September 4th through 7th

Parents,
We had a great first week of second grade. Everyone had fun getting to know more about our classmates! 

No school on Monday! Enjoy your day off! 

Language Arts:
We will be starting Daily 5 this week. Daily 5 is our reading program that has five components. We are beginning the first component this week called Read to Self. After lots of practice, the goal is for students to be able to sit and read for 20 uninterrupted minutes. We will be introducing the rest of components in the following weeks. We will also begin learning about and using different strategies to improve our reading, such as checking for understanding. 

Writing:
In writing, we will be reviewing what makes a complete sentence. We will also be discussing the different types of sentences (interrogative, declaratory, etc.) and how we use them in writing. 

Math:
This week in math we will be focusing on time again. We will be reviewing the basics of analog clocks and telling time to the 5's (12:00, 12:05, 12:10, etc.) Homework is a worksheet called "Draw the Hands," and will come home on Tuesday and will be due Wednesday.

Social Studies:
This week we will be discussing different cultural elements. We will discuss holidays and why we celebrate them. We will also discuss cultural celebrations unique to Austin, such as Pioneer Days and the Hairy Man Festival. We will wrap up the week with a discussion about monuments around the United States and Austin and why they are important. 

Reminders:

Open House or Orientation is on Monday, September 10th. Second grade's time is at 6:30, followed by a PTA meeting. Grades 3-5 are at 7:30 after the PTA meeting. 

If you haven't returned the forms that were sent home in the Tuesday folders, please do so as soon as possible!

We will have lunch every day at 11:15. Your child can bring a lunch or eat from the cafeteria. If you plan to join your child for lunch, please let me know so I can mark down your lunch choice. Adult lunches cannot be put onto student accounts, and need to be ordered in the morning since our lunch is delivered to the school.  There are extra sides your child can purchase, in addition to the lunch. Your child will need permission to purchase these extras.  Please send me an email and let me know.

Make sure you are recording your child's reading minutes in the yellow communication log as well as signing in the box!