Weekly Newsletters

Here is where you will find a copy of each of our newsletters throughout the year.

February 8th

Hello Second Grade Parents! We had a great week this past week in second grade! Please see below for a few quick updates, as well as a look at what we were up to this week in 2nd grade!

NO SCHOOL: Reminder that there is no school this Monday and Tuesday! Enjoy the midwinter break, and enjoy your Super Bowl Sunday!

Kindness Cards: Please continue to work on your child’s kindness cards at home. We will be passing them out in class this Friday, February 13th, but feel free to send them in whenever they are completed!

Winter Gear: Please continue to send all cold-weather gear to school every day, preferably in a separate bag.

THIS WEEK IN SECOND GRADE:

Math: In math this week we talked a ton more about place value up to the number 1,000. We used different models to show this, like base ten pieces as well as money! We will continue this place value work into our shortened week next week!

Writing: This week in writing we continued our work on reviews! We spent a lot of time understanding the important parts of a review, including important reasons and key examples that would make our readers want to go to our favorite restaurant. We ended the week by beginning to plan our next review, which is of a favorite book!

Reading: In reading this week we focused our efforts on retelling and understanding the most important parts of our books. Oftentimes when kids talk about their reading, they want to share every single tiny detail. While it is impressive to retain that much information, improving our retells by synthesizing the information is an important skill, especially as we read longer and more complex books!

Phonics: In phonics we focused on long e this week, specifically the patterns of “ee” and “ea.” We broke words apart, looked for patterns, went on a word hunt, and more! It was awesome to see the growth from the beginning of the week to the end!

IMPORTANT DATES:

Feb 9th & 10th: No School, Midwinter Break

Feb 13th: Passing Out Kindness Cards

Feb 27th: Early Release, 12:15 Dismissal

February 1st

Hello Second Grade Parents! I hope you’ve had a restful weekend! Below you will find a few quick updates, as well as a look at what we were up to this past week in 2nd grade.

Winter Gear: Please continue to send all your child’s winter gear to school each day. It is extremely helpful if this gear is in a separate bag from their backpack, as wet gear leads to wet school supplies if put in the same bag.

Kindness Cards: Please to continue to have your child work on their kindness cards as we get closer to Valentine’s Day. If you have misplaced the instructions, you can find them here. Please reach out to me if you would like a replacement paper copy sent home.

Yearbooks: Pre-ordered yearbooks were sent home this past week. If you would still like to order a yearbook, please use the following information from the office.

Ordering site: https://gpi.portraitpics.co/

Look up tool: https://www.geskusphoto.com/lookup

Customer Service: https://www.geskusphoto.com/contact-us

Body Safety Presentation: On Friday, we had a body safety presentation from the Child Advocacy Center. Your child came home with more informations about this presentation. We will have follow up lessons about this information in the coming weeks.

Report Cards: Report cards also came home Friday in your child’s folder. If for some reason your child’s report card did not make it home to you, please reach out and I will print a new one for you.

Student Assistant: Starting this week, our class will be joined by a student from Hudsonville High School, Jasmine Zomerlei. Jasmine is a junior at HHS, and is studying in the education program at the Career Line Tech Center. She is interested in pursuing a future in education, and has been placed in our classroom as part of her Work Study program. She will be in our classroom Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons through spring break. While in our classroom, Jasmine will be observing and assisting with the routines we have in place, small group instruction during intervention times, and general classroom guidance. If you have any further questions about Jasmine’s time in our classroom, please let me know! I am so excited to have her join our class and see just how wonderful teaching can be!

THIS WEEK IN SECOND GRADE:

Math: This week in math we focused heavily on coin value and counting money. This is a huge skill in 2nd grade, so practice at home can help so much! Nickels and quarters can be especially difficult for the kiddos to decipher between, so counting change can be a great activity for practice at home!

Writing: This week in writing, we continued to work on our restaurant reviews. We finished planning, and got started with writing the reviews. We will continue this work next week before continuing on to book reviews!

Reading: In reading this week, we focused on strategies for comprehending longer books. We talked about pausing at each chapter to retell the story, as well as focusing on the important parts of the story. We also talked about just right fit books, and learned a new strategy for determining if a book is a just right fit.

Phonics: In phonics this week, we continued our focus on long vowel a sounds. We learned to recognize the vowel sound in multisyllabic words and use them to help break apart those longer words, as well as practiced recognizing the vowel sound in our reading.

IMPORTANT DATES:

Feb 4th: World Read Aloud Day

January 16th

Hello Second Grade Parents! I hope your weekend is off to a great start! Below you will find a few quick updates, as well as a look at what we were up to this week in 2nd grade. There are a few important updates this week, so please be sure to read to the end!

