Patriots Day

Patriots Day

On September 11th students learned more about patriotism and a little about the events that changed our nation that day.  As part of our lesson students were asked to create post cards that memorialized that day and symbolized what "patriotism" meant to them.  They came up with some outstanding illustrations!

As we displayed our illustrations, they created a beautiful "quilt" on our bulletin board.  

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, YOU can help!

                    The Haynes Elementary family was blessed to meet a very special little girl last year. 

   Ava Dawson, started Pre K at our school and she and her story has touched many of our staff's and student's hearts.  Ava was diagnosed during the school year with DIPG (Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma), a type of tumor that is located in the pons (middle) of the brain stem.  Due to this type of cancer's location and aggressiveness, it is one of the most devestating malignancies with the average survival rate lower than one year.  As of right now, there is no cure for DIPG and many other types of childhood cancer. It's a sobering reality that many families are forced to face. Little Ava is especially dear to my heart because my son Andrew was in her class and quite honestly, Ava is his first crush (deservingly so, as she is one of the sweetest, most beautiful little girls I've had the pleasure of meeting).  I really just wanted to take this opportunity to make everyone a little more aware of childhood cancer in support of September's Childhood Cancer Awareness month.
  We often hear about children with cancer and though our hearts break for them and their families, we feel as though there is little we can do to help.  So often, as children are diagnosed and treated they become too sick to attend school regularly, so as teacher's and parents we often lose contact with those families.  Sometimes we just don't know what to say or we assume they have enough support already.  We often do not have a chance to really make a difference because of these reasons, though I'm hoping to change that. Through Ava's incredibly strong and wonderful mother, Cynthia, I recently learned that the month of September is dedicated to Childhood Cancer Awareness.  Although I've known other children with cancer, I had no idea there was a whole month dedicated to it's awareness until now.  The sad news is that childhood cancer affects over 10,000 children under the age of 15, each year in the United States.  That's over 30 children diagnosed a day.  7 more children lose their fight with cancer every day.  The good news is that YOU can help save their lives!  I'm working with our administration to come up with ways that we can show our support for Ava's family and am planning on hosting a bone marrow donor registration event in Ava's honor sometime in the near future.  Just by sharing the yellow support ribbon image or Ava's image on your facebook page, your blog or as the signiture in your personal email you can help people become more aware!  
   As a parent it's impossible to imagine what families such as Ava's are going through.  I do however know, that Haynes has the most supportive parents in the district and the Killeen/Ft. Hood community as a whole, always pulls together to show their support for one another.  I hope that this post has helped you become more aware of childhood cancer in general.  You can follow Ava's story and show your support at http://hopeforava.blogspot.com  Hug your babies extra close tonight and thank you for taking the time to read this.   Sincerely, Mrs. Hensley

Classroom Allergies

I wanted to quickly let parents know that we do have students in our classroom with peanut allergies.  As this could cause serious and dangerous health concerns for those students, I'm asking that our classroom remain a peanut free zone.  When sending snacks or treats for special occassions, please keep this in mind.  Thank you for helping to keep us safe! 

The First Week of School

I may be biased, but I'm pretty sure that I got the best of the bunch with my students this year!  Parents, it's obvious that you've done a wonderful job with your child.  Every one of them is polite and they are already working really hard!
In Reading we are working on how to choose "Good Fit" books, practicing our silent reading stamina (Did you know that 2nd graders are supposed to be able to read silently for 20 minutes by the second half of the year?), how to read with a partner, library rules and what kinds of questions good reader's ask themselves.  I'm excited that most of my students already have a love of reading!  I can't wait to foster that love and see it grow even more this year!
In Math we've already reviewed patterns and are working on modeling whole numbers and starting to talk about place value.  I'm also informally assessing the kiddos with flash cards to see where they're at with their math facts.  It seems that most of them know HOW to add and subtract, but we need to work on our recall speed (how fast we can remember the facts, without counting on our fingers).  This is probably one of the most difficult and time consuming things for them to master.  Parents, if you could help them practice their math facts at home it would really help out a lot!  I've always bought the cheap $1 flash cards from Dollar Tree and made a game of it.  If you could pick up an addition and subtraction set to practice at home, they'll be ready to move right along!
We've had some fun brainstorming topics to write on and have started keeping a "Writing Journal".  It is from here, that we'll pull completed work from to share, here, on our classroom site.  This will help students understand and practice the writing process (brainstorming, prewriting, editing, and publishing).  They are super excited that they will have  a chance to see their work online and share it with you!
This year lunch is a little different.  Teachers are now eating lunch in the cafeteria with their students.  I'm using this as an opportunity to share and model appropriate table manners.  In social studies, we've been talking a lot about making good choices and manners.  We haven't had the opportunity to do much in Science this week, but next week will start our interactive "Science Journals".
All in all, it's been an exciting and productive first week!

