Weekly Newsletter for 8/30/13

Dear Room 4 Families,

Your child had a great first week of second grade. We have been working hard on adjusting to the school day and understanding the expectations of a second grader. We have been practicing and learning many new routines and have taken our first tests today.  We read “David’s New Friends” in our English Language Arts reading anthologies and took our first reading and spelling tests. This will be a weekly routine, so please go over the answers with your child when the tests are returned. All of the stories in the reading anthology are stand alone stories that you can borrow from the library.

As a reminder the prep schedule is as follows:

Our prep schedule is as follows:

Monday/Tuesday 8:15 – Music/Library

Friday 1:05 – PE

We have NO SCHOOL on Monday, September 3rd for the Labor Day holiday. Homework will be passed out on Tuesday and is due on Friday. If you would like to start your homework early, you can read 20 minutes a day, and/or work on your spelling for the next week on our Spellingcity.com webpage or start writing the words down on paper. The link to next week’s spelling words and games is here: https://graceyou.com/2nd-1-2-mr-putter-tabby-pour-the-tea/

For math, we started are continuing with Topic 1 – Understanding Addition and Subtraction. We will finish with the topic next week and take our first math test.  Please check your child’s backpack for returned papers. There should be a star (everything is correct and completed), a check mark (some things are missing), or a note of some sort (incomplete, check again, etc.) which indicates to look over the areas where your child is struggling with at home.

In Chinese, we are learning our calendar routine and handing over more responsibility to the students. We will start Star of the Week once the class understands the procedures. We have been reviewing basic school words, requests/commands, fruits, and colors. We started making a booklet about our first week at school.

We will be celebrating MONTHLY birthday celebrations this year. In the interest of saving instructional time, please DO NOT bring treats on other days, they will be sent home. I will post our monthly birthday celebration dates soon.

If you did not receive an e-mail with a link to this newsletter post, please e-mail me (graceyou at gmail dot com) with your child’s name – I do not have your e-mail address.

If you haven’t already, please remember to send your child home with the completed forms from the 4 packets that were sent home on the first day of school.

Also, many students still do not have a pencil box. Please make sure your child has a large (cigar box) sized pencil box for his/her supplies. 

*Volunteers*

If you would like to volunteer in the classroom or chaperon on a field trip, please fill out the required paperwork in the office. This year, we are requiring all volunteers to be TB tested and have fingerprint clearance. This is a lengthy process and the sooner it is done, the better!

If a family that cannot come into the classroom but would like to help in the classroom could commit to grading our weekly reading tests, that would be incredibly helpful! This year we will also need a few parent volunteers to help with class parties, pull for fluency, run a small reading group, and help with filing. If you’d like to come in to read a story or teach a lesson, do a career day, etc. we can make some time for you in the classroom to visit. Please e-mail me if you are interested in volunteering.

I am always available via e-mail, so please do not hesitate to contact me with your comments, questions, or concerns.

Have a fun 3-day weekend and let’s come back to school on Tuesday ready to learn!

Sincerely,

-Ms. You