2nd Grade2013-2014

Mrs. Moore

Room 2-7

Celina Primary School

615 E. Wayne Street

Celina, OH 45822

School: 419-586-8300 ext. 2500

Home: 419-305-9303Dear Parents,

Welcome to Celina Primary School and 2nd grade! I look forward to working with you and your child this year! We have many exciting challenges ahead of us, and I hope to make this a rewarding and positive school year for your child.

I would like to take the opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Amanda (Smith) Moore. I am a 2006 graduate of Celina High School, a 2010 graduate of Miami University, and I received my Master of Education Degree from Wright State University this past April. I am currently continuing my education at Wright State University. I believe that learning is so important, and I enjoy learning new ways about how to help children succeed. I recently got married this past July to Steve. We are both happy to be back in Celina, which is where we both grew up.

I believe that every student in this classroom should receive what he/she needs, and I realize that may be different for different children. My mission is to create a student-centered classroom where children are able to explore their interests and make choices about their learning.

It is important that we all work together as a team. I will be doing this by keeping you informed of your child’s progress on a continual basis. I will be entering grades into Progressbook 2-4 times a month. You can access Progressbook thru Celina City Schools website. If there is an issue that needs to be taken care of immediately, I will contact you right away.

Every Friday your child will be bringing home papers that he or she has completed throughout the week. Please look over the papers and sign and return the form indicating that you looked at the papers together, on Monday.

I will also be sending home a weekly assessment sheet every night in your child’s homework folder to keep you informed about your child’s behavior, responsibility, etc. each day. Please review this with your child each night and send it back to school the next day.

I'm very excited and enthusiastic about teaching your child. I love working with children. Being an elementary teacher has been my life-long goal and dream. In my classroom, I will be providing whole group instruction, small group instruction, enrichment activities, and remediation when necessary, to all students, in order to meet individual learning styles and needs.

I’ve included some information about the second grade curriculum as well as procedures and events in this packet. If you have any questions now or throughout the school year, please feel free to contact me by phone, e-mail, or by sending a note with your child.

By working TOGETHER to help your child, I know we will have a successful year. Thank you for entrusting your child to me for the coming school year. I will do my very best every day to be your child’s guide in learning and exploring the world around them.

Thank you,

Amanda Moore Second Grade Teacher

NewsletterEvery Friday you will receive a weekly newsletter to keep you informed about what we are

doing in the classroom. The weekly newsletter will be in your child’s Bulldog Folder. Please look over this and let me know if you have any questions or concerns about the upcoming week’s events.

Weekly Assessment Sheet

The weekly assessment sheet will be sent home with your child every night. It is called a weekly assessment sheet because this one paper will record your child’s behavior, responsibility, etc. throughout the entire week. Please look over this sheet every night, sign it, and have your child return it to school the next day. If your child has to ‘clip down’, he or she will indicate why in the comments section. They should be writing specific reasons and should not be telling you they can’t remember. This will help us as a team to identify any patterns/problems and assist the child in making the best use of his/her day. If you have any comments about your child’s day there is a section where you can leave comments.

MailI will send home most of the mail on Friday in your child’s Bulldog Folder. Please go over

these papers with your child and keep them at home. If there are any papers on the return to school side, please sign them and return them in the folder.

Ohio StandardsOhio has adopted the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts and

Mathematics. Ohio has also adopted a more rigorous version of Ohio’s academic content standards in science and social studies. We will be using all of our textbooks and workbooks as a resource for teaching this curriculum. I will let you know the skills and content on which we will be working in the weekly newsletter. You may find a complete listing of these standards on the Ohio Department of Education’s website.

Intervention/Enrichment (Flexible) GroupsAs a second grade team, the teachers are very focused on providing an education for your

child that is customized to his or her learning needs. In order to accomplish this, all the second grade teachers and resource teachers will be working together to provide individualized intervention/enrichment instruction to all students. At the beginning of the year these flexible groups will take place in the classroom. We will then begin to switch students between other second grade classrooms for 30 minutes in order to ensure that every child is learning at the pace and level that is appropriate for him or her. The reason we are calling it “flexible grouping” is because students will not be taught in a particular group for the whole year, but may be “flexible” to change groups as he or she makes progress or needs more help.

Reading/WritingThe series that we will be using for the sixth year is called “Treasures” by Macmillan

McGraw-Hill. We will be completing six units, which tie into the science and social studies standards. The series has a website which includes games and resources that go along with the topics which we are studying in class. The website is www.macmillanmh.com. First click on “Treasures” and then click on “Website.” From this page you can click on “student,” “teacher,” or “families.” Under the “student” tab, there are games that go along with each week’s vocabulary words and reading skills. Under the “families” tab are reading lists, letters pertaining to the skills we’ll be learning each week, as well as information about the research behind the series. I will always let you know which text book, which unit, and which week we are currently studying in the newsletter so that you can access this great resource at home.

