Welcome to 2B ~ 2018-2019

Mr. Dombrowski and I

Welcome Back Second Grade Families!

My name is Barbara Dombrowski I am overjoyed to be serving another year here at Archway Arete as your child’s second grade teacher. Teaching is my passion and I have taught second grade for ten years. I look forward to partnering with you (the parents) to serve in cultivating the hearts and minds of your children through the pursuit of truth, beauty, and goodness. It is my goal to ensure your child feels loved, welcomed, safe, and comfortable in our classroom. It is from this feeling of safety that learning can take place and little minds can flourish! Please don't hesitate to reach out to me throughout the school year. I look forward to building our classroom community of learners. I can’t wait to meet all of you!

Mrs. D in 2nd Grade!

Here is a little bit about me…I am an Arizona native and have loved growing up in this dry heat! I attended Arizona State University for both my bachelors and masters degree. I met my husband in 2011. We have been married for four blissful years and we are the proud owners of a chocolate labrador retriever named Paisley! I also love my role as an Auntie, spoiling and playing with my niece and two nephews. I enjoy spending time with family, sweating my way through cycle class, talking Mr. Dombrowski into doing the next HGTV/Pinterest inspired DIY project around the house, shopping, and reading.

Meet our Assistant Teacher: We are so fortunate to have Ms. Victoria Monk as our Assistant Teacher this year. Here is a little bit about her…

Miss Monk in 2nd Grade!

My name is Victoria Monk, and I am thrilled to be your assistant teacher this year! I was born and raised in Gilbert, and I always say that there is nothing quite equal to the excitement of coming home to Phoenix. I am a senior at Grand Canyon University and anticipate graduating in December with a double degree in Elementary Education and English Literature. I have tutored various subjects at the community college and independently, and last fall I taught a middle school class for an independent theater company that culminated in a full-length theater production!

Miss Monk with two of her brothers

In my free time, I love to perform in community theater, read good old books, talk about C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien with my English literature friends, and write middle grade fiction. But most of all, I like catching up with my siblings, which takes quite a lot of time because there are 10 of them! I am also the proud aunt of 4 adorable nieces and nephews (2 of each so far!), and love doing the fun auntie things like painting sparkly nails, teaching them to pronounce my name before anyone else’s, telling make-believe stories, and cultivating a love of crackers and cheese with way too much mustard. I am so excited to get to know your children and to embark on the second grade adventure with them!

Important Information for Meet the Teacher: We are looking forward to meeting you all on Thursday! Families with last names beginning A-M are invited to join us from 5:30-6:30. Families with last names beginning with N-Z are invited to join us from 6:30-7:30. Students should bring all school supplies. Please keep in mind that Meet the Teacher is more of a meet and greet opportunity. If you have specific concerns regarding your child, please email me so we can schedule a time to meet or talk on the phone outside of Meet the Teacher. I make myself available for these types of meetings the first couple weeks of school.

We look forward to meeting you soon!

Love,

Mrs. Dombrowski & Miss Monk

Happy Summer! Resources to prevent the "Summer Slide"...

Dear 2B Families!

Happy Summer!

Miss Smith and I would like to thank you for sharing your children with us this academic year. We marveled at their insight, reveled in their learning, smiled at their kindness and laughed at their humor. We were honored to walk with them as they grew in virtue, emotionally, socially and academically.

Their emotional and social growth will continue naturally throughout the summer. To foster appropriate academic growth, keep children engaged during the summer months to ensure that the brain synapses are firing and the dendrites are growing! Research suggests that sustained practice over a longer period of time aids in the retention of information.

You can ask your child to use math and reading everywhere: playing cards, at the grocery store, watching educational programs such as PBS, keeping score, monitoring sporting statistics, reading maps and billboards, traveling, volunteering, really anything that keeps the mind moving. The longer we do not use a skill or access information in our brains, the more difficult it is to remember the information when we need it. Practice does not have to be boring or involve a worksheet. In fact, the opposite is better!

In order to avoid summer learning loss, all 2nd graders bound for 3rd grade, should do the following regularly:

1. Read for a minimum of 20-30 minutes a day at their level *Please see below for information about Lexile scores* Your children promised me they will read every day for 30 minutes and not play too many video games :-)
2. Practice math facts ~ Use XtraMath.org 
3. Write in journals

Any activity that supports these second grade math concepts over the summer will be a benefit to your child’s progress early in their third grade year.

• Two and three-digit addition and subtraction with and without regrouping
• Measurement
• Data & Graphing
• Geometry 2D and 3D Shapes
• Two step problem solving (part-part-whole models)

Additionally, the following will help avoid the summer slide:

• Reading should be a combination of literature and informational text such as biographies, articles, information books and manuals, topic specific books, etc.
• Practice keyboarding skills ~ the children worked so hard at TypingMaster this year. Typing will continue in 3rd grade.
• Practice fine motor skills through proper handwriting (Spalding cursive and manuscript)
• Encourage journal writing including personal narratives, observational writing about experiences, and/or mini-research papers on a topic of their choosing.

Here are some great resources you can use:

• XtraMath.org: Help your child master basic math facts *FREE! Parent e-mail required
• Moby Max Online Intervention: Online math intervention program (account required)
• Summer Reading List
• Check with your local library on summer reading programs!
• Singapore Math Lesson Videos from Archway Glendale
• Book suggestions by Lexile scores (Please e-mail Mrs. D for your child's Lexile score)

Please keep in touch and have beautiful summer!

