It's hard to believe I'm writing my last blog as a teacher! Retirement doesn't seem "real" yet, as I'm still so busy doing all the things that teachers do at the end of each school year. I've been told that reality won't hit until August, when I'm ready to go back to school and put my room together, and I won't have a room to go back to! Seriously, my last year has been such a wonderful one. Your children have been lovely to work with, and I couldn't ask for a greater group of parents. THANKS for all you do to support your child's education, and ALL you've done to help me out this year. I will miss you all!

UPCOMING EVENTS:
Wed., May 27, 9:00 a.m.--All-School Field Day
Thurs., May 28, 9:00 a.m.--Talent Show
Fri., May 29, 11:15 a.m.--Mrs. Fauss' Good-bye Party
Fri., May 29--NOON DISMISSAL!
HAVE A WONDERFUL SUMMER! Report cards will be mailed to your home in June.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SAM, ON MAY 19!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NICHOLAS, ON MAY 25!
Nick is our Star of the Week for May 18-22.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TIM, ON MAY 29!
Tim is our Star of the week for May 26-29.

Spelling/Phonics: Review List
1. we're 6. caution
2. they'd 7. kindness
3. planned 8. useless
4. hiking 9. midweek
5. future 10. misbehave
Bonus words:
11. skipped
12. would've
13. midnight
14. weakness
15. adventure

Helpers for the last two weeks:
Mon. the 18th--Nerea
Tues. the 19th--Nick
Wed. the 20th--Ava
Thurs. the 21st--Humza
Fri. the 22nd--James

Tues. the 26th--Bre
Wed. the 27th--Camden
Thurs. the 28th--Ellie
Fri. the 29th--Sam

MANY THANKS to Ms. Bell, Mrs. Lubertozzi, Mrs. Tremel, Mrs. Sempek, Mrs. Hortman, Mrs. Zaversnik, and Ryan's grandma for helping us construct our life-size coral reef animals last Thursday. The students (and the adults!) worked so hard, and the results are amazing! If you have a chance, come to our classroom and take a look at the "underwater world" we created!
Talent Show tryouts for second grade are tomorrow, May 12, at 9:00 a.m. We must have a signed permission form from the parent of each child who wishes to try out. Tryouts forms have been in the Whispers for the past two weeks.

Sam is our Star of the Week this week! His birthday is coming up on May 19.

Phonics/Spelling Rule: Prefixes mid-, mis-
1. midair 6. midday
2. misplace 7. midweek
3. mislead 8. misbehave
4. midway 9. midyear
5. misprint 10. mismatch
Bonus words:
11. misdeed
12. mistake
13. midstream
14. midnight
15. misbehavior

Helpers for the week:
Mon.--Katie
Tues.--Cassie
Wed.--Rebekah
Thurs.--Tim
Fri.--Breanna M.

CALLING ALL AVAILABLE VOLUNTEERS! I have only had two parents volunteer to help us with our big Great Barrier Reef project, which will be done on Thursday, May 7, from 11:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m. and 12:50-1:50 p.m. I really need at least three more volunteers in order for this project to be successful. Your help is welcome, even if you can only commit an hour or so of your time! Please contact me by email (lfauss@mpsomaha.org), phone (715-8280), or note if you could possibly help us out on Thursday. Thanks!!
Character Counts and Family Group Day is Wednesday. Please have your child wear the yellow tie-dyed shirt that day. Thanks for your help with this!
Looking ahead--Second Grade talent show tryouts will be held on Tuesday, May 11 at 9:00 a.m. An information/sign-up sheet was included in last Friday's Whispers. We will be voting on three acts from second grade who will be able to participate in this year's Talent Show (which I believe is scheduled for Thursday, May 28). I'm looking forward to some of my students getting acts together for the tryouts next week!

Jacob is our Star of the Week this week!

