Happy New Year

Happy 2017!! I am feeling rested and revived after our long winter break. I look forward to seeing all the children on Tuesday morning and hearing about their exciting week off.

We are kicking off a new year, a new math unit, a new writing unit, and a new social studies unit over the next two weeks!!

The children have completed the first half of the Everyday Math program, so this week they will begin working in a new math journal. We will start Unit 5, which reviews addition fact power (automaticity of math facts), as well as money and making change. Please note that the concept of making change can be a difficult one, and we don’t expect mastery at this time.

Our term 2 writing time will be spent working on reviews/opinion writing. This week we’ll discuss what people might review and what a good review should include. We’ll start off by reviewing the Robinson School Cafeteria- a place we’re all familiar with!!

In Social Studies we’ll begin a mapping unit. The students will get a chance to review different kinds of maps and cardinal directions. We’ll also look at map keys. These mapping skills will be a stepping stone into our very large unit of study- “Around the World”

You will notice that the Reading Log will look a little different starting this week- it’s now double-sided! Now that we are almost halfway through 2nd grade we would like the children to deepen their reading skills by answering 2 comprehension questions each week about the books they are reading for their reading log. You will notice that the questions will be different each week based on what skills we’ve been working on in our reading groups. We ask that they answer the questions in at least 2 complete sentences. It is expected that they will need some support with this new routine for a few weeks, but we hope that over time the children will get more comfortable answering in thoughtful, complete sentences more independently. We appreciate your support as we begin this new routine, as reflecting on your reading and writing complete sentences are two very important foundational skills.

Have a great week this week! I hope you’re finding my BLOG updates useful. As always, please contact me with any questions or concerns.

One final note…

Thanks to all who donated and/or volunteered at our Winter party before vacation. These parties wouldn’t be successful without your support.


Upcoming Dates:
January 3rd- school resumes
January 10th- 2nd grade school store
January 16th- No school for MLK Day
January 17th- No school for Professional Development