***Please
send in one old shoebox with a lid.
Thank you!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
It’s
so nice to be back with the children again!
In Social Studies, we will focus on our own classroom community as we
begin Superstar of the Week and learn new tidbits about one another. We will also continue promoting STAR traits
and will start “catching” people doing random acts of kindness in our classroom
as well as the whole school.
LANGUAGE ARTS
This
month, we continue to dig deeper into literature as we study characters, the
deeper meaning of stories, and what important lessons we can learn from some
authors. We will do this in reading as
well as writing our Realistic Fiction stories.
We will also start practicing cursive handwriting!
MATH
We have been working with tens and ones, in trying to understand place value concepts. We soon will work on being scientific
mathematicians as we collect data, organize information, and set our info to
equations. Along the way, we’ll dabble
in basic clock concepts, coins, and fact families.
JANUARY BIRTHDAYS
We will be
celebrating all summer half birthdays this month!
July 11: Rigs Conze
July 7: Sydney Du
July 26: Ryan Girlamo
August 1: Jack Wood
REMINDERS
Mon., Jan. 13: Scholastic orders due
Mon.,
Jan. 20: Martin Luther King Day/
No School/No Word Study
Fri.,
Jan. 24: Shoeboxes due
Thurs.
Jan. 30: Activity
Afternoon
SPECIAL NOTES
- Please label any extra gear, such as
boots, snowpants, mittens, and hats.
- “Box Tops for Education” are being collected by the Student Council. You will see the red and white rectangular shapes on certain types of packaged food boxes. Please check the expiration date, cut them out, and send them in with your children so they can help earn $$ for our school or a worthy need connected to Darien Public Schools.
- Thank you, Volunteers, especially during our busy month of December! Thank you in advance for this exciting, second part of the year!
- SUPERSTAR OF THE WEEK is a chance for the students to have a portion of a week that is special for them, so the rest of their classmates can honor them (and perhaps learn something new about their friends). The students are picked at random the week prior and a letter will be sent home that describes what it’s all about. Basically, it’s a chance for them to bring a treasure or two from home to school for 3 days of a week. It’s a good idea for the Superstar to have 2 or 3 reasons why it’s a special treasure (perhaps a notecard will help, but they don’t have to do that, nor do they have to do a poster.)
- Regular Friday sharing will only take place if students write out a few sentences on their treasures.
- New Year Student Tip to Build up Vocabulary and Word Study Patterns: Keep track of your words by writing them down in a notebook at home and then reviewing old words as each new week begins. You will feel proud of all you know!
- Beginning this month, all children are
encouraged to take more pride in their work in not rushing, being careful,
neat, and checking their work. Our
homework packet is expected to be turned in on Fridays, but children can
earn homework passes if they feel they need to skip a night.
- I feel very proud of your children! They work hard, and they are kind,
compassionate students!
December McMonthly News
Students are welcome to bring PJs, bathrobes, and slippers for the Holiday Party 12/18
Reading and Writing
The second grade
readers and writers have had a blast with our non-fiction units. They’ve discovered that they are experts at
many things and have been writing lots of “How-To” and “All About”
informational books. We are sure that
some of them will continue with their interest in their spare time!
In reading, we will start to pay closer
attention to what characters want and need.
We are noticing their traits, feelings, and are learning more about
everything that happens in a story by closely following characters and their
adventures throughout a book.
We will soon begin
Realistic Fiction writing, where we
can write about characters that face real-life problems. We can even take something that happened and
stretch that story a little bit, and then can “try out” different ways the
problems can get solved.
Math
We have been
working so hard with numbers: problem
solving with tricky number stories,
adding more than two numbers at a time,
learning how to combine numbers differently and split them up, in order to make
addition and subtraction a little easier. We will now work more with skip
counting by twos, fives, and tens, odds, evens, and place value with tens and
ones.
Social Studies and
other News
We have
concentrated on our nation’s events and respect in our school community. With the election, we have learned what
communities in U.S. states do, along with our own town community. In Science, we’ve dipped into matter and
experimented with different objects in force and motion.
DECEMBER BIRTHDAYS
Fri., Dec. 27: Griffith Crouse
Sun., Dec. 29: Riley
Meyer
REMINDERS
Tues., Dec. 2:
Author Visit, Peter Lourie
Dec. 3 – 6: Conferences,
short days
Mon., Dec. 9:
Scholastic Orders due
Wed., Dec. 18:
Class Holiday Party
Students are welcome to bring PJs, bathrobes, and slippers
Fri., Dec. 20:
Early Dismissal
12/21 – 1/1/14 – December break, no school
DECEMBER CAMPAIGNS
- Toys for Tots – Sponsored by; U.S. Marine Corps - bring in unwrapped toys for needy children (toddlers through teens) through Dec. 13th.
- Gingerbread Classes are 12/9-12/13. Lots of fun!
- Scholastic Book Clubs: I only received one catalog in the mail this month, but there are still many other catalogs from which to choose online. This month’s deadline is the morning of Monday, Dec. 9th so that those books will arrive before we depart for Dec. vacation (you can still order after that, but your books might not arrive prior to the break.) Each month, there are many other wonderful book choices listed in specialty catalogs, in addition to the usual 2 or 3 catalogs which are sent home in the children’s school mail. If any catalogs for which you are searching do not appear as the top recommended, they are still available by selecting the “Shop By Flyer” option at the top of the Parent’s page next to your child’s name. (For example, if you’d like to order from a previous month’s catalog, you can still do so.)
SPECIAL NOTES
·
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
·
Thank you in advance for your time during
Conference week!
- Continued thanks to our Room Moms, Elizabeth Svedlund
and Jane Glassmeyer!
- Continued thanks to all volunteers and for all the work
you do with your children at home!
- Thank you for your new Playground support!