Spelling/Phonics: Review of the Second Grade Priority Words

Helpers for the week:
Mon.--Jacob
Tues.--Dalton
Wed.--Shelby
Thurs.--Ryan
Fri.--Grayce

Midquarter reports went home in last week's Friday Folders. Please review these with your children, sign, and return them to me this week. Thanks!
Willowdale's annual Parent Volunteer Luncheon will be held this Thursday, April 30 from 12:00-1:00 p.m. I hope to see some of my wonderful classroom volunteers at lunch on Thursday! This is Willowdale's way of saying "Thank you!" to our tremendous parent volunteers, so try to attend if you can.

There are no birthdays or Star of the Week this week.

Spelling/Phonics rule: suffixes -less and -ness
1. kindness 6. darkness
2. careless 7. sadness
3. goodness 8.sickness
4. useless 9. helpless
5. fearless 10. thankless
Challenge Words:
11. fitness
12. weakness
13. awareness
14. eagerness
15. wireless

Helpers for the week:
Mon.--Sam
Tues.--Alex
Wed.--Emily
Thurs.--Luke
Fri.--Joe

For the next seven school days, your child will be practicing proper keyboarding skills using a website called "Dance Mat Typing." (Please refer to the note that was sent home in last week's Friday folders.) I can certainly use adult help to assist me in monitoring the children's finger placements on the keyboards! If you're available on any of the following dates/times to help out with this unit, please let me know. Thank you in advance for your continued support!
April 20, 22, 23, 24, and 27: 1:20-1:50 in the computer lab
April 21 and 28: 12:50-1:20 in the computer lab

The children did an excellent job on the computer-based math assessment that we completed last week. Everyone worked hard, and should be very proud of themselves for all of their efforts! It will probably be several weeks before we receive the results. I'm anxious to see how they did!

We have no birthdays or Star of the Week this week. :-(

Spelling/Phonics rule: -tion and -ture
1. mixture 6. action
2. nation 7. caution
3. section 8. station
4. future 9. fixture
5. picture 10. motion
Bonus Words:
11. nature
12. feature
13. furniture
14. adventure
15. tuition
Whew! Those are TOUGH words this week. The optimal word is "PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!"

Helpers for the week:
Mon.--Humza
Tues.--James
Wed.--Bre
Thurs.--Camden
Fri.--Ellie

OUR MILLARD MATH ASSESSMENT IS THIS WEEK! We will be practicing this computer-based assessment on Monday, and the "real thing" will be done on Tuesday and Wednesday. Please make sure your child comes to school well-rested and having eaten a good breakfast. Try to have your child here at school on those three days if at all possible. Thank you for your help!
Also, our keyboarding unit will begin on Thursday, right after the math assessment is completed. No more "one finger typing"--your child will learn proper finger placement and reaches. Your help monitoring this at home as your child is using the computer is appreciated! Next week, April 20-24, we will be practicing our keyboarding skills every afternoon from 1:20-1:50 p.m. in the computer lab. If any of you are free, I would LOVE to have more adults help with the "finger placement police" activities next week. Let me know if you'd be able to help out. Thanks!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AVA, ON APRIL 17!
Ava is our Star of the Week this week!! :-)

Spelling/Phonics rule: inflectional endings
1. tried 6. liking
2. trying 7. hiked
3. planned 8. hiking
4. planning 9. cried
5. liked 10. crying
Bonus Words:
11. skipped
12. skipping
13. danced
14. danced
15. replied
16. replying

Helpers for the week:
Mon.--Tim
Tues.--Breanna
Wed.--Nerea
Thurs.--Nicholas
Fri.--Ava

The students did a FANTASTIC job on their music program, didn't they? Congratulations to all for a job well done!
Character Counts and Family Group Day will be this Wednesday, April 1. Please have your child wear the yellow tie-dyed t-shirt on Wednesday. Thanks!

There are no birthdays or Star of the Week this week.

