest confusions. I also assigned each math worksheet (there are two) to a specific night.

The students will get the homework packet on Tuesday and it will be due on Friday. Our homework will always follow this pattern-they get it the first day of the week and they will turn it in on the last day of the week. I'm starting an external motivator to help them to become internally motivated to do their homework :) For each week they turn in their homework on time and complete, they will receive a token. When they have two tokens-they get an otter pop! It doesn't get any better than that!

Parents-please do all you can on your end to teach your child about the importance of developing strong homework habits. I'm so grateful for the support I've already seen! I don't like to give out too much homework because I think it can take away from family time if there is too much; but I do understand the importance of developing good habits at a young age. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns about any part of what is expected of your child outside of class time.

Miss Bingham

Good News!!!

No School on Monday!!!!

New Links

Hello parents and students!
Our class has 45 minutes twice a week for computer time in a nice spacious computer room! This time is for the children to become familiar with computers and learn more about how to use them. Eventually we will be doing some testing from our basil reader, Treasures; but until that is started the children will have some "open time" to choose which activities they would like to do. I have started a list of links that I feel are 2nd grade appropriate for the computer time. This list will be added to as I find different activities that I like. Please look over it, and let me know if you have any concerns with any of the activities. Feel free to contact me if there is something you would not like your child to be exposed to. Also, if you know of any computer activities that are appropriate-please let me know! I love new ideas and suggestions!

For your information

The 2009-2010 ProvoREADS Kickoff party is on Thursday, Sept. 10, at 7:00 at the Provo City Library. Provo School District and Provo City Library are proud to present A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck as this year’s ProvoREADS book. The party should be great fun, including singing children, book giveaways, activities, and refreshments. I hope everyone can make it!

Vocabulary Words

The vocabulary words that we are currently working with have been posted on the right side of the blog.

First Week

Our first week of second grade is already over :( I can't believe how fast these last three days have gone by. This week has been a wonderful one, with all of us getting to know each other better and learning how to be second graders! I'm excited for week #2! Have a wonderful weekend, and remember to read at least 20 minutes every day :)

So great to see all of you...

Dear second graders,
It was so wonderful to see you all again! Thanks so much for coming to Back to School Night. Tomorrow is our big day! My first day of teaching second grade, and your first day of being a second grader!! Get a good nights rest and eat a delicious breakfast. Tomorrow is going to be AWESOME! I love second grade!

Back to School Night

Tonight we will be having back to school night from 6-7pm. I look forward to seeing everyone there! I can't believe that tonight is a school night...WOW! Summer went by so fast. I hope everyone is feeling ready and is as excited as I am :) I love second grade!

Our playground!!

Our playground is right outside our door! It looks like a lot of fun-sunshine or snow.

Welcome Second Graders!

Here is the class! I am so excited for this year to begin. We have lots of fun activities ahead of us. I love second grade!

Classroom setup continued...

Classroom Setup

I've had the keys to my classroom since the end of May and it has been an exciting journey setting up my classroom. I spent the first weeks eliminating things I didn't need, and now I'm actually setting up the class how I want it. I still have a lot to do, but I love how it's turning out. It's so fun to be in there and imagine 24 second graders with me. I can't wait until August!