Home Reading

2B Home Reading Program

Reading at home will make a HUGE difference in your child’s school success. I hope that this program will encourage your child, if he/she is not already, to make reading part of his/her everyday routine. A great way to become a better reader is to practice lots! I would like to see our students reading for 15 minutes per night, at least 4 times a week.

Please initial the monthly calendar in your child’s OWL folder on the days your child has read for 15 minutes. This can include your child reading a book to you, to a brother or a sister, even if you are reading to your child.

Each week your child reaches his/her goal (60 mins), they will be rewarded with a sticker. Stickers will be earned towards picking out reading prizes from our prize bin. I will check the agenda’s each week - they must have the initials on that week to earn the sticker.

We would like students to be reading books that are “just right” picks for their reading level. This helps them build confidence and helps them grow as readers. I  will be working with your child and you to determine whether or not I need to send books home for home reading. If I do, the books will be sent home in a large Ziploc bag. If your child chooses to read books from home, this is good too. We will all work together to decide what works best. The important thing is that your child is reading outside of school. Please ensure the books and the bag are returned to school for a book exchange when your child is finished with them.

Like I mentioned above, you are to initial the calendar in the OWL folder. Throughout the year, I will send home bits of information to help you support your child with his/her home reading.

I hope your child enjoys his/her time spent reading at home!

September

Quick Update

Here is a quick update about what has been happening in 2F during the mornings. We have developed a morning routine, where the students come in and are able to make a choice on how they start the day. There are a number of tasks set out for them to choose from and they are given a short amount of time to do this. This "soft start" allows the students a calm start to the day where they can choose the activity they would like to work on and who they would like to socialize with. The hope is that this lets us start the day on a positive note.

In Language Arts, we have been introduced to the CAFE of reading strategies; we have spent some time talking about "good fit" books. The books that they are reading should not be too difficult, as they will miss out on understanding what they are reading if they are spending all of their time decoding new words.  The grade 2s have been working on increasing their stamina for reading on their own.  Students have also been spending some time writing in their journals, and completing some sentence writing activities. We will continue working on our writing stamina, as well as writing complete sentences with proper punctuation.

In regards to Spelling - we will be using a program called, Words Their Way. This week, I administered a spelling assessment that sorts the students into groups based upon spelling patterns. The words on the test are chosen specifically to allow us to address the spelling patterns that each individual student needs to work on. Based on the assessment, our class will be divided into four groups so that we can address each groups needs. Thus, each group will have their own spelling words to work on. I will be sending home more information by the end of September.

In Science, students have been learning about vertebrates and invertebrates, as well as understanding that not all invertebrates are insects. They have learned that an insect must have 3 body parts and 6 legs! Invertebrates such as spiders and crustaceans are not insects!


A couple quick notes: 

Supervision does NOT start until 8:15 am - admin has asked us to remind you not to drop your students off prior to this time as we want to make sure that your child is safe - and we cannot guarantee that prior to 8:15 am. Students must go to their own entrance - not the front door - unless they are late.

Please send your child in appropriate outdoor gear for the weather - as we have seen in the past few days it is getting colder and it has been quite wet. Recess is outdoors for the majority of weather - and we want the students to be warm and dry!


Have a fabulous rest of the week!

Summer is almost officially over - the first day of Fall will be on Friday!

Info

Just a Few Things 

Hot Lunch Program

West Haven Hot Lunch Program West Haven Public School has a hot lunch program that run on most Fridays throughout the year. Ordering for this program is done online. Our hot lunch program will open for ordering on September 5th and close at midnight on September 15th. Subsequent menus will be available to order on the 1st of each month, and the deadline for those orders will be the 15th of each month prior to the lunch menu's month. All orders must be COMPLETED AND PAID BY THE DEADLINE. The system will not allow you to order after the deadline, and any orders that are unpaid after the deadline, will be considered incomplete and removed from the system. Instructions for setting your account are attached to WHPS September newsletter. 

Terry Fox Run

The intent of the Terry Fox Walk/Run is to enlighten our students to the courage and dedication of a fellow Canadian. Terry Fox set aside his own pain and tragedy in order to make a difference in the lives of his fellow man by raising awareness and funds for cancer research. The date we have picked for this year’s Terry Fox Walk/Run is Thursday, September 14th at approximately 1:05 p.m. Parents and siblings are welcome to join us! This year, we are encouraging all students in our school donate a toonie to the Terry Fox Foundation for Cancer Research. We hope that a cure for this terrible disease can be found. IF you are available and willing to be a parent volunteer to hand out snacks, or help direct the students - please let us know.


Milk Program

The school's milk program will be up and running on Monday September 18th. A milk punch card can be purchased online or through the office. 

Pictures

Our day for school pictures is on Tuesday September 19th.

Remember

There is no school on Friday September 15.

First Friday

We made it!!! I am not sure who is more exhausted after this first week - myself or the students! What a fabulous week we had in 2F getting to know each other and becoming more comfortable with each other! 

First of all - thank you to all of the parents that were able to make it to the BBQ last evening. It was very nice to meet you all!

Today, your child should come home with an OWL (Organized While Learning) folder. This folder is going to be very important in regards to communication. It should travel back and forth with your child every day along with their agenda. This folder is perfect for papers, homework, money etc - to keep them all in one place and so they don't end up crumpled in the bottom of your child's backpack. 

Today we had a birthday in the class and the student brought in treats for the class. This is was a nice surprise for all of us - however it is definitely not expected. At this time - I have not been made aware of any food allergies in the class. If there are any concerns that we need to be made aware of - please let us know.

Another thing that I would like to remind parents - is that students change their shoes when they come inside - and because of the sunny weather many of our students are wearing sandals. Please throw an extra pair of socks into their backpacks just in case. We have had a couple students with sore feet this week because they do not have socks! 

As mentioned in the OWL folder - we are always open for questions/concerns. Please feel free to email us and we will gladly get back to you. You can also always call us at the school to chat or make an appointment to meet with us. 

I am looking forward to a fun-filled year in 2F!

September 5 - 8

First Day of School

I had a wonderful morning with our 2F students. 

We spent some time getting to know each other, our room and organizing our supplies. 

Getting back into the groove for school is what we will be doing for the next couple of weeks. We will be working on learning expectations and routines, while we get back into school mode. 

In Language Arts, we will be reviewing our letters and sounds using Jolly Phonics. We will also be doing some short writing activities and journal writing. As we move into the month, we will be looking at CAFE reading strategies to help us while we read to ourselves. Part of our reading goals will be increasing the amount of time that we are able to read independently. 

Our first unit in Science will be exploring and learning about Small Crawling and Flying Animals. This is a fun unit to start with - and most students seem to really enjoy learning about all of the interesting facts about some really unique creepy, crawly animals. 

I am very excited to get to know everyone as we move through this year. I foresee a lot of fun learning happening in our class and can't wait to see what we can do!

Welcome Back to School!!!

Welcome Back to School!

We are so excited to meet everyone tomorrow!!!

Don't forget that it is a full day of school - we dismiss at 3:15! Also - Wednesday is a full day of school as well - there is no Early Dismissal in September.