Second Grade at Shaker Lane - Room 202

Research has shown math is the area most likely in which students are most likely to regress in over the summer. How can you prevent this from happening? I have a whole bunch of suggestions that you can implement, at least a few times a week this summer and none are that hard to do.  Things your child can do: Work on pages that are skipped or incomplete in their math books  Continue math fact practice with XtraMath.com, flash cards, during commerical breaks,  or verbal practice while driving in the car. Third grade teachers look for students to have mastered addition facts up to 10 + 10 and subtraction facts within 20 by the fall. Therefore, kids should practice addition and subtraction!  Look for fun apps that help kids practice math. Some examples are: Sushi Monster Dreambox (a few kids may already have accounts - I would have sent home a letter in the winter if so) Splash Math Kids Math Marble Math Junior Peter Pig's Money Math Counter  Go...

Sharing some resources and ideas for math fact practice! The CCSS for math fact fluency is that second graders will be fluent (adept and quick) with addition and subtraction facts up to 20). This will enable them to be ready for solving multi digit addition and subtraction, word problems, and multiplication in third grade.  Earlier in the year I sent home information for xtramath.com   but I just sent it home again on Friday. This is a powerful way to practice math facts for about 10-15 minutes a day. They also have an app but the website is free.  Students can also use tradition flash cards. Websites like http://www.math-aids.com/Flash_Cards     have printable and free flash cards. You can also get them at places like Dollar Tree, Staples and Amazon.  Verbal practice is good and you can give your child quick facts while driving in the car, during TV commercials, while waiting for the bus etc.  Let me know if you have any o...

Valentine ’s  Day  is approaching! Can you believe it? In a few days, you may be hearing from our room parents about a few supplies for a  party , but I want you to know about our card exchange. We will be exchanging  Valentine ’s cards. Students may give out cards, but they must give every other child in the class a card (there are 20 students). Of course children may opt to not bring in  Valentines  for anyone and that is fine. Many children like to make and bring in a special  Valentine ’s box or bag. That is super; please have your child bring that and their  Valentines  to school on February 14th and not in advance. Please note, the town of Littleton has a  Wellness policy in place which includes Shaker Lane and that does mean that candy may not be attached to  valentines . Students may give each other a paper  valentine  and are welcome, if they feel they need to do more than that, (which they certainly ...

It is almost time for  report   cards  to come out. Therefore, it's almost conference time. If you haven't done so yet, to sign up for a conference, please use this  conference sign up  link. If you are having trouble accessing the link or adding your name to a time slot, please let me know. I am excited to meet together and share information about your child's work habits, academic progress and other topics.  In an effort to keep our conferences on task and squeeze in as much  as possible in our short time together, I'd like to take a moment to comment on our new  report   card  system now, so that we can focus on your child in the conference. An email went out recently from Mrs. Kane & Ms. Deacon about our new Standards Based  Report   Card  (SBRC). Hopefully you have had a minute to look it over and let me know if you have questions. For parents in other school districts, when introducing a new SBR...

This December, you will receive a Standards-Based Report Card. It will be a big change if you have only had experience with traditional report cards. I wanted to share more information with you as we get ready to transition.  Here is a quick explanation from Chelmsford Public Schools, and I have attached links to several second grade SBRC's. Ours will be a little different, but you will find these to have a lot of similarities. The biggest change for parents may be that students are working on year end standards, so most students will not be proficient in most standards until June. Remember, the goal is for students to meet the standards at the end of second grade.  What is a Standards-Based Report Card? "The purpose of a report card is to clearly, and objectively communicate how a child is doing in school. A standards-based report card (SBRC) tells specifically how a child is performing based on each standard listed and it indicates what areas may need additional att...

Hi there! Some students have been bringing "fidgets" to school such as thinking putty and squishy foam toys that may help them concentrate. I have found that they have become more like toys and are distracting students Therefore, we instituted some fidget rules which I have shown below. We also have a box here of sensory and fidget tools that we can use. If fidgets from home remain a distraction, I may email and let you no students will only use our school sensory toolbox. Thanks!

