Thank you for all the drops in my bucket today!

I just wanted to say thank you to my wonderful students and parents this year. 

I am THANKFUL for all the presents and I am especially HUMBLED by all the kind notes I received today. Teaching children is my passion and it feels nice to be appreciated. 

You guys are the BEST!

Have a wonderful break everybody!

Mr. Slay :)

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Bye Bye Ms. Baltazar! We'll miss you!

News Flash: Room 14 Wins a Pizza Party for the Most Cans Collected!

This is exciting news for all my GENEROUS students!

Discover exceptional compassion!

We're putting our VOCABULARY lesson to good use!

Discover: To find or learn something new

Exceptional: A person or animal that is especially talented or smart

Compassion: Noticing when people feel bad and you want to help them

Can second graders really learn $100 words like this? You bet! 

The students in room 14 are definitely EXCEPTIONAL!

Take a look at our CASTLE of CANS!

It was fun to build, but it's even more fun knowing that the cans will help to feed families in need!

David is using the iPad to show the class his MATH SKILLS!

Way to go Davey!

Putting drops in each other's bucket!

In December we've been discussing the importance of telling people that you appreciate them. 

Room 14 knows that the best way to make the world a better place is to appreciate one another.

Thank you Leisha for the sweet note! 

Is it a ROCK or a MINERAL?

Easy! A ROCK is just a solid that has more than one MINERAL. 

Parent question of the week: Is the Earth made of mostly rock, or mostly water? 

Ask your scholar for the answer!

Where did my Thanksgiving turkey go?

We've been learning about our DIGESTIVE SYSTEM. 

If you want to find out what happens after you swallow your food, just ask Francisco! 

Framed Mixed-Media Art in Second Grade?! This is how we do it!

I couldn't be any prouder of these incredibly talented artists! Way to go!

Congratulations to the Minus-Zero Heroes!

Spelling tricky plurals are no match for these superstars! 

Be kinder than necessary.

Be kinder than necessary. 

This is a quote from one of my favorite new books.

If you're a chapter book reader, I highly recommend  reading Wonder.

Plurals: Level 2!

Spelling Pattern: Plural Nouns

Today we learned how to make nouns into plural nouns. The first rule was easy! 

If a word ends in -x, -s, z, -sh, and -ch, then you need to add -es!

School Spirit: Crazy Hair Day!

Shayla is Giving Thanks!

Thank you Shayla for the awesome writing! I am thankful for you too! 

Your paragraph is excellent!

Room 14 has a HEART!

As many of you know, I have a heart for helping others, especially those who are less fortunate. 

In our class this year, all of us have made it our goal to help out whenever we can. Right now, we are working on collecting cans of food for people who don't have enough to eat.

THANK YOU for HELPING US HELP OTHERS!

Shhhh! Guess who is learning times-tables in second grade?!

...but don't tell them that! In second grade, we call them arrays and we use repeated addition. 

These boys will definitely be prepared for third grade next year!

Prefixes are fun!

Guess who was just awarded the DISNEY CREATE GRANT?!

I cannot tell a lie! It was Mr. Slay! 

Stay tuned Room 14 for more details on how we are going to use this funding
to promote creativity and the arts in our classroom!

Room 14 rules!

Thank you my good man!

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We're learning CONTRACTIONS!

Irregular Plural Nouns

Meet this month's AWARD WINNERS! Great job everyone!

Working Together to END WORLD HUNGER

Because I often ask my students to share and write about what they've done over the weekend, I thought I'd share what my family was up to. On Saturday, my wife and kids and I volunteered to pack meals for Stop Hunger Now. This is an organization that sends food to children in places where they don't have enough food. It was a great way for us to give our time helping others and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to make a difference in the world! Plus it was a lot of fun!

If you're interested, you can read more about it here:

http://www.stophungernow.org/

If you work hard enough, 

there will be things you can do tomorrow 

that you can't do today.

-Mr. Slay

Orfie has really learned a lot from his NON-FICTION reading!

Here's what he wrote:

Wolves hunt in packs. When they howl, they are saying, "I am over here!" When cavemen started feeding wolves, they became tame. These were the first dogs. When a wolf wags the tip of his tail, he is about to attack! Watch out!

Thanks for showing your SCHOOL SPIRIT!

Look who dressed like Ranger Docket!

No BONES about it! Maya knows about her SKELETON!

Great job Maya!

Jiji is in New York!

Our class has achieved 20% in Jiji and he sent us a post card!

Psst! A little birdy told me we are in FIRST PLACE for all of second grade! Way to go team!

Red Ribbon Week Door Contest!

Look what our TALENTED SCHOLARS made for the Red Ribbon Week door contest!

Too BRIGHT for Drugs!

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Room 14 says NOPE to DOPE and UGH! to DRUGS!

Celebrating Red Ribbon Week 2014!

Children's Literature: Creepy Carrots!

Mathematically Thinking: Place-Value

Kevin and Gabriel found two different ways to make the number 111. Great thinking!

Thank you!

St. John Family,

Thank you so much for the thoughtful gift and the kind words. It's a blessing to have such a wonderful classroom of students and I appreciate you taking the time to write us a note. We're a hard-working fun-loving group and you're right: they are definitely going to go far and do good things!

You've made my day!
Sincerely,
Mr. Slay

Meet our Top 4 Reading Comprehension Masters!

(From left) Sonia, Gabriel, Shalya, and Evess.

Look who has been earning Accelerated Reader points like crazy! These scholars are really taking advantage of their reading time!!

Keep up the GREAT work! It's awesome to hear about all the great books you've been reading!

Aquarium Writing by Mighty Maite!

Great job Maite! You've included some great DETAILS in your writing!

Aquarium Circle Map

Our field trip to The Aquarium of the Pacific!