Starry Elementary

Hello wonderful 2H families. March is here and giddy up! J March begins a very busy time in 2^nd grade. As you know conferences are coming soon. I will be sending home conference notes within the next week. These conferences are student led and will require your student to be present. I am very excited for you to see all that they are capable of doing. They truly are amazing kids!

Attached to this letter is a new program that we are starting in 2H called Math Madness. This will be done at school and you will see your child’s team score when they bring home their timed test. If you have any questions about this, please don’t hesitate to call or email!
We will also begin Social Studies activity called Flat Stanley. This is a project that is in need of some parent assistance. Please watch for a letter requesting your help soon.
As you know your child is getting bigger every day. Now is the time to discuss with your child about the importance of keeping good Hygiene. This can be done by having them be responsible for every other day bathing or even daily deodorant. Also keeping nails cut and clean is a big responsibility. We will be talking about personal hygiene in class due to a health initiative.

Reading

We have had so much fun this past month with Reciprocal Teaching. The kids have had the opportunity to get into character to practice the Fabulous Four. Ask your child to tell you who the Fabulous Four are and what their jobs are when reading. Moving forward, we will be turning our attention to making mental images while we read texts. This is when students use the text details along with their previous experiences to create a mental image as the story unfolds.

Science/Social Studies

The students have enjoyed learning about Abe Lincoln a great deal. Next we will focus on Martin Luther King Jr., then Rosa Parks and lastly Ruby Bridges. You will witness their wonderful knowledge of these people at conferences during our Social Studies station. We will begin Flat Stanley letters and state tracking.

This is when the kids write a letter to two people from another state and see if they get a return. We will track Stanley’s adventures on the US map and locate the many different states he travels to.

Math

Over the next few weeks we will be wrapping up our long reign of using story problems to solve double-digit facts. Rest assured we will not retire these skills but will simply revisit them periodically throughout the trimester. We will focus our attention on money and time over the course of the month. Thank you for working so hard with your child on the many tasks in math! They really have made some amazing growth!

ELP

https://sites.google.com/site/elpwithmrszousel/

Library

Website: http://sites.google.com/a/marion.k12.ia.us/library-links/home

Our K-3 School Wide Reading Program

This year for our school wide reading program we are going to “Get Fired Up for Reading!” The kids will be excited to see a dragon grow in our library throughout the year. Each reading slip that is turned in will add a scale to our dragon’s body. How large will our dragon grow?

· Starting in September for every reading slip of 100 minutes that students turn in they will get their name written on a dragon scale. Every scale will be taped to the dragon in the library.

· At the end of the month all of the names of the students who turned in reading slips will be put in a tub and we will draw one name for each class. The students that are chosen will get to eat lunch in the library.

· Our goal is to make reading fun and for the students to take an adventure while reading books.

· If you have any questions please contact Michelle Walker, teacher librarian, mwalker@marion.k12.ia.us or call me at school.

Why is the reading wheel 100 minutes? Reading 20 minutes everyday improves academic performance. There is a strong correlation between a child’s ability to read and her/his academic performance. Because so much of our schooling relies on our abilities to read, children must have strong reading skills to succeed and thrive in school.

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