Week 4

 Dear Parents,

       We will be starting the 4^th week of school next week. So far most children are getting into the routines and bringing what they need to turn in to class. Here are a few reminders:

1. Spelling lists and sight words go home on Mondays. They are assessed on Fridays.
2. Your child’s blue folder should come to school every day. This is our behavior information as well as important messages/papers between parents and myself. Make sure that if you put a paper in the blue folder you remind your child to take it out of the folder when he/she gets to the room and give it to me. I do remind the class to check the folder. Again, I am instilling a sense of responsibility.
3. Reading folders and books go home and back to school every day. There may be up to 3 books in the folder at  time. We switch out one- two books every week. Rereading familiar text is vital in establishing fluency. Your child will use these books to fill out their reading logs. They may read other books, but make sure it is a good fit book. The rule is if there are 5 or more words in a paragraph-sized page that your child can’t read, it is too hard for them to practice reading.
4. Reading logs stay in their backpacks and are filled out by your child Monday-Thursday. On Friday they turn it in for me to check.

 

                 In math this week we worked on creating and decomposing two digit numbers. We looked at a hundred’s chart and learned how to quickly add or subtract 10 from a number by getting on the number and either moving up a row or down a row. We played the game get to 100. We were introduced to the games collect $.50 and collect $1.00. We practiced filling out 100 charts and adding number strings. Please practice counting coins with your child. We start with the largest valued coin and add them in order to the least valued coin. If you had 2 dimes,  a nickel, 2 quarters and 3 pennies, your child would add: 25 + 25 + 10 + 10 +  5 + 1 + 1 + 1 = $0.78.

               In Language we are working on reading with fluency and isolating sounds in words. We are thinking, then getting our words down in complete sentences. We are using our dictionaries to help us spell words correctly. We are learning to have a beginning, middle and end in our narratives. We have started our own book using other authors as mentors. We can choose as an author/illustrator where we put our pictures and words. We can write words large or very small. We can use speech bubbles.

               In reading we read Clark the Shark, learned about setting (time and place). We took a comprehension check to see what your child remembered from our discussions. These are assessments and may be retaken for a 70. That means if your child did not get a passing grade on this assessment, they will meet with me discuss and read the story then retake the assessment. Even if they get 100% the second time, the grade marked down in the gradebook will be a 70. That paper will go home with a paper attached. Please sign the and note and send both the test and the signed note back to me.

                 In science we began our second unit called The Properties of matter. We are learning to describe objects by their properties and that everything round us that has size, shape, mass,  color or takes up space is matter.

 

Week 3

 Dear Parents,

        We had our first full week of learning! We are learning the routines and expectations. Please help your child by making sure his/her reading books stay in their backpacks as we will be starting reading groups next week. We took our first istation assessment and your child’s progress sheet will be going home with him/her  today in his/her coyote folder. Today, filled out reading logs were due for this week. Check your child’s log to see if they have a star or a note to complete it over the weekend to turn in to me on Monday. Completed logs will earn 3 stickers. The sticker number received will go down by 1,  for each day late. I am trying to instill a wish to complete work with positive reinforcement. I assure my second graders that they are responsible for their homework and folders because their parents already passed second grade.  😊 This year we are building your child’s sense of responsibility as well as his/her taking pride in always trying his/her best!

           In math this week we took a beginning of year assessment( 1^st grade skills) , a universal screener ( ten’s/ and one’s number sense), and saw if they could write numbers to 100. We continued learning our math routines, solving word problems and looked very closely at a penny, nickel, dime, and quarter. We learned the value of these coins and that we could trade five pennies for a nickel, two nickels for a dime, and two dimes and a nickel for a quarter. This is getting us ready to play the game Collect 50 Cents. We also decomposed the number 10 using blocks and recorded our different number strings. We  counted the pockets in our class, got a snap cube for each pocket and put it in a bucket. On Monday we will decide the best way to find out how many pockets were in the room on Friday!

             In Language we decoded many words with the CVC pattern and worked on our reading fluency. We are writing short narratives in our writing notebooks about what is close to our heart and also using ideas from mentor texts.

             In reading we heard the story I Like Myself and wrote 6 I like sentences on a large I. They are hanging in our classroom. We learned about Conflict Resolution, completed a TPRI assessment, and took our first istation assessment. This information will help me place your child in a leveled guided reading group. We wrote our treatment agreement which lists how we should treat each other in our classroom. We read the story Super Citizen and found the central idea and it’s supporting details. We also read the book Our Class is a Family and are creating a book about our class. 

