The Weber Weekly

WOW!  We had such a great week of learning in second grade.  I am so incredibly proud of all the children and how hard they've been working.  Here are some of the highlights from the week:

• The kids have become experts at a couple of math fact games.  One of the games, Top It, can be played with any deck of cards.  Ask your child how to play and then challenge him/her this weekend.  What a great way to build math "fact power"!
• Have you heard about "stamina"?  Ask your child about it!  You will be surprised at how much he/she is learning about becoming independent.  We've been building our stamina during "Read to Self" and "Work on Writing".  We practice each day in short intervals in order to prepare for guided reading centers.  To help your child understand the meaning of stamina (doing a task for an extended period of time without getting tired or giving up), I connect it to riding a bike:  "When you first learned how to ride your bike, you could only ride for a very short distance before you fell off or tired out.  Each time you got back on your bike, you were able to get a little better and ride a little further.  Now because you've been riding your bike for months or maybe even years, you are able to ride for a long time.  Perhaps you can ride through your entire neighborhood without feeling tired; that's because you've built your stamina."  In the same way your child built stamina for bike riding, we will also build stamina for tasks at school.  I do not expect your second grader to be able to sit and read or write for twenty minutes at a time.  Instead, we practice in short intervals.  We brainstormed everything we believed our classroom would look and feel like during independent reading and then set a goal of three minutes.  While the kids are practicing, I stay at the guided reading table (where I will be when they are doing their centers), and I do not interfere.  It's so important that they learn how to be independent; I've told them repeatedly that once we start centers, I will not be able to stop working with my group to remind someone to be quiet or to get back to work.  They are held accountable and monitor their own behavior!  The second someone is not following the expected behavior, I ring a bell to signal everyone back to our meeting spot.  We then talk about any celebrations as well as problems we need to fix before we practice again.  Ask your child why we do this and he/she will be able to tell you...we don't want to train our brains the incorrect way.  The kids are really taking ownership of their own behavior and learning; it's such an incredible sight to see!!  (Phew!  If you're still reading this, thank you for listening to my rambling!  Please have your child whisper to me on Tuesday morning that they deserve a large fuzzy!!)
• We have learned about citizenship and different types of communities during social studies.  We're focusing on responsibility and how to be an active member of our classroom community by following the rules.  

I hope you and your child enjoy the long weekend!  I can't wait to see all the kiddos on Tuesday!!  :)

Homework

Our first week of homework was a success!  I'm so proud of all the hard work I've seen from the kiddos thus far.  I do want to clarify a few things and give a few helpful reminders:

• Math Monday - This will be a two-sided practice of the skills that are currently being taught.  The math practice will come home in the yellow take-home folder every Monday and needs to be returned the following morning.
• Totally Sight Word Tuesday - Each week your child will bring home a list of three or four sight words that they're expected to correctly read, spell, and write.  Every Tuesday your child will have a choice in their sight word homework.  Of the choices listed, he/she will need to choose a minimum of two to complete inside the homework spiral.  
• Writing Wednesday - The writing assignments will vary from week to week, but they should always be completed in the homework spiral.
• Thinking Thursday - Every Thursday your child should read a book and write a thoughtful response to the text.  The response expectations will change monthly, so be on the lookout.  For the month of September, the children are responding about favorite parts.  Your child should read a book at home, then write the date, title, and author's name, draw a picture of his/her favorite part, and then write at least two sentences about the favorite part.  All of this work should be completed in the homework spiral.
• Friday - Enjoy the weekend!  No homework :) 

The most important thing to remember is that your child will only bring home a homework practice sheet on Monday.  All Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday homework will always be completed in the homework spiral. 

In addition, I will be sending home monthly homework calendars and reading logs.  Your child is expected to read for twenty minutes every night.  The book titles should be recorded on the reading log.  The expectations for the calendar will increase each month, starting with fifteen squares in September.  Please remember your child can choose any of the fifteen activities; he/she does not need to go in order of the calendar.  The first calendar/reading log will be coming home tomorrow (Friday).  Please help your child find a safe place to keep the calendar/log so it can be worked on over the course of the month.  I will send a reminder note towards the end of the month.  Each student who turns in a completed log and calendar will receive one LARGE FUZZY!! 

