September 23: Newsletter

UPCOMING EVENTS:

• Monday, September 26: Hearing Testing and Scholastic Book Order Due (clasroom code: HM67V)

• Wednesday, October 5: Evacuation Drill

• Friday, October 14:  Early Release/Dismissal at 12:15

READING:

I've now had the chance to read with almost all students individually to gain a sense of where they are at and what goals we can work towards.  What a fun opportunity to hear them read!  Next week I will finish up the reading testing and share their reading levels and goals with you.
We will continue to build our reading stamina next week.  Our goals is read for over 20 minutes without being distracted or giving up.   We will also learn how to categorize books into various genres.  By next Friday, your child will be able to tell you the genre they like to read the most.

WRITING:

We will spend the majority of next week drafting our personal narratives (small moments).  Students will learn how to write as a storyteller rather than just summarizing the story.  We will also notice how powerful it can be to include the character's feelings into our writing.

MATH:

Please continue to check the math remembering pages in your child's Friday folder.  The only math homework this year for your child is to fix up the errors made throughout the week.  Your child may need some assistance with the "stretch your thinking" problems at the bottom of each page.  These are very tricky problems.  They really get you to think!  Feel free to help your child through these problems and even share your thinking process to solve each one.

SOCIAL STUDIES:

Next week we will learn about the three different types of communities: urban, suburban and rural.  We will learn the characteristics of each community.  We will also compare the differences between each one.  We will wrap up this first unit of study by focusing on our community and the characteristics that we can find in Hudsonville that are our favorites.

Walk-A-Thon

We had a lot of fun at the Walk-A-Thon!  Thanks for all of your support.  The students ran or walked countless laps!  We even got to celebrate with popsicles when we were done.

Tomorrow is Picture Day

Tomorrow (Wednesday, September 21) is PICTURE DAY!

If you are interested in ordering pictures, please return your picture packet tomorrow.  

Thanks!

September 16: Newsletter

We really got into the swing of things this week! The class is working so hard to follow our routines and procedures. I could not be more proud of this group! We were able to complete a few assessments and next week I will be testing your child's reading to find their independent level. These will be reported out to you in our data notebooks, which will start coming home the last week of September. 

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Wednesday, September 21: Picture Day

Friday, September 23: Walk-a-thon (We will be walking from 9:00-9:45.  We would love to have you join us!)

Monday, September 26: Hearing Testing and Scholastic Book Order Due

Wednesday, October 5: Evacuation Drill

Friday, October 14:  Early Release/Dismissal at 12:15

READING:

Library began this week!  In second grade, students will be checking out 2 books.  This week students were allowed to check out free choice books.  In a couple weeks, students will make a switch and check out book only good fit books (at their independent reading level).  In class, we will spending the next few weeks during independent reading time building our reading stamina and tracking our thinking in our reader's notebooks.  

Today I have sent home our first Scholastic book order.  If you are interested in ordering please submit your order by Monday, September 26.  If you are interested in ordering online, our classroom code is HM67V.  If you are unable to order online, feel free to send in the order form with a check made out to Scholastic. There are so any fabulous books that scholastic offers. It is worth taking a peek. Order forms will come home each month.  Let me know if you have any questions.  Also, don't miss the red Scholastic folder in your child's Friday folder.  There is a coupon for a FREE book!  

WRITING:

The first unit of writing in 2nd grade focuses on narrative writing, or small moments.  These are true stories of events that have happened to us.  This week we will discuss how to identify small moment ideas and the importance of planning those ideas in many ways (using our fingers, through drawings, playing them like a movie, and with a partner).   In addition to this, we are will work very hard to build good writing habits.  We will practice building our writing stamina and taking ownership of our writing.

MATH:

Right now we are reviewing skills that were taught in 1st grade.  This is important because these are the foundational skills necessary for the more difficult skills to come.  We spent a great deal of time last week understanding a math mountain.  Ask your child to explain how to find the total and the partners in a math mountain.  You will find a Family Letter in your child's Friday folder that further explains the importance of math mountains.  You will also find math mountain cards to use for addition and subtraction practice at home.  We will use math mountain cards in the classroom as well They are a great resource to use to help build fact fluency.
Also, you will notice that your child has math REMEMBERING pages in his/her Friday folder.  Your child will complete a remember page most mornings in the classroom.   This year we will not be completing traditional math homework.  Instead, please look over the remember pages with your child and fix up any misunderstanding and errors.  You do NOT need to return these pages to school unless marked "return to school".  It is my hope that this new type of homework does not take a great deal of time, but will have a lasting impact on their learning.  Thanks for your help!

SOCIAL STUDIES:

Our focus will be on communities this year.  We will begin by learning the characteristics of a community: natural and human characteristics, buildings, businesses, transportation, and diversity.  We will also make a booklet about  the reasons why people live in a community.  Through our study we will learn all the reasons that make Hudsonville so great!  Go Eagles!!!

We had fun celebrating Constitution Day!!! 

Constitution Day

Friday, September 16 is Constitution Day.  We will spend time in the classroom learning more about the constitution and what the words in the preamble mean to us.  In celebration of this day, please have your child wear red, white and blue.  Thanks!

