August/September News

I hope that you all had a wonderful summer and that your children are energized and ready for a great year!  This blog will be the best place for you to find curriculum information and important dates throughout the school year.  I will update it monthly, and will send out an e-mail letting you know when new information has been posted.  I will also send weekly e-mails with reminders and important dates once I have full access on PowerSchool.  

Math
We will begin the year with a review of first grade skills and a focus on addition and subtraction facts, as well as word problems.  Please note that we will spend a considerable amount of time this year practicing strategies for not only solving word problems, but explaining them thoroughly and using various strategies for organizing work. 

What can we do at home?  
Let your child teach you some of the addition and subtraction games they learn at school.  Get a deck of cards and make up a game together.  Use daily experiences to create word problems together, and let your child teach you how to solve each problem. Allow your child time to play some of the addition and subtraction games on arcademics.com.

Reading
We will be spending a couple of weeks studying Kevin Henkes and sharing some of his books as a whole group.  During this author study, students will practice many comprehension skills, make connections between stories, and write some of their own fictional pieces using Henkes' style as inspiration.  When I have information about beginning of the year reading testing and an official start date for reading groups, I'll let you know! Our first Reading Street unit is on exploration and different types of communities, and will begin the first week of September.  At that time, I will begin sending home weekly spelling pattern/vocabulary lists for practice.  

What can we do at home?
Read with your child every day.  As you read, pause to talk about events in stories.  Check out some Kevin Henkes books together...they are so much fun, and many contain great lessons about friendship and responsibility.  

Writing
Our first unit is on narrative writing, and will begin the first week of September.  In preparation for that, we will spend the first couple of weeks reviewing sentence structure, basic writing conventions, and writing stories for fun. 

What can we do at home?
Encourage your child to write in a journal or to compose letters to friends and family.  Go through writing pieces together and practice editing (really pay attention to capital letters in the correct places, appropriate use of punctuation, and correct spelling of basic words).  Allow your child time to explore keyboarding games on ABCYA.com. 

Social Studies/Science
We will spend a lot of time over the next week weeks reviewing good citizenship and building our class team.  We will be doing several collaborative projects that allow students to practice working together, and will be conducting research on real-world unlikely friendships.  We have several STEM projects planned to kick off the school year, and will be introducing students to the various types of technology they will use in 2nd grade.

What can we do at home?
Encourage your child to tell you about his or her friends at school.  Talk about ways to work through differences with friends.  Get on YouTube and do a search for unlikely animal friendships...you'll find lots of fun clips to talk about! 

Upcoming Dates...Mark Your Calendars!

August 23 - Parent Information Night - 6:00

August 29 - August Birthday Breakfast 

September 3 - Labor Day - No School

September 7 - 2nd Grade Guest Day - 9:30

September 26 - September Birthday Breakfast