Happy New Year 2B! 2019!

Dear 2B Parents,

Happy New Year! I hope you had a restful break! We are excited to see your children on Monday.

Here is what we will be learning and focusing on:

Homework Survey:
Thank you for taking the time to complete the latest homework survey. We looked carefully at the numeric data and anonymous comments and had good conversation as a team. Every child is unique and homework experiences vary widely, but there are occasional patterns in these surveys that help us to adjust our homework assignments. With this in mind, we are going to make a few adjustments in the third quarter that will hopefully make the homework experience more joyful without sacrificing good learning. We will continue to discuss as a team and will send another survey near the end of third quarter. Beginning January 7th, parents and students can look forward to the following changes:

1. Spalding words will only need to be written once (in your child's best handwriting), without the markings. As always it is crucial that parents read the words aloud to their child. If your child misspells the word on the first try, we encourage them to write only the misspelled words 2 more times.
2. Students will begin book reports in the second week of Quarter 3. For the first week, students can read from a book of their choice at home or parents can read a book of their choice aloud to their children.

Starting Strong: We are looking forward to starting the year strong! We will spend some time goal setting and reviewing classroom procedures.

Poetry: We will be learning a new poem: Smart by Shel Silverstein.

Grammar: Your children will be introduced to linking verbs through reading a story called The Three Billy Goats Gruff. We will also review parts of speech through singing our jingles from last semester and classifying sentences.

Writing: We will read a story called The Pied Piper of Hamelin by Robert Browning.

Literature: We will start discovering the setting of our next book: The Cricket in Times Square! Students will learn about Connecticut and New York, as well as plot points on a map! Please send your child to school with their copy of this novel.

Spalding Words:
Monday: broke, feel, sure, sugar, least, sorry, press, God, god, teacher
Tuesday: November, subject, April, history, study, himself, matter, use, thought, person
Wednesday: nor, or, January, mean, vote, court, copy, act, been, be

Math: We are jumping right in with our next unit: Addition and Subtraction. We will be tackling larger numbers and looking at different strategies to help us solve the values of word problems. It will be very beneficial to practice basic addition and subtraction facts with your child this week as a review. Weekly Quiz- Thursday (1/10)

History: We are jumping right back into our Ancient Greece Unit and learning all about Athens! Your children will learn that the city got its name because the goddess Athena gave the people an olive tree and all the benefits that came with it. We will also study Athenian democracy and the lives of children in Athens. Ask your child to tell you similarities and difference between American and Athenian children.

Science: As we begin our Human Body unit, your children will identify the five senses and associated body parts
 as well as identify the skeletal, muscular, circulatory, nervous, digestive, and excretory systems as important systems in the human body. Students will also study and describe the significant contributions of Anton van Leeuwenhoek.

With Happy Hearts,

Mrs. D & Miss Monk