Class Store Volunteers: I am still looking for volunteers for our class store this month. If you are available to help out on January 30th, please sign up using this link. Your help is so appreciated, as I can’t do this without you!

Kindness Cards: While we are not having a Valentine’s Day party this year, we are still planning to do Valentine activities in class throughout the week of Valentine’s Day, including handing out valentines. A note about how we do it came home in your child’s folder today, or you can find the note here.

Pajama Day: The kids have been working super hard since coming back from break on their stamina during reading time. They have been working toward the goal of reading for 35 minutes straight without needing any reminders to stop talking or get back to work. Well, yesterday WE MET OUR GOAL!! To celebrate this awesome achievement, we will be having a pajama/comfy day next Wednesday. Students will be allowed to wear their pjs and bring a blanket and stuffy if they choose to. A reminder will also be coming home on Tuesday in case you forget ;).

Cold Weather Gear: Please remember to send your child with their cold weather gear EVERY DAY. Even when there is not snow on the ground, their snow pants, boots, gloves, hats, and coats keep them warm and dry for the almost hour that they spend outside each day at school.

THIS WEEK IN SECOND GRADE:

Math: In math this week we kicked off our 5th unit! We focused almost exclusively on place value up to 1,000, using models like unifix cubes, base ten pieces, and bundles of craft sticks. We even compared values to 1,000, which was a great learning opportunity for the students. We will be shifting gears a little bit towards teaching coin values next week!

Writing: This week in writing we continued our opinion writing unit by practicing how to give compelling reasons for our opinions. We also made a tool called an OREO (Opinion, Reason, Example, restate Opinion) tool to help us as we get started “officially” writing our opinion reviews next week!

Reading: In reading this week we continued our work with understanding and reading a variety of words and vowel sounds. This included working with longer, multisyllabic words, as well.

Phonics: In phonics this week we also worked on longer words, this time with strategies on how to encode (spell) them! We talked about breaking words into syllables, identifying the “troublemaker” syllables in the word, and then spelling them accurately.

January 9th

Hello Second Grade Parents! Happy New Year! We had an awesome first week back from break! Please see below for a couple quick updates as well as a look at what we were up to this week in second grade!

Winter Gear: Please continue to send all winter gear to school with your child each day. Even if there isn’t snow on the ground, we still have the kids wear snow pants and boots out to recess because the playground can get very muddy as the snow melts. Their snow pants and boots keep them from getting their pants and shoes super wet and muddy.

Class Store Volunteers: Our next class store is coming up on January 30th! I am in need of volunteers to help run our store. If you are interested in helping out with this store, or a future store this year, please use this link to sign up!

THIS WEEK IN SECOND GRADE:

Math: In math this week we reviewed a lot of measurement information learned before break, including utilizing inches, feet, and yards. We then transitioned to working a lot with story problems through a story about a kid named Jessie and a giant! We ended the week by taking our Unit 4 math test. Please click HERE for information all about our upcoming unit, starting next week!

Writing: This week in writing we kicked off our unit all about opinion writing! We discussed the purpose behind opinion writing, deciphered the difference between facts and opinions, and talked about the importance of including reasons to support our opinions. Next week we will be officially getting started on the opinion writings themselves!

Reading: In reading this week we also started a new unit. Our focus centered around what being an effective reading partner might look like, as well as tackling a specific sound called schwa. The schwa sound is “uh” and each vowel can make this sound, making it extra tricky!

Phonics: In phonics this week we talked a lot about word building, specifically with words with more than one syllable. We specifically talked about the fact each syllable must have a vowel, which is helpful when tackling longer words.

IMPORTANT DATES

Jan 15th: Tarry Hall Skating Party

Jan 16th: Half Day, 12:15 Dismissal

December 12th

Hello Second Grade Parents! I have a couple of very important updates regarding next week, so please be sure to read all the updates!

Library Next Week: For next week only, we will be having library on THURSDAY. Our practice time for the Holiday Program is during our library time, so we are switching days just for this week!

Holiday Program: Reminder that our Holiday program is Tuesday, December 16th. Please be sure to arrive at the church between 7:15-7:20. When dropping off your child, please take their coat and any other winter gear with you to your seat so they do not have to return to the lineup room after the concert.

Spirit Week: Next week is spirit week! Please see the attached flyer for each of the dress up days!

Classroom Movie: Next Thursday we will be watching the 2018 Grinch Movie in our classroom. If you DO NOT want your child to watch the movie, please let me know by responding to this email.

THIS WEEK IN SECOND GRADE:

Math: In math this week we continued our work with measurement, diving deeper into a variety of units, including feet and yards. We introduced a few new workplaces, including measuring in yards and comparing measurements in inches. We will continue this work into next week and after break!

