Welcome to Horner's Heroes Website

Week of January 30

  I am so very proud of each and every one of our Explorers. They ROCKED on Leadership Day! We had special visitors in and out of our room and they were impressed by the knowledge and engagement of our Explorers during our Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood student interviews. We tied the lesson in to what we've learned about MLK. Be sure to ask your child about how to be a good listener.

As you can see from the picture, we will be learning about government this week. State, Local, and National government is our emphasis. We're also beginning our unit on fractions and will be reading Magic Tree House chapter books on your child's reading level. Writing the rough draft of our animal informational papers will be our focus in writing. 

Don't forget that our January Nature Accordian book project is due this Friday. Remember that your child can change any questions on the sheet to go with your topic. Your child should practice what he/she is going to SAY. The book is only a small part of the project. SHARING what is learned about the topic is the standard. Your child can use pictures from the book, models, etc. to help us enjoy your topic. SAY it, don't READ it! MOUNTAIN CHALLENGES ARE DUE THAT DAY ALSO.

Valentine lists will go home next week. Your child can participate if he/she wishes. However, ALL students in our class must be included, not a chosen few. Thanks for helping ALL of our Explorers have a fun holiday.

Again, I can't thank all of you enough for being the wonderful, supportive parents that you are. I APPRECIATE you!

Six Flags Reading Program

The 2012 Six Flags Reading Program information went home on Tuesday with the red PTA folders. Please read the information and send it in NO LATER than FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24! You can use the same minutes and books as RAH minutes. Sadly, no late entries will be accepted.

Also, Science Fair applications were in the folder. Please read the information and consider whether your child would like to participate. Any child who participates will not have to complete spelling homework and can choose to do only one page of math homework while you are working on the project. Just let me know so I can put your child on the shortened homework list! We're looking forward to some amazing projects!

Week of January 23

 LEADERSHIP DAY is finally here! We're asking all of the Pickett's Mill students to come in Friday, January 27, dressed in their personal best for success. We do have PE that day, so don't forget tennis shoes. I'm sure that PE will be considerate of the nice clothes! We'll have student speakers, greeters, classroom tour guides, data notebook guides, and everyone will use their leadership skills during our special lesson about "Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood." Guests will be observing the lesson to see how the students use the 7 Habits. Most of the students signed up to bring lunches from home, so please remember to send a lunch that day if you checked that box on the form. We're anticipating many visitors and know that our Pickett's Mill students will WOW them with their leadership skills.

What better week to learn about our Georgia Hero, Martin Luther King, Jr. We are learning about his leadership skills and how he used the 7 Habits to become a great leader. A BIG thank you to Lee's mom, Melanie, who came in Friday with a great lesson and special snack to tie in with our unit on MLK. The students loved it!

We're also beginning the Animal Research informational writing IN SCHOOL this week. I will be taking the students step by step on the process. Thank you for sending the 2 pocket folders for the students to organize this important project. Later, we'll be writing an informational brochure on space. As you can see, the 3rd nine weeks writing focus is going to keep us busy!

In math, we're still working with numbers in the thousands, adding and subtracting 3 digit numbers with regrouping, estimation, and equations. Lots of partner games and activities are planned to help with these concepts.

Thank you so much for your support and encouraging your Explorer to come to school ready to learn, focus, and LEAD!

Week of January 17

I hope that everyone had a wonderful day on our Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. He is one of our Georgia heroes this nine weeks, so please talk to your child about how life was in the 60's and how it has changed to help with understanding. We went to the media center today to  check out a book on "Nature" for our January book project. The students checked out books on topics such as rocks, crystals, rain forest, plants, fossils, deserts, tornadoes, earth quakes... We discussed how some of the questions on the accordion sheet weren't the best for these topics, so feel FREE to CHANGE the questions in any way! The main purpose for this project is to be able to relate some informaion learned about a non-fiction topic. Also if your child has any visuals to share when speaking- even better. We'll walk around the room looking at the accordian books, so make them colorful. Remember the due date is February 3.