Make a change Monday

Today we started our first "Post-It Note Sign".  We will do these sign periodically throughout the year.  My goal is complete one a week.  Today was "Make a change Monday".  They had to write one way they could make the world AWESOME!!!  The sticky notes are hard to read in the picture, but here are some of their ideas.

Give high fives, be nice, clean up the world, don't litter in the ocean, be a good friend, do not be a bully, have a party everyday and make a giant amusement park in every state! 

I LOVE their ideas!  All of the ideas would make this world AWESOME!

Friendship Friday

Today we did a few activities to get to know each other a bit better and build upon our friendships.  You will notice that your second grader now has a friendship bracelet!  Each color on their bracelets tell us something about them.  Many students knew how to make this type of bracelet already and they were great helpers.  Other students made this type of bracelet for the first time and they were very proud that they could do it!

We also made self portraits and spent time today trying to guess our friends.

Can you find your 2nd grader?

September 9: Newsletter and Updates

Welcome back to a new school year in 2nd grade!  Thank you for taking the time to read our blog to learn more about our week in 2nd grade!  On here I will be communicating with you about our classroom news, events, pictures and much more. 

Today your child brought home his/her Friday folder for the first time.  You will find many items in your child's Friday folder.  The front pocket contains all the papers from our classroom.  Please look for the short parent survey in the classroom news side.  If you could fill it out and return to school next week, I would greatly appreciate it.  I am excited to learn more about each 2nd grader!  Also, don't miss all of the items in the back of your child's Friday folder that came from the office.  Please have students return their Friday folder to school on Monday.  

READING:

We have developed many new routines for the classroom this week.  It has been fun getting to know each 2nd grader and building our community together.  Next week we will begin to practice our daily routine for reading workshop.  Our focus will be on picking good fit books. We will also spend time exploring a variety of different books to get a taste of the type of books we may want to read this year.  In class, we will be doing a “book tasting” and playing musical chairs with 27 different books.  We are excited to start reading!!!  We will also go to library starting next week. Our library day is THURSDAYS!

WRITING:

Next week we will start by having students complete a narrative writing piece. This writing sample will be an indication of the strategies they already use in their writing and the areas that we will continue to work on this year. We will begin the year by writing small moments...students will write a true story about something that has  happened to them.

MATH:

Next week we will begin our first unit of study : Addition and Subtraction Within 20. Students will become fluent in single-digit addition and related subtraction problems. We will begin by reviewing math mountains from first grade.  We will then practice strategies to solve addition and subtraction problems, such counting on and making a ten.

WORD STUDY:

Please check out the blog for your child’s September spelling words.  We will practice these words in class; however, please study them at home, too.  They will be assessed in the classroom shortly!

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Friday, September 16:

Early Release: Students dismissed at 12:15

We will NOT be eating lunch at school on this day; however, sack lunches will be provided for all students that order one in the morning.  Sack lunches will be sent home with the students before dismissal.  

Wednesday, September 21:

Picture Day

Friday, September 23:

Walk-a-thon

Monday, September 26:

Hearing Testing

OTHER NEWS:

• Just as a reminder...we are a peanut free classroom.  Please make sure all snacks and birthday treats are peanut and tree nut free.  Thank you!

• From the office...

One of the biggest changes this school year will be our Safe and Secure Entrance procedures.  Any visitor coming after 9:00 a.m. will need to be “buzzed” into the office by Mrs. Opple.  If she is not immediately at her desk, the visitor will need to wait a moment until she returns.  

The end of the day will also look very different.  Students riding the bus will exit our front door. All students being picked up will exit the South door and wait with a classroom teacher until the adult picking the student up comes to walk them to their vehicle.  Parents will not enter the building at the end of the day to wait for students.  We are instituting this procedure to ensure the safety of our students in the parking lot.  There will be several classroom teachers present with students as they wait.  If you, or a care giver, pick up a student, please use extreme caution as you drive in the parking lot.

For parents that plan on volunteering, please remember to complete the online background check...

https://docs.google.com/a/hpseagles.net/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSer_wZNeR8eRz31VJKhtAl7bCGawPDLF7emUjQ5A0x2n-n4JQ/viewform

You can also find a this information on the Hudsonville website.  Thanks!

What a great group of 2nd graders!  I am already looking forward to day two!!!

(We are missing two 2nd grade friends in this picture so look for another one coming later this week.)

Tomorrow is the first day of 2nd grade!

Can you believe it's here?! Tomorrow is your child's first day of 2nd grade! I am so excited to see all of those smiling faces again in the morning! Here are a few reminders as you are packing up backpacks...  * The weather this week looks HOT. Please dress your child appropriately. We have a couple fans in our room, but it still gets really toasty!  * Each morning we take a snack break. Please make sure your child has a healthy snack and a water bottle to keep at his/her desk. (No juice in the classroom, please. Too many sticky spills.)  * Our first special of the year tomorrow is gym. Please make sure your child shows up with a pair of tennis shoes that can be left at school all year.  Thank you so much! I am looking forward to a great year!