Graves' This and That

I am not a fan of hot weather, beaches, and sunshine, but for fun to watch Jackson play his baseball game, it is never too hot! Famous last words! I will use good ole sunscreen of 70 SPF. I didn't get to see his first game afterall. I am sure that he is now more fun to watch. I will post pictures or video. Grands are great!

We had a great visit to family in the Hill country at Lake Medina. They have experienced little rain, the lake is used for irrigation, and the 18 months of little if any rain has the lake down about 12-15 feet. I did love the covered deck and the time to spend with family, and the fun reading. It was great! A great refresher for mind and body even though very warm. Took 2 grands, Presley and Boston, to see Up in 3D. Wow, could I ever pick up some thoughts from a simple kids' show! Off in the morning to see Jack play his first YMCA baseball or maybe t-ball. Not sure, but it will be fun and HOT! Only 66 more days until school begins. I need to make these days count!

Thank goodness for students, staff, and parents that summer vacation time has come. For some, the vacation means just that: no more teachers, no more books, etc; for some, it is a time of family enjoying one another later at night and having fun making some good memories; for some it is a time to catch up on all that was set aside until summer; for me, it is a time gearing up for the fall with the students, reading for just the fun of it, and find special times with all of the twelve grandchildren and their parents. Have a great summer of fun and making memories with your student!

These are our two videos from " The Water Cycle" from Readers' Theater. We had a ball watching and hearing ourselves!

This week has not been calm! I have completed 39 TPRI and DRA Fluency Probes. I will finish one DRA on Monday. I was thrilled that 9 of the 20 reached the district goal of 90+ and 5 more could be ready if there is no slacking off reading in the summer. All 20 have made progress toward 90 or 90+. I am so grateful for the work of parents, Mrs. Goin, and students. This was our first go at Daily 5 for second grade. Reading is all about words, communication. I have to correct myself with the words I speak to the students..I do have a wonderful Inner Counselor who taps me on the shoulder to remind me that the stress is running out and I will be careless if I am not careful. Surely as an adult, I can be more careful and not discourage any of these guys and girls. Second graders? Sometimes they become intrigued with words, especially inappropriate words that are seen and heard in media, even on computer games, and from others about them. We have been self -correcting with the guys about their

Well, Folk, we have run through TAKS first round, Easter, Passover, and my birthday! Three Grands share my birthday month also and that does help to keep the fun spirit going. I am so glad that every day is new with opportunitites and challenges. No time for being static. I think of static like a rut....like a grave, closed, opportunities OVER! I am continuing TPRI for your students. I have found progress, and I am grateful for your hard work with your student in reading nightly with them. I will finish the TPRI and the DRA with each of your students this week. All of the students are NOT at 90 words per minute. To insure that your student is ready for the third grade, PLEASE: DO NOT LAPSE INTO NO READING FOR THE SUMMER! I am encouraging several of the students to participate in Battle of the Books. You can get books from the NRH Public Library. Please don't allow summer to be hours in front of video games and no reading taking place. Successful students throughout t

Spring is a gorgeous time of the year with the dogwoods, azaleas, and redbuds blooming. Everything that is tired of the cold and the bland of color bursts into vivid hues shouting, "We have a new beginning! A fresh start!" Easter for me is that reminder....I have a fresh start and a new beginning! I am very blessed to have family close by and we will have an egg hunt with 8 of the Grands in between the rain showers on Sunday. Easter is also all about family, fun times, and being thankful for what Easter means personally to each family. I will have a large ham and everyone else brings the sides and a dessert. Be sure and let us know what you did with your family that was fun and special. The students and I were ALL ready for a break. I will look forward to another fresh start on Monday. If you have pictures, send them with your students. Happy thoughts!