Also, we are getting ready for Leadership Day! Portfolios, data notebooks, speaking parts, greeters, tour guides, and showing what great leaders we can be when visitors observe a lesson in our classroom will be just a part of this special day! Please encourage your child to be their personal best and begin planning how to dress as a leader for that day.

FYI: Our RAH Minutes data sheet for this week should be Week 20. We'll start on the back side next week. We'll change the sheet next year to include the holidays which confused us! Live and learn! Thanks for understsanding!

Hopefully everyone got the report card and celebrated your child's accomplishments! Science Night flyers went home and we'd love to have you. Please remember to RSVP on the green flyer. Our focus for this week is non-fiction, comparing and contrasting, adding 3 digits with regrouping and estimation, and writing "Snow Adventure Narratives" using transition words. So much to do!

January/ February 2nd Grade MUST Ministries Project

  

2nd Grade is sponsoring the first annual

Janua"WEAR"y and Febru"WEAR"y

Clothing Drive for MUST Ministries.

Please bring gently used or new shirts, pants, pajamas, and sweaters in any sizes.

Clean out those messy closets to help others. Think WIN-WIN!

2nd grade leaders will be standing by the bins at the bus port to collect your donations.

Those Who Lead MUST Help those in Need!

Week of January 10

We are back and ready to roll! Everyone came in the first day excited and ready to share all about their two week break. We've got a lot to learn this week: goal setting and winter narratives in writing, practice with numbers in the thousands, reading books with figurative language, and getting ready for our important Leadership Day at the end of this month.We'll begin learning about our next Georgia heroes- Jackie Robinson and Martin Luther King.

Hopefully you received the January Book Project on reading about a non fiction topic about nature and making an accordian book. The students will share this on the first week of February. We'll go to the library for checkout later this week to locate books on a topic of choice. The purpose is to get the students to read non fiction and share something they learned. Please don't fret about the topics- just pick something your child will enjoy sharing. The accordian book asks some "thinking" questions. Your child should answer them to the best of their ability!

Report cards go out this Friday. Please return the envelope and the signature card and keep the report card and all papers. I'll include a letter letting you know about some of the test scores and reading information about your child. If you feel that a conference is necessary, I'll be happy to meet with you after school. Just send a note and I'll contact you.

2012 is going to be a great year!

January 2012


A message from the Superintendent:


Cobb County School District is committed to providing quality education for all students.  Each school in the district has developed a school strategic plan to identify specific goals and activities that will address the unique needs of its students. 

Feedback from staff, parents and community members is important to the school strategic planning process. Your participation in School Improvement Survey will provide feedback about the quality of educational services and programs in our schools.

Your responses to the survey are anonymous. Results will be provided to the principals later in the school year and will be used, along with other information, to identify priorities for the school.

We invite you to take a few minutes, respond to the survey which can be found at this link:

http://www.cobbk12.org/sisurvey 

The survey will be available until February 10, 2012,  and should take about 15 - 20 minutes to complete.  Your opinions are vital to the future of our schools and through participation in this survey you become active in helping your child's school principal identify critical issues to be addressed. 

If you have any questions concerning the survey, please contact the principal at your child's school. 

Respectfully,



Michael Hinojosa, Ed.D.
Superintendent

Winter Break

May you all have a Happy Holiday!

FYI: Please do not write RAH minutes on the RAH card during Winter Break. If you want to tallie the minutes read you may write the TOTAL in your AGENDA. We'll see who read the most over the break FOR FUN!

                              Happy Holidays!

What a surprise I had on the last day before Winter Break! I am in awe over all of the generous gifts from each and every one of you!  The gift cards on the gift card tree from all of my favorite places will come in handy over the break. How did you know that I love Panera Bread, Kohl’s, Carrabba’s, REI, Barnes and Noble, LifeWay, Starbuck’s, and going to the movies? I’ll also enjoy the dark chocolates, the cute dog bone ornament, flowers, and lotion. Wow! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful group of young ladies and gentlemen in my care. You are each special and have so many talents.

