1. Open House
August 2017

2. Agenda A day in the life of your First and Second grader
Morning routines
Literacy block (Daily 5)
Specials
Lunch
Math
Second Grade Recess (Grade1 Sci./SS)
First Grade Recess (Grade2 Sci./SS)
Writers Workshop
Dismissal

3. “Expectations!” We will expect your student to: Have good work habits
Take responsibility for his/her own learning
Focus without distractions
Ask for help when needed
Complete quality work in a timely matter

4. Planning and Instruction
I work with First and Second Grade Teams through grade level meetings and the Professional Learning Community to plan lessons, units, and assessments for all subject areas.
First Grade:
*Focus on Reading Fluency, word mastery and Oral Comprehension
*Learning to Organize thoughts, writing thoughts down, stamina building
*Math concepts practiced to master foundational skills
*Enrichment opportunities are provided to enable application of skills.
*Students use the 4 C’s (Communicate, Collaborate, Critical Thinking, Create) during activities and Collaborative projects
Second Grade:
*Focus on Oral and Written Comprehension, and vocabulary building activities
*Learning to create and use Thinking Maps to organize their learning
*Stamina building, more independent work expected in preparation
for third grade.
*Students apply their Math skills into complex problem solving situations.
*Gaining independence with explaining their math thinking

5. Thinking Maps used through out all content areas http://thinkingmaps
Circle Map
Bubble Map
Tree Map
Free Map (For writing) –Flow and Tree
Double Bubble Map
Cause and Effect Map
Brace Map
Bridge Map

6. Individual Rewards Table Whole class
Daily behavior charts- not used unless intervention required
Verbal praise
Red Slips, sticker chart
Purple card
Treasure box
Verbal praise
Sticker chart
Table points
Class, specials, hallway
Whole class incentive voted
Red slip recognition

7. Specials
Art PE
Music Tech
Science
Specials
On PE days, please send your child dressed appropriately for active play.
We have open circulation every Tuesday when your child will check out books.

8. Literacy Block
Focus lessons ( 3 mini lessons after 20 minutes each and wrap up)
Strategy Groups- based on assessment data
Guided reading and Daily 5
Read to self
Read to others
Word work
Writing
Spelling tests will be administered every Friday.

9. Daily Five Rotation.. What does it Look like?
Students
Teacher
*work quietly
*work on stamina
*get started right away
*get materials quickly
*stay in one spot
*work the whole time
*protect our time and our friends time
*Work with students
*Performing assessments
*Guided reading
*Strategy group

10. In Letterland this year we will move children away from using the Picture cards and just seeing the letters on their own.
It is a research-based program that provides children with a systematic and motivating framework for learning all 44 sounds and their spellings and for developing full literacy.
Please note that we will be following the pacing guide recommended by the county where children will learn a base pattern and then be asked to apply it in a multi-syllable word.

11. What Literacy Block Looks Like!
Time
First Grade
Second Grade
8:30- 8:45
Focus Comprehension Mini Lesson (Goals for the week are the same.. just on a diff. rigor level)
8:45-9:05
Rotation 1
(20 min)
9:05- 9:15
Focus Letterland/ Word Work Lesson
(Ms. Rothman, Ms. Gracias)
9:15- 9:50
Rotations 2 and 3
(Guided Reading and Strategy Groups at this time)
(20 min each)

12. Math The Math Curriculum is grouped into the following categories: Operations & Algebraic Thinking, Number & Operations in Base Ten ,Measurement & Data Geometry
This lessons focuses on using Math talk, Student leaders, and Building a Community.
Students will learn to explain their reasoning and problem solving by using proof drawing.
Help your child practice math addition and subtraction facts at home to develop fluency. One minute assessments will be conducted every week starting second quarter to monitor fluency in math facts.
Students will monitor their own growth over time by using graphs and charting their scores.

13. How Math Block Works~ Time First Grade Second Grade 11:55- 12:10
Warm up Math activity (review from previous day)
Ms. Rothman
Ms. Gracias
12:10- 12:35
Math Rotation
(Student collaboration)
Math focus lesson of the day/ practice
12:35- 1:05
(Student Collaboration)

14. Home Work Daily HW Reading Math (2-3 times) Spelling
Challenge HW :Integrated content activities
Please me if your child is interested.
HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills) activities.

15. Writing
We learn to create plans using thinking maps, edit, revise (independently and with a writing buddy) and final draft
We follow the Writers Workshop model
Personal narratives , Imaginary narratives, Non fiction writing
Research reports
Every child is met with for writing conferences before starting the final draft
First Grade: Students free write more and teacher conference focus on adding details to make their stories interesting. Later in the year they start to use organizers.
Second Grade: Students use graphic organizers to plan their stories with elaborated details to describe events.

16. Social Studies Curriculum
First and Second Grade focus:
Geography & Environmental Literacy
Economics & Financial Literacy
Civics & Governance
History
Culture

17. Science Curriculum First Grade Units of study:
Earth in the Universe
Force and Motion
Earth Systems
Ecosystems
Molecular Biology
Second Grade units of study:
Matter properties and Change
Force and Motion
Weather changes
Animal Life Cycles, Evolution and Genetics

18. Why Assess?
All assessments are aligned with the Common Core Standards for second grade.
We assess to find out which curriculum goals the students have mastered and which ones they need work on.

19. Literacy mClass state measure
Formal Assessments
Formal
Assessments
Common
Formative
End of Unit
Literacy mClass state measure

20. Informal Assessments

21. Volunteering *End of first quarter
Mystery Readers – Friday (except early release days and track out week)
Math Volunteer for Fact fluency
Literacy Volunteer
Room Moms- liaison bet. PTA and parents, learning experiences
Conferences
*End of first quarter
*End of third quarter

22. Recess and Special Events
For safety reasons, the school policy is that your child wears closed toe shoes to school each day.
Birthday treats are welcome during lunch.
At least two learning experiences will be planned this year.

23. My Goal for your child… Make strides in learning
Well planned instruction
Motivated learner…
ready to work hard
Support, intervention and enrichment
Confident and independent

24. Thank You For Coming! I look forward to a great year working with you 