Sunday, September 13, 2015

Good afternoon! I've been preparing lessons for this week and getting papers and supplies organized. We have a full schedule with a lot of fun and hard work ahead of us.

Reading is a big focus in 2nd grade. Some children may have a bit of anxiety about reading 'hard' books, moving from picture books to chapter books. I've assured your child that I am here to help them become 'Big Time Readers'. It's been fun to watch the children foster a love for books. It's obvious they are enjoying the reading process, even during the first few days of school.

It is my goal to foster a love for reading and allow the children to have the freedom to pick books for enjoyment. To this end, I won't be assigning home reading logs at this time. Children who receive reading support will still have reading homework, however, the other children will have sufficient opportunities for reading at school. Of course, children are always encouraged to read at home!

"Words Their Way" is the new spelling program we have adopted at Alpine Elementary. It involves a lot of hands on work, cutting and sorting words, and organizing the words into patterns. Since the children do not understand this, and I'm still learning, all spelling practice will be done at school, too. Again, this may change as the year progresses but I will keep you informed.

Homework will consist of math homework, generally two pages of review work. This is work your child will know and they should be able to complete it independently. I will not send home work that is new to your child or work your child has never had. Keep it simple!

Look for the math pages in your child's folder on Monday and it is due on Friday. Each child has a homework folder, which should stay in your child's backpack. Any papers sent from school will be in the folder.

Finally, we have scheduled our first field trip for the afternoon of Friday, October 23. We'll be going to Schwallier's Country Basket, which coincides with our study of plants, plant parts, and how plants grow. More information will be sent as the date gets closer.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to contact me.




No comments:

Post a Comment