Hello! I am your Second Grade teacher for the 2023-2024 school year !!!

So, a little about me, your teacher…  I was born in Brooklyn, N.Y.  My family and I moved about every four years as I grew up.  We lived all up and down the east coast of the United States as well as in Egypt, Israel, and several countries in Europe.  Presently I live in King George, Virginia with my husband of 30 years come this October, and my daughter.  My son is off to college this fall.

My formal education….

I attended the Pre-Med program at New York University.  I went on to obtain an undergraduate degree from Rollins College, Florida.  I majored in psychology and minored in sociology.  Afterwards, I continued my education at the California University of Pennsylvania.  Here, I obtained a Masters in Elementary Education.  I have continued my studies in literacy and writing. 

HOMEWORK

Your child will have no written homework this year except for make-up work due to absences.  Your child should read out loud and discuss what they have read each evening for about 20 minutes.

HANDWRITING

When completing assignments, your child's goal is to write legibly, with well formed letters that are on the lines, and have correct spacing.

Here is an abbreviated list of material we will be covering as the year progresses. It will give you subject matter to incorporate into your daily conversations with your child.  It will also provide you with an opportunity to check your child's understanding of each topic.  Excellent resources can be found on the home page of the King George Elementary School website for the children to practice math skills being learned in class.    

​                                                                     Math             

• Know that there are 7 days in a week, 12 months in a year, and 365 days in a year.

• Say & Spell the days of the week in order.

• Say the months of the year in order.

• Count backwards by ones from 20 to 0. Count forwards & backwards by tens from 200 to 0 beginning at any number, ex.  33, 43, 53, 63, 73.  Count by 2 ,5, from 0-150. 

• Spell the number words zero, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten.

• Identify even & odd numbers.  Remember to look at the digit in the ones place.

• Identify the place (ones, tens, hundreds) of a digit.

• Identify the value of a digit based on its place Ex.  643, the underlined 4 is worth 40.

• Know that the answer to an adding problem is called the sum & the answer to a subtraction problem is a difference.

• Add & subtract two-digit numbers without regrouping.

• Round one-digit & two-digit numbers to the nearest ten.

• Find an estimated sum or difference by rounding numbers to the nearest ten & then adding or subtracting

• Create addition and subtraction story problems.

•  Compare two numbers by using the greater than symbol (>) or the less than symbol (<).

•  Compare plane shapes ex. squares, circles, & rectangles with solid shapes ex. cubes, spheres & rectangular prisms.

• Know that a cube & a rectangular prism have 6 faces, 8 vertices, & 12 edges.

• Recognize the front & back of a penny, nickel, dime, & quarter. Know their value.

• Practice counting the value of small collections of coins.

• Identify an analog clock and a digital clock. 

• Tell time to the hour, half-hour, & quarter hour.

• Play the Hiding Game and work towards knowing your facts with speed and accuracy.

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•                                                                     Reading

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• Raz Kids is a reading site that can be accessed via the school's home page and may be a wonderful addition to your child's collection of reading material.  Just click on the Language Arts link to find Raz Kids.  Enter LStouta for the teacher username.  Then, have your child click on his/her name and enter their password.  There are a variety of texts at each child's level to choose from.

• Read at least 20 minutes every night. Split your reading time between Lightning Word practice, reading out loud to an adult, & discussing what you have read. I encourage the children to really put personality and feeling into their reading voices.

• Identify whether your passage/article/book is fiction or nonfiction. (If it is fiction, decide if it is realistic fiction or fantasy.)

• A biography is nonfiction text about a real person's life.

• Identify the main characters & the setting.  Notice if/when the setting changes.

• Identify a conflict (or problem), & resolution, (or solution to the problem), within the text.

• Make inferences & predictions about text using picture & context clues.

• Know that the prefix re- means again, the prefix un- means not or the opposite of, and the prefix pre- means before.

• Recognize homophones as words that sound the same but have different spellings & different meanings.  ex. see/sea, not/knot, rode/road, etc.

• Recognize synonyms as words that have about the same meaning.  ex. big, huge, gigantic

• Recognize antonyms as words with opposite meanings.

• Know that some words have more than one meaning depending on how they are used in the text.

​                                                                   Writing

• Write a complete sentence with a capital letter at the beginning & a period, question mark, or exclamation mark correctly used at the end. 

• Read & spell the words what, when, where, & why.

• Understand when a sentence is a statement, question, or exclamation.

• Capitalize the word I when you are writing.

• Practice putting words in ABC order while you practice reading and spelling your spelling words.

 Suggestions for Home Word Study Activities:  

*Students write a list of words that makes use of the current pattern being studied.  They may then cut out their list, read the words to an adult, and perhaps use them as "flash cards".  If your child does not have scissors and/or glue, they could write the words instead.  Students might find their word patterns within a magazine, newspaper, or other text and create a collage of their words as they read them, or circle them and put them into abc order, etc.   

*Students choose a few words that use the pattern of their spelling words to write 1 neat sentence which makes sense, has details, begins with a capital letter and ends with a period, question mark, or an exclamation mark.  The sentence may be fiction or nonfiction and the 2 spelling words should be underlined. 

*Students will periodically take a class test where they will be asked to correctly write words which utilize the patterns that have been studied.

There is only one rule in our classroom…It applies to every member of our class, including myself….This rule….is…….

                 RESPECT            

We are to respect each other (children and adults), all property (personal, school, student,etc.), and the environment (including the inside and outside of the classrooms as well as the building).   The ultimate goal of our classroom is to engender an environment where ALL members feel safe.  If everyone feels content, they are free to learn because they are not hindered by fear.

We all forget ourselves once in a while and need to be reminded of the effect we have on others.  At the beginning of the year, students will be given at least 3 reminders before they lose 5 minutes of recess.  If the student continues to have difficulty, they will lose 10 minutes of recess.  If the child continues to struggle, they will need to write a letter to their parents explaining their struggle and bring it back to school signed.  A phone call, a visit to the office, and/or a conference may also be utilized depending on the situation.  Children who have earned time off recess will spend that time taking laps, (they can walk, hop, skip, jump, run, etc.) around the playground enclosure. 

Blue Frog Folder

Each student will have a blue, plastic folder and agenda.  Please check each for notes or paperwork and initial the agenda so that I know that you have seen how your child's day went.

Conferences:

Feel free to come join us in our activities, the door is always open.  If you have a question or concern, please do not hesitate to contact me at lstout@kgcs.k12.va.us or at (540)775-5411.

If you have a chance, please review the Student/Family Handbook.  It can be found at the following link:

• Student/Family Handbook