Welcome to 2nd Grade! 2015-2016

 

Welcome to 2nd Grade! Mrs. Duffner and Mrs. Mueller are so excited for this year. 2015-2016 is going to be an amazing year for all of us. Your children are going to grow so much this year--welcome the independence. Encourage your children to be independent, read and they will surely succeed! Please, if you have any questions, feel free to contact Mrs. Duffner or Mrs. Mueller! Mrs. Mueller will be co-teaching with Mrs. Duffner for Reading.

 

 Every day, we take a short break mid-afternoon for a healthy snack.  A snack calendar will be going home with your child once every two months.  The students are asked to bring in a nutritious snack for the class on their scheduled day.  Please check the snack calendar so that your snack day is not forgotten.  This will go along with their milk if it was ordered in the beginning of the year.  They may bring in juice if they did not order milk. 

            Students will bring home a binder daily. Their assignment book, homework folder, vocabulary, and other important information are kept in the binder. In the assignment book students write down the assignments for the day. Please check that the homework is done and then sign the assignment book and also ensure it is all put inside the book bag. By signing the assignment book, you’re not only checking to see that your child’s homework is completed but also sending a message to him/her that we’re working together in regards to his/her education. I will be checking and signing assignment notebooks daily. In addition, students will earn a sticker for each day that their assignment book has been signed. It is the parents’ homework to sign it every night.

 

Learning is a lifelong process which occurs both inside and outside of the classroom.  I want to thank you in advance for your cooperation, help and support throughout this school year. I hope to make this school year memorable and enjoyable for your child. Thanks again!

 

Flat Stanley

The 2nd graders just started reading Flat Stanley-- a chapter book! We will be exploring this story together, focusing on Common Core Reading Standards RL 2.5 (story structure) and RL 2.9 (compare/contrast two different versions of a story).

After we complete the chapter book, we will be sending our very own Stanleys off to our friends and family in other cities and states. Please look for more information about this which will be sent home next week! When our Stanleys arrive safely back at Sahs we will be documenting their trips on our classroom bulletin boards! Here's a sneak peek:

Writing in 2nd Grade!

The 2nd graders have been very busy writing! We just finished up writing an opinion piece on the 4 seasons! The students had to work through 6 separate steps in order to create their final draft. They did an awesome job with this. Next we will be moving on to writing an opinion piece about their favorite subject. Here are some pictures of the students working hard!

winter bulletin boards

Science-- Meal Worms

I'm sure you've already heard by now, but Mrs. Mueller's classroom had some special guests for a few months. MEAL WORMS! In science, we watched our meal worms grow and change. We recorded our observations and measured the meal worms in centimeters. The students had a great time checking out these little critters each day. They observed the meal worms as worms then watched them change into a pupa. After the pupa stage, they changed into a beetle. Here's a picture:

Spelling Tips!

Here are some helpful tips for studying spelling words:

Shaving cream finger writing: Have your child practice writing their spelling words by letting them write  in shaving cream. You can do this with a large cookie sheet so it doesn't cause too much of a mess. 

Mess free finger painting: Take a large Ziploc baggie and fill it with finger paint. Close the page carefully and tape the end to ensure it doesn't leak. Then have your child lay the Ziploc baggy flat on the table and spell out their words with their fingers. This can be used over and over again! 

Write a story using each spelling word! 

Draw a picture for each spelling word! 

Rainbow spelling.

Try writing the word in cursive. 

Spell out the spelling words using letter tiles. You can make letter tiles by cutting small squares from a big piece of paper. Have your child write one letter of the alphabet on each piece of paper. Then find the letters to spell your spelling word!  

Spelling tic tac toe— Instead of using X’s and O’s pick two spelling words write the words instead of X’s and O’s for the entirety of the game. Next game pick two different words. 

Make spelling fun! Come up with your own game—and please share if you have any other ideas! We'd love to hear them! 

Important Note!

IMPORTANT NOTE:

Many of the children’s supplies have been either lost or used up. If possible, please buy them new crayons, pencils, glue sticks, glue bottles, homework folder, and anything else they have lost or damaged. Some have even lost scissors which we use often.  A plastic folder for inside the binder works great!  Some students did not have all their supplies at the beginning of the year, therefore; this would be a good time to ensure they have all their supplies. The classroom is running low on baby wipes and Kleenex so if you could bring in one or two packages, that’d be great! 
THANK YOU!


(If you are unable to purchase supplies for your child, please let Mrs. Duffner or Mrs. Mueller know-- we have a family outreach program at Sahs and we can help supply these materials to your children)