Writing: This week in writing we continued our work in poetry. We wrote diamante (diamond-shaped) poems and introduced haikus.

Geography: Instead of traditional reading lessons this week, we taught social studies! This unit is all about geography, so we discussed different types of maps, map keys, and features of our community. We even got to spend a little time on Google Earth, which was so fun!

Phonics: In phonics this week we continued to work on our spelling through various different games. This week we introduced two more: Troublemaker Bingo and Memory Mania!

IMPORTANT DATES:

Dec 15th: Candy Cane Day (red/white)

Dec 16th: Flannel Day

Dec 16th: Alward Holiday Program, 7:30pm

Dec 17th: Christmas Sweater Day

Dec 18th: Red & Green Day

Dec 18th: Classroom Holiday Party

Dec 19th: Pajama Day

Dec 20-Jan 4: No School, Holiday Break

December 6th

Hello Second Grade Parents! I hope your weekend is off to a good start! Below you will find a few quick updates as well as a look into what we were up to this week in 2nd grade!

Gym Shoes: Please remember to send your child with gym shoes on our PE days. You can find our specials rotation on our class website. Alternatively, the kids have bins in the hallway that they can keep their gym shoes in so they don’t have to remember them each time we have gym. :)

Holiday Party Volunteers: Thank you to everyone who has signed up to help with our holiday party! We are still looking for one more parent volunteer to bring a snack for the party. If you would like to sign up, please use this link, and be sure you have a background check on file with the office.

Santa’s Secret Shop: Wishlists for Santa’s Secret Shop were sent home yesterday in your child’s folder. Please be sure to fill this out and return to school with shopping money by this Tuesday to ensure your child is prepared for our shopping day!

THIS WEEK IN SECOND GRADE:

Math: In math this week we started our 4th unit, which is all about measurement! We measured using teacher feet (feet), giant feet (yards), and inch worms (inches). We also measured the circumference of our heads, which was super fun!

Writing: This week in writing we started a mini-unit all about poetry! We discussed what poems are, brainstormed different poem topics, and even wrote a specific type called diamante.

Reading: This week in reading we focused hard on our reading expectations and what reading time should look like. We set a goal as a class for how long we were going to read, and then set individual goals for how much we were going to read in that time. The kids did awesome with this and met our first reading time goal of 20 minutes (without needing reminders to turn their voices off)!

Phonics: In phonics this week we worked heavily on spelling high frequency words through the use of games. We learned and played two games: mind reader and secret word.

IMPORTANT DATES:

Dec 9th: Santa’s Secret Shop Day

Dec 12th: Early Release, 12:15 Dismissal

Dec 12th: Chuck E. Cheese Fundraiser, 12:30-9pm

Dec 15-19th: Spirit Week, Dress Up Days HERE

Dec 16th: Alward Holiday Program, 7:30pm

Dec 22-Jan 4th: No School, Holiday Break

November 23rd

Hello Second Grade Parents! I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful Sunday! Below you will find a couple quick updates, as well as a look at what we were up to this week in 2nd grade.

Conferences: Thank you to everyone for meeting with me for conferences. It was so great to chat with everyone and share the wonderful things your kiddos are doing in second grade!

Short Week: Remember that this upcoming week is a short one! We only have school Monday and Tuesday before our Thanksgiving break!

THIS WEEK IN SECOND GRADE:

Math: In math this week we wrapped up our third unit by working on more story problems that relied on addition and subtraction strategies. We then took our Unit 3 test on Wednesday. After that, we worked on an experiment regarding colored tiles. We made predictions, collected data, graphed the data, and then interpreted the results.

Writing: This week in writing we continued working on our nonfiction writing. We will be finishing these up next week, before jumping into our new writing unit after Thanksgiving. 🙂

Reading: This week in reading we finished up our nonfiction reading unit by sharing all that we had learned in our text sets. Then, we transitioned into a mini-unit all about fiction books and keeping track of the information we learn in those. One of these strategies is called “mind movies.”

Phonics: In place of phonics this week we talked all about economics for a fun social studies unit! We discussed scarcity and choices, opportunity cost, natural and capital resources, and more! It was super fun to discuss these various different components of economics with the class.

IMPORTANT DATES:

Nov 26-28th: No School, Thanksgiving Break

Dec 16th: Alward Holiday Program, 7:30pm

November 14th

Hello Second Grade Parents! Anyone else loving this warmer weather we’re having today? I hope everyone got the chance to get outside and enjoy it, even for a minute or two! Below you will find a few quick updates, as well as a look at what we were up to this week in 2nd grade!

Conferences: Friendly reminder that conferences are this coming Monday and Wednesday. Thank you to everyone for signing up! I have attached my conference schedule in case you don’t remember what day or time you signed up for. I can’t wait to chat with everyone next week!