              In science we started the week by rotating through all the second grade classrooms as our teachers dressed up as different scientists, shared what they do, wear, as well as tools they may use. We learned about science safety, signed our contracts and acted out our safety rules. We took a science assessment ( over 1^st grade information) to see what our students learned last year. On Friday Mrs. Hernandez joined the whole second grade on Webex to teach us about digital citizenship, how to be safe on line, and how to leave a positive digital footprint! As you can see we learned quite a lot this week!

 

*As always a digital copy of our Second grade Newsletter is attached. Also attached is a Flyer with QR codes to Join PTA and how to purchase Spirit Wear T-Shirts.

 

*Spelling lists will go home on Monday. We will test every Friday. Spell checks, along with daily work, are not able to be retaken for a 70. All other assessments may be retaught and reassessed for a 70.

 

*We had our Parent Orientation on Thursday evening at 5:00. If you were unable to attend you may look at the slide show by clicking on the link below. The packet we gave out on Thursday is in your child’s Coyote Folder which went home on Friday, if you were unable to attend. If you have any questions, please let me know.

 

Parent slideshow!

 

 

 

*A note from Coach Ray:

 

We are having a blast in PE.  However for our fun and learning to continue, I have two requests:

1. Please make every effort to send your student in tennis shoes every PE day.  Crocks, sandals, and the like are not safe for our activities.  PE is always the day after music.  To view the August rotation calendar, click HERE.
2. If your child has not learned to tie their own shoes yet, please consider spending some time working with them.  Per most pediatricians, it is developmentally appropriate for most children to learn this skill by age 6.  However, it is never too late.  Like any skill, it takes time, practice and patience.  I appreciate your help.

 

*Guidance S’more from our counselor, Mrs. Moore:

 

https://www.smore.com/u8k7r-coyote-ridge-elementary-school

 

Week 2

 Dear Parents,

      WOW! What a wonderful first three days we had together. I feel that your children are settling in, realizing how to take care of their needs and be good listeners. We have such kind friends in our classroom- I can tell that it is going to be a fabulous year of learning! 

       I will send a weekly e-mail, on Fridays.  You will find attached every week the digital copy of our Second Grade Newsletter. This same letter will be in your child’s Friday folder which will go home on Fridays with graded papers, the newsletter and any flyers sent to me from the office. Please take all papers out and return this folder on Mondays in your child’s backpack. I hope you saw your child’s Blue Coyote Folder which goes home daily. Homework papers, and anything that must be sent home immediately will be sent home in this folder. We usually send homework home twice a week. This folder goes home and back to school every day. This is also how you can track your child’s behavior. A sticker on the calendar means it was a great day. If I write on the folder (the key to know what the letters and numbers mean is at the top of that page) I will let you know what we will be working on to have a better day. 

         On Monday we will be sending home a Reading Log which your child fills out nightly, Monday through Thursday. On Fridays your child is to bring the filled out log back to school. Reading at home is very important. Your child  needs to read for 15 minutes, but if he/she does this nightly, his/her reading will improve by leaps and bounds. I will be sending home leveled books in a zippered case, which I have read with them in reading group. We will not have read these first books sent home together as we have not started reading groups yet. We are still learning about our stations. Please keep these books in his/her backpack in the zippered  case unless they are being read. We may need a book for a second reading group that week. I let your child keep three books at a time. Reading familiar books helps with his/her sight word recognition and fluency. For early readers it really helps if a parent can spend that 15 minutes with their child and help with decoding words and asking questions to make sure he/she understands what is being read. I put a parent page on the back of the paper in the zippered book case. If you would like to meet with me, so I can show you how to best support your child, just let me know. I appreciate you partnering with me to help support your child’s reading growth.

          

 Please send a snack and water bottle every day. I have purchased a bucket of Goldfish and Cheez- Its, but more than half the bucket is already gone. If you would like to donate snacks for the class, these two are best because we have children with food allergies in my room. I am so thankful that you are so generous with helping me provide items from my wish list Three items have showed up at my door, but only the toothpicks had a way for me to thank them. If you purchased the Lysol wipes or the smelly stickers, know that they are greatly appreciated!