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
