Reminders:
Please check your child’s Home School Folder for the CVSD K-2 Student Device Agreement. Please sign and return this, and the Home School Folder, on Monday.
Important “Have Tos”
Send your child with a water bottle daily. (They may leave it at school. We will remind them to take their water bottles home with them on Fridays.)
Ensure your child has an extra set of weather appropriate clothing in their backpacks at all times.
Email Cindy LaWare (claware@cvsdvt.org) AND your child’s teacher with any attendance/dismissal updates.
Home School Folders should return to school the following school day.
Math: Our first unit in math has begun! During this unit, we are exploring brain research about the importance of having a growth mindset and then applying this information while doing activities that push our math thinking. For more information about how a growth mindset in mathematics supports learning, please visit youcubed, Dr. Jo Boaler’s organization out of Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education.
Word Study: To start our word study work this year, we are reviewing letter formation through handwriting practice. We are also reviewing ‘heart words’ and ‘flash words’ students worked on in first grade.
Writer’s Workshop: Wow, we have an amazing group of storytellers! Our first unit in writing focuses on small moment narratives. We began this unit with oral storytelling, sharing the stories of our lives with each other. As a group, we brainstormed what makes a strong story, one that made the listener feel like they were there. We created anchor charts to support our thinking.
Reader’s Workshop: During reader’s workshop, students are working to establish good reading routines and build stamina. Our first unit, Reading Growth Spurts, is devoted to the idea that, in order to grow as readers, students need to take charge of their growth. Students need to choose not only what to read but also how to read.
SEL/Theme: Our second grade squad explored many important routines and ideas during our first two weeks. We learned about our school wide expectations, our second grade mantra, and the importance of having a growth mindset. Through games, crafts, and our very first whole-school assembly, we came to understand that at CCS we take care of ourselves, others, and this place. In our classroom we know that we are all the same, we are all different, and we are all unique. Building community is one of the most important things we will do this school year. We will help each other grow and learn. We also know that we have the power of yet! There will be many things that we learn this year, as readers, writers, mathematicians, and as members of a community. We are so excited and grateful to go on this journey together!
Quiet Time Vacations: Throughout the year, second graders are heading ‘on vacation’! As students transition from recess back into the classroom, we have Quiet Time. This is a time to fill our water bottles, use the restroom, color, relax, read, unwind from the activity of recess and reset our minds for the classroom. As part of this time, the lights are low and we are ‘on vacation.’ Each week, students ‘go’ to a new country! We ‘go’ there by having a video of ‘flying over’ the country. On the first school day of the week, we learn which country we are going to, what continent it is on, its official language(s) and a few facts about the country. Over the course of the year, our goal is for students to be able to identify the seven continents, understand the difference between continent & country, and to be exposed to this amazing world we live in!
Students visited the United States of America this week. We begin with our own country in order to learn more about it and share that the ‘fun facts’ we leave about countries may not represent all people within that country. For example, this week we learned that the majority of people live in cities in the U.S.A. Our students discussed that this is true for many residents of the U.S.A. but not all of them…including themselves.
Workboard Menu: Workboard Menu is a time for students to independently practice literacy and math skills that support their individual needs. While students work on completing a literacy practice activity, a math task, and a technology opportunity each day, their classroom teacher and other adults may pull them to work individually and/or in small groups. Workboard Menu offers an element of choice for students while giving them opportunities to work on skills they are learning. An important thing to note is that while the menu has options that could be completed, students may not have the opportunity to complete the menu in its entirety by the end of the week. This is okay! Students may have met with an adult during workboard time or possibly be completing a different task/activity. At the end of the week, their workboard menu will be sent home in your child’s “home-school folder”. They can either complete the packet at home or leave it be, the choice is up to them!
Champ Treats: Our students have earned two Champ Treat celebrations! Champ Treats are given out by adults in our school when they observe a student, or a group of students, taking care of themselves, others, and this place. Champ Treat celebrations occur when our classroom fills their Champ Treat jar. This takes approximately 100 Champ Treats! For more information about Champ Treats, and why we use them, please refer to the PBiS section of the CVSD & CCS Family Student Handbook.
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