THIS WEEK IN SECOND GRADE:

Math: In math this week we continued our work with two-digit addition and subtraction. This week, we focused our efforts on solving problem situations (story problems) that had us using these strategies to help us. We even worked a little bit with three-digit numbers in a game called “Bast 10 Triple Spin.”

Writing: This week in writing we worked hard to finish up the main part of our nonfiction writing. I am so proud of our class for their hard work and commitment to creating high quality writings. We will be working towards final drafts and publication as we head into next week and the week before Thanksgiving!

Reading: This week in reading we remained in our nonfiction text sets. Our main focus this week was about our expert vocabulary, both with collecting words and using them to talk about our topics! We ended the week by presenting what we learned to our classmates! It was so fun to see the kids present as experts on their topic and teach their classmates something new!

Phonics: In phonics this week we reviewed all of the different ending strategies we had learned over the past couple of weeks. These included soft c/g words, making words plural, and doubling consonants.

IMPORTANT DATES:

Nov3-21: PE Cares Food Drive

Nov 17 & 19: Conferences, see link for scheduled time

Nov 21st: Girls VIP Event, 5:45-8pm

Nov 26-28th: No School, Thanksgiving Break

Dec 16th: Alward Holiday Program, 7:30pm

November 9th

Hello Second Grade Parents! I hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday! I for one am a little sad to see snowflakes falling outside my window 😭 Below you will find a couple quick updates, as well as a look at what we were up to this past week in 2nd grade.

Library Books: Many kids already brought their library books in last week, but if not, we WILL be having normal library this week, so library books should be returned to school on Tuesday.

Conference Sign-Ups: I can’t believe it’s already time for our first conferences! They are coming up quick on Monday, November 17th and Wednesday, November 19th. If you have not already, please use this link to sign up for a conference time.

Cold Weather Gear: That first snowfall I’m seeing outside means it’s time to make sure your child is ready for cold weather! Because our weather in Michigan can fluctuate so much in a single day, I recommend making sure your child is prepared no matter what the temperature is in the morning. The kids spend close to an hour outside every day between before school and our two recesses, so having cold weather gear is super important!

Gym Shoes: This colder weather means snow boots are coming soon! It can be super helpful, especially in these colder months, to keep a pair of shoes at school for gym. This eliminates the need to remember to pack a pair of shoes each time we have gym.

THIS WEEK IN SECOND GRADE:

Math: In math this week we continued work with the open number line. We discussed our ability to use this tool to solve complex story problems. These included comparing ages of family members in a story, as well as their heights and how far away they lived from each other. We also introduced two new workplace games!

Writing: This week in writing we continued our expert writings, which has been going well so far! We wrote our topic sentences for each subtopic of our writing and have been working hard to add important details to each page!

Reading: This week in reading we started working in nonfiction text sets to gather information. Now, each student has at least two books on the same topic! They are working hard to notice connections between the information in multiple books on the same topic, and bring any information they learn into new books that they read.

Phonics: In phonics this week we focused heavily on what it looks like to add a variety of endings to words. These endings included making words plural with -s (gorillas) and -es (foxes), and changing a -y to an -ies (try to tries) or -ied (reply to replied). We will continue reviewing endings into next week!

IMPORTANT DATES:

Nov 3-21: PE Cares Food Drive

Nov 13th: World Kindness Day, Wear your favorite cardigan

Nov 13th: Ucello’s Fundraiser Night

Nov 14th: Half-Day, 12:15 Dismissal

Nov 17 & 19th: Conferences

Nov 21st: Girls VIP Event, 5:45-8pm

Nov 26-28th: No School, Thanksgiving Break

Dec 16th: Alward Holiday Program, 7:30pm

October 30th

Hello Second Grade Parents! What a fun-filled short week we had this week! We had so much fun at our Halloween party today, and it was so awesome to see all the fun costumes everyone had! Check out our class website to see photos of all the fun we had!

Community Snack: Thank you to all the parents who have already brought in November’s community snack! If you have not yet sent them in, please try to have them in to the school by Monday. You can drop them off in the office, or just send them to school with your child :)

Library Next Week: We DO NOT have library next week because of book fair. Your child may keep their library books at home until the following week.

THIS WEEK IN SECOND GRADE:

Math: In math this week we focused on two key themes: adding within 100 and place value. We worked on adding mostly using a number line tool, which went so well! With place value we used models to help us picture 100s, 10s, and 1s. One of the models that we used was popsicle stick bundles.

Writing: This week in writing we continued our unit all about expert writing! We continued working on adding details to each of our subtopics, and finished up the week by doing some fun Halloween themed writing!

Reading: This week in reading we continued talking about nonfiction books and strategies for gathering information. Two specific strategies we used this week was the identification of expert vocabulary in our topics and using webs to help us determine what the important facts are.