Meet the Teacher Night

It was such a pleasure meeting all my new students tonight!  Thank you parents for taking the time to come in to meet me and see our classroom.  It is obvious that I'm going to have a classroom full of some very special and wonderful kiddos!  It was great to see their personalities start peeking through already this evening.  I have no doubt that we are going to learn a lot together this year and have lots of fun in the process!  Parents, thank you again for taking the time to fill out all those forms and most importantly, for trusting me with your child.  I promise that you will be amazed at how much they've grown and learned this year!  Because it's unfair that I should get to know more about your family and your child than you may know about me, I thought I'd share a little more about myself and answer some of the same questions I had you answer about your child. :)

Get To Know Your Teacher

My favorite subject in school was: Reading/English.  My wonderful English teachers inspired me to become a teacher myself!

I have 2 children. 1 boy (Andrew) and 1 girl (Sophia)

I have 5 pets. Their names are: Bohdi (Pomeranian), Lizzy ( Andrew's gecko), Lacy (Fancy Rat), Winter and Shelly (Sophia's Hermit Crabs).

During my free time I like to read, draw, travel and spend time with my family.

Something you probably don't know about me is: I have no will power when it comes to sweets!  Chocolate, candy, cake, cookies, I LOVE them all!

Things I'm afraid of: Clowns and Spiders

Places I have lived and traveled to: Illinois, Hawaii, and most of the US States.  I have also traveled to the Bahamas, France, England, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and Mexico. 

I am so excited to see everyone Monday morning and begin our journey through 2nd grade together!  Enjoy your last weekend of summer break!

T'was the Night Before School

T'was the night before school starts and all through the town,

The teachers were working, not playing around.

The bulletin boards were all designed and completed,

The parents were cheering,

summer finally depleted.

By eight the kids are washed

and tucked into bed,

where memories of homework

fill them with dread.

New pencils, new folders, new notebooks too,

new teachers, new friends, the anxiety grew.

The parents just giggled when they heard of this fright

and shouted upstairs-GO TO BED-IT'S A SCHOOL NIGHT!

All that needed to happen was one little thing —

The children should come,

and those bells, they should ring.

Unsure smiles were seen 

as they ran through the door.

Ready to learn this year, so much more!

Their bags were all stuffed

with school supplies anew.

And rules and pencils,

with erasers to chew.

The teachers, they celebrate with cheer in their eyes.

How we welcome that first day, our students a surprise.

No more time to prepare, no more time to consider,

Had we done enough, or would their enthusiasm pitter?

That if only we had another week to prepare,

such lessons we'd have, oh how the parents would stare!

But their eyes how they twinkle, their smiles so merry.

Their little cheeks became rosy like a cherry.

Into the room they rush, to their seats they bound,

I had better find a way to compose myself somehow.

When all of a sudden I hear,

A child in the back with an excited smile and voice so clear

"Teacher, 

what are we going to learn this year?"

Classroom Layout

When you become a teacher, the most exciting thing you think about is how you are going to decorate and layout your classroom.  Yes, we're excited to meet our student's but there's just something about getting a space that's "yours" to put a stamp on.  It's taken me a few years and a few classrooms to get it   just right.  Now, what works for me may not work for your space or your plans but there are some things that have been proven to be tried and true when it comes to creating a safe and rich learning environment.  I always try to keep those things in mind while planning my classroom layout.  This year I decided to go with an outer space theme because my students last year were so interested and engaged in our Science space unit!

Group seating facilitates small group teaching and collaborative learning.

This seating arrangement also allows students access to resources readily available in their groups.

One of the most common mistakes teacher's make is covering their classroom walls with decorations, charts, posters, etc...before student's arrive.  Although those types of things are "cute" students have no connection to them.  Studies have shown that charts and posters created WITH and BY students anchor their learning and give them ownership of the concepts.  There are some really great resources out there for anchor charts!  Google or Pinterest are awesome starts for examples, ideas and more info!

Bulletin boards and walls are left bare until students help create meaningful posters and charts to anchor their learning as the concepts are taught.  

My favorite part of any classroom is the library.  The classroom library is so much more than a collection of books for students to read.  While research shows that having a wide variety of books for students to read contributes to reading success,  students specifically need access to meaningful and personally interesting books.  Reading success is directly related to the frequency, amount and diversity of reading.  Creating and maintaining a rich, inviting and comfortable classroom library promotes greater amounts of reading, thus helping students gain greater levels of reading achievement.

The classroom library should be organized yet inviting.  Books should be sorted by genres instead of reading levels, in 2nd grade.

Classroom management also directly ties into your classroom layout.  You know your student's the best.  What works for my students, may not be ideal for your students.  Just like what works for one years class may not work with next years class.  The key is to reflect often and to remain flexible!

I'll update as the year gets underway to let you know how this layout is working out for us.