Week 5

Dear Parents,

             I sent home a conference choice letter in your child’s Coyote Folder today. Please pick your top three or four days and times and I will try to accommodate you. They are on a first come, first serve basis. I will schedule the conference times as they come back to school.

            I have been testing my students so that I know all of their strengths and weaknesses. This helps me fill in any gaps and extend gifts they already have. I can’t wait to discuss your child’s progress with you. 

           Thank you for sending in the Boosterthon and field trip money/permission forms! We just have a few more to go! Please send these on Monday. I appreciate all you do for your children and our school! If you haven’t join PTA please consider doing so, Iam a member and believe we can work together to make a difference.

            I am attaching the October breakfast and lunch calendars as well as our second grade newsletter for the up-coming week. Two other important things went home today in your child’s Coyote Folder. Look for the fall pictures and a fair ticket! I hope you enjoy a wonderful weekend with your families.

Week 4

Dear Parents, 

                 We are really starting to be responsible second graders! Children are learning the routines … starting to know when things are due each week. If you could please help your child remember when homework is due, Math/Reading Logs are to be turned in, when to study for spell check or to reread a story of the week and learn the vocabulary. I am trying to help your child become more independent. Please remind him/her about these things or even make a daily check list for him/her to follow, but let your child place all that he/she needs for the day in his/her backpack. My second graders try to blame their parents for missing work, books or folders. My response is that Mommy and Daddy already completed second grade. It is not their responsibility. As you can guess, I am also a parent who was blamed as well for many years. I am helping your child get ready for next year. As the grades progress, your child will need to be responsible for more things. Please realize if a think sheet goes home, that it is not a punishment. Putting our thoughts in writing help us remember what we should be doing. A child who comes home with a 1, 2, or 3 next to one of the behaviors listed on the behavior sheet in their blue daily folder are not in trouble. They just may need to talk about a better choice. A 4 or 5, however, means that it is a consistent behavior and we may need to work together to help your child be successful in second grade. If you need reminders of when things are due, you can look at week 3 on my blog. It is listed there. Please feel free to contact me at any time with any concerns. I will get back to you the same day, if possible.

A few reminders:

1. Students can bring Boosterthon pledge/donation $ any day, however, Tuesday, September 22nd is the next collection day
2. Above I have attached our Newsletter and two forms about the Reflections contest
3. There is a field trip form in your child’s coyote folder (please sign, and return with the $13 fee)
4. Your child’s first progress report is in the Coyote Folder. In the future, only children who are below 75% in any class will get a paper copy

Week 3

Dear Parents,

                   Another amazing week of learning. The children are still learning their second grade responsibilities. Please help me with these on your end. Math/Reading logs should be filled out Monday- Thursday. Along with practicing their math flash cards that we’ve been sending home, your child can also choose to use fasttmath or sumdog. Instructions are below to help you use these great mathematical resources. Every Friday your child will be quized over the flashcards of the week. Three quizes go together to create a math grade. I have entered their first 3 quiz average to their math grades for the first three week period. 

                 Also, their reading book will be going home each Monday and Thursday when we have a story of the week. The children are to reread the story. This can be counted as reading log time. If the story is too difficult for your child to read alone, please read it with him/her. There will be a test over the story on Friday. If there is a story of the week, there will be a list of the vocabulary words on the back of our Second Grade Newsletter that goes home on Friday. Your child is to learn the definitions of those words. We will be covering them at school as well, but a homework page will go home on Wednesday to help learn the words. 

                  Homework also goes home on Tuesday. This will be a math practice page along with a language arts practice page. Spell Checks are on Fridays. See the link below as a fun way for your child to practice their spelling list for the week.

                   We put great effort forth for the Boosterthon Fun Run! Thank you to those parents who came out to volunteer and cheer us on! An envelope went home in your child’s Coyote Folder on Friday. If your child got pledges, they are listed on a sheet that went home as well. Those pledges are due back to the school by September 16th. If your child did not get pledges, it is not too late to donate to our school. You may put donations in the envelope to send back to school by September 16th. Thank you for supporting Coyote Ridge!

Technology Resources

Sumdog

Mrs. Alvarez will  introduce Sumdog on Tuesday and then they’ll be good to go!

It’ll be their normal username: ex: ab1234567 password: cat  school code: cre

Fasttmath

Is working.

Username: ex: ab1234567 password: abc123

Regular password is their last initial, first initial and the student id ( if you need to know your child’s ID number, please e-mail me and I will send it to you.)

Spelling City

Here is the link: http://www.spellingcity.com/techtime/

Students can click on this link then choose their list to practice spelling words of the week. They are either list 1,2,or 3. Their list number is the same as their group number in my class.

Week 2

Dear Parents,

         I am so proud of my second graders! We are beginning to come into the classroom in the morning and begin our routines independently. Yes, we all make mistakes, but we are learning how to fix them and do better the next time. We are learning our reading time independent choices and practicing our stamina (doing anything for an extended period of time without being off task), so that I can begin meeting with individual students, and reading groups. We are learning to keep our desks organized, so that we can find our unfinished work to turn it in on time. 

       Thank you for helping your child keep up with the nightly reading and math logs. Next week I will begin sending other homework home on Tuesday and Wednesday, so look for those in your child’s blue folders those nights. The reading book will go home next Thursday so that your child can reread the story from our reading book that we read on Tuesday (this can count as the reading log time!) The test over the story will be on Friday. The vocabulary from the story will go home on  the Friday News Letter and on Wednesdays, so that your child can learn the definitions and be able to recognize how they are used in the story of the week. The vocabulary test will also be on Friday . Sight words for the week are listed on our newsletter which is attached to this e-mail and in your child’s  Coyote Folder. Every Friday I have your child come back to my table and read the words. Five weeks of words averaged together will make one of the reading grades for this nine weeks. Learning these sight words each week will help our early readers gain important words that can make reading much more fun!

         The Coyote Folders go home only on Fridays. You can see your child’s graded papers. Please take these out of the folder to keep unless it is a paper that has a sheet stapled to it to sign and return to school. Papers with this sheet attached are papers with a below 70% grade. This ensures that you have seen the paper. We will always correct these papers before they go home. Reteaching a skill that was not learned is an important part of this process. Also in the Coyote Folder will be papers sent from our school office with PTA information, after school clubs and more. Please take these out of the folder and return the empty folder the next Monday. If there is a note or filled out form to return to school you may place them in your child’s Coyote Folder when you return it on Monday. 

This weekend we are issuing a special challenge. Visit funrun.com to see the bonus prize your child can earn simply by getting a pledge this weekend only.

And if you’re looking for an easy way to ask for a pledge, upload a photo of your student to funrun.com to personalize their own Student Star video. It’s a fun movie trailer starring your child! You can share it on email or social media to ask for a pledge.

Thank you again for helping our class.

PS - If you haven’t registered your child on funrun.com, use our school registration code: 244747

* Please send in the five dollars for your child’s Scholastic News. We are reading our first one today! I need to pay the bill soon and I appreciate everyone turning it in so that I do not have to personally cover the bill. I wrote a reminder on your child’s blue folder if the money has not been turned in to me.