We had a wonderful week in our classroom. The group is coming together as a community, and it is so fun to watch new friendships form.
Next week in our reading program, Wonders, we will explore the question-How do we care for animals? While reading, we will review the spelling pattern of long a. As well, we will work to review common high frequency words and learn new vocabulary words. Our strategy focus will be asking questions; be sure to ask your child what a thick question is while reading at home. We will continue to work on pulling out important details while we read. Next week in math we will wrap up our first unit. We will continue to compare numbers, and work on exploring base 10 blocks. We will also complete our first Unit Assessment in Math. Look for math homework to begin coming home the week of October 9th. One thing I am noticing in the classroom is that children hesitate to count by 10's or 5's when they start at a number other than 0. For instance, when I ask them to count by 10's beginning at the number 38 (38, 48, 58, 68) many students struggle with this skill. As well, when I ask them to count by 5's from a number like 25 (think counting on from a quarter) this can be a challenge. When driving in the car, this is an easy skill to practice. Give your child a number other than 0 and have them count on by 5's or 10's. We will continue to practice this skill in the classroom as well. We have been busy editing our writing this week. Students are learning to read their work as a reader would, and circling words that don't quite look right. They are using many resources to correct their spelling, and are even working on adding amazing adjectives to their sentences. I can't wait to share their stories with you! Next week we will complete our first STEAM challenge in class. We have been busy learning about a growth mindset, and are working on a class project called, Change Your Words, Change Your Mindset. We will use this learning as we encounter difficulties during our STEAM challenges. We have a walking field trip coming up at the end of October. We are still working out the details with the New Boston Historical Society and the Whipple Free Library. Students will learn about communities and how they change over time. This will be a walking field trip. I will inform you of the date as soon as we have all the details worked out. As a reminder, if you would like to chaperone any of our field trips you will need to follow our district policy as outlined below: Beginning this year, all volunteers must be fingerprinted (this includes field trip volunteers) in addition to watching the Bullying Video on the SAU19 website (under the special projects tab). Additionally, you will need to sign the Verification of Bullying Training Form that is also found on the SAU 19 website. Fingerprinting is available at the SAU office, for a cost of $20.75. As always, let me know if you have any questions! Cori Gallegos Upcoming Dates: October 7th- PTA Fall Frolic 5K October 11th- School Board Meeting in the Library, 6:30 October 18th – PTA meeting in the Art Room, 7:00 October 20th – Michaelmas Fair, Gym October 25th - School Board Meeting in the Library, 6:30
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Thank you to the many parents who attended Back to School Night on Tuesday. It was wonderful to meet you and the opportunity to share what is going on in our classroom.
A few quick notes: Volunteers- Beginning this year, all volunteers must be fingerprinted (this includes field trip volunteers) in addition to watching the Bullying Video on the SAU19 website (under the special projects tab). Additionally, you will need to sign the Verification of Bullying Training Form that is also found on the SAU 19 website. Fingerprinting is available at the SAU office, for a cost of $20.75. Homework- Spelling words should be practiced 3 times per week. Your child can choose an activity from the spelling menu to use as a study method. Your initials indicate that you have reviewed your child's work for the spelling practice. Each child has a list that should be a good fit for them. Finding the amount of words varies by week, and is based off of your child's pre-test scores. Please contact me if your child is feeling overwhelmed one week, as that is not the goal of homework! Next week in our reading program, Wonders, we will explore the question- can a pet be an important friend? While reading, we will review the spelling pattern of s and l blends (st, sl, bl, lt, and so on). As well, we will work to review common high frequency words and learn new vocabulary words. Our strategy focus will be making connections (connecting what we read to our lives, other books, and what we know about the world), a skill you can practice while reading with your child at home. We will continue to work on pulling out important details, and identifying the characters and setting of the story. Next week in math we continue to explore equivalent names for numbers, review even and odd numbers, and compare the size of numbers. One game you can play at home is called Fishing for 10. This is a version of the game we played in class, and the kiddos had a wonderful time with it! Directions can be found here: https://www.education.com/pdf/Tens_Fish/ Look for math homework to begin the week after next. We continue to work on our first full story this week. This week, the students will continue to learn about partner feedback and revisions when writing. As well, we will review using our editing tools such as editing checklists, dictionaries, and thesauruses. As always, let me know if you have any questions! Cori Gallegos Upcoming Dates: Monday, September 25th – Picture Day Wednesday, September 27th - School Board Meeting 7pm, Library Our first full week was busy! I am so proud of all of the hard work the kiddos are doing, and how nicely the classroom community is coming together. Back to School Night is this Tuesday, September 19th from 6:35-7:05. Please note that this is a parent only evening this year.This will give you an overview of your child’s day, and give you time to ask any questions.
