First I want to thank you for making me feel so
appreciated with wonderful notes, gifts, and cards at the end of the
semester. I was humbled by your
generosity and kindness. I absolutely
love teaching and feel it is an honor to explore ideas with such inquisitive
students. I have enjoyed meeting with you this week to discuss your child's strengths and goals. I appreciate being able to work so closely with parents to help students achieve their best.
After a well-earned winter break, we have
heading into our second semester of second grade. I was so excited to see
the second graders and begin some new and rich units of study. This first
week is short with three half days and a full day on Friday, but we will get
started with each unit. Here is a look at our week:
Literature: This quarter we will read Little
House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Please send
in your child's copy of this book if you have not yet done so. To
begin the unit, we will introduce the students to vocabulary words found within
the first few chapters. Students will also be constructing lapbooks
throughout the quarter to record important events in the story and we will
introduce these lapbooks on Friday.
Riggs/Grammar: No new words or topics will be
introduced this week.
History: Last semester, students learned about
ancient cultures and the birth of democracy. Our focus this semester will
be the history of the United States. Our first unit focuses on the
writing of the Constitution. In order to set the stage for the
Constitution, we will spend a bit of time reviewing the Revolutionary
War. On Friday we will learn about Shay’s Rebellion, which was caused by
unhappy farmers whose paper money was not accepted when they returned home
after the war.
Science: Students have been presenting their
insect projects on Tuesday, and Wednesday.
We will complete project presentations on Thursday. We will then
begin our first science unit by going over the scientific method.
Students will discover the steps that scientists take to carry out experiments
and we will conduct our own experiment on bubbles and bubble wands.
Important Notes:
-This week Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday will
be half days with release times at 12:15 and 12:30. Please remember to
send your child with a snack but not a lunch on these days.
-We will have a full day of school this
Friday, January 10.
-Math and specials classes will resume on
Thursday, January 9
With Gratitude,
Ms. Norris
