Winters' Wonderings
Week of September 10-14, 2018
Back to School!
We have had a fantastic first week of school! The kiddos are getting back into the routine of school after summer vacation! These first weeks of second grade can be challenging with the shift from the "summer brain" to a "school brain." If your child seems irritable or extra exhausted at the end of the day, not to worry...they will get used to the new school year soon enough. I am looking forward to a fantastic year ahead! This is a wonderful group of students!
What's happening in our class?
Highlights from the week!
- "Toilet Paper" get to know you sharing-ask your child what this was all about! :)
- Learned about our flexible seating expectations and are enjoying the choice it provides. So far students are making pretty smart choices and using the spaces appropriately!
- Read "David Goes to School" and discussed as a class what a good student is/isn't and does/doesn't brainstorming
- Created a Classroom Constitution with class created rules and expectations
- Read "I Like Me" and made a word web about what we like about ourselves and drew our self portraits
- Created our Rocket Math folder and took our first 1 minute and 4 minute timed addition fluency quiz
- Played fact family roll as a fun way to remind us about fact families
- Read "What Gritty Kids Do When No One is Looking" as an introduction to the 7 Mindsets and having a Fixed vs. Growth Mindset. We know that in order to succeed, we need to believe we can!
- We developed our hopes for the new school year and they are flying high in our classroom!
- Learned many of the procedures and routines necessary to be a great second grade citizen in the learning community of our classroom!
So many more learning activities--We have had a busy week!
Coming Up Next Week!
Next week, we will get more into our regular curriculum, while still working on routines and expectations.
Language Arts
- Readers' Workshop--FLUENCY BOOT CAMP-- Fluency Boot Camp is designed to focus on the main components of being a fluent reader: pace, phrasing, expression, punctuation and accuracy. My goal is for students to know what fluency is, why it is important as readers and practice and improve their reading fluency as this is vital to becoming a lifelong reader!
- Writers' Workshop--We will be launching our Writers' Workshop time with talking about what writers' workshop is and how we work on our writing during this time. We will also start working on our "Lifebook" Journal.
- Spelling/Grammar--We will not start spelling words until Sept. 24, but we will review and test the sight words students should know from first grade and review basic grammar, such as what is a noun, verb, pronoun and adjective.
Math
- Fact Fluency--Automaticity, which is the ability to "just know" the answer to an addition/subtraction problem, without it taking too much energy, is necessary to free a person's brain to do more challenging mathematical tasks, such as problem solving, larger addition/subtraction problems, and eventually multiplication.
- Review--We will review all of the math concepts students should know from first grade through some review stations.
Science
We will start our unit on the Scientific Method. This background knowledge provides all students with information about the process of scientific inquiry that scientists use.
This and That:
- Scholastic Book Orders--These are due on Friday, September 14th. Please consider ordering online with our class code of: NDHW9. I will still take paper order forms with checks or cash, however my preference would be that you utilize the online ordering platform. You can use the button below or access the website through my page on the Park website.
- Sharing--Look for the the list in your child's take home folder for which day your son/daughter has. Next week for sharing, students will be sharing their All About Me bags. Please make sure they have these back to school by their sharing days.
- Gym shoes--please make sure that you send a pair of shoes that can be worn for gym. These shoes should stay in your child's locker.
- Friday Letters--most Fridays we will be completing a Friday Letter home to parents. The goal of these letters is to give your child practice with their letter writing skills, let you know-in your child's own words-how their week was and what we've been doing in our class, and finally to be a record of the year and how their writing has improved over the year. Please return this letter with a response letter back to your student each Monday.
Scholastic Book Orders
Order books by Friday, September 14th! Use class code: NDHW9
You will begin to see and hear about the 7 Mindsets this year. This is a social emotional curriculum that we are implementing at Park this year. The 7 Mindsets relate to having an "I can do it" mindset that develops grit and resiliency that is necessary to persevere when things get tough. I am know this is going to be a wonderful addition to what we do everyday. Click the button below to learn more!
7 Mindsets
Click here to learn more about the 7 Mindsets!
Thank you for entrusting me with your children everyday! It's going to be a RIDICULOUSLY AMAZING Year!
Contact Ms. Winters:
Email: cwinters@isd2397.org
Website: https://park.isd2397.org/cms/One.aspx
Location: Park Elementary, Room 109
Phone: (507)665-4759