New and Continuing News:
Happy May! What a nice "Welcome Back" I received from the kids! I returned to school last Friday to excited second graders with huge smiles on their faces. What a nice way to return to work. Although I miss Jack, (he's such a good baby!!!)it's great to be back!
Your children were left in excellent hands! Mrs. Hoffmann completed wonderful projects, kept the routines going, implemented fantastic behavior management, and made my return so easy. We were very fortunate to have her as our guest teacher while I was on Maternity Leave. Thanks Mrs. Hoffmann! We are thinking of you during this Teacher Appreciation week!
Book Reports: Book reports are due in this Friday, May 11th.
Homework This Week: Homework will resume on May 14th. which will be due Monday, May 21st.
Looking Ahead.. Open House May 16th 6:30-7:30pm
Volunteer Breakfast May 16th 7:40-8:20am
No School May 28th Memorial Day
Old News:
Notes from our school nurse, Sharon Dodson:
FLU SEASON IS HERE! Preventative measures we can take to minimize the transmission of germs are:
- Handwashing- Use soap and water and wash for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol based hand sanitizer.
- Cover your mouth and nose with tissues (or into the crook of your elbow) when coughing or sneezing.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread this way.
- Avoid sharing drinks, water bottles, silverware, and pencils.
- If you are sick, stay home!
ALLERGY ALERT: Allergies and asthma, which can be exercise-induced, are starting to surface. If your student will need an inhaler, please complete the medication-at-school form available in the office. This includes those students who carry their inhaler in their backpack (grade 3 and up)-see section III at the bottom of the form.
OTC MEDICATION: School personnel are very limited in the first aid they can perform. No Aspirin, Tylenol, Benadryl, or topical antiseptic creams/ ointments are available. For example, should your student complain of a headache, it will be necessary to contact a parent or other person(s) listed on the emergency card and ask him/her to bring in and administer the medication.
CONTINUE TO HAVE A WONDERFUL HEALTHY YEAR!!
Attendance:Please make sure your child is in our class line at 8:25 each morning. We begin our Literacy Centers and now our Spelling groups (Mon.and Fri @ 8:35) right away.
Literacy Centers :Next week we will be starting our Literacy Centers. We will have our Literacy Centers on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday mornings from 8:30 am - 9:15 am. Each week the students will need to complete 7 different centers. Each center contains a standard and skill that the students need to know in 2nd grade. These centers are designed to be independent centers. The way the centers are organized allows the students to choose which order they would like to complete the centers. We introduced this program two years ago and the students could not get enough! They loved them! We are very excited to be starting them next week!
Speeches:Our oral language program (speeches) will also be starting this month. Information and topics will be added as a tab on the "Newsflash" homepage.
Happy New Year!
It was wonderful to see all the kids today. I missed their smiling faces! We jumped right back into the school routine today and the kids are off to a great start. They earned 12 marbles today,surpassing their goal of 50, which means we will celebrate with a marble party. We discussed New Year's Resolutions and wrote five class goals for 2012. Please review the goals with your child tonight, have them and you sign the goals, and return tomorrow. This is a great fresh start to a new year and our classroom expectations! Welcome back and have a great (short) week!
Thanks again to all the families for all of the wonderful individual and class gifts. I had fun using my class gifts (Stoneridge Mall and Starbucks gift cards) over the break.
News from our school nurse: notes: lice, medication, allergy info.
HEAD LICE: EVERY school year there are several cases of head lice reported throughout the school district. Please alert the school office personnel or your student's teacher if your child has a case. This information is kept confidential. The school will then take the necessary steps to make sure the lice do not spread further. If your child is treated for head lice, please be sure he/ she checks in at the office FIRST upon his/her return to school.
LIFE-THREATENING MEDICAL CONDITION (MEDICATION) FORMS: Please complete this form (available in the office) if your student has a life-threatening allergy to bee stings or foods. This form will need to be completed if he/she may need Benadryl or an Epipen injection. Although Benadryl is an over-the-counter medication, it is not stocked in the first aid room. All staff members receive a health problem list specifying all student health needs.
ALLERGY ALERT: Allergies and asthma, which can be exercise-induced, are starting to surface. If your student will need an inhaler, please complete the medication-at-school form available in the office. This includes those students who carry their inhaler in their backpack (grade 3 and up)-see section III at the bottom of the form.
OTC MEDICATION: School personnel are very limited in the first aid they can perform. No Aspirin, Tylenol, Benadryl, or topical antiseptic creams/ ointments are available. For example, should your student complain of a headache, it will be necessary to contact a parent or other person(s) listed on the emergency card and ask him/her to bring in and administer the medication.
Please continue to send in any updated immunization records and/ or physical exam forms as your student receives them.
CONTINUE TO HAVE A WONDERFUL HEALTHY YEAR!!
Sharon Dodson, School Nurse
IMPORTANT: Lice Update: There have been reported and non-reported cases of head lice at Greenbrook. We DO NOT have lice in our class but please be proactive and check you child's head for nits. Furthermore, if you do find any lice, please inform me as it is imperative that we alert our class. Thanks for your support!
