Dear Second Grade Parents,
I am so excited to introduce myself as your child’s teacher this year. My name is Karey Kirk. I have been teaching for 28 years. Grout has been my home for nine years now. This summer was quite the wedding season for my family as two of my grown children married the loves of their lives. We also celebrated my parent’s 50th anniversary. Love was definitely in the air. We did some traveling to Idaho to celebrate my grandson’s first birthday and I finished my summer with a trip to Maine to spend time with my 2 year old granddaughter. I hope you and your family were able to relax, refresh and are ready to face a new school year with a second grader in the family.
We will be working hard this year and here are some things you can expect your child to learn.
Literacy
We will be developing our literacy skills through reading, writing, listening and speaking. Your child will have many choices of reading material that interests them. I will be guiding them to make choices at the perfect reading level for each of them. As a writer, your child will be encouraged to see writing as an enjoyable and useful skill. In the classroom, they will be encouraged to use their developing phonics skills to take their best guess when they want to write a word they do not know how to spell. It is my desire for them to gain independence in their writing and not get stuck in their writing waiting for someone to help spell words for them. Please do not be alarmed if work comes home with some words spelled incorrectly. As their writing develops and the students are exposed to more words in our reading and spelling program, their spelling will become more accurate.
Math
The math curriculum we use is called Bridges. There will be a lot of partner work as students work on developing concepts, strategies, and number sense. There will be opportunities for you to work together as a family to strengthen these concepts at home. Another way you can help your child at home is to spend about 5 minutes a night working on addition and subtraction flashcards to increase their speed and accuracy. You can often find these at a local dollar store or make your own. This practice is beneficial because it increases your child’s self-confidence in his /her math abilities.
Library
This year our library time will be on MONDAYS. Books may be checked out when previously checked books are returned. Books are due the FRIDAY BEFORE so our librarian has time to check them in before we arrive. Help your child find a safe place to keep their book for the week. Encourage your child to share their library books with you. Showing your love of reading can be contagious!
PE/PlayWorks
We have PE on WEDNESDAYS and Playworks on THURSDAYS. Please make sure your child is wearing appropriate shoes and clothing that allows full participation those days.
STEM
Students will be rotating throughout the year to the other second grade teachers to learn a variety of topics related to science, technology, and engineering. Topics include google docs, weather, habitats, balance and motion.
Volunteering and Visiting the Classroom
Please feel free to visit our classroom. Your call in advance is greatly appreciated to avoid interruptions, surprises, etc. For the safety of all students, ALL visitors (parents included) are required to check in at the office before coming down to the classroom.
Your child and I value your support and precious time. Any type of help you would like to give is appreciated. You do not need to commit to classroom time in order to help. There are often projects that can be done at home and returned. If you can, classroom volunteers add so much to the educational experience. Please let me know if you are interested. Background checks are required for all volunteers. Forms can be filled out in the office.
Homework
Research supports less homework for students this age, especially after a long day of learning at school. That same research also shows the importance of reading 20 minutes or more a day to gain proficiency as well as a love of reading. Homework will be sent home on Fridays and should be returned on the following Friday. A math page relating to current work will also be included for additional practice. If your child would like additional practice at home, there are many great sites located at www.portaportal.com/wolfsong .
Sharing
I will be sending home a separate paper explaining our sharing in more detail and will include a specific schedule. Your child will usually have sharing every other week on THURSDAYS. Each rotation will have a special theme. Please help your child select an item to share that corresponds to that week’s theme.
I look forward to working with you and your child this year. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact. Email tends to be the fastest way for me to respond.
Thank you,
Ms. Karey Kirk
503-916-6209
kkirk@pps.net
