Dear Parent(s);
The end-of-the-year is fast approaching! I want to take this time to thank each of you for the support you have given, not only me, but your child as well. We have had a great year and I wish each of my students the best of luck for next year! I also want to thank everyone for the flowers, cards, and offers of encouragement that were given to me during the recent loss of my mother. I don’t think I would have been able to make it through the past couple of months without “my kids” to keep me busy! Again, I greatly appreciate the acts of kindness that were shown to me.
The end-of-the-year brings many activities. Below you will find a list of events, dates and times to help you plan your calendar. Please notice that the last week of homework will be the week of April 28 – May 2. We have worked hard this year, and with all the extracurricular activities that students are involved in at this time of the year, it takes a little stress off of the students as well as the parents! Enjoy the warmer weather and just spending time together outdoors in the afternoons!
Monday, April 28 – Friday, May 2: Last week of nightly homework.
Sunday, May 11: Mother’s Day
Monday, May 12 – Wednesday, May 15:
EOG Testing for 3rd, 4th & 5th Graders
Monday, May 26: Memorial Day Holiday (No School)
Wednesday, May 28: Field Day for K-2
Friday, May 30: Last Day of School/Report Cards Issued
Fourth Quarter Expectations:
Reading: Students are expected to read at Level 23 -24 with a retelling score of a 3 - 4 by the end of 2nd grade. You can help your child at home by listening to him/her read each night, especially when they are assigned a specific story for homework. After you have listened to your child read fiction text, discuss the characters, the setting, the problem, the solution, and the ending of the story with your child. Ask your child to make a connection to the story by asking him/her if they have ever had anything happen to them like the characters in the story did. After you have listened to your child read non-fiction text, discuss the topic, details using key vocabulary from the text, key concepts, text features, including headings, photographs, captions and bold-faced words. Ask your child why he/she thinks the author wrote the story (author's purpose) and what did they know about they topic before they read the story or what have they learned from reading the story. This is an excellent way for you to spend time with your child and it also gives you some insight into where your child is at in his/her reading fluency and comprehension skills.
Math: Students will continue to build on the math skills that they have acquired during the first, second, and third nine weeks. They will be developing a number sense for whole numbers through 999, continue to model, read, write and make different representations of numbers, compare and order numbers, build an understanding of place value, use problem-solving strategies to find solutions to addition and subtraction problems, estimate and measure using centimeters, meters, feet, inches, and yards. Students will also continue to collect, organize, describe and display data using a three-set Venn diagram. Students will combine simple figures to make a shape, describe the change in attributes as two- and three-dimensional figures are cut and rearranged, identify and make symmetric figures, conduct simple probability experiments, and identify, describe, translate and extend a growing pattern.
Writing: During the fourth nine weeks of 2nd grade, we will continue to work on the stages of the writing process (Prewriting, Drafting, Revising, Editing, Sharing or Publishing). Students should now be able to write in a focused and logical sequence including a clear beginning, middle, and end. Students should also be using descriptive details and elaboration to make their writings more vivid to the reader. Students will need to begin relating paragraphs to a topic and indenting paragraphs in their revised and edited final copies.
Social Studies: During the fourth nine weeks of 2nd grade, our Social Studies unit of study will be distinquishing between producers and consumers and identifying ways that people can be both a producer and a consumer. We will also distinquish between goods produced and services provided in communities. Students will also learn about different types of employment and how people earn income.
Science: During the fourth nine weeks of 2nd grade, our Science unit of study will be the Life Cycle of the Butterfly. We will have a guest speaker, Brenda Hartwell, from the Museum of Natural Sciences visit all of the 2nd grade classrooms in April. Ms. Hartwell will teach the students the parts of the butterfly by actually dressing students as caterpillars and butterflies! She will also bring live samples of each stage of the life cycle of the butterfly for the students to get a hands-on, up close look at each stage. We will also have our own class demonstration of the life cycle beginning with the caterpillar stage. When they become butterflies, we will release them in our class garden.
Character Education: During the fourth nine weeks of 2nd grade, we will focus on the character traits of Perseverance and Good Judgment. Students will learn that perseverance means that you are persistant in doing things that you want or need to do-that you don't give up when you fail or make mistakes-you just try again! Students will learn that they can make good judgments by being considerate, courteous, helpful, and understanding of others. They will also learn that you use good judgment by doing what you know is right even if others do not. We will have a reception at the end of the nine weeks to honor 2 children from each class who have consistently demonstrated these charater traits.
