Class Newsletters

Dear Parents, September 3, 2019

Welcome to a new school year! I hope your child is as excited as I am about the upcoming year. The children have been busy the first few days being introduced to new classmates, class routines and curriculum.

Some of the programs we use in second grade will be familiar to the children. We use the Lucy Calkins Reading and Writing Program, which was used last year. We use the Reader’s Workshop format, which is similar to what your child used in first grade as well. The children are expected to read for 15 minutes each night as part of their homework. We are using Fundations for our phonics/spelling program this year. Students will work on their phonics skills in class and take a test at the end of each unit. Sight words will be sent home at the beginning of each unit, starting in Unit 3. Our math program is Go Math! The program includes a homework component given Monday – Thursday that reinforces the concepts we work on during the week. Homework will be sent home starting Monday, 9/16/19. I will be sending home a letter which will include a Reflex Math login and password for your child to practice their math facts.

The Special Schedule for this year is as follows:

Monday – Library

Tuesday – Physical Education & Computer Bi-Weekly

Wednesday – Art & Chorus

Thursday – Music

Friday – Physical Education

Lunch – 11:40 - 12:05

Recess – 12:05 - 12:25

Snack - 1:35

*Please remember to send in a snack with your child daily. Snack will be in the afternoon.

Each month I will post a newsletter on my website which will outline the material and topics that we are studying during the month. If you have any questions or concerns, please send a note, email, or call me @ 508-541-5475 ext. 2029. Please check my class web page to find out more information about homework, book club orders, birthday celebrations, and useful links children can use to reinforce skills learned in the classroom. The web address is http://hods.norfolk.k12.ma.us. Look under Grade 2 and click on my name, Kate Aucella, to get to my web page. I am looking forward to a great year!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Aucella

October Newsletter

posted Oct 29, 2019, 8:01 AM by Kathleen Aucella [ updated Oct 29, 2019, 8:15 AM ]

What We’re Learning!

Math – The children took the test for Unit 2 last week and began unit 3 in Math this week. Unit 3 focuses on addition and subtraction facts, as well as strategies to learn those facts. Please continue to encourage your child to study their facts using Reflex along with math games and/or flash cards.

Reading - We have been learning how to choose “just right “books and about Decoding Strategies good readers use, in order to become better readers. The children have also learning about author’s intentions for writing a book. We just began our Non-Fiction unit. Children will be reading many different types of NF books and learning the key features in NF books.

Writing - The children have been learning about writing Small Moments (stories from their lives). They have been working hard on sentence structure, editing and revising their stories. Each child published one of their pieces this week. Our next unit will be Non-Fiction writing. Students will be writing expert books on a topic of their choice. Children will share their books at our Learning Expo in January. More details to follow.

Science - We will begin a unit on Pebbles, Sand, & Silt next week. The class will be investigating the properties of different rocks and doing many experiments with sand & silt. The kids love the hands-on experiments!

Social Studies – The class finished a unit on Economics which focused on Producers and Consumers. We have started a short unit on Landforms.

Upcoming Events

10/31 – Halloween Parade and Party – 1:45

11/8 - Half day - PD teacher

11/11 - No school - Veteran's Day

Teacher Recommended Links

FunBrain

http://Funbrain.com

Find math games by topic or by grade at FunBrain. Students will enjoy playing a variety of math games that reinforce concepts and engage young learners.

Hooda Math

http://HoodaMath.com

Logic and reasoning, math fact practice, and more make up the free educational games at Hooda Math. There are quite a few games that call for higher order thinking and ask students to problem solve to complete the activities.

**I sent an email to join our Classdojo page, if you have't joined please check your email. If you need me to invite you again, let me know.

*You can check out updates, upcoming events, homework assignments,

and our class schedule on my web page.

To view my page, go to http://www.norfolk.k12.ma.us/aucella.

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