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I just wanted to say a happy summer hello to my upcoming second graders! I hope you are having a fabulous summer and I can not wait to hear all about the adventures you did within the first couple weeks of school! The summer must be going by quickly because we are already in the month of July! I am busy preparing our classroom into the Superheroes’ Headquarters by decorating bulletin boards, organizing work areas, and much more! I am very excited to meet all my students and hope you have a fabulous rest of the summer! 

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Happy June!

It is hard to believe that we are approaching the last days of 2^nd grade and into the month of June! I still cannot believe how quickly the school year went by! With that being said, I wanted to send one last note home to tell you how thankful I am to have had your son or daughter in my first year of teaching. This year has taught me many valuable lessons as an educator and I am so very proud of the growth each one of them has done in their Reading and Math classes. Continue to encourage them to read throughout the summer and practice their math addition, subtraction, and multiplication fluency facts.

Here is a quick overview of different events coming up in the last few days of school!

Friday, June 5^th: Early Dismissal

Monday, June 8^th: Early Dismissal / Last Day of School

Have a fabulous and safe summer!

Stuart Richards via Compfight

Happy April!

Wow! What a great way to start the month of April with our 2^nd grade concert the night before! It was such a joy to see all the second graders come out and participate in their concert! They have been really working so hard in music class and I was so thankful that you could be a part of their big night!

We have begun the 4^th quarter and it is so hard to believe! I am happy to say that we have reached spring weather as the children love to go outside for break time and recess! I am sure we will have the April showers, but we eagerly await those May flowers! There is a lot going on in the month of April with our second graders and I wanted to inform you!!

In the 4^th quarter for math, we are beginning to review money, including coin values, as well as how to add them up and use graphic organizers, such as graphs. We are also using measurement to solve with addition and subtraction! Therefore, at home, feel free to use some coins and practice counting up different values. You can make it a game where you and your child each make a value and then they you each have to count up each other’s values. When you go to the store and pay in cash, you can have the students think about how they would make change. There are a lot of different ways you can help review money values, so feel free to be creative!

In Reading class, we are reviewing how to sequence events and looking at how author’s use text structure to organize our readings. To encourage our readers to keep on reading and to enjoy it, I have included an April monthly reading log with creative ideas that you can choose to do each night! Feel free to use that throughout the month of April!

Our big event that is coming up in April is our field trip to the Santander Center in Reading on April 29^th. This field trip is very exciting and something new to second grade! We will be watching a performance of Miss Nelson is Missing. The performance is based on a book that we will spend talking about and using in our classroom in just a few weeks! A permission slip came home recently for it so please sign it and return so that your son and/or daughter can join us for a unique opportunity!

As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me!

Mrs. Hoffsmith

Happy March! Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

It is the month we have been counting down to in my classroom because it will soon be SPRINGTIME! In my classes, we have enjoyed the snow and the winter weather, but are ready for some warmer weather and to see flowers blooming! I know we might have to be patient though for all of those, but at least we are heading towards the spring weather!

Each week, we have been having music practice for our upcoming concert, which will be on March 31^st at 7pm at Blue Ball Elementary. The children are getting excited and I am really looking forward to being at the concert and seeing all their hard work! An orange slip came home about two weeks ago to let our Music teacher know if your child is attending. I am looking forward to seeing everyone there!

In addition to preparing for our spring concert, we are becoming great learners with two-and three- digit addition and subtraction. In our math classes, we will begin problem solving numbers into equal groups and arrays to help develop basic understanding of multiplication! The children are very excited to know that multiplication is just another way of saying repeated addition.

In the last newsletter, I talked about our 2-D and 3-D map that we were creating in class called the “Summer Dreaming” community. I know the students were very excited to bring home their building that they had been working on. Here is a picture of what our community looked like since I know many parents were hoping to see a picture of the classes’ hard work!

Please continue to read with your child 20 minutes a night and practice math fluency facts. In addition, here are a few important dates to be aware of:

March 25, 2015: End of the 3^rd Quarter

March 31, 2015: 2^nd Grade Concert at 7pm

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to contact me! Happy March!

-Mrs. Hoffsmith

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This month is a very exciting time for our students as we prepare for that special time of valentines and treats! Our homeroom will be having a Valentine’s Day party on February 12^th. In the upcoming week, we will make our special bag to hold all our special valentines and treats and I am sure your students will tell you about their decorations! With having the party in our homerooms, I ask that if your son/or daughter would like to give out valentines that they provide a valentine for each of the students  in my homeroom so that everyone can be involved in receiving a valentine! During our party, we will be playing some Valentine’s Day games to celebrate the holiday! You can email me for the names of the students, but they are listed on the monthly paper copy of the newsletter sent home with your son or daughter.

