The Wacky and Wild World of Wallace
August 16, 2019
Walking Study Trip!
Classroom Community Night- General Information
You are invited to our Classroom Community Nights!
Here are the details:
*Students and parents/guardians are invited to attend. Students that attend will sit with their parents in the classroom in our community circle.
*Childcare is not provided. Please come with your child that attends TCE.
*Grades Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd will meet on August 21st from 5:30-7:00 p.m.
*Grades 3rd and 4th will meet on August 22nd from 5:30-7:00 p.m.
We have two priorities on this evening: Build Relationships and Share Information
Here is what you may anticipate in the classrooms on this evening:
*Experience a community circle
*Share your hopes and dreams for your child
*Learn more about the classroom schedule, learn what reading/writing/math/project work looks like at this grade level, learn more about work from home, understand how our classroom and school agreements define our best behaviors and how we respond to behaviors that are less than our best, hear more about cottage life (if your child is learning in a cottage), and learn the teacher’s plan for communication between school and home.
We will also have community resources in our Cardinal Cafe including S.P.O.R.T.S., Scouts, swim lessons, Destination Imagination, and more!
We are excited to continue growing and learning with you. Please plan on joining us (students and parents) for our Classroom Community Nights!
Classroom Community Night- 2nd Grade Information
On Wednesday, August 21st, from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m., we will hold our TCE Classroom Community Night! This night allows us to build relationships with the family and share important information. We encourage you to attend with your child. This will give us an opportunity to talk about important information with both you and your child attending, so a consistent message is heard by all.
The evening will begin at 5:30 p.m. and we encourage you to visit our various resources located in our cafeteria. These community resources will include S.P.O.R.T.S., Scouts, swim lessons, Destination Imagination information, and more!
From 5:45 to 6:30 p.m. you will be invited into your child’s classroom. Here you will experience a community circle with your child. We will ask everyone to share their hopes and dreams for their child. Here you will learn more about our classroom schedule, learn what reading/writing/math/project work looks like in second grade, learn about what work at home might look like, and view and understand our classroom agreements. We also can take this time to talk about how we will communicate throughout the year. You will have an opportunity to ask questions as well.
From 6:30 to 7:00 p.m., you can once again visit the community resources in the cafeteria if you desire.
If you have more than one child in K, 1st, or 2nd grade, we encourage you to reach out to their teachers. Perhaps you visit one classroom from the 5:45 to 6:30 time period, but stop in and speak with the other teacher between 6:30 and 7:00 p.m. There will be childcare in our gym for any siblings that need to attend with you and your child, if desired.
If you have any specific questions that we can answer for you, please feel free to reach out to us. We are here to help!
What's Your ONE Word?
Brainstorm one word for your child to focus on this year. We will plan to share these at our Classroom Community Night! I'll be sharing my one word for my class there as well!
5 Things Writing Workshop Teachers Want Parents to Know by Libby Duggan
5 Things Writing Workshop Teachers Want Parents to Know by Libby Duggan
1. Perfect spelling is not the goal of writing. Young writers should include words in their writing that they don't know how to spell- that's how they grow their vocabularies. If we send the message that every word needs to be spelled perfectly, students will feel that they must rely on someone else to produce "good" writing. If your child asks you to spell a word, give him/her strategies to try his best guess at the spelling instead. You might ask questions such as:
*What sounds do you hear when you say the word slowly? Stretch it out and get all the sounds that you hear onto the paper.
*Have you seen the word on something you've read before? Locate it and copy it.
*Can you think of other words that look or sound like what you're trying to say? How are those words spelled?
*Have you tried writing it a couple of different ways? Which one looks best to you?
In time your child will become familiar with more words and spelling patterns and will grow to correctly spell words that were once too difficult for him.
Homework in 2nd Grade!
Homework has been a big question. 2nd Graders at TCE won't have "official" homework they will need to complete each night. Instead I will be touching base and passing along fun education individual and family activities that will enrich your child in a more authentic way! Although there is no "official" homework, please remember is it always a great habit to read each night! Check out the link below about homework and what we believe in 2nd grade at TCE!
TCE Student Handbook
Dear Thorpe Creek Parents and Guardians,
All HSE Schools student handbooks (K-12) are now online for easier access. The handbook for Thorpe Creek Elementary can be found at this link:
We encourage you to review it at your earliest convenience. Should you have any questions, please contact the TCE main office at 317-594-4310. Our staff is available to assist you. Have a great school year.
Sincerely,
Sara Curran, Principal
Jana Allen, Assistant Principa
Grandparents Day!
Grandparents Day is celebrated around the United States in the month of September. We would like to honor grandparents on Friday, September 13th by inviting them to TCE for a special Grandparents Day! The event will take place from 9:15-11:35 with each grade level hosting a specific time slot.
During this special visit the grandparents will get a chance to see your child’s classroom and do some memorable activities with your child. With assistance from our teachers, students may also connect with grandparents that are farther away via tools like Facetime/Skype, etc.
TCE will have FPD here to on this special day since we know that some of our grandparents will not have an HSE background check on file.
Below is the timeline for the day's activities:
9:15-9:50 Kindergarten
9:35-10:15 3rd Grade
10:00-10:40 1st Grade
10:30-11:10 2nd Grade
10:55-11:35 4th Grade
Grandparents might find an open slot of time as they wait for a grandchild in another grade level. The PTO will be hosting a waiting room in our TCE library for that open time period. Refreshments will be served and student work will be on display for them to enjoy.