Love,

Mrs. Dombrowski

One More Week!

Dear 2B Families,

Only one more week of school? How is that even possible? This year has flown by. Thank you to all of our sweet moms who attended the "Muffins" event this morning! It was a beautiful morning and we were blessed to have you join us. Here are some photos to share:

Next Week in 2B...

Desk Cleaning: Please send your child to school with a sturdy bag so they can take home items from their desk.

Poetry: We will be graded on our recitations of Harriet Tubman by Eloise Greenfield.

Writing and Grammar: We will be writing two friendly letters in class. First, a letter of advice for the first graders. Second, a letter of questions to the third graders! We will classify sentences, showing our expertise with all the parts of speech we have learned this year. We will also be making a sweet memory book.

Literature: We have completed our reading of Little House in the Big Woods! We will bring home our lapbooks.

Spalding: NO Spalding words next week due to the half days and end of year activities.

Science: We will be making SLIME! Wish us luck :-).

History: On Monday, we are taking out final history assessment! It will cover all the Civil Rights Leaders we have learned about in this unit. Please help your child study over the weekend. There was a study guide filled out and sent home on Thursday.

With a Grateful Heart,

Mrs. Dombrowski

Two More Weeks!

Dear Sweet 2B Families,

Happy Friday! I hope you all have a relaxing weekend. Especially to all of the sweet 2B moms out there! Happy Mother's Day! I hope you get spoiled this Sunday! Don't forget about Muffins with Mom next Friday, May 18th at 8am! We hope to see you there.

Here is a special video message to wish you a very Happy Mother's Day!!!

Thank you for ALL you did to help Miss Smith and I feel so loved and appreciated this week. We absolutely LOVE our jobs and we LOVE getting to spend time with your children. Thank you for blessing us this year!

We enjoyed a lovely performance on Monday from the Phoenix Symphony!

Next Week in 2B...

Writing and Grammar: We will be finishing up and publishing a super secret paragraph!

Literature: Little House in the Big Woods will be completed next week! We will read the very last chapter on Tuesday and complete our lap books. Thank you to all of our parents who have volunteered for reading groups! It has meant so much to our kids.

Spalding Words Next Week: We had an awesome review week last week! We will jump into new words and see if we can identify the rules.
Monday: special, specific, present, present, action, act, justice, just, gentleman, gentle
Tuesday: enclose, await, suppose, wonderful, forward, backward, toward, although, prompt, attempt
Wednesday: whose, who's = who is, who, statement, state, perhaps, their, they, imprison, written, writ
Math: We'll wrap up our last full week with a cumulative review and assessment! Keep an eye out for worksheet homework coming home in your child's "Take home" folder each night this week.
History: We will continue to learn about Civil Rights leaders next week. We will meet Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., and César Chávez. We have enjoyed learning about these important people. Ask your child which one of these people they would like to meet. What would they say to them? Look for a study guide coming home on Thursday. The test will be on Monday, May 21.

With A Grateful Heart,

Mrs. Dombrowski

Welcome May!

Dear 2B Parents,

WELCOME MAY! We only have three more weeks of school 😭😭😭! Miss Smith and I are not ready for the year to end!

Scholar Shout-Outs:

Happy Birthday Chazley!

Your children did a great job at the Spring Concert on Wednesday. Thank you Miss Weddle for all you do to help us make beautiful music.

Some sweet moments from the week...

Last week, we voted to write our persuasive paragraph about why we need MORE P.E.! Well, GUESS WHAT?! Coach Gethings read it and GRANTED to our humble request! We enjoyed 15 more minutes of P.E. today...Thank you Coach!

Important Upcoming Events:
Monday, May 7: Phoenix Symphony coming to Arete ~ 9am
Friday, May 18: Muffins with Mom @ 8am! Please RSVP to your child's teacher :-)

Clubs: The final day of clubs is Friday, May 11 (exception: K-1 Art).

Next Week in 2B...

Writing and Grammar: We will be working on a super secret paragraph for a very special lady!

Literature: Little House in the Big Woods will continue through reading chapters 11 and 12. We will write about the steps involved with making cheese, be introduced to some new vocabulary, and understand how oats are harvested.

Spalding: Next week we will review some spelling words from the past, focusing on the rules used in each word.

Monday: queen, cent, gentle, hotel, tiny, nearly, words, hopping, driving, pie
Tuesday: shoes, permission, progress, delay, sign, hold, extra, almost, cheerful, bridge
Wednesday: check, June, fixed, summer, male, twelve, once, able, become

Math: We're going to review multiplication and time! Pro-tip: use some car-time this week to quiz your child over their 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, and 10 multiplication tables.

History: We have a full week of history next week! On Monday, your child will have a study guide coming home for the Immigration and Citizenship test. Please help them study on Monday night, the test is on Tuesday. We will begin our last unit on Civil Rights Leaders talking about Susan B. Anthony, Mary McLeod Bethune and Eleanor Roosevelt, and Jackie Robinson. Be sure to ask your child how each of these amazing people impacted civil rights.

Science: We are AHEAD of the game in our Science curriculum. Next week we will focus our Science time to complete our History units. Get ready for some awesome STEM activities and possible SLIME making before the end of the year :-).

Love,

Mrs. Dombrowski