Week 1

 Dear Parents,

                  What an amazing first week of second grade I have had with your children! We have been getting to know each other and are already showing signs of leadership! Our marble jar, sticker charts and dojo points are adding up. I had several students take my challenge and memorize the poem “First Day of School” and they got to go to treasure box. Our snack bin has gone down quite a bit as we all get used to getting ourselves back to school. It is important that everyone has a snack and a water bottle every day. I bought three large boxes of individually wrapped snacks to start us out, but then I rely on donations. I’ll let you know when we are running low. Everyone loves goldfish!

                  In math this week we started our problem solving unit. We learned how to break up the problem into a beginning/middle/end. We then make a number sentence and a part/part/whole box. We are learning that there are many ways to solve a problem. We can draw pictures, use a number line, do mental math, use counters and place value blocks. Mental math works too! We did a numbers and me activity that will be hanging in our hallway, then kept for our open house pockets.

                    In writing we learned how to use our writer’s notebook and write on the lines. We filled a heart full of ideas we could write about and wrote about our first day of school. We also did an I like project which will hang in our classroom and then be kept for open house. We are reviewing that sentences start with a capital letter and end with punctuation. They have a subject and a predicate. I gave them spelling dictionaries that they can use to help them write.

                     In social studies and reading we discussed what a good citizen is, read a story about a land with no rules, and set up the rules for our classroom in a treatment agreement form. That allows us to know how to treat each other and our classroom throughout the year. We will revisit it every week and discuss if we need to make any changes. I want everyone to be happy, feel safe and love school. We also discussed 3 ways to read a book, and how to use our classroom library. We know what good listeners do as we gather on the rug.

                       In science we set up our notebooks, learned about what scientists do, what they wear, where they work and what tools they use. We also discussed our science safety rules. I am sending a form for you and your child to read together. They sign on the front, and you sign on the back. Please return this form on Monday so your child can earn his/her science safety badge. On Friday we had a fun activity called saving Sammy in which we got to practice our safety rules and work with another student as a team.

                       Next week our Spelling program will begin. Lists come home on Mondays and tests are on Fridays. Please practice throughout the week. There is a list of sight words that go home on Mondays. These are read only words. (3 lists are put together to become a reading grade.) Your child just reads the words to me on Friday.