Didn’t we have a wonderful time at our Candyland party? You enjoyed making reindeer cupcakes, gingerbread houses, eating delicious food, playing games, and reading good books. Thank you parents for making this a special day for our Explorers!

Have a wonderful holiday break with your family and friends. Be safe, read some good books, spend time with your families, and enjoy a much needed rest. When we come back in January, we will be learning many new things!

                                                                             Love, Mrs. Horner

Week Before the Winter Break

It's finally here! The last week before our Winter Break! The students, teachers, and parents are ready for the much needed rest and relaxation after the big rush to get everything in. We completed the Checkpoint testing (great job, Explorers!), learned the curriculum for the 2nd 9 weeks, wrote some great responses to literature, and more! This week we'll have fun focusing on special holiday books and coordinating skills activities. We'll squeeze in a few DRA tests and money activities. Report cards will go out after the Winter Break for this 9 weeks.

There will be no written homework for the students who have completed all of their Mountain Challenges. Yea you! Keep reading some good books for RAH! I'm sending home unfinished Mountain Challenges for the students who did not complete the activities so they can join us for a special lunch movie, treat, and Snowman Soup on Thursday. These will be due Thursday morning or before. I'd be so disappointed if everyone can't join us, so this will give everyone a chance to participate!

Our holiday party is this Wednesday, December 21, at 12:30. Please help Melanie Archer, Andrea Batch, and Lynn Judson as they make requests to get ready for our big day. I know that they are planning a wonderful event and that our Explorers will have a great time!

The countdown is on! I hope that everyone has a well deserved holiday with your loved ones! See you at the party on Wednesday or sometime next year!

Week of December 12

What a fabulous Market Day we had last Friday! We had a wide variety of goods and a few services for the students to spend their earned tickets on. All students followed the Market Day rules,  and everyone learned alot about supply and demand, goods and services, and different ways of receiving items. Thank you for helping your child get organized and sending him/her to school with all materials. It was the easiest cleanup ever!

This week we will take the Language Arts Checkpoint test on Tuesday and the Math Checkpoint test on Wednesday. Please have you child at school on time, and if at all possible, keep your child at school all day. We take the written tests in the morning and will input answers on the IRespond electronic computerized program in the afternoon. These tests cover material that we hae covered and some that we have not.

You'll notice that on the Agenda we will not have spelling/phonics homework until we get back in January. We do have math homework and RAH as usual. Next week we will have no homework at all unless your child has not completed the Mountain Challenges for Nov/Dec. I want to encourage all students to complete the 4 Challenges in the classroom and will send them home next week to complete. Even though these are not "graded", they are excellent activities to build brain power and get those creative juices flowing. We're going to have "snowman soup" and a special lunch video.

Our holiday party is next Wednesday, December 21 beginning at 12:30. Please help our room moms with any requests to make this a special event for our Explorers.

Also, if you are a Lit Mom, I will not need you to come in this week because of the testing. We'll begin our schedule after the holidays! Thanks for all that you do!

Week of December 5

  I hope that you have read your Explorer's Agenda that informed you that there will be no spelling or math homework this week. Instead, we will concentrate on preparing for Market Day this Friday. I will send home information on Wednesday with last minute updates. The best advice I have to give is to keep it simple. Baked items should be wrapped individually and no messy goods for your child to clean up. Your child is totally responsible for carrying all items back to class after Market Day is over. If you have a stand up booth or something that your child will need help carrying, then you will need to come at the end of Market Day at 9:30 to take it home. Plan ahead to make sure that your child has a large bag or tote to carry all of the items home. If you want your child to throw the poster away at school, please write a note on the back of the poster. If not, it will go home with your child on the bus or car. Remember, keep it simple!
Our job application to become Santa's elves at the North Pole are hanging in front of our classroom. Please take some time to come read them before our party the wek before the break. We're also learning about plane figures, counting back change, reading mystery books, commas, and economics. So busy! Thank you for encouraging your child to stay focused and to do his/her best.