Hi Parents,
We are done with our first full week of school and it was wonderful! I have such an amazing class this year. It is a small class and all the children are so sweet, kind, inquisitive, and helpful. I am a very lucky teacher to have such a great class!!
I’m sorry this blog is rather long, but I want to explain everything to the new people in our class. I will try to keep them shorter in the future. If you are not new to my room, please try to read it all anyway because there are some new things I am adding this year and some changes.
Important dates:
9/17 – Picture day
9/18 – Open House 5-6 PM
9/25 – Field trip to Ann Arbor Hands on Museum
10/1 – Late start
Below is a quick peek and what we covered this week in each subject.
Science – I am teaching science to my class and Mrs. Polster’s class. If you are in Mrs. Polster’s class please subscribe to my blog. Go to iblog.dearbornschools.org/Keebler. We are studying Earth science- I started the week with the Montessori Great Lesson about the creation of the Universe, this ended with the explosion of our volcano, this led into the study of our earth. Each student has started Earth Science Research reports.
2nd Grade Math – Mrs. Polster is teaching all the 2nd graders math for both our classes. To find out more details please subscribe to Ms. Polster’s blog. iblog.dearbornschools.org/polstel, put your email in the subscription box.
3rd Grade Math – We started with a pretest for unit one, we started with sequencing larger numbers, and started time and measurement.
Language Arts – We started our Daily 5/CAFE, we are working on building our stamina to read for longer periods of time. I have started doing reading tests to see what level everyone should be reading.
Social Studies – We are starting with government – Ms. Polster is teaching both her class and mine for social studies. To get all the details about what you should know about social studies please subscribe to Ms. Polster’s blog. iblog.dearbornschools.org/polstel, put your email in the subscription box.
Writing– Writer’s workshop, topic list and journal, narrative about something in our lives. I would encourage everyone to have a writing journal and home and to write for 5 minutes at least every night. Don’t worry about their spelling. Let them get their ideas down on paper and then we will fix spelling when they do their editing.
Field trip – We have our first field trip on September 25th. You should have gotten the permission slip on Friday in the red Parent Folder. Permission slips are due by Friday, September 19th. We are going to the Hands-On Museum in Ann Arbor. We will be gone most of the day so please pack a lunch. There is not a place to buy food at this museum. The trip is $10 per person. Chaperoning is encouraged but no siblings please. We will not have room for all the chaperones on the bus so I encourage carpooling with another family. The museum does not have a parking lot, there is some street parking, or there is a parking structure just down the street. https://www.aahom.org/visit/directions-and-parking Just click on this link to see the map.
Homework is starting this week. Students will have spelling, reading logs, writing journal and math fact practice. I will explain each one below. Homework should not be taking more that 20 minutes for 2nd graders or 30 minutes for 3rd graders. Research shows that too much homework can be detrimental to students. We work hard all day and need to rest our minds. If your student can’t complete the assignments in the allotted time please email me and we will talk about ways to reduce it.
Reading Logs– You should have received your 1st reading log. 2nd graders read at least 10 minutes a day, 3rd graders at least 15 minutes a day. Record it on the log and parent initial that your child read. On the back they should write down 4 of the books they read during the month and then write one of the CAFE strategies for each book and how they used that strategy. They are listed at the top of the page.
Spelling – You should have received your child’s spelling list. The activities are at the top and the spelling words are at the bottom. Each child will have different types of words. The activities are things that you can do at home. Please turn in only the green activity sheet on Thursdays. Parents are to check that they did the activities correctly and just initial the box so I know that it is complete. Spelling tests will be on Fridays.
- Pattern words –First we will have spelling pattern words. The 2nd grade pattern is short a, i. The 3rd grade pattern is short and long a. They are given a list of words to study, these are the “hot words”. Then the day of the test they will be given “cold words” these words follow the pattern but your child didn’t study them. This will help us to see if they understand the pattern.
- Dolch words – Next they will have Dolch words. These are words that don’t follow a pattern and need to be memorized. I have started testing everyone on the Dolch words. If there are words that your student missed on the test they will show up on their spelling list. If they didn’t miss any words they will have no Dolch words.
- Content words – 3rd graders will be given content words. These are words that are part of what we are learning in science, social studies, language arts and math. 2nd graders will start content words when they are finished will all of their Dolch words.
- Challenge words – these are harder words to challenge the students. These are completely optional. They are for extra credit. Your student does not have to study these words unless they want to.
- If you were in my class last year we will not be moving at our own pace as we did last year. I found that the students did not learn the patterns as well that way. I will be supplementing the patterns with challenge words to keep the higher students challenged.
Writing Journal – I would like all students to have a writing journal at home. Each day for about 5 minutes have your students write about anything they are interested in. Some ideas are write about your day, your family, pets, things you are looking forward to, things that upset you. I would love it if your student was interested in sharing what they wrote at home. These journal can come back and forth to school each day. Please don’t worry about their spelling. We can fix up spelling when we do our revising, editing and publishing. Just let them get their ideas on paper and have fun with it. You might want to have a family writing time and write yourself. If students see you reading and writing it will encourage them to do the same. they will love it if you share your writing with them.
Math Facts – Memorizing your math facts are an important part of being successful in math. Unfortunately, with the amount of curriculum that we are now teaching it is difficult to provide the time for memorization in school. 2nd graders should have all simple addition facts with sums up to 20 memorized by the end of the 2nd grade. They should be able subtract the differences less than 20. 3rd graders should have all multiplication facts up to the 10s memorized by the end of 3rd grade. They should understand the division is just the opposite of multiplication so if the know the multiplication facts they already know their division facts. If students are having to count on their fingers or in the heads to figure out these answers it will greatly slow them down when we start doing multiple digit addition, and multiplication.
Please practice the facts with games, flash cards, or just drilling them in the car while you are driving. Keep if fun, but keep working on it, every day until they are memorized.
I will be out for a few days next week. I have a wonderful substitute Vera Morris. I am going to a training session on Project Based Learning. I will be working with a team to write Project Based Science Units for the whole district. This will be a wonderful way to make learning exciting and fun with real world projects to add relevance to student learning. I will check my email each day and stop by the school after my training to pick up papers and update the lesson plans.
Thank you for sharing your wonderful children with me each day. Feel free to contact me anytime for questions, comments, concerns or complements are also always welcome. I look forward to working with all of you in partnership to educate your students, you are your child’s first teacher. Remember, they are always watching you and learning by what they see you do.
Enjoy your weekend!
Mrs. Katie Keebler