If you missed the open house, here are some images and information found in the Power Point I shared!

Just like you might have wondered how homework gets from the classroom into your child's backpack ( see this blog post) , you might wonder, "Well how does my child's homework get from their backpack to the teacher?" or perhaps "Why did my child get a missed homework slip when their homework was in their bag?" Here is how it works in room 202. At the very beginning of the year, I establish the expectation with students that they are now in second grade so they will need to become a little more independent. Instead of handing their whole folder to the teacher or putting their folder in a bin, students bring their folder into the room, open it, look inside, and give me any homework or notes that they see inside. If they are unsure of what is inside, they check with me. Then students either put their folder in their mailbox for the end of the day, or back in their backpack. On days when homework is always due (Tuesdays and Fridays) students are expe...

I am sure your second grader knows what "add" means and "equals" but can they define the math meaning of "difference"? How about "faces" and do they remember "unit" and "combinations" from first grade? With the Common Core State Standards communicating about mathematical thinking is very important and to do so we need a good grasp on math vocabulary. Additionally, besides being able to write and speak math terms like angles and sum, students need to be able to independently read and understand written math directions on their own. In a testing situation, teachers may be able to read what a word says but if a student does not remember it they will not be able to define it (of course in everyday lessons and not on tests, yes we would help). For example, "Write a subtraction equation in which the difference is 6" or "Write a number model in which the sum is 8" would require not only computation but knowing w...

Hello everyone! I hope you and the students can join us Tuesday  for Open House from 7:00-7:45. We will be in the classroom for a quick meet and greet, for your child to show your around ,  and possibly a few comments from me from  7:00-7:45. FYI, first grade open house is 6:00-6:45 so there may be some parking overlap and the lot will be crowded. Scroll down for all you want to know about 2nd grade! This is our grade level informational brochure. I thought I would post it here for your convenience. Everything you always wanted to know about Second Grade STAFF Classroom Teachers Ms. Garlisi       Ms. McGrath Mrs. Holm             Ms. Packer      Ms. Mawn             Ms. Pratt Special Education Mrs. Hogan Mrs. Carreiro Mrs. Penney    Reading Support Mrs. Zwoli...

I put together a video that walks you through how to log in and has some tips on using Spelling City on a computer or chrome, safari, etc. browser. This should help if your child is unsure of where to click or how to find the current week's word lists (They are always under "lists not in group"). This video is from early 2017 so Spelling City may have a few minor changes since then. Unfortunately I can't quite make a video showing how to use Spelling City with the app, but I did show both ways in class and we will be using Spelling City in class regularly so I can imagine the students will get very adept at it pretty quickly. Many of them are savvier than I am with technology!

Hi everyone!  Sometimes there is a glitch and homework does not get into your child's backpack. I thought you might be curious as to what the homework routine is in class so you know how the homework gets from me to your child's bag. It is an increase of responsibility on the student's part from first grade but I know they can handle it with a little help.  The routine in class we have been doing and talking about for the past week is: 1. I show the class what the homework looks like and give any tips or advice, reading over directions, etc. 2. The mail helper puts the homework in the mailboxes 3. A teacher double checks to make sure everyone who needed a homework got one 4. Students check their mail at the end of the day and put it in their folder* 5. Students tell me if they don't see any homework in their mailbox so I can give them on 6. Students are responsible for taking their own folder and putting in their backpack. *If homework was d...

Fall Conference signs ups are now available! Take a look at the time slots here and sign up for your favorite using Sign Up Genius. It is free and easy to use! Go  here  or click the link below to coordinate conferences with your schedule: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c084daaa92ea3f49-sign3 Thank you!

This week we have three homework assignments: 1) Math homework, which is a NumTanga puzzle. This is due  tomorrow.      We did several of these together in class last week. Students look at neighboring cards and find a number that is represented in both cards and write that number in the box between thr cards. We did one on Thurs. and one Friday. If your child was absent or forgets how to do them,  here is a brief explanation on Youtube.  Skip ahead to 1:40 or so for NumTanga. 2) Reading log - just like last week the reading log is simple and students just fill in the number of days they read and have you sign it. This is due  Friday. 3) Spelling: This week everyone has the same spelling words. On the back of the reading log are 4 choices on a spelling menu Your child needs to do one, and bring it back on  Friday. I f your child does Spelling City you need to just sign the sheet.For the the others, your child needs to return the activi...

