S'MORE News from Second Grade
Mathews Elementary Mavericks
MAP Testing Continues
Below is the schedule for MAP Math and Reading. Please help ensure a positive testing experience for your child by having them go to bed early and feeding them a healthy breakfast. Also, please have a discussion with your child about having a Growth Mindset and taking their time to read the questions carefully before choosing an answer.
MAP Math
Mrs. Hall - Tuesday, April 30
Mrs. Selec- Wednesday, May 2
Mr. Steele - Wednesday, May 1
Mrs. Bender - Monday, April 29
MAP Reading
Mrs. Hall- May 7
Mrs. Selec - May 9
Mr. Steele - May 8
Mrs. Bender - May 6
Parent/Teacher Conferences
End-of-the-Year Parent/Teacher Conferences are rapidly approaching. Below are the dates for each teacher's Conference Day. Each teacher will send out a Remind with a Signupgenius link to sign up for a time to meet with your child's teacher to discuss testing results and receive information about Third grade.
Mr. Steele - Friday, May 17
Mrs. Hall - Monday, May 20
Mrs. Selec - Tuesday, May 21
Mrs. Bender - Wednesday, May 22
May Important Dates
May 6:
Fifth Grade to the Perot Museum
May 7:
Third Grade to Heritage Farmstead
Fourth Grade Music Concert
May 15:
Second Grade to Outdoor Learning Center
May 16:
Mathews Senior Class of 2019 Reunion at 4:00
May 22:
Fifth Grade Graduation at 7:00 p.m.
May 23:
End of Year Parties
May 24:
Last Day of School
Early Dismissal!
- Tuesday, May 7
- Monday, May 20
- Friday, May 24
Dress Code
Students' dress and grooming are expected to be in keeping with accepted community standards. The following statements are guidelines:
- Shoes must be worn at all times.
- Students in grades K-2 may wear regular shorts. Students in grades 3-12 may wear shorts but must meet the following standards:
- Must be loose-fitting; no biking shorts, cutoffs, boxer shorts or combination thereof.
- Must be hemmed or cuffed.
- Length must be to the fingertips or longer.
- Dresses or skirts must be longer than fingertips.
- Tanks tops, tube tops, halter type blouses or mesh shirts will not be permitted.
- Sun dresses will be permitted if modestly cut. Shirts should overlap the waistband of skirts, shorts, or pants.
- Items with provocative, offensive, violent, or drug-related pictures or slogans will not be permitted. Items advertising alcoholic beverages or tobacco products will not be permitted.
- No hats, caps, bandannas, hoods, wallet chains, or sunglasses.
- No type of clothing which has been torn or has holes will be allowed.
- No sagging pants or shorts.
- No gang paraphernalia.
- No visible pierced jewelry other than earrings.
- All students are expected to meet community standards and school policies with regard to health, cleanliness and appearance. All safety rules must be obeyed.
Please Tie Your Shoes!
Dear Parents,
We need your help! We are having numerous accidents due to students not having their shoes tied. It is developmentally appropriate to learn to tie shoes by the time a child enters the Second grade. Please work on this important skill at home. Even if your child has Velcro shoes, tying is an important and necessary skill to learn. To make learning easier, we have included some helpful tips below. Materials: small shoe box, long shoe lace, permanent marker 1. Use the permanent marker to color half of the shoe lace (both sides). This will help your child see which part of the lace they should be working with for each step. 2. Punch holes in the bottom of the shoe box. Thread the laces through the holes as you would through a sneaker. The bottom of the box should represent the top of the sneaker. 3. Have you child hold the shoe box between his/her knees when practicing. 4. Sit behind your child and reach around him/her to demonstrate the steps. 5. Try some of the shoe tying poems and stories below to help your child remember the steps
Build a tee pee Come inside Close it tight so we can hide Over the mountain And around we go Here's my arrow And here's my bow!
Tying Shoes (Sung to Splish Splash I was Taking a Bath)
Criss Cross and go under the bridge Then you got to pull it tight. Make a loop but keep a long tail That is how to do it right Then you take the other string and you wrap it 'round the loop Pull it through the hole Now you got the scoop
Fruity Fridays
Fruity Fridays are coming in January!
Be a part of Fruity Fridays in January!
Encourage students to bring fruit for a snack.
Students will get to enter their names for a drawing!
Dismissal Changes
Daily Expectations
Please arrive on time! Doors open at 7:00, students are released to classrooms at 7:30, and are expected to be seated and ready to begin by the bell at 7:45. All students are asked to bring their green folder, reading log and planner home M-TH to stay organized. On Fridays, students will bring their blue card home (in their green folder) to have it signed by a parent and returned the following Monday. Thank you for helping your child be GREAT every day!
