Welcome Back!

My first camping trip on Hunting Island!

WOW! Can you believe the school year is here already? This is going to be such an exciting year, and I cannot wait to get started! My name is Julie Sands, and I am a 2nd grade teacher at M. C. Riley. In this blog, I will be posting exciting pictures of our class, our adventures, and our engaging activities. I will also post pictures of our classroom and other related items as they pop up.
      I cannot wait to start an exciting and successful year! If you are a parent, guardian, or relative of one of my students, thank you for all that you do!  Please never hesitate to reach out with any questions, comments, and concerns. I know that we will have an outstanding year together!

Get Connected!

There are all sorts of ways you can be connected to our class and our school! Check out the links and QR codes below to find out how!

- Visit and like our school's Facebook page at http://goo.gl/BLx4S3

- Visit and like our school's PTO Facebook page at http://goo.gl/ZsRXxZ

- Visit our school's website at http://mcr.beaufort.k12.sc.us/pages/Michael_C__Riley_Elementary

- Sign up for text message and/or email alerts for our class via remind at  https://www.remind.com/join/sands1516

 

Other important links you might like to utilize this year:

• https://paypams.com/ -- Add money easily to your child's lunch account. You can also set up whether or not you want them to be able to buy snacks and/or ice cream during lunch.
• https://www.everydaymathonline.com/student_login.html -- Once logins* are sent home (classes are still being built, thanks for your patience!), this is an excellent way for your child to practice the math skills he/she is learning in the classroom!
• http://odyssey.beaufort.k12.sc.us/clologin.aspx -- Compass Learning is a wonderful way to practice and get more experience with the content and standards your child will be learning and tested on throughout the school year. CL is individualized for your child based off of his/her MAP scores to help them grow on his/her own level. It is a fun and interactive way to practice their learning! Be on the lookout for logins* to be sent home soon!
• http://www.spellingcity.com/MissSandsMCR/-- I will update Spelling City weekly with our class' weekly words, word wall words, and bonus word so that your child can practice his/her words at home through fun games! Your child can also substitute one night's Word Contract homework with a Spelling City activity! Please just write Spelling City and sign your name so that I know this is what your child has done. There is also an app you can download so your child can play on an iPad or tablet! When you search for a class, look for Julie Sands. It should come up. Let me know if you have any troubles with this.
• mcr.beaufort.k12.sc.us/pages/Michael_C__Riley_Elementary/Calendar -- Use the school calendar to know all of our school specific events going on! These events will also be listed in your child's weekly Monday Memo.
• http://www.beaufort.k12.sc.us/pages/BCSD/About_Us/Calendars -- Use the district calendar to know about days off or important days, such as progress reports and/or report cards being sent home.
• http://www.brainpopjr.com --Please take advantage of this excellent resource! We love to use this resource in our classroom, and it has a lot of excellent games, videos, and other activities you can use at home! They even have apps you can check out. This login works for BrainPopJr, BrainPop, and BrainPopES (Spanish). Username: leader Password: mcriley

* Should you or your child ever lose, misplace, or forget your child's login, never hesitate to let me know! I will happily send them home again!

I hope you will utilize these links and find them helpful throughout the year! As I find more links to share, I will post them on this site! Thanks for all you do for your child and for me!

March Comes In Like A Lion!

How on Earth is it already March?!?

A couple of quick updates:
1. While learning about multiplication and division, we spent some time focusing on doubling. We read two excellent books we would highly recommend you check out!

One Grain of Rice by Demi

Two of Everything by Lily Toy Hong

While we absolutely loved both books, we especially loved Two of Everything because we took pictures of ourselves DOUBLED and imagined what it would be like if there were two of each one of  us! We used this silly inspiration to help us practice all sorts of examples of doubles facts.

  

 2.  We decorated our door for March by showcasing how we will continue practicing Habit 2: Begin with the end in mind. If you begin with the rainbow's end in mind, our pots o'goals you will find! We've set goals to help us grow academically, socially, emotionally, and physically this month!

3. March 2 is Read Across America Day! Can you believe Dr. Seuss would have celebrated his 111th birthday on this day? The National Education Association (NEA) has selected this year's book of honor to be Oh, the Places You'll Go. Check out this awesome video they shared of U.S. Service Members reading the wonderful book (click the image to go to the video)!

For more Seuss-tastic ideas and activities, check out http://www.seussville.com/parents! There are also a TON of fun ideas on Pinterest!

4.  SpellingCity has been updated with our most recent word list!! I am so sorry for not updating it with our class list frequently. Unfortunately, the app we use on the iPad minis in our classroom has not been working lately. We have not been on the site a whole lot as a result. Don't forget, you can always create your own custom lists on this site using our weekly words.

5. Very sadly, this month is our last month for the Pizza Hut Book It! Challenge. Encourage your child to read their hearts out (especially in honor of Read Across America Day!) and earn a coupon for a FREE personal pan pizza with one topping!

6. Two new Scholastic book order magazines will be sent home this week. Because we ordered enough books through our last order, each child has earned one free book valued at $5 or less!! I can select and submit these books in the classroom. Help our class earn even MORE amazing rewards and free books for our classroom library by ordering at scholastic.com/readingclub and entering our class code MHH2F.When you order online, you have even MORE options than what is just in the magazines. Scholastic runs fantastic $1 book specials and has many more great deals and sales. Check them out, and thanks in advance for helping us out!

Happy March, and thanks for all you do!!

Long Time, No Post!!

Sorry for being MIA there for a while!!  Hope you didn't miss our updates TOO much!

Lately we have been learning a lot about 2D and 3D shapes. As part of our M-squared unit, we used plastic straws and pipe cleaners to create different 3D shapes and discussed their features.

 

We have also been reading Flat Stanley and are learning about the parts of/writing friendly letters. Stanley is your average boy who had a bulletin board fall on him in his sleep. It flattened him as flat as a pancake! Because he is now flat, he gets to do all sorts of things he never got to do before (fly like a kite, crawl down rain grating to save his mom's ring she lost, capture thieves by hiding in a picture frame in a museum...and so on!). When he gets invited to go to California, he is able to fly there--but not on a plane! He travels in an envelope because he is flat(talk about a money saver!). We are so excited to mail our OWN Stanleys out all across the USA--we even get to address and stamp our very own envelopes! Once our map in the hallway has been updated, we will let you know all the places we are sending them to visit! We can wait to see what our flat friends come back with from their travels and adventures.

 

As we get ready for February (can you believe it is almost here!?) and review the 7 Habits of Happy Kids we have been learning about and practicing every day at our school, we traced our hands and decorated our classroom door showing our love for leaders (using sign language!). Check it out!

 We hope to be better about posting! Sorry you had to wait so long for an update! Come back soon!