September 2011

Greetings,

I want to thank all that were able to come to Back to School Night last week. It was great to have the opportunity to discuss in a little more detail- than we can at drop off or pick up- about  what goes on in our classroom. Those that weren’t able to make it have been to a few of these before with older siblings!

The Poetry Cafe was a big hit. Both Mr. Lindenmaier and Mr. Frantz joined the 1st graders as our audience which made everything  extra special. Voices were strong, bodies stood tall and strong and everyone read with great care. I will include the videos on next week’s blog. They have much to be proud of. Thank you to Wendy and Amanda for bringing in the delicious and festive snacks.

Next Thursday, the 6th of October, is our trip to Sturbridge Village. A note with details about the day will be going home next Tuesday, but I will share now that children may bring toys or traveling games on the bus, but no electronic devices are permitted.

Homework is quickly becoming routine, as it should be. Again, this week’s spelling test will be mostly an exercise in how to take a spelling test. Everyone will have their sheet on their desk and can look away if they want to challenge themselves.

Below I have attached (I hope!) a Voice Thread that the children made of their Hopes and Dreams for this school year. It’s great to have their voices saved along with their words and pictures. Thank you to Mrs. Tumenas and Mrs. Clausen for helping me put this together.

Shana Tova to those who are celebrating the New Year!

Choosing a poem

Reading and selecting poems

Welcome to our second week,

In Second Grade we have been working on reading and selecting poems for our Poetry Cafe next Friday. First grade has accepted our invitation and this year’s Second graders remember not only  sitting in that audience last year, but remember some of the poems as well.

We have finished creating our Classroom Rules for the year ahead. We’ve discussed that these rules will guide us and enable us to achieve our Hopes and Dreams just the way the rules of the road get us safely to our destinations each day.

We’ve also discussed that sometimes we all make mistakes and the different ways we can fix them.  One way is a reminder from me that will let them know what they can do to fix the mistake, or they might need to take a time out to ‘re-set’ themselves in the thinking chair. It should be clear to all that the thinking chair is in no way a punishment, but rather an opportunity to take a few breaths, make a new plan and rejoin the group ready to work and learn.  This is all part of reinforcing high expectations and clear limits for behavior. Everyone benefits from that.

I’m looking forward to seeing you next Thursday, the 22nd on Back to School Night.

Reminders: Tomorrow, Sept 16th- First Pizza Friday

Also, always handy to send in a clean/dry set of clothes for the cubbies if you haven’t already.

Thanks to you all, we’re off to a great start to the year!

Introduction to our Math Manipulatives

More fun with manipulatives

Welcome to the new school year and to Second Grade. I am thrilled to be in the classroom with your children, what a wonderful class! 

With a full week behind us we are beginning to learn and feel comfortable with all the new routines of our classroom. We have had interesting discussions about our Hopes and Dreams for the upcoming year and will use use them for a basis to formulate our Classroom Rules next week.

Each Thursday I will post a ‘newsletter’ on my blog. The address is the link (http://mybcd.org/secondgrade) in my signature. You can also get to it through mybcd.org and sign up to receive an email when it is posted.

Additionally on Thursdays  I will be sending home a ‘school/home’ envelope with the work your child has completed that past week.  It would be very helpful if you found a moment to review the contents of the envelope with your child so they could reflect on their work and share it with you. The then empty envelope needs to come back to school the next day so it can be ready for the next week’s work.

Homework and Spelling words will be coming home in a few weeks but first we will just practice getting that envelope safely back and forth. As the year goes on they will become more responsible and independent with these new routines for learning.

Again, I am so excited to start this journey with your children.