May 21st, 2021 Dear 2A Families, Our last newsletter for 2A-- WHAT?! Someone mentioned this morning how fast this year as gone by. It is crazy to think that back in August we were virtually learning and unfamiliar with one another. Then we quickly joined back in the classroom, and it was like we had known each other for years. This is a class that welcomes one another, does their personal best on all their work. We have worked hard all year, and have prepared ourselves the best we could for 3rd grade. I know we will tackle this next school year like champions. After a week of learning, kiddos will get to relax for a much deserved summer break.
We have been enjoying our "Pop! Into summer" bulletin board. So far we have enjoyed "stinky feet" Tuesday, Stem Experiment Wednesday, Shaving Cream Spelling on Thursday, and a summer themed "Would you rather" on Friday. This week we will continue to pop our balloons that have fun things planned! In addition to those balloons, I am asking for a few more items to help us celebrate our hard work.
Wednesday: “Readers Café”- Bring an extra snack, beach towel and picture book to read to a friend (No chapter books. You should be able to read through your book in about 10 minutes.) Thursday: “Hawaiian Luau”Aloha!We celebrate our end of year with a luau. Bring your favorite Hawaiian shirt to change into for the party, sun hat and sunglasses.
Our final day of school is scheduled for May 28 with a 10 am dismissal. We have some fun activities planned for our final week, as well as academics. A few of you have already been kind enough to send me an email letting me know that your student will be finishing the year off earlier than the 28th. To best plan for packing up materials, as well as finishing up all needed classwork, would you mind please sending me an email letting me know if your child will be starting their summer earlier than the 28th. Our class party is scheduled for Thursday, May 27th. There is no scheduled academics for the final day of school. Please let me know in advance if your kiddo will be starting their summer vacation early.
A Look into Next Week… We focus on the Church this week in Religion and what part we play in the church family. We will take a closer look at roles of religious figures in the church and how together we make up the “hands and feet” of the Church’s body.
We will start off the week by reviewing and taking a math test over chapters 18 and 19. In chapter 18 we learned about lines and curves and flat/curved surfaces. In chapter 19, we took what we learned in 18 and took it up a notch by learning about plane and solid shapes. The remainder of the week will be spent reviewing skills we have learned in 2nd grade. Such as: addition and subtraction, multiplication and division, and graphing.
In Language Arts, we have finished our Journey's books and stories. We will bounce off of our story last week on Monday by discussing inventions. We will write an opinion paragraph on what we think the best invention is, and then we will come up with our own invention! On Tuesday we will continue on with the opinion paragraphs but with a different topic. This week will really build on our writing skills so we can sharpen them up before heading off to 3rd grade!
Finally, we have entered our final unit in science, Earth Processes. We will be discussing Earthquakes, and we will take part in our own earthquake drill. This week we will continue to discuss tsunamis and volcanoes.
As always, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask. I am always here for all of you. Thank you again for the continued patience and flexibility you have given thus far.
We are a NUT FREE classroom! Please keep this in mind when packing snacks and lunches!
2nd Grade Information:
Math:
IXL grades will be taken out of 30 points since students are required to complete 30 minutes of the assigned skill each week. Students will be given points based on how many IXL minutes they have completed. For example if your child completed 20 out of 30 minutes they will receive 20/30 points.
Homework:
All homework is expected to be completed with neatness and effort. As much as we encourage and try to build their responsibility and independence, please check over your child's work. Make sure they gave it their best personal effort, and it is neat. Direction following is an important life skill, and is expected on all work they do. This helps build those high expectations. Please check your child's agenda as they take the time to write down their homework. This is an important skill as they will continue this in 3rd grade. It is your child's responsibility to pack up their belongings for the next school day. If your child forgets their homework, I encourage them to arrive to class when the doors open at 7:30 am to complete the assignments.
School Work:
During third quarter, students will also have until the end of the week to claim no name assignments. These assignments can be found in the no name basket on the front table. I remind students that they should be checking the basket as they come into class every morning. Students will also be emptying their red folders every Thursday to complete any unfinished work for the week. The no name basket will be emptied every Friday and I will not be reprinting assignments or accepting late assignments after the end of each week. I have found that this helps students take responsibility for their own work and making sure to pay close attention to small details like name, number, and date. Students can check their grades on RenWeb and see if any assignments have been marked as Missing or a possible no name. Assignments that are late will lose a point. I ask for your help in supporting your child with learning through these mistakes. We are now half-way through 2nd grade, and they are all highly capable of taking on this responsibility.
Nut Free:
We are a nut free community! Please read labels before packing your child a snack or lunch! There are many healthy choices that do not have nuts. Absolutely no nuts will be allowed during snack/lunch time in the classroom. If your child wishes to celebrate their birthday with the class, please email me ahead of time.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email me ( [email protected] ). I am blessed yet again with such wonderful families to work with throughout this school year. I am always so thankful for the support this community gives. With love, Miss Drzewiecki :)
Reminders:
We are a NUT FREE classroom! Please keep this in mind when packing snacks and lunches!
Please make sure your child has their Good News agenda everyday.
We take bathroom breaks as a class, everyday. This is a school wide policy. I allow your child to use the restroom, if it is a true emergency. Please, please support me in encouraging your child to TRY to use the bathroom whenever we take bathroom breaks! There have been quite a few times where we take a bathroom break as a class, and a good majority get too busy playing games instead of using the restroom. Then, a few minutes into our lesson, there will be hands up to use the restroom. This causes a little disruption with our lessons, especially since it always happens right after a bathroom break. I do not mind if your child has to go to the restroom throughout the day, but please support me by encouraging your child to always try to use the restroom during our class bathroom breaks.
I have our daily schedule up on the website under the schedule tab.
4th Quarter Expectations: Our final quarter brings along new expectations that will help my students better prepare for third grade. One of the new expectations beginning this week is that 2A students will now have 3 spelling dictation sentences to study for their weekly spelling tests. Please remember to practice these as I look to make sure all words are spelled correctly. Our spelling tests will still consist of 14 words, but now students will be given 2 extra credit word opportunities.
Our daily reading expectations will soon increase to 15 minutes of daily reading. I have already encouraged my students to push themselves to work beyond the minimum, especially in reading and writing. I ask for your help in expecting the same. Book titles should continue to be underline on daily reading logs. Points will be deducted for book titles written incorrectly. I’ve noticed chapter books being forgotten at home during independent reading time. I’ve reminded students to please make sure that they have a grade appropriate chapter reading book daily in class. When homework requires sentences to be written, I am asking that a parent sign that assignment. This is worth a point on your child's homework.
This quarter we will also be transitioning into using binder paper for our writing assignments. Students should be paying attention to letter size, spacing and formation when writing words and sentences. We have practiced using the margin line correctly and how to set up our paper when copying problems from our textbook. I ask for your help in making sure that the handwriting that your child is turning in for homework is neatly written and legible. I continue to have homework turned in that is not up to our neat work expectations. I’ve explained that the handwriting expectation we have in the classroom is no different for homework.