Welcome Back Everyone!

Nikki Crisp
Jan 16, 2017
3 min read

Hey everyone! I hope you all enjoyed the winter break. I am so happy to see those sweet smiling faces every morning again!

Important Dates:

- Wednesday January 18th: Math Homework goes home, it is due Thursday.

- Friday January 20th: Twin Day (dress up as twins or triplets with a friend!)

- Math Test (2nd half of the Unit 3 Test): Specific Date to be determined, but will be between January 24th and 27th.

- This week and next students will be retaking the STAR Reading and Math Tests. A friendly reminder that these scores are purely for teachers to monitor growth; they are not for placement or TAG.

What Are We Learning?

As you (hopefully) know- students had a special delivery come Friday afternoon, a box full of artifacts! This will be our center of focus for the next month as we dive into the world of Native Georgians and their culture. Our Reading, Writing, and Social Studies will all be wrapped around this subject as we begin our Problem Based Learning journey. As we learn, students will prepare and eventually create a presentation that answers the question: "How do we, as historical preservationists, justify the importance of the Creek Indians?"

As stated, most of our subjects will be enveloped in this topic, so it is very important that children are at school on time/every day as much as possible! Each day, each subject will build on the other, and missing out on any block could cause confusion and lead to problems down the road with presentations.

You will all be invited to these presentations, so get excited!

Along with learning about Native Georgians, we will cover these topics:

Reading: Main Idea and R.A.C.E. Strategy- this strategy is very important for students to begin using. You Restate the question, Answer it, Cite your Evidence, and Explain.

For example: "Where did the Creek live?"

Students should not answer with one word anymore: "Piedmont". No!

A proper answer would be: "On page 89 in the SS book it said that the Creek lived in the Piedmont Region of Georgia."

** I am still in the process of testing everyone's new reading level! Remember that the goal is for everyone to raise 2 levels by the end of the year, so hopefully we are all halfway there! Continue reading with your child EVERY day and ask them questions! **

Writing: Continuing our Opinion Writing- please try to do some of this at home to practice, as students are still having difficulties supporting their opinions with multiple reasons.

Grammar: "Irregular Plurals"

These are those tricky plurals such as "mouse --> mice" and "tooth --> teeth"

IXL Practice: 2nd grade E.3, F.1, and F.2

Math: Finishing Unit 3- We will keep working on telling time on analog clocks to the nearest 5 minutes. This has proven to be very tough to grasp- especially when times read from 45 minutes and up (because the hour hand gets so close to the next hour). Please work on this at home by simply asking your child what time it is at various points of the day, and discussing AM/PM activities. We will introduce Line Plots on Friday.

When Math Journals go home to study towards the end of the week, please be sure they return each day!

IXL Practice: 2nd grade Q.2, Q.3, Q.4, Q.5, Q.7, and Q.8

Phonics: Short a (CVC) and Long a (CVCe, CVVC -ai, and open syllable -ay)

(C=Consonant, V=Vowel)

Health: Reviewing the 3 R's - Respectful, Responsible, and Ready to Learn

As always, please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions!

Fondly,