Welcome Back to School s4

Welcome Back To School

Clearview Elementary

Mrs. Clymer

Second Grade

ELEMENTARY OPEN HOUSE INSTRUCTIONAL OVERVIEW

2008-2009

Mrs. Clymer

Dear Parent/s/Guardian/s:

Once again we have begun a new school year at Clearview Elementary School. At this level your child begins to mature and will be able to take on more responsibility. We try to develop maturity in three areas: organization, responsibility, and study skills. This is also the time in the students’ lives where values and goals are formulated for life.

Our task as teachers and parents is to work together to help these students become the best they can be.

1. CONTENT DESCRIPTIONS:

A.  LANGUAGE ARTS – 4 Block Model

·  Represents four different approaches to teaching children to read.

·  Daily instruction in all four blocks provides numerous and varied opportunities for children to read and write.

·  Doing all four blocks acknowledges that children do not learn in the same way and provides substantial instruction to support whatever learning personality a child has.

Uses a variety of formats to make each block as multilevel as possible, providing additional support for children who struggle and additional challenges for children who catch on quickly.

Text – Scott Foresman: New Beginnings (2.1) and My Time to Shine (2.2).

The four components of each Reading Lesson are:

(1)  Working With Words

1.  An approach to spelling using high frequency writing words instead of words in isolation.

(2)  Guided Reading

1.  Skills will include: cause and effect, main idea, key vocabulary, context clues, short/long vowel sounds, dipthongs, digraphs, inflected forms, suffixes/prefixes, plot development, nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, capitalization, and punctuation.

2. Teaching Strategies include: shared reading, guided readings, plays, phonics stories, Running Records, vocabulary checks and unit tests

(3)  6 Traits Writing (Grammar)

(4) Self-Selected Reading

B.  MATHEMATICS

1.  Text – Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich

2.  2nd Grade Topics include:

(a)  Addition and subtraction facts to 18.

(b)  Numbers to 1000 (counting, place value, and ordering).

(c)  Two-digit and three-digit addition and subtraction.

(d)  Two-digit addition/subtraction with renaming.

(e)  Money (penny, nickel, dime, quarter, half-dollar, and dollar).

(f)  Time: (Hour, half-hour, 5 minute intervals, and elapsed time to the quarter hour).

-  The ability to sequence events according to hours, days, and months.

-  The ability to list the months in order and read a school schedule.

(g)  Geometry (circle, triangle, rectangle, square, sphere, cone, cube, and cylinder).

(h)  Estimating.

(i)  Multiplication and division (if we have time at the end of the year).

3.  Practice Worksheets and Tests

Parents: Oversee math homework and practice math facts with your child. Math facts are to be memorized.

C.  HANDWRITING

1.  Peterson Directed Handwriting

2.  Print and Cursive Letters:

(a)  Capitals 2 spaces high

(b)  Small letters 1 space high

(c)  Correct form and spacing

We begin Cursive Writing after Thanksgiving.

Parents: Encourage neatness and correct size.

D.  SCIENCE

1.  Text – Science. Macmillan/McGraw-Hill

Units:

(A)  Plants and Animals

(B)  Homes for Plants and Animals

(D) The Sun and its Family

(E) Matter and Energy

(F) Clouds

(G) Scientific Method

(H) Magnetism

Habitats:

(1)  Rainforest

(2)  Desert

(3)  Forests:

(a)  Woodland - Deciduous

(b)  Northern - Evergreen

Properties of Matter:

(1)  Solids

(2)  Liquids

(3)  Gases

(4)  Weight

(5)  Balance

Solar System:

(1)  Day and Night

(2)  Seasons

(3)  Moon Phases

(4)  Introduction to Planets

2.  Worksheets, tests, and projects.

E.  SOCIAL STUDIES

1.  Text – Neighborhoods, Houghton Mifflin.

(a)  Themes:

(1)  People and Places

(2)  The World and You

(3)  Ways of Living

(4)  People at Work

(5)  America’s Past

(6)  America’s Government

(b)  Geography (map skills)

(c)  Citizenship.

II. GRADING:

A.  Report card grades are determined as follows:

Quizzes and tests

Homework and projects

Class Participation and effort

B.  The Hanover Public School District standards for grading are as follows:

III. DEFICIENCY NOTICES:

About the middle of the marking term, deficiency notices are sent through the mail if your child is failing any subject. If you would like a conference at that time, please call.

IV. TRIPS:

All vacation trips, or other days of absence, are unexcused unless prior permission is given from the office.

V. HOMEWORK:

1.  Homework is the student’s responsibility and is to be completed on time.

2.  Each time a student has not prepared the assigned homework from any given subject, he/she will receive a check mark in the teacher’s record book and complete assignments at recess.

3.  The beginning of each 9-week period is a “fresh start” at which time the process begins anew

VI. CLASSROOM RULES:

We use the school-wide behavior system of S.M.I.L.E.

S- Speak in Turn

M- Mind Your Manners

I Am Prepared

L- Listen

E- Everyone Walks

1.  Be respectful and kind to all people and their property.

2.  Be a good listener; use your “inside” voice.

3.  Be responsible for yourself, your possessions, and your assignments.

4.  Display good manners at all times. We keep our hands, feet, and other objects to ourselves. We remember that kind words bring kind rewards.

VII. ACCELERATED READING PROGRAM (ARTY)

Students read books of their own interest, at their own individual skill level to acquire knowledge. Then students take a computerized test to assess their comprehension.

Students are required to read at a minimum of one ARty book per month.

BE A BETTER READER

Look at the pictures.

Get my mouth ready.

Reread.

Find chunks.

Ask myself:

* Does it make sense?

*Does it sound right?

*Does it look right?