As you can imagine with a school population as large as ours, Grandparents Day will likely be a very well attended and full event. Because of the large crowd we will not have visitors joining us for
lunch on this day.
This Grandparents Day is an extra special day as it is also the day of the HSE vs. FHS football game - the Mudsock! We will celebrating a PTO sponsored spirit day on this day. We encourage our Cardinals to wear BLUE for HSE High School or RED for FHS to show support for our high schools.
We look forward to this special event! Watch for information from your child's teacher!
2nd Grade T-Shirt
Communication About Classroom Happenings This Year
This year you will be receiving the 2nd grade newsletter by email each Friday (please know occasionally it might come on Saturday as well). The newsletter will contain important information regarding 2nd grade curriculum, upcoming events, and photos of our learning!
You may also follow the 2nd grade teachers on Twitter to find out what we're up to throughout the week! We are excited to share our learning with you!
Mrs. King @MrsKing2nd
Mrs. Ochieng @MrsOchiengTCE
Mr. Wallace @MrWallaceTeach
Mr. Willis @TCEWillis
Mrs. Sieman @LindseySieman
Mrs. Buck @_MrsBuck_
Miss Dyer @MissDyer_
Family Photo!
A note from Mrs. Chadwell about Global Studies
Global Studies is included again this year in Related Arts! It will consist of 2 different sessions and each will be for 1 semester. The first semester will be Global Cultures and the second semester will be Spanish. My name is Suzanne Chadwell for those of you that might not know me or that are new to our school and I will be teaching your child this first semester. This is my second year in this role and I am super excited to learn with the students again! We will be learning all about countries around the world and their different cultures and ways of life. We will be noticing similarities amongst us all and celebrating the differences! When we understand the what and why behind a culture it makes it so much easier to value the differences. We are all different in our own way and yet the same in MANY ways. In our class we will have time to share our experiences and at times we will have the opportunity to bring in pieces of our own culture to share! I know last year so many of the students added such depth to our learning and I foresee the same this year! Our 1st 2 classes together have been getting to know each other, reviewing what our class entails, reminders of how we should be respectful as we discuss cultures and learn about each other and reminding ourselves we should always “BE PROUD OF WHO WE ARE”! The students have had some time to explore our classroom, look at some books, find some locations on the globe and touch and look at our huge classroom map! All of the kids love the globes and maps! We ended our 2nd session forgrades 2-4 with a book called “One Green Apple”. Ask your kiddos about this story! I am pretty sure it was a powerful message.
In 1st grade we started a different book that helps us look at 7 kids from around the world and their own daily activities. This gives us a good understanding of what culture is and how it might be different than our own. We also looked at a map and talked about our city, state, country, and the continent we live on. It is a lot of information, but I try to make it fun and it will be something we talk about regularly. We ended with a song on how to say hello in several languages. What a fun time I have had getting to know your children and I look forward to learning along with them!
Wanting to help out at TCE?
Important Information for Next Week
Mark Your Calendar!
August 28th- PTO Coffee and Donuts 9:30
August 21st- Classroom Community Night grades K, 1, & 2 5:30-7:00
August 22nd- Classroom Community Night grades 3 & 4 5:30-7:00
August 30th- Fall Fundraiser Begins
September 2nd- NO SCHOOL Labor Day
September 5th: PTO Meeting 7-8
September 13th- PTO Spirit Day Proudly wear Blue (HSE) or Red (Fishers) to support the two high schools!
September 13th- Grandparents Day
Next Week's Related Arts Schedule
Tuesday, August 20- Day 2: Global Studies
Wednesday, August 21- Day 3: Music
Thursday, August 22- Day 4: Art
Friday, August 23- Day 1: P.E.
We Are Learning...
Reading
This week in reading we have compared the reading we will do in 2nd grade to the beanstalk in Jack in the beanstalk. Just like it grew and grew and grew, so will the students reading. This week we learned that readers are not only in charge of what they read, but how they read it. Readers give their book a sneak peak, then set reading goals to read more and more. Good readers don't just focus on reading accurately and fluently, but they must also stop to think about their reading. Ask your child what the class reading goal time is for the year!
Writing
In writing we are learning about small moments. A small moment can be found anywhere. It could be something as big as scoring a winning goal to a tournament game or breaking a bone. It can also be something as small as a ladybug landing on your hand or holding the hand of your grandmother. We are learning that when crafting these small moments we must be intentional and try to write meaningful stories. This week we focused on: generating meaningful ideas for our writing, capturing our ideas in our notepads, stretching our our small moment and zooming in to write with lots of details.
We have learned that each writer writes at his/her own pace. Some students might finish a piece a day, while others work on a piece for 2-3 days and both are okay! Next week we will focus on our endings, revision, and setting writing goals.
Word Study
We also learned that a way to best learn a new or unfamiliar word is to: Make it a SNAP word! Check the poster below to see exactly how that is done!
Math
Social Studies
Mr. Matt Wallace
Email: mwallace@hse.k12.in.us
Location: 14642 E 126th St, Fishers, IN, United States
Phone: 317-594-4310
Twitter: @MrWallaceTeach