Curriculum Information
Listed below are topics currently being taught in the Second grade. We encourage you to support what we are teaching in the classroom by asking your child what they have learned each day and discussing these topics with your child.
Math
Fact Fluency
Problem Solving
Data Collection
Financial Literacy
Science
Plant Packages
Language Arts
Reading with fluency
Comprehension skills - text features
Writing complete sentences
Capital letters at the beginning of a sentence
Punctuation at the end of a sentence
Writing
Expository
Social Studies
Government
Dreambox
What is DreamBox Learning Math?
● DreamBox Learning Math, the next generation of web-based learning,
provides personalized math learning in an engaging, fun, game-like
framework.
● DreamBox automatically adapts to each student, optimizing his or her
learning experience. The engine does this by customizing the lessons,
difficulty, hints, pace, and sequence to match a student’s knowledge and
learning style -- just as a great tutor would!
Tips for Parents
● Encourage students to FINISH lessons. Explain to students that
DreamBox is constantly taking into consideration their keystrokes,
strategies, speed and answers to build the best “next step”. However, the
platform won’t register all of that data if a lesson is incomplete. The best
way for a learner to show what he or she knows or doesn’t know is to
finish the lesson. Ask them to not out of a lesson because they want to try
another. Encourage them to finish. If they must close a lesson, have them
start with that lesson when they play DreamBox again. It is okay to get
wrong answers and to try their own strategies.
● Encourage them to use the “Help” (K-8) and “Hint” (3-8) buttons .
● Use only the program. No pencil, paper or calculator. DreamBox will
provide any workspaces needed and break the problem down into
manageable parts. Students should use the tools and virtual manipulatives
to guide them.
● Don’t help students answer problems. The program engine wants to
“learn the learner.” If a student gets help, the software adjusts as if the
student understands the lesson. DreamBox will eventually adapt back to
the “right” level for the student, but if a parent helps, it can take longer and
impede progress.
● Encourage a growth mindset. It is okay for students to make
mistakes and try their own ideas! Let students know that it is okay to
get the “Oops, try again!” notification. When students worry about getting
wrong answers, they are often hesitant to try new ideas. Mistakes are
okay! We learn from mistakes every day. Students should be encouraged
to test their own strategies. This leads to true mathematical discoveries
and thus understandings, and lifetime confidence in mathematics learning.
REMIND.COM
This year we will use www.remind.com to send out quick reminders for events happening in 2nd grade. If you have not signed up to receive messages from your child's teacher, please contact them via email so that they may update the cell phone number(s) you wish to use. This is a tool to send you reminders only. Thank you!
Snack
Math Fact Quizzes
Below are a couple of websites for your children to practice their Math Facts online. Please have them practice daily. One of our second grade objectives on our Portfolio Conference sheet is to “Recall basic facts to add and subtract within 20 with automaticity.” We are giving them weekly timed test with 100 facts to complete in 5 minutes. Practicing their facts in some way each day will help increase their automaticity.
http://www.factmonster.com/math/flashcards.html
Volunteering and Field Trip Chaperones
Donations
We are now accepting donations for several items listed in the Signupgeniusbelow for Second grade. If your are interested in donating an item/s, please select the item/s you wish to donate from the following list. You may then either bring the items to the school office or send them to school with your child to be delivered to their teacher. We thank you for your generosity and everything you do to help us meet the social and academic needs of our students.
LEGOs Collection
Daily Homework
Daily Math due each day Monday - Thursday
Word Work dictation on Friday
Reading Log due each day Monday - Thursday
LA grammar worksheet due every Thursday
Friday – Parent Signature on Blue Card (checked the following Monday)
Websites for Home Use
http://www.aplusmath.com/Worksheets/index.html
http://www.superkids.com/aweb/tools/math/
http://www.mrmyers.org/Math_Mania/Math_Games/Jude_e-Clock/clock.htm
http://www.sanchezclass.com/reading-graphic-organizers.htm
www.jamit.com.au/htmlFolder/app1001.html
www.harcourtschool.com/activity/telling_time_gr2
https://www.spellingcity.com/gselec/
www.teacher.scholastic.com/tools/spelling.htm
http://www.readwritethink.org/search/?resource_type=16&grade=9
http://www.worksheetworks.com/
www.playkidsgames.com/games/mathfact/mathFact.htm
www.ws.hmhpub.com (write source)
www.scholastic.com/ups/files/campaigns/src-2013/SCBookList2013_FULL.pdf
2nd Grade Team
Website: http://k12.pisd.edu/mathews-elementary-school
Location: 7500 Marchman Way, Plano, TX, United States
Phone: 469-752-2300
Twitter: @2ndMavs