Weekly Newsletter

September 7, 2025

2B Families,

We hope you had a wonderful weekend! We had a terrific first week of school with your children and can’t wait for the rest of the year! 

Every Sunday Team 2 (2A and 2B) will send you a link to our websites to read our weekly newsletter. It will include details about what’s going on in our classrooms and the Lower School, as well as reminders, links, and important dates. We’ll try to consolidate as much information in this weekly newsletter so we don’t inundate you with extra emails throughout the week. This is also a chance to look at photos from school. The photos are for you to see what we’re doing in school and to look at them with your child to spark conversations. There are many photos on the September Photos page from our first week.

If you want to reach us, please email us. Please also remember to include both teachers in the homeroom on your emails. We’re looking forward to building strong partnerships with you this year. Dismissal changes should be made through Pick Up Patrol and as early as possible during the day. We check the students’ dismissal plans every morning at Meeting and will email you if your child sees a discrepancy. If you have any questions or changes, please email Mr. Nathaniel Meek at nmeek@polyprep.org in addition to your homeroom teachers. Mr. Meek is the director of Poly PM and also maintains the PickUp Patrol site. For absences, please email lsabsences@polyprep.org. Please welcome our new school nurse, Lisa Schroeder. You can email her directly at lschroeder@polyprep.org. She is also copied on the LS absences email address. 

Our priority the first few weeks of school is to create a classroom community. We are getting to know each other and settling into classroom routines. Please remember to send in 3 - 5 photos for your child to share with the class and then to hang up in their cubby. They can be of family, pets, friends, activities, etc. You can also email them to us and we will print them for you. 

Homework is starting this week.  A homework folder and a math workbook or math worksheet will go home with your child each afternoon. Your child should bring both the folder and workbook back to school each day. Homework is checked daily. On a typical evening your child will have twenty minutes of reading, a reading log, and about two pages of math homework that reflects what we’re doing in class. 

For birthdays in second grade, we invite families to bring a favorite story to read aloud to the class. Please email your homeroom teachers when your child’s birthday is approaching if you’re interested in scheduling a 10 - 15 minute time. 

We review the lunch menu every day at Morning Meeting and we recommend you do the same at home. Here’s a link to the menu site.

Please remember to pack a snack and water bottle every day. Sending in extra snack is often a good idea since many children are hungry at dismissal time.

Team 2 is looking forward to seeing all of you in person in our classrooms on Tuesday, September 16 at 5:15 PM for Back to School Night when we will share details about our classroom routines and curriculum.

Your Second Grade Team,

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

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

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

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

What’s going on in our classroom:

Reading

Teachers will read with each child to assess their reading. Students will also read independently and explore the classroom library. Teachers will also read many books aloud this week in order to model good reading habits, introduce students to books we have in our classroom, and to build our class community. 

Writing and SEL

Students are making identity webs to share with classmates so we can get to know each other better. The webs reflect people, places, things we love, as well as memorable experiences, hobbies, traditions, and more. We are putting up a gallery of identity webs. Students will refer to them to learn about each other, their similarities and differences, and also as a reference for generating writing ideas. Students are also reviewing the difference between sentences and fragments and ending punctuation. 

Math

Students are reviewing place value during this first unit in our math curriculum. They are using Base Ten Blocks to build, compare, and count three-digit numbers. 

Social Studies

This week we will look at maps of New York City. Students will learn both about maps and about our city. 

Read Alouds

In 2B last week we read Chester’s Way, Lilly’s Big Day, Each Kindness, My Teacher’s Secret Life, Amelia Bedelia, George and Martha, and Class From the Black Lagoon. 

Important Dates:

Monday, September 8: Regular After School begins

Monday, September 15: PICTURE DAY!

Monday, September 15: Enrichment After School begins

Tuesday, September 16: Back to School Night (in-person)

Friday, September 19: Blue Devil Night

Monday, September 22: No After School for Rosh Hashanah

Wednesday, September 23 -24: No School for Rosh Hashanah