Vocabulary

Your child will bring home vocabulary words to practice every evening. They will be located in a baggie in the homework folder.

LiteratureYour child should bring home his/her reading book at least once a week to read our weekly

story. In addition, your child will have the opportunity to read many other stories not in the reading book. I will send home one to two additional stories each week. These stories reinforce the phonics/spelling pattern being studied during the week. They also encourage the use of the vocabulary being studied. Additionally, these stories give your child the opportunity to build his/her oral reading fluency by reading two more stories at a second grade level.

SpellingWe will teach spelling along with our reading curriculum. Every Friday, your child will

bring home a list of spelling words for the next week. The list of words will be in your child’s homework binder. Our tests will normally be on Friday, but please check the newsletter for any changes to this schedule. On Monday, we will take a pre-test over the spelling words. If your child scores a 100% on the pre-test he or she will receive a beyond/challenge list of words to be tested on Friday. I will not start using beyond lists for the first month or so of school. I really want to get a handle on each child’s individual spelling stage and their ability to use the words. I will use a spelling inventory to identify this specific stage.

MathWe will be using the Harcourt Math Ohio Edition as our textbook resource. Some of the

topics we will cover this year include adding, subtracting, patterns, money, time, measurement, geometry, fractions, numbers to 1,000, and regrouping in addition and subtraction.

Our textbook also has a great website that has many activities you may use to supplement what we are doing in class. To access the website, go to www.harcourtschool.com. Click on “The Learning Site,” then, “math,” and then “Harcourt math” (our program is the top choice on the options list). You will then be asked for a password, which is “singer.”

It is very important for your child to become fluent in addition and subtraction problems. This year we will be using a program called Rocket Math. This program will help the children with this goal.

We will also have special math projects to do this year. In order to help the students learn about money concepts, all second graders run a school store in the spring. They will act as cashiers and help the customers at the store add up what they owe and how much change they need back. More information about these and other projects will be coming later in the newsletters. Social Studies

Our textbook is called Neighborhoods. There are 6 units in the book, but we will only be studying those areas that concentrate on the new state standards. We will also be using Social Studies Weekly, which is a weekly supplement to our textbook that covers the new standards.

We will also be learning about local government, Ohio, and maps and globes. Your child will be required to name and spell the following places:

City: CelinaCounty: Mercer

State: OhioCountry: U.S.A.

Continent: North America

ScienceWe will be doing many hands-on experiments in science this year to help support learning

from our science textbook. There are 6 units in the book, but we will only be studying those areas that concentrate on our state standards.

HandwritingSecond graders will continue to practice printing at the beginning of the school year.

However, after Christmas we will begin to learn cursive writing. Please encourage your child to continue printing correctly as he/she completes homework and assignments. Examples of the correct formation of the letters are below.

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy ZzA a Bb C c Dd E e Ff Gg H h Ii J j K k Ll M m N n O o P p Q q R r

S s Tt U u Vv Ww X x Y y Z zGrading

Graded papers will have a number score and a percentage score, for example +28/30=93%. The first number is the number of correct responses or points earned. The second number is the total number of problems or points on the paper. The third number is the percentage of correct responses/points. Tests and some graded papers will remain at school to be stored in student portfolios. If this is the case, you will be asked to sign the paper and have your child return it to school the next day. All the papers I need returned will be stamped “Sign and Return.”

If a paper was strictly for student practice or if it was done together as a class, it will not be graded. You might possibly see a stamp, a star, or a note from me explaining the paper or it may not be marked at all indicating that we completed it together in class. The following grading scale will be used for language arts, spelling, and math.

100-93 A92-85 B84-74 C73-66 D65-0 F

The following grading scale will be used for all other subjects, including science and social studies.

O = OutstandingS = Satisfactory

U = Unsatisfactory

Progress BookYou may access your child’s grades online through the Progress Book computer program.

You may go to www.celinaschools.org and click on “Parent Access”. You will need your child’s username and password from the letter that was mailed to your home last school year. If you need this information, please contact the office. My goal is to update grades daily or as assignments/assessments are completed.

Homework FolderThe green folder that your child received on back to school tonight is your child’s

homework folder that will be used to transport papers and homework back and forth to school. Inside the green folder there are two clearly labeled pockets which indicate which work is to stay home and which work is to be returned to school. Please go through your child’s “Homework Folder” every evening. He or she will be using this in class every day, and he or she knows what should stay in for the next day and what should be removed.

Behavior Clip ChartThe behavior clip chart will be used to encourage positive behavior in the classroom. Each

day your child will start on green indicating they are ready to learn. They can ‘clip up’ the chart to blue indicating they had a good day, purple indicating they are a role model, or the highest level, pink, indicating they are a shining star. If their behavior or responsibility is not at a second grade level then he or she will ‘clip down’ to yellow indicating that he or she needs to think about

the choice made. If the behavior continues he or she will ‘clip down’ to orange where he or she will need to write and reflect about the behavior or action that occurred. If the behavior or action still has not improved then he or she will ‘clip down’ to red and together we will contact home. This chart is used to encourage positive behavior and for the students to know that they can always go above and beyond. The students will receive sticks and can earn rewards for making positive choices and having excellent behavior.

