What a Great First Week!
We had such a wonderful first week, and it was great to learn all about every student in class through their first week homework bags, their What Lights Me Up pictures, and through the million words that so many of you have already sent in. I'll look forward to reading the rest of those Million Word Parent Homeworks next week. They really help me get to know your child quickly, and to meet their needs in the classroom more completely.
Procedures and Expectations
In this second week of school we will continue to talk about how we do things in class and at school. We got together with all the second grade classrooms every day last week to talk about cafeteria, hallway, recess, before school and after school procedures and expectations. We want to make sure that every child knows the school rules and knows what is expected at school. This week we will continue to review in our classrooms, so that we can all have a successful year.
Academics Begin!
We are jumping back into our academic subjects this week. I will be guiding the class through how we do everything in each subject, and also starting to do some beginning of the year testing to see what each child's academic needs are at this time.
Reading
For reading we will begin our Daily 5 program. This program is a class model that allows me to meet with small groups and to work with students on their individual reading level. When students are not meeting with me they will be doing one of five other activities. This week we will practice one activity, which is Read to Self. I will explain the program and then we will practice the correct way to independently read to yourself for a few minutes at a time until we build up stamina.
We will also be working on a few whole group reading lessons that focus on reading comprehension strategies.
Writing
This week the students will write their first story for me. I will model how to write a story with a beginning, middle and an ending. After I model how to do each of these things I will ask the class to write their own stories for me.
Math
In math this week we will review time and clocks from last year. At the end of the week the students will have a small assessment over clocks, time and schedule reading to gauge where they are right now with this skill. We will continue to touch on time throughout the rest of the year, but I want a good idea of each child's ability level on this skill so that I can match the lessons I will teach the class to their needs. Time is also a great skill to practice at home with your child. Having your child read digital and analog clocks is great practice for the classroom, and for life!
We will also do some math testing this week to see where each child's ability level is currently. These tests do not count as a grade, but it is a type of pretesting to see what lessons each child needs.
Spelling
We will not be starting our spelling program just yet, but we will be doing a spelling assessment to see what each child's spelling abilities are at this time. This is not a test to study for or to prepare for ahead of time. It is a check of each child's ability so that they can be placed in a spelling group that will have similar words that they need to practice.
Social Studies
We will switch throughout the year between science units and social studies units. We will begin with social studies with a focus on communities, good citizenship, and symbols. We will spend most of the week with a focus on how to be a good citizen to start the year on the right foot.
Reminders and Dates:
September 5th- No school for Labor Day weekend
September 6th- Back to School Night- In classroom 6:30-7:00, PTA meeting 7:00
September 14th Early Release Day- school ends at 12:45