Phonics: In phonics this week we focused on spelling patterns to help us improve both our reading and writing. We first searched for these patterns around the classroom in a “consonant safari” activity. We then discussed how to add endings (like -ing and -ed) to words with silent e. “Drop the e, add -ing!

IMPORTANT DATES:

Oct 31st: No School! Happy Halloween 🎃

Nov 3-7th: Book Fair!

Nov 5th: Tarry Hall Skate Party, 6:15-8:15

Nov 14th: Early Release, 12:15 Dismissal

Nov 17 & 19th: Conferences

October 26th

Hello Second Grade Parents! I hope you’ve been enjoying your weekend! Below you will find a few quick updates, as well as a look at what we were up to this past week in 2nd grade.

Classroom Store: Our next classroom store is coming up quickly, and we are still looking for donations to help fill the shelves. Please see the attached flyer for donation ideas if you are able to help out!

Halloween Information: Please see the attached flyer for important information about Halloween costumes.

THIS WEEK IN SECOND GRADE:

Math: In math this week we finished up our second unit by introducing a new workplace, focusing on adding and subtracting within 100. We then took our Unit 2 test! This test will be coming home next week. Afterwards, we spent a couple of days working on an extension activity around pairs and items that come in twos. We also kicked off our third unit on Friday! Check out the parent letter if you’d like more information about what we will be learning!

Writing: This week in writing we started our unit all about expert writing! The students chose a topic that they are experts in to write about! These topics included horses, taking care of pets, piano, soccer, and more! We ended the week by starting to organize our knowledge into subtopics with headings, and thinking of details for each of those headings.

Reading: This week in reading we also started a unit all about nonfiction reading! We discussed emphasizing interesting details as we read, taking sneak peeks to prepare ourselves for learning, asking questions to further understanding, and more. We will be continuing our nonfiction reading work into next week and beyond.

Phonics: In phonics this week we focused on the different sounds that g and c can make. This includes hard sounds (like goal and calm) and soft sounds (gym and city). We also learned that c can also make a sound similar to /sh/, like in the words ocean and special.

IMPORTANT DATES:

Oct 30th: Classroom Halloween Party

Oct 30th: Halloween Costume Parade @1:30

Oct 31st: No School, Happy Halloween 🎃

Nov 3-7th: Book Fair!

Nov 5th: Tarry Hall Skate Party, 6:15-8:15

Nov 14th: Early Release, 12:15 Dismissal

Nov 17 & 19th: Conferences

October 19th

Hello Second Grade Parents! I hope everyone had a great weekend! Below you will find a few quick updates, and a look at what we were up to this past week in 2nd grade.

Halloween Party: We are still looking for 1 more volunteer to bring a craft for our class Halloween party. If you’re available to help out, please use this link to sign up! :)

Library: Please remember to send your child’s library books every Tuesday!

Class Store Donations: We are still looking for donations for our classroom store. Please see the attached flyer for donation ideas if you’d like to help out.

Meet Jade!: Our class had the opportunity to meet our school comfort dog-in-training this past Tuesday during our library time. Jade is a 2 year old golden retriever who is training to work as a comfort dog for the district, and the kids were so excited to get to meet her and ask questions about what she does! Check out our class website for snapshots of all the pets she got!

THIS WEEK IN SECOND GRADE:

Math: In math this week we attacked two different big ideas: measurement and adding on a number line with sums up to 100. For measuring, we started by discussing how we can use unifix cubes to measure objects. For our addition component, we talked about efficient strategies, including place value splitting. An example of this would be 45+10 is the same as 40+10+5.

Writing: This week in writing we continued our work with Hudsonville history, taking the information that we learned last week and paraphrasing it into our own history writing packets! This has been such an enlightening and fun experience for myself and our class.

Reading: This week in reading we talked all about nonfiction text features, including table of contents, headings and subheadings, keywords, and more! We are starting our nonfiction reading unit next week, so talking about the different types of text features has been a great primer for that unit.

Phonics: In phonics this week we discussed a variety of strategies for breaking words apart. These included talking about consonant+le (bub_ble, no_ble, etc.), silent consonants (wh, kn, gn, etc.), and more! We even got to play a fun red light, green light game that helped us to practice these skills more.

IMPORTANT DATES:

Oct 30th: Halloween Party

Oct 30th: Costume Parade

Oct 31st: No School

Nov 3-7: Book Fair

Nov 17 & 19: Conferences

Nov 14th: Early Release, 12:15 Dismissal

Classroom Store Letter.pdf

October 10th

Hello Second Grade Parents! What a great week in 2nd grade! We had a blast at our dance party today, and all the kids are so excited about the football game tonight! Check out our website for photos of the fun we had at the dance party celebration! Below you will find a few quick updates, as well as a look into what we were up to this week in 2nd grade.

