August 21, 2017

Pencils, Pineapples, Parents & PLPs

Wow!  We had a great week!  The first day of school was much fun! We spent a lot of time talking about PINEAPPLES and how to be "sweet" like a pineapple.  We have a lot of pineapple-ly kids in second grade this year!  (I'm guessing they get it from their wonderful parents!)

​Thank you to all of the families for bringing in school supplies and meeting for PLPs.  I know getting back into the swing of things isn't always easy...but you made it look effortless! Your kiddos were bright-eyed, happy, engaged and ready to learn.   The first day felt more like the third or fifth day...I can already tell, this is going to be a great year! 

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This Week In 2nd Grade

Math- We were able to log in to the new 2nd Grade ST Math last week.  This week we will start our math curriculum, which will start with basic review.  I will teach the math lesson to small group of students while the others work independently on ST Math.  We will then switch sides (with a little brain break in between) and will do the same thing as the first rotation.

Science- Last Friday we had a fun engineering challenge based on the book The Most Magnificent Thing.  A chunk of our Fridays will be dedicated to science-based learning, including time to explore, create, design and experiment.  

Reading- This week we will start our online reading program "Read Live" and will have the students take a diagnostic assessment to help us determine the level/program that will best serve them.  This process will take a couple days because taking these assessments can be tiring.  

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STAR Homework

I am going to start homework this week...but it will be very simple.  READ.  The students will earn a star for every 10 minutes they read this week.  Our entire class will be trying to meet our class goal of 150 STARS (collected and calculated on Friday).  I will explain the homework stystem in more detail at our Back to School Night.  The STAR Homework tracking sheet (as pictured on the right) can be found in their Monday folders each week.  The left side of the folders will be the student's work (there will not be student work this week).  The "Monday Folder" will then be returned with the STAR Homework tracking sheet on FRIDAY.    

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Upcoming Dates & Events

8/24 - Back to School Night (see newsletter for session times)
9/4 - No School (Labor Day)
9/21-22 - Picture Day
Coming Soon to 2nd Grade - Grandparent Unit and Properties of Matter