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Newsletter

December 14, 2025

Hello Families,

We hope your weekend was healthy, wonderful, and cozy :) Happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate!

It’s hard to believe that it’s our last week together in 2025! We are truly grateful for your enthusiasm, support, and partnership.

First and foremost, thank you for coming to our Celebration of Learning last week! The children were so excited to share their projects and writing with you. And it was nice to catch up with families in person. Special thanks to Maren’s mom, Laura, Benny’s mom, Danielle, and Jackie’s dad, Ethan, for joining us on our trip with Ms.Carmen to the Liberty Science Center. Thank you also for sending donations for Jamaica, and toys, books, and coats for our winter drive. 

Our librarian Ms.Robb has already started collecting books for our Used Book Fair in January! Please drop off books for babies, kids and adults, as well as used bags, in the library or by the security desks.

Please review both Pick Up Patrol and the Lunch Menu with your child. There are TONS of new pictures on our December Photos Page. Highlights include photos of students with their bridges, our Celebration of Learning, and our trip to the Liberty Science Center. 

Have a wonderful, restful, winter break. Happy holidays!

Your Second Grade Team,

Inha Yang (2A Head Teacher) iyang@polyprep.org

Joyce Vizcaino (2A Associate Teacher) jvizcaino@polyprep.org

Sarah Davies (2B Head Teacher) sdavies@polyprep.org

Bria Jourdain (2B Associate Teacher) bjourdain@polyprep.org

DECEMBER

15: POLY PM: MakeUp Week for Fall Enrichment Courses (12/15 - 12/18)

15: United Voices December Meeting, 3:45 PM - 5:00 PM

19: Winter Lost & Found Recovery Day

19: Parranda Community Time, 8:45 AM

19: 12 PM Noon Dismissal. No Poly PM after school

JANUARY 

05: Classes resume

05: Sibling Photos + Photo Make-up Day

What’s going on in our classroom

Reading

Reading groups continue to meet every day to work on fluency and comprehension. 

Remember to keep reading over Winter Break. If you’re looking for an additional reading source, we have an Epic subscription that’s available weekdays 7am - 3pm. Your child can log in with our classroom code: hsa1515.

Math

This week we will start working with U.S. customary measurement (inches and feet). We will start by reading How Big is a Foot? by Rolf Myller. The story will spark discussion about the importance of a standard unit of measurement. Ask your child about it! We will also review the addition algorithm and practice solving word problems. If you’re looking for math practice over Winter Break, check out IXL. Login information is on our 2A Classroom Resources page.

Writing

We celebrated our personal narratives with a publishing party! Students read one another’s books and shared toasts in celebration of their work.

Last week students brainstormed topics of interest for “Genius time” and started exploring Epic on their Chromebooks. This week, they will finalize their topic and begin reading, researching, and taking notes. Genius Time will culminate in students sharing their learning with the class through written work and/or drawings, presented as posters or books.

Fundations

Students continue to learn strategies for spelling and reading longer words (multisyllabic). Students also continue practicing adding suffixes to base words: -er, -est, -ed, -ing, -s, and -es. Click for our December Trick Words for spelling. 

Social Studies

Students viewed a slideshow featuring paintings by famous artists alongside works created by former students. Your children made so many thoughtful observations and shared such interesting opinions. Be sure to view the slideshow with your child to hear their take on the paintings. They selected one of these images—or other drawings of the Brooklyn Bridge—as inspiration for their own painting. Students began by sketching in pencil. They will be tracing their linework in sharpie, and will complete their pieces using watercolor.

Ride a 1930s era train on Sundays with the NY Transit Museum! Our upcoming social studies unit is learning how the New York City subway was built. On Sundays in December the NY Transit Museum runs nostalgia train rides. It’s so much fun to ride in a 1930s era train and will give your child a preview of our next unit.

Read Alouds / DEIB

We are reading the chapter book Amber Brown Wants Extra Credit by Paula Danziger. It’s about an appealing, relatable girl who sometimes gets herself in a little trouble. This week we will read Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down by Andrea Davis Pinkney to start talking about our ARRA value, fairness. We will also read picture books that celebrate the winter holidays.