It's the first day of Autumn on Satuday!  I cannot believe it...as I get older, it truly seems like time flies!
The same is true in 2nd grade this year.  I cannot believe we are already post-testing our first unit in reading.  Those tests will be done by the end of the next week.  Our second grade team will gather after the data is collected and decide which areas need to be retaught or reinforced.  I have enjoyed our new reading curriculum so far.  I love the emphasis on phonics, grammar, and comprehension stratgies.  Hopefully you have been asking your kiddo what he/she has been learning each day.  The kids are used to me telling them what our purpose is for each lesson.  I think it's important for kiddos to understand that they aren't simply "Doing" stuff at school, but there is actually something to learn and apply to what they do in reading and math. 
Our math unit will end the following week.  Similarly, once the assessment is done, we teachers gather to discuss the data and to see what skills still need to be practiced.  Be sure you're working on basic facts for both addition and subtraction with your kiddo.  They really need to fluenty add and subtract by the end of this year.  We will work on strategies for solving our problems quickly in class, too.  We work a lot on solving math stories in our lessons.  We hope that students can solve them using at least two strategies, or methods.  We will work on solving story problems for the remainder of the year!
Don't forget to plan to join us at the Blank Park Zoo on Tuesday, October 2nd.  Dress accordingly since our evenings have been getting cooler! 
See you on Zoo Night!
Mrs. S.  :)
 
And we're off!  The yar together has begun and we have had a great start!  There is a nice group of kids in our class this year.  I love seeing all those smiles in the morning! 
We have started our reading an math curriculums.  It's been fun working through the Iowa Core standards in both areas.  I am really enjoying the new reading series, Journeys.  The students enjoyed opening their reading books for the first time...they sort of crackled!  (Remember the smell of new textbooks?)  Our Essential Question last week in reading was, "Why is knowing the events of a story in order important?"  We had fun talking about Sequence of Events.
In math, our focus is solving one and two-step problems.  We will work on this ALL year long!  Right now I'm enjoying finding out what the kids know to do about solving math problems.
 
We also pretested for our first math unit.  We'll work a lot on understanding balanced equations and solving our facts for the duration of the unit.
A few things to consider:
--I have noticed a lot of kiddos needing to use the restroom right away in the morning.  Please make sure your child is using the bathroom before they come to school.  Doing that can help cut down on distractions. 
--I have also noticed some tired faces in the afternoons.  That is normal during the adjustment time of getting used to the long school days.  However, please try to allow your kiddo to get adequate sleep each night.  I know some nights it's hard to get home and down for bed, but it's still recommended that 7 and 8 year-olds get up to 10 hours of rest per night. 
--Our first PTA meeting is this Thursday night in the cafeteria at 6:00.  I hope you think about joining us to help make good things happen at our school! 

Whew!  That's enough for now.  If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know!
Thanks,
Mrs. S.  :)