Dear 2B Families,
I hope you are all enjoying a nice, long weekend and staying cool! I'd like to extend an extra special thank you to everyone for sending your children to school with water bottles, fans, spray bottles, lightweight clothing, pony tails and great attitudes during this hot weather!
Due to the heat, you will notice that some of last week's math lessons will be extended into next week. It was just a little too warm to get through all the components of each lesson. Therefore, the math reading homework will be the same for next week.
Reminder: A calendar with all homework and upcoming events is located at the very bottom of this blog. (Please keep scrolling down until you see it.)
Parent Orientation/Curriculum Night
On Thursday, September 13, you are invited to visit your child's 2nd grade classroom. This informational night is designed for parents only to attend. During the classroom sessions, I will provide you with district curriculum information as well as routines and procedures specific to 2BR. You may attend either classroom session, whichever works best with your schedule. Our new principal, Mr. Lecrone, will be meeting with parents in the gym to introduce himself and present some of our school-wide programs.
6:30-6:55 Session 1: Mrs. Brouch, Room 202
7:05-7:25 Mr. Lecrone, Gym
7:35-8:00 Session 2: Mrs. Brouch, Room 202
While you are here...please sign up for your November conference time. We will also have sign-up sheets outside the 2nd grade classrooms for volunteer positions and/or classroom donations.
Note:
District 204 has adopted a new electronic system called Edline. On Curriculum night, you will be given an access code and instructions to start-up your account. Once you have access to your Edline account, you will have the same Username and Password for the remainder of your child's years in District 204. Edline will eventually replace my classroom blog, so I want to make sure everyone in 2B has access to is as soon as possible. Please try to have at least one parent attend Curriculum Night in order to receive this important information.
LMC
Each Thursday, 2B students will have the opportunity to use our school library and check out 2 books. Please encourage your child to read his/her self-selected books at home. Books are due each Thursday morning so that your child may check out new books.
Spelling
Our first spelling homework (a.k.a. Spelling Tic-Tac-Toe) will be sent home on Friday, September 7th. Please look for it in your child's home folder each Friday for the remainder of the year.
Writing: Launching the Writer's Workshop
We will begin our Writer's Workshop unit this week. Students will be discussing questions such as, Who writes? What do they write? Why do they write? Where do they get their ideas? We will also begin be exploring ideas more and creating lists of possible topics for the students to write on later in the year.
We will begin our Writer's Workshop unit this week. Students will be discussing questions such as, Who writes? What do they write? Why do they write? Where do they get their ideas? We will also begin be exploring ideas more and creating lists of possible topics for the students to write on later in the year.
Reading
Harcourt-Trophies Text
Just For You - Theme 1: Being Me
On Wednesday, we will continue our whole group reading in the student's Harcourt-Trophies textbook. Starting Friday, the textbook will be sent home for weekend reading. You can check this blog to see which story we are reading and encourage your child to reread the story, review the vocabulary words and focus skill, and go over the "Think and Respond" questions at the end of the story. All of these study skills will help your child now, and later in the year, as we assess comprehension, context clues, vocabulary skills, fluency and reading written response. PLEASE RETURN YOUR CHILD'S TEXT EACH MONDAY. Your child will need his/her book at school for continuous reading lessons throughout the year.
In the first reading theme of the year, children learn how people discover new things about themselves through experiences and relationships. They find that the differences among people make each person special. For the next five weeks, you may want review the importance of “Being Me” with your child after each story.
Harcourt-Trophies Text
Just For You - Theme 1: Being Me
On Wednesday, we will continue our whole group reading in the student's Harcourt-Trophies textbook. Starting Friday, the textbook will be sent home for weekend reading. You can check this blog to see which story we are reading and encourage your child to reread the story, review the vocabulary words and focus skill, and go over the "Think and Respond" questions at the end of the story. All of these study skills will help your child now, and later in the year, as we assess comprehension, context clues, vocabulary skills, fluency and reading written response. PLEASE RETURN YOUR CHILD'S TEXT EACH MONDAY. Your child will need his/her book at school for continuous reading lessons throughout the year.
In the first reading theme of the year, children learn how people discover new things about themselves through experiences and relationships. They find that the differences among people make each person special. For the next five weeks, you may want review the importance of “Being Me” with your child after each story.
Social Studies
This week in Social studies we have been talking about Communities. We have talked about good citizenship in the community, what it is and what it looks like. Using Google Earth, we have explored where our community is in relation to the world, the continent, the country and the state. We are beginning to discuss the three kinds of communities - rural, urban and suburban. Our communities unit will continue on for the next few weeks.
The children were very interested in looking at their own homes using Google Maps. This is a great learning tool and a perfect opportunity to teach and/or review your address with your child. You may have fun working with your child on this site:
https://maps.google.com/
The children were very interested in looking at their own homes using Google Maps. This is a great learning tool and a perfect opportunity to teach and/or review your address with your child. You may have fun working with your child on this site:
https://maps.google.com/
Math
In the first Common Core Math unit, for second grade, we review routines and expectations for working together; review number patterns, sequences, grids and number lines; review calendars and time; practice addition facts and compare numbers. We began these lessons last week and will continue for the next two weeks. Please look at the calendar below for homework assignments. This week's assignments are all reading from the Math Reference Book that your child brought home last week.
On Wednesday, your child will begin working with our Otter Creek Mastering Math Facts program. Children were given a placement test to determine at what level they would begin and a handwriting test to determine what their 1-minute and 2-minute timing goals should be. We've been practicing and had our first 1-minute timing on Thursday. Each week your child will bring home his/her most recent 1-minute timing. This will let you know what level your child is currently working on. For detailed information about this program please click on the link in the right hand column of this blog: Math Practice Sites - Mastering Math Facts Practice Sets.
