Weekly Update 9/6

It was such a pleasure meeting all of the children last week! I can already tell that it's going to be a great year! I hope you had a wonderful long weekend. We have a lot to look forward to this week. Here is a glance into what will be happening in your child's second grade classroom this week. Along with continuing to get to know one another, we will also begin establishing routines in many of our academic areas. 

We will spend most of our reading blocks reviewing the Daily Five structure. For those new to Robinson or those unfamiliar with Daily Five it is a literacy structure that allows for differentiation in the classroom and provides consistency. It is an integrated literacy instruction and classroom management system that is used during our literacy block. While I am working with small groups for Guided Reading, the other children have literacy “tasks” that include: Work on Words, Work on Writing, Read to Self, Read to Someone, and Listen to Reading. It takes a few weeks for me to assess all of the children and to determine their reading levels and while I am doing that, the children will build their stamina in each of the "task" areas. 

In math we will be continuing with Unit 1, which we began last week. This unit does a lot of review of concepts learned in first grade and allows time for us to establish math routines in the classroom. We will focus on number scrolls and number grids this week as tools to help us solve addition problems. 

I will also be assessing the children on the 100-second grade high frequency words. This is done periodically throughout the year to see what words your child needs to practice. These words will become part of their weekly spelling words that they will practice at school and home. 

This week we will begin our first science unit, which is "Plant and Animal Survival." The first lesson will focus on living and nonliving. The students will have an opportunity to take a nature walk and to classify and graph the items they see during our walk. 

Finally, we will also begin our first social studies unit on "Apple Economics." In the first lesson, the students will learn about the apple tree and the "goods" that come from the tree. 

As you can see, it's going to be a busy week!! :) 

Upcoming Dates:

September 5th- No School for Labor Day

Week of September 12th- Homework begins

September 19th- Curriculum Night 6:00-6:45 for Second Grade parents