STAR Reports: Star reports are coming home in your child’s folder today, along with a note from Mrs. Mucha about how we use these reports. As you take a look at them, please remember that these tests are just one data point that we use to track your child’s growth throughout the year. This is by no means a full picture of your child’s growth and abilities in each area. This test was also taken at the start of the year, prior to any of our 2nd grade learning. We use this to help us establish a baseline for where each student is as we start the year.

Halloween Party Volunteers: We are still in need of 2 volunteers for small crafts at our Halloween party on October 30th from 12-12:50. If you are interested in helping out with our party, please use the sign up link here. Thank you to the parents who have already signed up!

Cold Weather: I think we’re officially moving toward the colder weather we usually expect when fall comes! Please be sure to send your child with some sort of jacket each day. We all know how up and down Michigan weather can be, and we spend almost an hour outside every day. It can also be helpful to have your child keep a sweatshirt at school to use on chilly days when they forget a jacket!

THIS WEEK IN SECOND GRADE:

Math: In math this week we continued to work with models to show place value, including unifix cubes and dot arrays. We also began to talk a lot about addition strategies, specifically with getting to the next ten. For example, 53+_____=60 or 48+_____=50.

Writing: This week in writing we finished up our personal narrative (small moment) stories. We then spent a lot of time working on sentence structure, specifically with capitalization, punctuation, and the 3 things all sentences need to include (who, what, finish your thought).

Reading: This week in reading we learned all about the history of our great city of Hudsonville! This quick mini-unit is always a hit in 2nd grade, and I am so glad that the students were so engaged and excited to learn about the history of our great city!

Phonics: In phonics this week we started our second unit that revolves around solving tricky words. We talked about specific strategies like where to break words apart, double consonants, and how consonants affect the sounds vowels can make. We also discussed the “sh” digraph in detail this week.

IMPORTANT DATES:

Oct 10th: Elementary Night @ Hudsonville Football

Oct 18th: Alward PTC Fall Fest

Oct 30th: Halloween Party

Oct 30th: Halloween Costume Parade

Oct 31st: No School, HAPPY HALLOWEEN 🎃

October 4th

Hello Second Grade Parents! I hope your weekend is off to a good start! We had a fun-filled Friday yesterday with Walk-a-Thon and our first E.F. Fort & Co. store! Check out our class website for some photos of the fun! Below you will find a few quick updates, including info about our Halloween Party, as well as a look at what we were up to this week in 2nd grade!

Halloween Party: This year our classroom Halloween party will be Thursday, October 30th from 12:00-12:50. Be on the lookout early next week for more information and volunteer sign ups.

E.F. Fort & Co. Store: Our first classroom store was a huge success! The kiddos had a blast spending their money on items in the store. That being said, they wiped it out! Please see the attached flyer for classroom store donations. I also want to send out a huge thank you to the parents who helped out with running our store! I couldn’t do it without you! If you are interested in helping run a future class store, please check out the volunteer sign-up to see if there’s a date that will work for you! :)

Walk-a-Thon: The Level-Up Walk-a-Thon was a blast yesterday! Our class reached all of our classroom fundraising goals, so we will have lots of fun celebrations coming up next week! Most notably, we will be having our pajama day on Thursday, October 9th.

THIS WEEK IN SECOND GRADE:

Math: In math this week we kicked off our second unit in style, discussing place value using a variety of different place value models. This included using beans, Unifix cubes, and base ten number pieces. We also continued to discuss subtraction strategies through a game called Subtraction Wheel. For more information about what we will be learning in Unit 2, please see the attached parent letter.

Writing: This week in writing we focused heavily on revising and editing rough drafts. This was an awesome way for my students to engage in partner conferring and independent editing work. We will be transitioning away from small moment stories here soon!

Reading: This week in reading we talked all about word solving strategies. This was awesome work! We worked on vowels and vowel teams, r-controlled vowels, and patterns to help us read more fluently and accurately.

Phonics: In phonics this week we studied a book called Knight School, that included a bunch of rhyming patterns. We then discussed how we can use those patterns to help us read and write better. We ended the week working on some silly rhyming books. It was so fun!

IMPORTANT DATES:

Oct 9th: Pajama Day

Oct 18th: Alward PTC Fall Fest

Oct 30th: Halloween Party

Oct 30th: Costume Parade

Oct 31st: No School

Classroom Store Letter.pdf

September 26th

Hello Second Grade Parents! I hope everyone is enjoying our homecoming weekend! What a great win over West Ottawa to celebrate our high school homecoming! Below you will find a few quick updates, as well as a look at what we were up to this week in 2nd grade.

