Newsletter 9-26-14

September 26, 2014

Parents,

Our story in language arts last week was A Walk in the Desert.  We tied it to science by learning about the plants and animals that live in that climate.  We watched a live webcast from the Bean Museum and learned about adaptations by seeing live animals, like a turtle and a snake.  We wrote about the desert and did a watercolor picture for art.  Have your child tell you about it!

Our story this week was The Strongest One.  It is written as a play, so we practiced during the week and acted it out today.  It was a great way to work on our fluency and using expression.  Next week is a review unit.

We just finished our math unit on addition strategies with the test and a fun “flip flop facts” art project.  We will start our unit on subtraction strategies on Monday.  Please have your child keep practicing his or her math facts with Reflex Math.

If you haven’t signed up for parent-teacher conferences, please do so as soon as possible.  The dates are October 9-10.

Thanks for all you do.  Have a great weekend!

Kristen Adams

kristen.adams@canyonsdistrict.org

Newsletter 9-12-14

September 12, 2014

Parents,

Our story in language arts, Henry and Mudge and the Starry Night, is about a family who goes camping.  We talked about nature and continued discussing the night sky.  We wrote stories about our own adventures in outer space. 

Your child is bringing home a moon observation journal today.  We learned about the phases of the moon, we acted out a poem, and I challenged the students to look at the night sky four different times and record it.  They may want to skip some days between to show the different phases of the moon.  There is no due date, but students will get a “Something to Celebrate” when they return it.    

We’re learning addition strategies in math.  We’ve practiced adding doubles, adding near doubles, and adding in any order.  We made “doubles dudes” to practice our doubles facts.  I would like all students to have their doubles facts memorized all the way up to 10+10. 

Thanks for having your child return his or her homework each Friday.  If they are spending twenty minutes each night on homework and still can’t finish, please write me a note on their homework explaining that.

I sent home book orders today.  Please send in your order by next Friday.  If you go online, you will see that there is a larger choice of books.  You can even do a search.  Online ordering is easiest, but you may also send your order with your child.

I also sent home an order form for Highlights magazine.  Please mark it yes or no, sign it, and return it with your child.  Our class can get prizes just for returning the forms, and no one has to buy anything.  Thanks!

I will send out another email this weekend with our parent helper schedule.  If you have not had a chance to sign up, please do so this weekend.  We will start our schedule next week.

I would like to start sending most messages through email.  You should have received an email message from me this week.  If you did not, please email me this weekend so I can add you to the list. 

Please sign up for parent teacher conferences as soon as possible.  Your child brought home a yellow form explaining how to do that.  Picture day is this Thursday, September 18.  Please send the envelope that day if you are ordering pictures.

Don’t forget to check out our class blog, mrsadams2.blogspot.com.  I put the newsletters on it, and there are several links to educational websites.

Thanks for all you do!

Kristen Adams

Newsletter 9-5-14

September 5, 2014

Parents,

We’ve had another great week in second grade!  We have learned all our rules and procedures, and we’ve made lots of new friends. 

We’ve been reading “A Day in the Life of an Astronaut” and learning about outer space.  We talked about whether we would like to take a journey into space, and we learned more about our galaxy. 

We finished our first math unit today, Understanding Addition and Subtraction.  We did a math review on Thursday that the students brought home in their planners.  I plan on doing this the day before each test so that you can see what will be on the test and what your student still needs to practice.

Thank you to those of you who have sent Kleenex and other classroom supplies.  We appreciate it so much!

If you haven’t returned the school disclosure form or our classroom disclosure form, please send it as soon as possible.

I plan to input everyone’s email this weekend so that I can send you messages and reminders.  I’m using the email address you used for your registration.  If you have a different one you would like me to use or any other preferences, please email me at: kristen.adams@canyonsdistrict.org.

Remember to keep signing the planner and reminding your child to use her or his take-home folder.

Thanks for all you do.  Your kids are wonderful!

Kristen Adams

Newsletter 8-29-14

It’s been fun getting to know your children this week.  We have spent the last couple days doing friendship activities, learning the SOAR rules for our school, and practicing classroom procedures.  We began our first unit in Reading Streets, completed our first two math lessons, and learned new math games.  We read one of my favorite books, Chrysanthemum, by Kevin Henkes, and did some activities with our names.  It’s been a busy week!

Thank you to those of you who returned the school and class information pages and the emergency preparedness kits.  If you haven’t had a chance to do that yet, please return them next week.  We would love to have all our Sunrise families join the PTA.  We are having a school-wide contest, and the class with the most memberships will win a prize basket!

Thank you to all of you who have been signing your child’s planner each night.  Students will be expected to have their planners signed and returned every day.  It is a great organizer and communication tool. 

I will be sending home a homework packet on Monday.  Please have your child complete it throughout the week and return it by Friday.  It should not take more than fifteen minutes each night.  I will give you more information at Back to School Night this Thursday, but you can email me or call me if you have any questions.

I’m looking forward to seeing you Thursday, August 28 at 6:30 for Back to School Night.  I will give you more information at that time. 

Enjoy your weekend!

Kristen Adams