Hear Us Roar

     Looking at the deer in my front yard last week,made me think of some students who have a difficult time learning new academic material. They are like deer in the headlights not knowing which way to turn. As educators, we try to assist all students and coach them to ask questions and seek out clarity when they are trying to learn new material. Most kiddos are VERY comfortable asking for help but others sit quietly trying to make sense of it all. In time, all will feel comfortable and safe to take a risk or ask for help from a buddy, helper or teacher. When they "get it"...hear them ROAR, I've GOT IT!

     All second graders have started the social studies unit on communities. There will be a couple of homework assignments associated with this unit. The children are asked to interview a family member about their community growing up. Another assignment is to write some questions that they may want to ask a fireman, policeman or a town worker. finally, after our visit down town, the children will be asked to write a thank you note to one of the departments visited. There will be a very exciting field trip to the local public departments. Again, stay tuned for the date to be announced soon.

     In Math, the children have begun switiching classes for math. All classes are working on place value with our new In Focus Math Program. Homework will be coming home this week from your child's math teacher. All students still need to practice their facts and will be assessed weekly. Kiddos are enjoying their new materials and playing games.

     This week we will begin Unit 3 in our Fundations program. This unit is only one week and will teach the closed syllable exception. A closed syllable has one vowel closed in by one or more consonants. The vowel is short and is marked with a breve. The closed syllable exception involves the spelling of the glued sounds: ost(post), olt (colt), ild (wild), ind (find), and old (cold). The children should be practicing all words that come home on Fundations worksheets and word families. For instance, if the word on the worksheet is cold, the children should also know bold, fold and gold. If the word is wild, they need to know child and mild. These are spelling pattern strategies. We practicing the sounds and spelling with magnest boards, white boards, smartboard lessons and workbooks. On Monday, the Unit 2 Dictation will come home. Your child is assessed on how well they carry over the lesson learned. These Dictation assessments will improve as the year progresses. I f you have other questions, there are Fundation's parent letters on EDLINE as a resource or you can always email me.

     Finally, the children in our class are working together trying to fill each others buckets. We are trying to be fair, taking turns, helping others, being kind and a good friend. Most important, we strive for EXCELLENT EFFORT in all we do. When we have a problem, we work on strategies to solve those problems like CALM BREATHING, TALKING CALMLY, WALKING AWAY or ASKING FOR HELP. We learn crying doesn't solve anything. Also, Students should be RESPECTFUL of all others. Laughing at others is never acceptable. Please encourage your child to remember these strategies each day.

Enjoy the week! We will continue to ROAR down the road of success.
Thanks,
Deb Dellovo

Eleven Days and Counting

Hello Friends, Well as of today, we have been in school eleven whole days. Rules and routines are getting better but still need review and reminders. This week I am holding the kiddos accountable and reminding them about classroom/school expectations. We are also trying to transition from one activity to another quickly and efficiently. Please discuss this with your children so that when we begin to switich classes for reading and math, time won't be lost. They are all cute little chatter bugs. Hopefully everyone received the spelling and Calendar activities packets that went home today. First spelling, as you could see from the scores most kiddos need to practice the first grade trick words often. At open house I had a handout in the packet with suggested ideas to do with spelling/trick words. Please continue to practice these with your child. A great way is to put the words on index cards and put the cards on a ring. Keep the ring in the card to practice when in the car for short or long rides. Quick and easy! Keep the list I sent home in the back outside packet of their homework folder for easy reference. The first list of second grade trick words will come home on Tuesday (spelling day). Here's an opportunity to start a second spelling ring. The Calendar Activities packet will come home on Friday or Monday as I said in my note. Many of you will find some pages incomplete. Hopefully this will improve in a short time. For now, I told the children these pages "could be" done at home so they can become "experts" at school. No need to return the packets to school. The time spent on them can be recorded as part of math practice on the "LOG" that came home today. Lastly, your child should have had a copy of their Math and Reading LOG. Please encourage them to keep it in their homework folder. Assist them with filling it out or model for them for several days before they attempt it. Thank you to all those who attended Curriculum Night. It is very important for you all to hear about procedures and routines to help our class run smoothly. Have a great week. Deb

Here We Go!

Wow! Our first week of school was absolutely wonderful! We spent a lot of time getting to know each other and learning about our classroom community and new school rules (ask your kiddos about them). During the first couple of days we talked about what makes a great learner and a great classroom. We read several books to help guide our discussions about behavior and excellent efforts. In addition to learning about classroom rules and procedures we also began our Daily 5 Reading To Self. We are learning about the importance of having stamina (the ability to do something for a long time) and endurance (the ability to do something for a long time even when it is hard) during Read To Self. In order to grow as readers we must work hard and read a lot. Students have found that choosing a "good fit book" and a comfortable spot helps with their stamina. Kiddos are trying out different spots throughout the room. Soon, grade two will begin switiching for reading. All students will be benchmarked to find their instructional reading level and grouped with other kiidos at their level. It seems like everyone enjoys reading and looks forward to this reading time. In writing, the children wrote about a time when they had a strong feeling about something. We brainstromed strong feelings such as thrilled, excited, frustrated, embarassed or worried. They then would "turn and talk" about a feeling with a buddy before they stat their writing. This was to be their first narrative piece for the year which seemed to go pretty well. Every Monday, the kiddos will also write their weekend. In their "Personal Pad" they can reflect on their weekend and share small moments familiar to them in a narrative form. Each week I will choose a few students to share their writing as the class learns from each other. We have a new math program this year called Math In Focus. It is aligned with the new Massachusetts Frameworks (common core). It looks great and came with lots of new materials so stay tuned for mor information about it. Well, I need to go greet my friends for the opening bell. I look forward to a great year! I hope it is fun, safe and productive for all.