Library: Reminder that our library day is every Tuesday. Please be sure your child returns their library books to school each week on Tuesday.

Football Fun: Lance and AJ stopped by our room again this past Friday, and we had the chance to get outside and play some football with them! We had some cheerleaders on the sidelines while the game was going, and it was a blast to see the high schoolers in their element with the kiddos! Check out our class website for some photos and videos of the fun!

THIS WEEK IN SECOND GRADE:

Math: In math this week we focused heavily on fluency strategies for adding and subtracting numbers up to 20. This includes using doubles, make a ten, and the up and over 10 strategy. The students did an awesome job! A tool that we utilize a lot during this time is a number rack, which is proving to be helpful.

Writing: This week in writing we continued to hammer home writing structure in our small moment stories. We also talked about revising and making our writing as good as it can possibly be. Finally, we used a mentor text to add special craft moves to our stories, like figurative language!

Reading: This week in reading we transitioned to talking strictly about fiction books. This started with a discussion around story elements, including characters, setting, problem, and more. We then used this knowledge to learn about retelling books, even long ones! We talked about how we can use these story elements to create efficient retells.

Phonics: In phonics this week we spent a great deal of time on punctuation and capitalization. We transferred this work into our writing through the revising and editing process. We also worked on troublemaker word spelling, utilizing a framework for learning tricky words.

IMPORTANT DATES:

Sept. 26th: Early Release, 12:15 Dismissal

Oct 18th: Alward PTC Fall Fest

September 21st

Library: Reminder that our library day is every Tuesday. Please be sure your child returns their library books to school each week on Tuesday.

THIS WEEK IN SECOND GRADE:

IMPORTANT DATES:

Sept. 26th: Early Release, 12:15 Dismissal

Oct 18th: Alward PTC Fall Fest

September 12th

Hello Second Grade Parents! We had another great week in second grade! Below you will find a few quick updates, as well as a look at what we were up to this week!

Spirit Week: Spirit week is this coming week, September 15-19th. Please see the attached schedule for each day’s theme! I absolutely love spirit days and dressing up, so I can’t wait to see all the awesome outfits next week!

Library: Our library day is every TUESDAY. Please be sure that your child brings their library books back to school each Tuesday :).

THIS WEEK IN SECOND GRADE:

Math: In math this week we got to introduce a bunch of different workplace games that focus mostly on computational strategies with numbers to 20. This includes games called “Make The Sum,” “Count and Compare 5s,” and “Match The Beetle.” We got to engage in a variety of math concepts while learning how to play these fun games!

Writing: This week in writing we continued our tiny-topic writing stories. We talked about the three important parts of a page, which includes the topic sentence, details, and ending sentence. We also talked about strategies for revising and editing our stories this week!

Reading: This week in reading we discussed a variety of strategies for improving our ability to read out loud. This included keeping an eye on punctuation, font, and other clues that the author gives us. We worked on our reading fluency, both out loud and in our heads, using these strategies.

Phonics: In phonics this week we focused mostly on r-controlled vowels and ways we can attack them. We discussed -ar, -or, and -er one day, paying attention to the different sounds that each vowel combination makes. Then, we talked about the different spellings of the “er” sound. These include bird, teacher, and hurt.

IMPORTANT DATES:

Sept 15-19th: Spirit Week (see themes below, or attached graphic)

Sept 15th: Pajama Day

Sept 16th: Jersey/Sports Day

Sept 17th: Camo

Sept 18th: Animal Print

Sept 18th: Tarry Hall Skating Party, 6:15-8:15

Sept 19th: Eagle Out!

Sept 26th: Early Release Day, 12:15 Dismissal

Oct 18th: Alward PTC Fall Fest

September 6th

Hello Second Grade Parents! I hope you’re enjoying this wonderful fall weather we’re having this weekend! Below you will find a few important updates, as well as a look into what we were up to this week in 2nd grade!

Picture Day: Picture day is this MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 8TH. Please be sure to have your child bring their picture order form with them to school on Monday, even if you do not plan to order the pictures. I can’t wait to see everybody’s best dressed on Monday!

Library: Our school library is opening this week! Our library day will be every Tuesday this year. Students will be able to check out 2 books each week that they can bring home to read. Books must be returned the following Tuesday. A letter came home earlier this week with login information for the library catalog that you can access at home.

Gym Shoes: Please continue to make sure that your child has appropriate tennis shoes for gym each week. We do have bins that students can keep these shoes in at school, that way it is one less thing you have to remember on gym days :). You can find our specials schedule on our class website, here. We have gym on day 3.

E.F.Fort Applications: Applications for classroom jobs were due back to school yesterday. I am so excited to read through their recommendation letters this weekend, and plan to assign classroom jobs on Monday!

