SEPTEMBER NEWS FROM 2D

Were off to a great start in 2D! The students are getting to know each other and learning the routines of our classroom. I hope youre all as excited as I am about beginning a new year. I would like to explain some of what we do in 2D in this first newsletter. If you have further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me. Remember to refer to the email attachments you received from me as well. Each month you will receive a newsletter and a calendar to print and post at home. They will come as an email attachment at the beginning of each month. The calendar will help you and your child plan for each day. The newsletter will give you an update of the curriculum and activities your child is involved in. READING The first days of school are spent listening to all the students read, reviewing the reading strategies, benchmarking reading levels, and focusing on vowel sounds. Please remember that a students reading level is more than just fluency. It also includes comprehension. When reading with your child, ask them to retell or choose another title for what they just read. Youll know right away if they understood the material.

SCIENCE / SOCIAL STUDIES We will begin the year in social studies with a unit called The Constitution. The students will learn about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. This will be an excellent opportunity to discuss and set up how we would like our classroom to be run. Next, we move into a science unit called What Makes Me Sick In this unit we are learning about germs and ways to keep ourselves healthy.

PLANNERS You have hopefully become acquainted with your childs planner. These are used nightly to help your child plan and prepare for the next school day. If there is something they need to bring or homework they need to do, it will be recorded in their planner. Please set a time each evening when you can go over the planner with your child. If homework comes home, it will be in their Take Home folder and noted in their planner. If I send a class email to you, it will be recorded in the planner as well. I am asking that parents sign their childs planner each night.

STAR STUDENTS Each student will have the opportunity to be the star student for a week. They will prepare a bulletin board that tells all about them. A packet will come home the week before their turn. It will explain

how they need to prepare. The STARS for September are listed on the calendar. MATH Our math curriculum is called Everyday Mathematics. In Everyday Mathematics, children develop a broad background by learning concepts and skills in six content strands. The second grade program emphasizes the following content: Number and numeration, Operations and Computation, Data and chance, Measurement and Reference Frames, Geometry, and Patterns, Functions, and Algebra. Students will have regular homework that begins about midway through the first unit. These are called Home Links and will be noted in your childs planner in a code form. For example, their planner will say Do HL 2-1. This means do the Home Link for unit 2, lesson 1. The student will have the Home Link sheet in their Take-Home folder. Unit tests will also come home for you to see, sign, and return for placement in their portfolios.

MR. ABBOTT Hello 2D families! My name is Joshua Abbott and I will be Mrs. Livermores student teacher this fall! I am an elementary education student from Drake University, and this experience will be my final step in my program before graduating this December! I am very excited, and honored, to have the opportunity to work with your children this fall! I know we will all learn a lot from one another, and I can not wait to start working with, and getting to know your children! I am looking forward to a great couple of months in 2D and I look forward to getting to know each of you and your child!

EARLY DISMISSALS Again this year we will have early dismissals for teacher collaboration. These fall on Wednesdays and the dismissal time is 3:10 P.M.

This is a great group of kids, so full of enthusiasm! I hope they are all looking forward to a fun year of learning. As they adjust to their new environment, they may have questions or concerns. At this age, students rarely want to disappoint their teacher. Please feel free to contact me if I can help ease the way. I do not mind having parents call me at home. Until next month!

**NOTE** Our school pictures will be Tuesday, September 24th.