ComputersOur classroom is equipped with four computers. The students will use the computers

weekly to help support our curriculum. Some of the programs they will use include Magic School Bus, Jumpstart Second Grade, Curious George, Jumpstart Typing, Clock Faces, Harcourt Math programs, and more! We now have a computer lab that the students will get to visit every week for thirty minutes!

Homework I encourage you to help your child with his or her homework each night. Your child will

have an assignment sheet in his or her homework folder for the week where the assignments are written down. Every night (Monday-Thursday) your child will have the following homework:

1.) Common CoreThis will be a half-sheet of paper that reviews language arts and math skills each night. This is called common core because every night it reviews the new common core standards.

2.) FluencyYou will be recording the number of words your child can read in 1 minute each night. Your child will read the same passage Monday-Thursday nights, and hopefully you and your child will both be able to see the progress he or she has made throughout the week. Please sign this paper each night and return it to school in the homework folder.

3.) SpellingStudy the spelling words each night with your child.

4.) VocabularyListen to your child read each vocabulary word and have him or her use each word in a sentence.

5.) Rocket MathYour child will be bringing home a rocket math paper each night to practice his or her facts.

There may also be additional homework assigned each night and your child will write this on the weekly assignment sheet. Homework should last 15-20 minutes each night. Please set aside a time each night where you and your child can sit down together. Thank you for all of your help at home

LibraryThe students are encouraged to take home books from our school library to read and

enjoy. We will go the library as a class every Day 3. Please encourage your child to read at

home each evening. Later, our class will participate in the Pizza Hut Book-It program. A letter explaining the program will be sent home in September/October.

SpecialsGym, art, library, and music are planned on a four day rotating schedule every day from

9:15-9:45 a.m. Day 1 is gym, Day 2 is art, Day 3 is library, and Day 4 is music. Tennis shoes should be worn on gym days, which is every Day 1.

LunchLunches cost $2.25. Your child will need to have his/her Personal Identification Number

(PIN) memorized. This number should be the same as last year. You may deposit more money in your child’s account at any time. If his/her account runs low, I will send home an envelope with the current balance written on the top. I will have your child practice his/her PIN number the first few weeks of school.

Water bottlesThe first few weeks of school can be very (very) hot! I do not mind if students bring water

bottles to keep at their desks during these hot weeks. If your child does choose to bring a water bottle, please make sure that it has a lid that closes tightly and that it does not contain anything other than water. Also, please make sure your child’s name or initials are on the bottle as well. As long as the child is responsible with the water bottles, I don’t mind if they bring them every day all year.

Daily Schedule8:10 Doors Open8:25 Announcements8:40 Title and Flexible Grouping9:15 Specials9:45 Flexible Reading Groups10:20 Whole Group Reading/Writing/Grammar11:55 Handwriting/Read Aloud12:05 Lunch and Recess1:05 Math and Rocket Math2:15 Recess2:30 Calendar2:40 Homework Binders2:50 Social Studies/Science3:15 Bus Riders Dismissed3:20 Walkers/Car Riders Dismissed3:25 Bus Riders Dismissed

*Walkers and car riders will be dismissed at the door at the end of our hallway. If your child needs to dismiss in a different manner than usual, please write a note to send with your child or call the office.

SuppliesThank you for purchasing school supplies for your child! These include:

* In addition, your child will need 1-2 containers of anti-bacterial wipes (Clorox, Lysol). I try to do my best to keep our room clean and healthy! If you are a boy, please bring 1 box of sandwich size zipper style baggies, and if you are a girl, please bring 1 box of gallon size zipper style baggies. Thank you so much for all of your help!

Please make sure your child’s name is written on his/her supplies. Also, please make sure that the erasers, pencils, crayons, scissors, and glue fit into the school box. Students will need to carry their supplies if they are going to another room.

In addition to these supplies, other materials and supplies may be needed for special projects that occur during our course of study. As these supplies are needed, I will ask for donations in the weekly newsletter.

Special Person of the WeekWe will have a special person of the week most weeks throughout the school year. Your

child’s week will be during his or her birthday week or close to it. Children with summer birthdays will be scheduled throughout the year. The special person of the week will be the helper of the week. Your child will be bringing home a sheet to fill out all about him or her to be shared with the class. Please fill this out with your child and send it back to school. If your child would like to bring in something to share that is fine as well. Please take the time to help your child select the things to share that will allow the class to learn more about him/her. There are a couple of reminders regarding this fun week. According to Board policy, we are not allowed to have any pets visit our classroom.