Spelling/Phonics rule: Contractions
1. we're 6. you're
2. I've 7. won't
3. don't 8. they're
4. can't 9. I'd
5. he'd 10. they'd
Bonus Words:
11. she'd
12. we've
13. could've
14. would've
15. should've

Helpers for the week:
Mon.--Ryan
Tues.--Grayce
Wed.--Katie
Thurs.--Cassie
Fri.--Rebekah

HAVE A WONDERFUL SPRING BREAK!!

Our field trip to the Joslyn Art Museum is this week! We will be traveling to the museum on Thursday, March 19, in the afternoon. Joslyn has requested that no more than four parent chaperones per classroom attend the field trip, and I have five volunteers already, so I am more than set for helpers! A BIG THANK YOU to Mrs. Tremel, Mrs. Sempek, Ms. Bell, Ms. Robey, and Mrs. Hortman for offering to accompany us to the museum on Thursday.
Look for third quarter report cards to be in this week's Friday Folders. The report cards do not need to be returned to school, but please contact me if you have any questions or concerns regarding your child's progress. We have just 48 days left in this school year, with so much still to be accomplished. We'll need to kick it into high gear this fourth quarter!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ELLIE, ON MARCH 18!
Ellie is our Star of the Week this week. :-)

Spelling/phonics rule: vowels au, aw, augh, al
1. talk 6. walk
2. because 7. chalk
3. August 8. auto
4. caught 9. taught
5. draw 10. thaw
Bonus Words:
11. fault
12. launch
13. applause
14. audience
15. awkward

Helpers for the week:
Tues.--Ellie
Wed.--Sam
Thurs.--Alex
Fri.--Emily

Believe it or not, the third quarter ends this Friday! There is NO SCHOOL for students next Monday, March 16, as teachers will be working on report cards. Your child's report card will come home in your Friday Folder on Friday, March 20.
Our field trip to the Joslyn Art Museum is scheduled for Thursday, March 19, from 12:30-3:00 p.m. More information will be coming home in this week's Friday Folders regarding our trip. So far, two parents have volunteered to accompany us. I would really like to have as many parent chaperones as possible, so that we can divide up into small groups. Let me know if you'd be willing to join us! You can ride the bus with us, or drive down to Joslyn and meet us there at 1:10 p.m.

There are no birthdays or Star of the Week this week.

Spelling/Phonics rule: ph, gh, ff
1. phone 6. giraffe
2. enough 7. graph
3. staff 8. tough
4. laugh 9. photo
5. puff 10. rough
Bonus Words:
11. cough
12. cliff
13. dolphin
14. physical
15. autograph

Helpers for the week:
Mon.--Ava
Tues.--Humza
Wed.--James
Thurs.--Bre
Fri.--Camden

As part of our unit on famous artists and styles of art, we will be drawing self-portraits tomorrow (Tuesday). If you have a photo of your child that you could send tomorrow, that would help with this project a lot! One of your child's school photos is perfect (or any other one you may have). A good alternative is to send a small mirror to school, so that your child can look at his/her face as (s)he is drawing.Thank you for your help with this, and I apologize for the late notice!
Character Counts/Family Group Day is this Wednesday, March 4. Please have your child wear the yellow tie-dyed shirt on Wednesday. Thanks!
Our field trip to the Joslyn Art Museum has been scheduled for Thursday, March 19, from 12:30-3:00 p.m. Our class will be going alone, so there will be plenty of room on the bus for extra chaperones if you would like to ride with us! Let me know if you're willing to attend this field trip with our class. I appreciate having a lot of parents accompany us on this trip!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BREANNA, ON MARCH 5!
Breanna is our Star of the Week this week. :-)

Spelling/Phonics rule: Silent Consonants
1. knock 6. climb
2. sign 7. wrap
3. knee 8. wren
4. wrong 9. gnat
5. write 10. lamb
Bonus Words:
11. comb
12. knob
13. knuckle
14. plumber
15. wrestle

Helpers for the week:
Mon.--Rebekah
Tues.--Tim
Wed.--Breanna
Thurs.--Nerea
Fri.--Nicholas