Please encourage responsibility and ensure your child is completing his/her homework.  A strong home/school connection will ensure for a successful second grade experience for everyone.   

 

WOW!!

We had an AMAZING first full week!  The kiddos are doing an awesome job in second grade.  I am so proud of how hard they've all been working.  Everyone was so giddy today because it was the big FUZZY TRADE-IN!!  Some children traded their fuzzies for pencils and funky erasers and others decided to hang onto their fuzzies until next week.  They were all so cute trying to decide what they were going to "buy"; they had a great time shopping! 

We had a few lucky ducks earn "Smart Beads" this week.  Smart Beads are fancy, sparkly necklaces that are given out a few times a day to kids that share answers that go above and beyond.  This week the kids earned them for remembering some of our tricky new vocabulary such as stamina, independent, polite, rural communities, etc.  If a child earns Smart Beads, they get to wear them for the whole day.  At the end of the day, they trade the beads in for a certificate.  You wouldn't believe how excited the class gets when someone earns the beads! 

Also, I have to share a story that will hopefully give you a small peek into our classroom and the awesome group of kids we have.  This morning the kiddos were reviewing and playing a buddy math game called "Top It".  When I brought the class back together again at the carpet, I asked if there were any problems that we needed to talk about and correct before next time, or celebrations to share.  I began by celebrating the fact that I heard so many people using polite (new vocabulary word this week) words, taking turns, and playing fairly.  Almost every hand shot up in the air; everyone had compliment after compliment to give to either their partner or the class as a whole.  One little boy raised his hand and said, "I feel so happy.  Can we hug everyone?"  I explained that hugging each other wasn't appropriate, but we could give ourselves a big hug.  After hugging, patting ourselves on the back, and saying how great we were, even MORE hands shot up!  The smiles on the kids faces were PRICELESS!!!  They were all BEAMING and sharing how happy they felt!  They could not hold it together!  Someone then raised her hand and asked if we could hug ourselves again because she just felt so good inside!  It was such an incredible sight to see; I just can't get over the happiness and strong sense of community that they all felt.  What a great bunch of second graders!     

Next week we're going to keep practicing our strategies that will allow us to be independent during centers.  We will continue learning about addition and subtraction in math, communities in social studies, and the importance of taking care of our books during reading (as well as many other habits of great readers). 

Thank you to everyone that donated supplies to our second grade pantry!  Your generosity is GREATLY appreciated!!

Enjoy your weekend with your little ones.  I can't wait to see them again on Monday!!  

Nice to Meet You

It was great to finally meet so many of you at Curriculum Night!  Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to attend this back-to-school session.  I apologize for the incredibly LARGE amount of paperwork that I gave to you, but I do hope you can find the time complete it soon.  Your child should have all of the following things turned in this Friday, August 24th:

• Book Buddies permission
• Blog permission  
• Snazzy Snacks permission
• Class behavior policy
• Class Directory
• Highlights Magazine order form

If you're interested in being a classroom volunteer this year, please complete and return that form as well.  I will be posting the Mystery Reader schedule on our Blog in September, so be on the lookout for that if you're interested.

Don't forget to sign up for text message reminders by texting the message @weber02 to (814) 201-5236.   

Welcome Back!

Hip, hip, HOORAY...it's the start of a new school year!  We have had an amazing couple of days together and I know it will only get better!!  Last week was really exciting because we kicked off the school year with a pep rally assembly.  Mrs. P led the students in the wave, a school chant, the dramatic slow clap, and so much more.  On Friday, we were lucky enough to have nice weather for our "Sports Day".  The kids got to go outside for relay races and team building fun.  What a great way to pump everyone up for another awesome school year! 

Today was the start of our first full week in second grade.  We were busy little bees as we began following our daily schedule.  The children are going to be writing addition and subtraction sentences in math, reading Table for Two during shared reading, checking out books from our classroom library, and so much more! I hope your child is just as excited for the year as I am.  I know we are going to have a great time learning and growing together.

Don't forget that Curriculum Night is at 7:00 pm tomorrow.  I really hope to see you! 

Finally, I wanted to let you know that this Thursday we will be having a whole-school Spirit Day.  The theme is "Get in the Game" and the children are encouraged to wear their sports gear. 

Have a great week!