In addition to preparing for our Valentine’s Day celebration, we are learning and growing a lot in second grade! We have developed a VERY large map of our “Summer Dreaming” community. In this map, we discussed map keys and what a map looks like from a 3-D and 2-D view. I will be taking a picture of the community all assembled so that you can view our amazing masterpiece of a community!

Please continue to read with your child 20 minutes a night and practice math fluency facts because I am noticing the growth in both of my classes! In addition, here are a few important dates to be aware of:

February 4, 2015: Early Dismissal

February 13, 2015: In-Service Day/ No School

February 16, 2015: President’s Day / No School

**March 31, 2015: 2^nd Grade Concert at 7pm

As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Only six more weeks of winter according to the groundhog! Let’s hope for that warm weather!

Mrs. Hoffsmith

Photo Credit: Nate via Compfight

Happy New Year

I hope you had a fabulous time off and were able to spend time together with family and friends! I cannot believe that we are beginning the New Year already. This month is going to be quite busy with different projects and learning objectives! This week, we begin reading our main selection, Dear Juno, which focuses on drawing conclusions and making inferences! We will take a look at different stories in which we will summarize and compare the story to our own life! This week, we will be completing our District Writing Sample for the 2^nd quarter too!

Over the month of January, we will be studying maps and learning about the land features and different components of maps. We will have some hands-on building of our own map in our homeroom class, which you will receive more information about soon!

I am excited about the month of January and all that we will do during the month. Here is an overview of the district calendar with dates for the month of January!

January 5^th: Return to School

January 16^th: End of the 2^nd Quarter

January 19^th: No School (Teacher In-Service Day)

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to contact me through at my school phone number or my email!

Stay Warm in the Month of January!

Enter this room with a thankful heart…

That is what our door says when you enter my room! So many times, we get focused on the December season especially with the surprise snow last night. However, the month of November, we are remembering all that we are thankful for! In my homeroom, we are learning about the solar system and all the 8 planets within our solar system. We are amazed at the size the planets are and thankful for the sun that keeps us at the perfect temperature to live! We really have loved learning about the planets and will continue to learn about astronauts and meteorites as well as other space features leading up to Thanksgiving.

While in my reading class we incorporate fun facts about solar system as well, but are focusing on identifying the main point and details within a story. Each 2nd grade homeroom encourages you to read at least 20 minutes per night and in that time would be a great time to have your student find the main idea and details of the book! In our small groups, we are planning on incorporating a new reading activity where the students listen and practice reading a passage to help improve fluency and comprehension! I am
about how much each student has grown and I shared that with you all at parent conferences, but I can’t wait to see how much further they will grow as 2nd grade readers!

Leading up to Thanksgiving break, we will continue reviewing our place value up to 1000. We have begun sorting out different numbers using ones, tens and hundreds as well as begun two-digit place value addition. I am excited to see how far they have progressed and I love to see their minds thinking when they are figuring out a problem! In class, I have them using the computer for about 15-20 minutes per day to participate in review problems on a program called IXL. The lessons resemble practice problems that I do with the students in class and provides reasoning if the student answers incorrectly. They all seem to be enjoying using the computer during math time.

 That is just a glimpse of what we are up to in 2nd grade! It is an exciting time of the year and a great time to reflect of how much we have to be thankful for when we come to school each day!

Mrs. Hoffsmith

Hi Parents!

I wanted to let you know that today your child received a NEW yellow folder that they will be taking to all of their classes. We made this change today that all students will put their information and papers in one spot and be able to take them home to you! This way you can see their awesome work because they are working hard and doing a great job! The students are very excited about this new folder! I am sure that they will show it off to you tonight, but I wanted to let you know!

Stay dry on this rainy day!

Mrs. Hoffsmith

Photo Credit: Kasaa via Compfight

Wow! Can you believe it…we are in the second quarter of the school year! This is one of my favorite time of the year because it is perfect for sitting by the campfire and drinking some hot chocolate! I am very excited that our theme for the next two weeks is exploring the outdoors and our solar system. It is the perfect timing for this theme since there are so many changes happening in nature in this season.

We have Parent-Teacher conferences coming up soon with your son or daughter’s Language Arts teacher so please verify those times! As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to email me at jenna_bucklew@elanco.org

Although I love the summer weather, the fall weather has finally arrived and it feels refreshing! I hope you enjoyed your weekend and were able to participate in some fall activities, whether that be finding a pumpkin, sitting by a campfire, or drinking some apple cider! In the month of October, we have some exciting events coming up! I sent home a calendar so that you would be able to stay connected, but I wanted to let you know that we have PICTURE DAY this FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10th. On Monday, your child will receive their picture order form. In addition, Race for Education and an assembly on Fire Prevention will be in the month of October. We are excited and will be extending these assembly themes into our Language Arts lessons. We will be reading story about Firefighters as well as will be reading about responsibility and perseverance! As always, if you have any questions, feel free to contact me! 

Photo Credit: Thomas Hawk via Compfight