September 17, 2009
Dear Second Grade Families,
This has been a very busy
week! We kicked off our gift wrap sale
with the annual gift wrap assembly Monday afternoon, had Curriculum Night on Tuesday
evening, and had our first fire drill of the school year on Wednesday morning. It was so good to see so many of you Tuesday. The opportunity for parents and teachers to
speak directly with one another is a valuable way to develop our partnership in
serving your children. Please let us
know if you have any questions or concerns.
Don’t forget to send in your field trip payment. Also there is an agreement on the last page
of the Second Grade Handbook. Please
tear it out, sign it, and return it. In
2B, if you consent to have your children participate in the study for Ms. Wheeldon’s Notre Dame program,
please return the consent form as soon as possible.
We continued to focus on
procedures and routines this past week. We’re working hard on making our
expectations clear now; this way we hope to spend less time with reminders
during the year and more time encourage the children’s independence. Your
children are settling well into second grade as we get acquainted with each
other and the classroom.
We began talking about “just
right” books. The children are learning
how to pick books at their “just right” reading level by using the “five
finger” rule. If your child misses
between 1-3 words a page, this book is probably a good choice for your
child. In language arts the children wrote
friendly letters.
This week in math we took our
“end of second grade math test” and have begun our unit on graphing. Ultimately, the children need to be able to
ask a survey question, select appropriate survey responses, collect and sort
data (with tally marks), display those data in a graph, and ask and answer
questions about it. This week we focused
on displaying data in graphs and worked a little on formulating questions.
Reminders
*Uniforms: On
days when we have Mass, we ask the kids to come in a collared shirt. That will
mean no free dress on those days. When Mass is on a Friday, it also means no
“Bulldog Friday” t-shirts. Students may
wear the usual uniform pants, shorts, jumper or skirt. Sweaters or crew-neck
sweatshirts should be worn with collared shirts. Hooded sweatshirts may be worn with a collared
shirt underneath. Students who are not wearing a sweater or sweatshirt should
wear a shirt with a collar.
*V.I.P.: When
your child is the V.I.P. he or she may invite family members to join us in the
classroom for lunch (second grade lunch is 12:15-12:45). Many families choose to bring a special lunch
to share with their V.I.P. The Friday
before your child’s V.I.P. week we will send home poster board and instructions
telling how to make the V.I.P. poster.
*Field Trip permission slips: The walking field trip
form is in the Friday folder. Please return this as soon as possible.
*Scholastic Book orders: The book orders are in the red Friday
folder today. They are due on September
30.
*Portfolios/Parent Entries: If you would like to add a piece of your child’s work
to his/her portfolio, please complete the parent
entry form, attach it to the work, and return it in your child’s folder. You were given two of these forms at
Curriculum Night. We will add it to
their portfolio. We’ll send home more
parent entry forms during the year in the Friday folder.
*Gift Wrap – Sell,
sell, sell!!!
Have a great weekend!!!
Second grade team
September 11, 2009
Dear 2nd grade
families,
We have all had a wonderful
first week of 2nd grade. We
are off to a great start and we are excited for our year together. Second grade is a year full of growth and discovery,
and we are looking forward to accompanying your children on this journey.
We spent this week getting
acquainted with each other, learning classroom procedures and expectations, and
creating a safe and positive classroom environment.
2A and 2B will do their
reading centers separately. Please join us at Curriculum Night for more
information about this and other center sign up and volunteer
opportunities. Both Mrs. Arthur and Ms.
Wheeldon will need volunteers in the classroom especially in the morning before
recess.
Reminders:
¨
Students need to
remember a snack even if they are ordering hot lunch. It’s hard for 2nd graders to make
it until lunch without a snack.
¨
Curriculum Night
is Tuesday, September 15th at 7:00pm.
Please join us!
¨
Please look over
your child’s homework notebook daily and initial it in the parent signature
space in the yellow section.
¨
If you haven’t
already done so, please return the Parent/Guardian Survey. Your child will
benefit from your sharing of this important information.
¨
Please feel free
to send your child to school with a water bottle. It can get pretty warm in the classrooms and
this is an easy way to help keep the children hydrated. We have found that the water bottles with the
push down spout work best to prevent spills.
¨
All new classroom volunteers (ie.
new parents to the school, relatives or family friends) must complete a
background check prior to working in the classroom. Please make sure the school office has a one
on file for those who are interested in volunteering.
Next week’s curriculum:
Ø
Ø
Math: We’ll begin graphing
Ø
Language
Arts: We will assess students’ spelling
development and write friendly letters.
Ø
Religion: We’ll begin talking about parts of the mass.
Thanks for your support. Please let us know if you have any questions
or concerns. We’re off to a great start!
Mrs. Arthur and Mrs.
Caballero
Ms. Wheeldon, Mrs. Pouley,
and Mrs. Quint