THIS WEEK IN SECOND GRADE:

Math: In math this week we started out by creating bar and picture graphs of the beetle glyphs from last week. Then, we took a screener for the first unit to gauge what information our class already knows about the information presented in this unit. Finally, today we all had the opportunity to create our own number racks! These number racks are great tools for growing our addition and subtraction fluency, as well as number sense with numbers between 1-20. If you would like more information about what we will be working on throughout unit 1, you can find the parent letter here.

Writing: This week in writing we kicked off our first unit called “Small Moment” or “Tiny Topic” writing. We started by brainstorming a list of small moments (things that have happened in less than one day and are impactful) that we could write a story about. Then, as the week progressed, we started to learn strategies for ways to stretch out those small moments by adding tons of details.

Reading: This week in reading we also started a new unit. A lot of this first unit is reviewing different skills learned from first grade, like breaking words apart and building stamina as we read. We also had the opportunity to design some really cool bookmarks to use as we read.

Phonics: In phonics this week we reviewed phonics terms utilized and learned in first grade. We then talked about long vowels in particular, focusing on both words with and without the “silent e.” We will continue reviewing more phonics terms next week.

IMPORTANT DATES:

Sept 8th: Picture Day

Sept 9th: 1st Library day

Sept 18th: Tarry Hall Skate Party, 6:15-8:15

Sept 26th: Early Release Day, 12:15 Dismissal

Oct 18th: Alward PTC Fall Fest

August 28th

Hello Second Grade Parents! We made it through our first week of full school days! The kids and I had a great week getting to know each other and learning about our classroom rules and routines! Below you will find a few quick updates, as well as a look at what we were up to this week in 2nd grade.

E.F.Fort & Company: A packet is coming home in your child’s folder today. This packet includes information about the classroom jobs that we have in our classroom, as well as a job application form. Please take some time to read through this with your child and help them fill out the application. Each application does include 2 letters of recommendation. These letters can be from anyone who knows your child. This is intended to be a fun activity for me to get to know your child even better. Feel free to get creative with these letters! Applications will be due back to school next Friday, September 5th. I also attached the packet to this email in case it doesn’t make it all the way home!

Football Player: This fall, our class gets the pleasure of having not 1, but 2 high-school football players come into our room on Friday afternoons! Both players are seniors on the Hudsonville football team, and are excited to come hang out with us and build excitement about the high school football games. AJ & Lance will be joining us each Friday that there is a home football game for the Eagles!

Pokemon Cards: While Pokemon cards are super fun, they do cause a lot of problems here at school. Please refrain from allowing your kids to bring their Pokemon cards to school.

Class Website: Throughout the year, I will post all the pictures I take in our classroom on my class website, which you can find here. I’ve already uploaded some great ones if you’d like to check them out :)

Library: Our first library day of the year will be Tuesday, September 9th!

THIS WEEK IN SECOND GRADE:

Math: In math this week we kicked off our first unit by making some awesome beetle glyphs! These beetles indicated things about us, like our favorite school subject, the month we were born in, and more! We then took those glyphs and sorted them by characteristic, which was super fun. We will continue to work with these glyphs next week as well. If you would like more information about our first math unit, you can check out the parent letter here!

Writing: This week in writing we went over our classroom expectations for independent writing time. We also talked about the four important parts of a complete sentence: capital letter, subject, verb, and end punctuation. We used this knowledge to fix up sentences that were incorrect, as well as to write our own stories!

Reading: This week in reading we also learned about classroom expectations, both for independent time and also for book “shopping” in class. Students then got to select their books and read!

Phonics: In phonics this week we played some fun phonics games. This included a word explosion, where we had to make as many words as possible from the phrase “I love second grade so much.”

IMPORTANT DATES:

Aug 29-Sept 1st: No School, Labor Day

August 22nd

Hello Second Grade Parents!

We had an awesome first week in second grade! It was so wonderful to get to know your amazing kiddos in these first couple of half days, and I can't wait to see all the amazing things they will accomplish this year! I don't have many updates with it being such a short week, but I do have a couple quick reminders before we jump into our first full day on Monday!

Community Snack: We have decided as a 2nd grade team to do a community snack this year. This means that rather than having to send your child with a snack each day, you only have to send in one box of snacks each month. We find that it helps parents out with the convenience of not having to remember to pack a snack each day, but also allows your child to have a larger variety of snacks to choose from. Please try to send in your box of September snacks by next Thursday, August 28th.

Gym Shoes: Our first gym day is this Tuesday, August 26th. Please make sure your child has gym shoes at school by this date. We do have bins for them to keep them at school, which is a great way to make sure they have them each day we have gym!

IMPORTANT DATES:

Aug 22nd: No School

Aug 29-Sept 1st: No School, Labor Day

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