Second Grade Mrs. Pottinger

Parent Teacher Communication I can be reached at school after 8:05 a.m ext. 363 or at Once school starts I will be involved in instruction and can not check messages until lunch time (11:40-12:40). Should you need to send an important message to me before this time you will have to ask the secretary to give me the message. I again check messages during my planning time which varies. Refer to the specials schedule for the exact times. I will be sending home a classroom newsletter each week that will highlight activities and any important upcoming information.

If Your Child Is Sick Call the office and notify them. Also, leave a message for me as to whether you want homework sent home with someone or whether you will be coming in after school to pick up homework. I will not be able to have homework ready to be picked up until after school. Should you be going out of town, I can not make packets ahead of time for your child to work on while they are gone. Any work missed will be done when that child returns to school.

Homework Homework will be given every day except on Fridays. Homework is generally due the next school day. Each day the class will copy their homework assignment onto an assignment sheet given each Monday. We do this at the end of the school day and these sheets will be placed in your child’s home folder along with the homework. This would be the place to check if your child doesn’t remember if he/she has homework.

Oops Sheets If your child forgets a homework assignment, he/she will be given an Oops Sheet. They will bring this home to you and you will need to sign it. This needs to be returned the next school day along with the forgotten assignment. This is just a way for us to monitor and communicate with each other how your child is doing with remembering the homework. If homework frequently is forgotten then together we will make a plan for you to help your child with this at home.

Weekly Folders: Graded papers and papers completed in class are collected and returned to the students in their home folder throughout the week. There may be times that work needs to be corrected at home and then sent back to school. Should your child have difficulty with the homework and you can not help them at home, please send a note attached to the work and I can review it with your child in class. Graded Work

Reading Logs Reading logs are a record of minutes that your child reads at home. Each day they are expected to read at least 15 minutes at home and they record their minutes on the chart. Reading logs are brought back to school Fridays each week. They need to be signed by a parent. Weekend reading is encouraged but optional. Students get to put their initials on our Lotto Board if they meet the required 75 minutes and the paper is signed. If it isn’t signed they will be able to participate once the paper is signed and returned. 75+ minutes = 2 squares, 100+= 3 squares and 150+ = 4 squares When the board is full we pull squares and the person in that square wins a prize.

Other Important Information Birthdays: Please contact me to make arrangements for celebrating your child’s birthday in class. We are not allowing treats this year for b-day celebrations. Instead you may send in non food items such as pencils, stickers, erasers, etc. for the class. Or if you would rather donate a book to the classroom that would be great too. Please send these items to school with your child so that we may insert the party when we have extra time that day.

Book Orders Book orders will be coming becoming home each month. Each company requires a minimum dollars per order. If we don’t receive $10.00 worth of orders I will return your money to you. Please send a check made out to Scholastic Books. NO CASH ACCEPTED.

Student of the Week Each week a child will be randomly selected to be our Student of the Week. They will bring home a poster to complete and to bring back to school on the following Monday. That child is allowed to choose a guest reader from home or someone special to come to the classroom and read a short story. The preferred time for guest readers will be on Tuesdays from 2:45-3:00. If that day doesn’t work for the reader we can try to schedule it a different day that week.

Classroom behavior is monitored with a reward system. I will be using a traffic light set up with cars representing each student. All cars start on green and move to yellow if a warning is given for disruptive behavior. The car will advance to red if the behavior continues or gets worse. Once on red the child will fill out a Traffic Ticket to take home and will conference with me. If the child’s car stays on green all day, they will get to put a sticker on a chart that they will individually keep in their desk. When the chart fills up they can choose something from the Treasure Box. Cars can be moved from yellow back to green on the same day if the behavior improves.

Good Time Tickets The class earns Good Time Tickets by receiving compliments from their special’s teachers and any other adult in the building for good behavior. Once 40 tickets are collected they earn a class party. The theme for the parties will be voted on by the children. A note will come home ahead of time informing you about the party.

Curriculum Reading/Language Arts: Houghton-Mifflin 1.Student Anthology/Read Aloud ~ Whole Group literature designed to build comprehension, vocabulary, and phonics skills while encouraging fluency. 2.Guided Reading Groups ~ Small groups working with the teacher on fluency, comprehension, word study skills and story parts. These groups are flexible and will change as the needs in the group changes. 3.Independent Reading/ Reading Workshop ~ A self directed reading time using book bags which contain student choice books and teacher choice books at their independent reading level. Writing and Spelling: Houghton-Mifflin & Lucy Calkins The HM program contains writing components and we combine that with the Lucy Calkins program to provide a well rounded writing workshop. We concentrate on sentence structure, punctuation, paragraphing and story structure. The children will begin with writing narrative pieces and move to expository writing later in the year.

Spelling- There currently is no spelling program, but spelling will be taught using the HM reading program which concentrates on using word families, word sorts, and phonics skills. Also, the class will have a word wall in the back of the room which will be up all year to help with identifying words that the children must spell correctly always. 5 new words will be introduced weekly. At this time no formal weekly checks will be given, but the children will have review work during center time and for homework each week to practice with these non-negotiable words. Social Studies- 4 components of study: Civics, History, Geography and Economics.

Math: Bridges in Mathematics Bridges is our new math program. It facilitates the development of children’s mathematical thinking and reasoning through activities, problems and investigations, in areas such as; patterning, geometry, probability, data analysis, and measurement. There is a balance of basic skills along with mathematical thinking (reasoning, seeing patterns, drawing generalizations and developing strategies for solving problems). Bridges Components  Number Corner: an interactive calendar display that introduces and reinforces basic skills  Problems and Investigations: whole group lessons  Work Places: activities to reinforce lessons and provide practice, usually in groups of no more than 6 students.  Assessments  Home Connections: games, projects and / or worksheets to do with the family  Technology Connections: computer activities

Science- 3 Units of Study 1.Soils 2.Sound and Light 3.Life Cycles and Habitats

Specials Schedule Art: Tuesday 9:00-9:30 Thursday 10:15-10:35 Music:Wednesday 2:00-2:30 Friday 10:35-11:05 Gym: Monday 1:00-1:30 Tuesday10:15-10:45 LMC: Wednesday 1:20-1:50 Spanish: Tuesday 11:00-11:15 Thursday 2:50-3:05 Every other Friday 9:40-9:55

Let’s have a great year!