Please be sure to check your child's everyday folder everyday! There is a lot of information coming home whether it is your child's work from class or informational fliers about upcoming events
News from Mrs. Falk:
Forgotten lunches, homework, instruments, textbooks and library books.
In order to control the interruptions to the classroom while our children are learning, we will no longer call the classroom for deliveries.Please note the following procedures.
1.If your child forgot his/her lunch, the lunch will be placed in a bin in the office. Someone from noon duty will bring the container down to the cafe for the student to pick up. Your child will no longer be called to the office to pick up his/her lunch. Make sure your student's name is clearly marked and affixed to the lunch.
2.If your child forgets his/her instrument on Thursday or Friday, you will be directed to the MPR stage to drop off the instrument with Terri Knight. Your child will no longer be called to the office to pick up the instrument. They will find it on the stage.
3.If your child forgets a library book or classroom book, it will be placed in the teacher's mailbox.
Hopefully these new processes will help to control the interruptions in the classroom.
Thank you for your understanding on this matter.
Jenise Falk
Math-- we will be introducing 2-digit addition (carrying over to the tens column) and 2-digit subtraction with regrouping (borrowing from the tens column). These topics can be difficult at first, but with practice the students seem to grasp these two concepts easily. They actually end up loving doing addition and subtraction problems with regrouping. Furthermore, we will begin our math timed tests this week
Writing Homework: At conferences, I suggested to parents to have their child brainstorm (using the graphic organizers stapled to the h.w.) then write out the homework topic. After the writing is completed, you and your child can go back and edit (with a colored pen/pencil). Please do not erase the original work, just add in the corrections--capitals, end punctuation, sound spelling, details, etc. Seeing the edited work allows me to understand what your child can improve upon.
Have You Filled a Bucket Today? Is the title of a book and a question we've been discussing in class. The book is by Carol McCloud and it's a great teaching tool for children. We have a bucket in class that kids will be able to fill with slips of paper detailing how he/she filled someone's bucket (being kind/polite/using manners with one another, smiling at someone, sharing,the list goes on!) We'll share the slips at the end of each week. Happy bucket filling! :)
Reading
For the first couple of weeks in Language Arts, we will be reading about characters who have silly and funny personalities. We will learn about these different characters and how they are alike and different. We will also be doing a lot of phonics and grammar lessons. Some of the lessons include: what is a sentence?, synonyms, antonyms, naming parts of a sentence, short and long vowel sounds, and syllables.
Writing
In writing, the students will be practicing how to write a friendly letter and how to form a story with a great beginning, middle, and ending (Writer's Workshop and topic/prompt writing.)
Math: Please have your children practice their math facts (+ and -) to 20. This was a standard at the end of first grade and continues into second grade. Looking at some assessments, the kids need more reinforcement and practice at home in order to have efficiency in addition and subtraction. Flash cards and math websites are great resources.
****I am sending home math booklets/lessons that we have skipped in class for extra practice. This is not homework but extra reinforcement.****
Homework:
Homework folders are sent home every Monday and due back on Mondays. I explained the h.w. to the class and reminded them to keep their math workbooks at home in a safe place. We also went over gently tearing out the assigned math pages, returning them in the folder, and not jumping ahead in the wkbk. Finally, I scanned the Sound Spelling Cards that we use for phonics in reading and writing. Please click on the "Sound Spelling Cards" to use as a guide for reading/writing homework.
Spelling:
Please have your child study the spelling words in the homework packet each day. We will have our spelling tests every Friday (including the challenge words).
Vocabulary: A vocabulary test will be given on Fridays. Each week we will be reading a new story from our Houghton Mifflin Reading textbooks. The vocabulary words will come straight from these stories. We will be practicing these words during the week in class. Please find the tab on the side marked "Weekly Vocabulary" to see the current week's vocabulary words to study at home.
If you need to reference the Greenbrook website, just click on the schoolhouse icon at the top right hand corner of the Newsflash page. Who knew it could be so easy! :)
Snacks:
This year, your child may bring a healthy snack for our 10:10-10:25 recess due to our later lunch time which is 12-12:45.
Hello Second Grade Parents!
Welcome to Room 604 and my website. This "Newsflash" page is where you will find all the important information about our class. The side tabs will guide you to the different pages associated with our second grade class. Enjoy!
IMPORTANT: The homepage is titled "NEWSFLASH." Please Click on the " Subscribe to this Newsflash" (at the bottom of the page) and enter the email address you want to use for class news updates. Every time I update the website with important information, an email will be sent to you.
******My e-mail address is nprogar@srvusd.net.
Allergies...please let me know ASAP if your child has any allergies. This is important information Greenbrook and myself need to know.
Greenbrook Website: Please check the school homepage for more important information.
http://gbes-srvusd-ca.schoolloop.com
Interesting Info:
Tumblebooks website:
http://www.tumblebooks.com/library/asp/home_tumblebooks.asp
Username: greenbrookes
Password: books
Second Step is part of Greenbrook's social skills curriculum. Please click on the "Second Step" tab to read and find out more about the program.
Guided Reading Information:
Please look under the Guided Reading tab for information regarding reading levels and book suggestions for your child. Hopefully this will help in choosing books from our Scholastic Book Orders!