Noise, laughter, and squirmy students are our agenda for right now. We are working hard with a PTA program on Tuesday, April 14th and the Spring Party is tomorrow. The rehearsals keep them really pumped and full of work to be caught up. After the program, we will really have to focus. Parents, we are still pushing the students to be at a Fluency Rate of 90 words per minute per BISD's goal. Several of them are reading above BISD's goal, but the majority is not. Please be looking for a good program for the summer to keep them engaged in reading. They do not need to fall behind and try to catch up with third grade. Third grade is big boy and big girl expectations! Get ready for much laughter and enjoy the work your student has done with the PTA program. We are having fun!

Hey Gang, we are now tweeting on twitter. I will show Graves' Great Group in the morning and we can tweet with the Tellez Team. So much fun, yet there is much work to do but we are still going to have fun tweeting and blogging! Right Graves' Great Group? Let's hear from one of you cool second graders!!

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I love to see what the older students are doing. I get to work with a few who will be with me for some math tutorials. Fourth graders are such fun! They are so busy being cool with Hannah Montana and all their shows to example to them that this is what cool looks like. They really are cool! They know that they will need some extra coaching for their math and they are ready, willing, and able to do their best and get her done! I will spend a few hours with some 4th graders and it will make me glad that I have second graders instead this year! They are all so super and full of energy and delight....most of them! If you have a super cool student at your house, let me know! I want to hear about him or her. Thanks!

In class on Friday, we had an interesting conversation about alarm clocks and our conscience. Since some of us have some impulse issues, I asked the class if they knew what the word, conscience, meant. Only one student knew. That gave us an opportunity to talk about that quiet inner voice within us that warns and reminds us when we are or we are not making good choices. The quiet inner voice is like an alarm on a clock. When we hear the ringggggggggg in the morning, we know it is time to get up, and get moving. When I make a choice that may have some consequences that I don't like, my alarm on my conscience is telling me to reconsider the choice I am about to make. In the days ahead, it will be interesting to see if they "got it". This was during our Second Step time.

Now you can see how much fun we have had working on our study of the Grasslands' Biome and the vocabulary. Let us know what you think of our great fun. Click button on the left of the screen. Enjoy!

18 happy faces met us today. We had two who were absent. Everyone seemed glad to be back from such a fun break. Say, Guys and Girls, we need to work on our daily reading fluency, and finish our activities in the class. We are working on the Grasslands Biome and we still have much to do. Thanks for your hard work and finishing work on time. Only 10 more weeks of school, so let's do a super job so that we can be prepared third graders!

What fun we had with 6 of the Grands ages 4-9. Four boys and 2 girls stayed Friday night, ate pizza, watched movies, ate popcorn, played at the park, and then all returned, safely, Saturday to their homes. The Boys are were all into Star Wars and the girls were having to both be Princess Leya. My Grands attend several of our local district schools and the older two have just had their first "go" at TAKS. I am very proud of them all and to get to make this investment of time and playing with them in this small way during our Spring Break. Tell me what you did. I hope that you had super fun with people that you love!

Going to attempt to link up Twitter on my blog for those of you who are more into a fewer words. I hope that you are having a fun Spring Break. I saw Noah and Mom yesterday at one of my weekly hangouts....Walmart!

I am enjoying investing in your students, but sometimes, I am inaccurate in what I think I see about them. This is where you come in, Mom or Dad. I want you to express some positive thoughts, ideas, or insights which will aid me to meet their educational needs better. I appreciate all that you do in helping them to be successful students. Hey Guys and Girls (Students), let me hear/see your thoughts. Use this blog for your ideas! Let's have fun with it and let's learn together.

I am so amazed at the careless investments of our monies, time, energies into things that have very limited value and potential. How much more excellent to make investments into the lives of people/relationships with unlimited potential and value! The dividends are usually greater than the initial investment and increase in potential and value.

Dear Parents and Graves' Great Group, I hope that you are having a wonderful spring break and fun with your family. This blog will take on many different looks and hopefully each look will improve. I would love to know what you are doing with your family and all the fun you are having with the 7 days of NO SCHOOL and NO TEACHERS! Yea!! Write back and let me know. Many thoughts of all of you. Lovingly, Mrs. Graves