SPELLING ROUTINE AND SPELLING CITY Here are some details to help explain our spelling program and how it works. ● We work on a spelling pattern(s) for one week, starting on Monday and ending on Friday. ● Each Friday I give a preview of the next week’s words. The preview is usually the words from the regular spelling list. How students do on the preview helps determine which list they work on for the week (there are multiple spelling lists for differentiation). If your child knows all the words or only got one wrong, he will do List A for the week. Otherwise, your child will do List O, the regular spelling list. Occasionally, but not always there is a third list which your child might get if they only knew a couple of the preview words. ● Later in the year, (not until at least November), on the spelling quiz itself, there will usually be 2-5  bonus words – words that have the same exact spelling patterns we worked on but are not on any of the lists students studied. Afte...

Hi everyone! Let me tell you a little more about the homework routine. What happens when someone forgets their homework? Well, every time your child forgets to bring their homework back, you will get an automated email stating what the assignment was, and any comments (as long as technology works correctly!). That is for your benefit, so you can help remind your child to return it the next day. In the beginning of the year, I let students adjust to the homework routine for a couple weeks, then if they are still forgetting homework after that, they may have to do their homework in school that day. I usually acknowledge that they completed their homework in school that day on the  missed homework e-mail. The reading log cannot be done in school; however, all other homework could be made up during the day. If I notice your child is having a lot of difficulty remembering their homework we will discuss some strategies for helping them. Some general tips for homework success: ...

What are Friday Folders, you ask? Once a week, on Fridays, your child will bring home all their word in their homework folder but I refer to this day as "Friday Folders". On Fridays, their folder will contain work that has been corrected or looked at by me and returned. Your child will bring this folder home so you can look over his work. I think it is a great way for you to stay up on what your child is working on at school and it also gives you a jumping off point for discussions at home. Please remove the papers during the weekend so they have room to put their reading logs and papers from the next week in there. For example, when you ask, "How was school? What did you do today?" and your child says, "Fine. Nothing." you can use their Friday Folder work to prompt them to give some details such as, "I saw your paper about fact families. What is a fact family anyway?" Thank you!

We will be starting a show and tell - I call it sharing - schedule next week..  Once a week - on Friday -  several children will have the chance to bring something in if they like. We will take turns until every has one turn,  then everyone can get a 2nd turn and so on. The list will be posted in the classroom so students will know in advance when it is their turn. Show and tell should be saved for those days, unless students have something that relates to what we are working on in school such as rocks when we do our pebbles, sand and silt unit.  More guidelines: no live animals allowed. I suggested if something is valuable, special or expensive students should have permission from you to bring it in. Most of the time things are okay but there is always a chance of something getting lost or broken. Students were asking about bringing in iphones, tablets etc. for sharing. If they are brought in they will not  be allowed to connect to the school wifi or internet...

Today we discussed strong choices and weak choices. We discussed  how it is often harder to make a strong choice, but strong choices can help us be better friends, classmates, and show HEART. Then we sorted pictures of situations into strong and weak choices. This may be a great topic of disucssion with your child!

Hi everyone! This week we will start homework procedures. I would like to explain the usual routines. There are two types of homework: the weekly reading log and nightly homework (occasionally there is a long term project). Our Language Arts "Week" starts each Monday and ends on Friday. Therefore, on Monday nights your child will bring home a reading log which also includes their spelling words. Their reading log is to be kept at home until Friday. Reading logs are  due on Friday . I won't take them early because students may read on Friday morning before school and need to record it.  The second grade home reading policy is that students read about every night for 10-15 minutes. The spelling quiz is on Fridays. Your child will receive a spelling menu on Monday attached to their reading log and they will write their spelling words on it so they know what words they need to practice. Your child will choose one activity from the menu to complete on Wednesday . Of cours...