Next week in our reading program, Wonders, we will explore the question- How are families around the world the same and different? While reading, we will review the spelling pattern short e, short o, and short u. As well, we will work to review common high frequency words and learn new vocabulary words. Our strategy focus will be visualizing (or making a movie in our minds as we read), a skill you can practice while reading with your child at home. We will also work on pulling out important details, and identifying the characters and setting of the story. HOMEWORK ALERT- Your students will take a spelling pre-test tomorrow morning, and I will give them spelling words to practice for the week. Their spelling list will be tailored to their needs. A spelling menu will come home. Please do three spelling activities from the menu (throughout the week) and turn in the spelling menu only on Friday. Your initials on the items your child did let me know that they completed their spelling homework for the week. Next week in math we will explore equivalent names for numbers (10 can be 5+5 or 6+4 or 3+3+4 and so on). We will play games, practice work pages, and spend time discussing equivalent coin combinations. Money can be tricky in 2nd grade, as this is their first formal introduction. I encourage you to have your child count a small handful of coins each night. Counting money is a skill that takes a lot of practice! If your child struggles at first, have them count only one type of coin at a time (only pennies, nickels, dimes or quarters) before they count mixed coins. Students should be able to quickly name coins and tell their value by the middle of 2nd grade. They should be able to easily count mixed coins by the end of the year. We continue to work on our first full story this week. As we write, students are learning the second grade process for writing a story. So far, we have: Told the story across our fingers (one finger = one big event = one page of the story) Leaned how to sketch our story as a way to hold our ideas Turned our sketches into detailed drawings Written about the details we have drawn This week, the students will learn about partner feedback and revisions when writing. As well, we will learn about editing tools such as editing checklists, dictionaries, and thesauruses. As always, let me know if you have any questions! Upcoming Dates: Tuesday, September 19th – 6:35 – Back to School Night (School Classroom) Wednesday, September 20th – 6:30 – 7 Ways to Stop the Worry Cycle (Goffstown High School) Monday, September 25th – Picture Day We had a wonderful first week of school! The kids were a little tired by Friday, but were settling into the routines nicely. We discussed classroom and school expectations, worked on building our classroom community through getting to know you activities, and practiced important fire and lock down drills. The group has begun to gel together, and are excited to work as a team to ear class and table rewards!
I am hoping you arrived here by clicking on the hyperlink I put in our newsflash email. If you had not subscribed, I added your email to the list. If you prefer a different email address to be used, simply unsubscribe from the email I sent you (the unsubscribe link is at the bottom) and subscribe using your preferred email on this webpage. If you did not receive a newsflash email, please begin by checking your junk email folder. If you still don’t find an email from me, subscribe to the newsflash on this page. Each week I will post what our learning focus for the following week will be. As well, I will add pictures of students from the classroom, unless you did not give photo permission. Please let me know at any time if you do not want me to post pictures. It is a fun way to truly take a peek at our week (don’t worry, I will never use student names). As well, I like to end the post with upcoming dates that are important. I try to keep the blog brief, as I know that we all have full lives. I hope you find the information as a guide to discuss your child’s learning. Feel free to leave comments, but please note that they are public to all. Ask away if I forgot something, as others are probably wondering as well! Next week in our reading program, Wonders, we will explore the question- How do friends count on each other? While reading, we will review the spelling pattern short a and short i. As well, we will work to review common high frequency words and learn new vocabulary words. At this time of the year, I am busy teaching all of the learning routines that we will use in the classroom. We take the time to carefully teach each routine, practice the routine, and then ask questions. This sets the stage for a positive work environment where we are learners, thinkers, and problem solvers. Students will have spelling homework each week, beginning the week of September 18th. We will practice the spelling homework in class this week, so children are aware of the expectations I have. Please spend some time organizing a homework routine (location and time) as this is a big transition in second grade! I recommend a quite spot and an early homework time- Next week in math we will explore number lines. Students will add and subtract using a number line, and then learn how a number grid and number line are related. Throughout the week we will explore math games online, using the ipads and computers I have included a great link that helps provide some background about how we will use number lines in the classroom. They are a wonderful tool for counting, adding, subtracting, estimating, and understanding the magnitude of a number. Check out http://www.scholastic.com/parents/blogs/scholastic-parents-learning-toolkit/number-lines for more information and resources you can use at home. At Back to School Night you will get your child’s login and password to connected (our reading and math program) where children can access math games, stories, and more. Finally, we will continue learning about growth mindset this week. The students are learning that their brain is a muscle that can growth with effort and practice. In addition, students are learning that mistakes are important signs that mean they are learning something new. There is a wonderful and shirt parent video about this you can view here: https://www.mindsetkit.org/growth-mindset-parents/learn-about-growth-mindset/what-is-growth-mindset-parents I will share more about this during Back to School Night. Thank you for all of your support this first week, and feel free to email me with any questions- Upcoming Dates: Wednesday, September 13th – 6:30 – School Board Meeting (School Library) 7:00 – PTA Meeting (School Art Room) Tuesday, September 19th – 6:35 – Back to School Night (School Classroom) **Adults Only** Wednesday, September 20th – 6:30 – 7 Ways to Stop the Worry Cycle (Goffstown High School) Monday, September 25th – Picture Day |
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