First Week of School

 Hello Families,

Welcome to Mrs. Sandman's second grade class!  We have started out learning about procedures and routines.  We have talked about classroom expectations and playground expectations.  We will be covering a lot over this next year.  I will go over our curriculum at Back to School Night on Thursday, September 8th.

I am hoping to get all parents emails this week from the office so I can send out this blog as an email and starting communicating.  If you would like to send me an email to use for communication, please do so and I can add you to the group email list.

I will have classroom supplies added to the blog.  I appreciate all the support and sweet emails.  If you have any questions, please email me.  I do not have time to check email during the day.  Sometimes I do, but most of the time I don't.  So if you need to tell me something about pick up, etc.  call the office and tell them to send me a note.

Have a great week,
Mrs. Sandman

March 30- April 5

Dear Families,

I hope home school is going well.  I know how challenging it is and I want to be as supportive as I possibly can!  

Next week is Spring Break so we won't be giving out packets or posting any assignments on Google Classroom .  Please take this time to enjoy your family and take a break from homeschooling!

On the Monday after spring break you may pick up the second packet at school between 8-10.  I highly encourage you to get one as we are trying to stick to our kindergarten themes.  Try to give one page of math , and a writing page each day. Friday, April 10 is a teacher work day so we won't be posting lessons for that day. Also, we will send the next agenda that you can use for digital resources on our google classroom like we did for week 1 distance learning. It should be much better this second week of learning.  Thanks everyone for being patient.

I came up with a daily schedule to help keep you on track for the upcoming weeks. Please know that this is only a suggestion and if you have it all under control then don't worry about it! I was thinking about our Kinder day so it's kind of based on that.  Of course, feel free to change the time frame if your child is sleeping in.

Here is the schedule:

8-9-Read Aloud Story- Read a story or check out Epic books and have your child tell you about the setting, problem and solution. (20 min or so)

Log on to Lexia and do a few lessons(20-30 min)

Word wall words- make some flashcards or have your child write some sentences with their word wall words(20 min)

9-9:30-Recess-get outside and move 

9:30-9:45-Calendar-talk about the date, day, year, etc.how is the weather today? count to 100 by ones, fives and tens.

9:45-10:15-Math-do a page from the packet, do some addition or subtraction flash cards, practice writing your numbers to 50 and beyond! Or go to our digital agenda and find more ideas.

10:15-10:45-Check out a Mystery Science Mini Lesson or a Scholastic lesson

10:45-11:15-Do a writing assignment or phonics paper from the packet or write in a journal

11:15-11:30-Do a chore around the house to help out and give mom and dad a hug! 

If you are having a hard time with Google Classroom please know that this is new for me too! The kinder team is currently working on our Google Classroom page and making it more user friendly.  After spring break, things will be more organized by subject, and assignments. 

You can use Epic Books on Google Classroom. To access your child's reading level, you can click on the F& P link to practice. Unfortunately we are not allowed on to campus so I cannot access our classroom books for you to borrow. Another suggestion is to order leveled books on Amazon.  Bob books are also great for beginning readers.

 I am here to help please reach out if you are in need! Also, check out the RIo website for students. There are lots of links/educational sites for your child.

Hope this helps a little! Have a nice and relaxing Spring Break.

Mrs. Sandman

March16-20

Hello Families,
    Hopefully all of you are staying home and being cautious and safe.  We want to limit socializing with others at this moment.  This is the time to use our technology by face timing family and friends instead of getting together in groups.   As of now, the Kinder team as well as the Rio staff is figuring out how to help you at home to stay active, keep in a routine, and also have fun.  We will be coming up with an at-home program that you can follow and choose from several different activities for math, reading/language arts, science, social studies, and art.   But for now, you can do some things I added below.  If you need to get a hold of me, you can always email me.

This week, it is St. Patrick's Day on Tuesday.  This is my favorite holiday because my grandma was born in Ireland in County Kerry.  To honor St. Patrick's Day, you make a trap with your child and see if you can catch a Leprechaun.  Leprechauns love anything green.   

In Language Arts, you can practice your sight words.  New sight words: little, was
Review: (you can make a word wall at home)
a, at, and, an, be, can, come do, did, for, get, he, I, it, is, like, look, me, my, make, no, on, she, said,  we, you, go, in, have, will, play, this, that, has, had, one, with, jump, here, they

Also, depending on your level of reading and comprehension.  Somethings you can do to help with blending sounds into words.
  Start with easy c-v-c words   Like: cat, hat, cap, lap, lip, hit, met, hen, hop, hot, mug, hut
     (You can sound out and have them spell, you can give them word and have them sound out)
      (Then substitute: say CAT: take away C and change it to S now what do you have SAT)

After c-V-c  you can add blends: (CCVC)   e.g.  flat, grip, brat, spit, slip
 (use all the different short vowel sounds.)
After blends is long vowels with silent e (CVCe) e.g. bike, hike, fine, hide, hope, etc
After silent e words go to phonograms: ai, ay, oa, ea, ie, oi, oy,

Technology:
Lexia: You can always go on Lexia on our website. 
This is from the district: https://sites.google.com/pvusd.net/pvusdparentideas/home
'
Math: 
Play games like uno, card games like who win (war), making a five that we played in math centers last week (pick a card if it is a five you keep it, if not keep the card face up until you can add the card to make a five like 2 and 3, 1 and 4, etc.  Then you can add subtraction, 7-2, etc.

Please practice counting to 100.  Many students couldn't count to 50 when I was assessing for report cards.  Also, practice writing the numbers correctly.  You can do it with shaving cream, soap suds, etc. 
You can also give a word problem.

A Leprechaun stole 15 gold coins from Mrs. Sandman's class.  On his way out the door Mrs. Werner took 3 gold coins and Mrs. Victory stole another 3.  How many coins did the Leprechaun get?

Science: www.scholastic.com You can go on scholastic.  I will have to look up our classroom code but I think right now everything is free to observe.  This is what I will be working on for you to use at home.

Have a great week,
Mrs. Sandman

March 9-13

Hello Families,

Sorry I was out most of the week.  I got really sick with fever and bad cough.  I am going to be asking students to wash hands often to try and keep everyone well until the end of the year.  I heard we have one case in Santa Cruz County with the coronavirus.  We will need to make sure everyone who is sick stays home until they are better.  I know we have the attendance competition but right now with the different illnesses, I would rather we stay safe and stay home if there is a bad cough, fever, vomiting, etc.  It is 24 hours of no fever or vomit before they can return. 

Wow, it is March and it is almost spring!  This week, we will be talking about the weather and different types of clouds.  We have many books and poems that we will be reading. 

In Writer's workshop, we will celebrate this week and  will be starting our new unit on opinion writing.  They turn out very cute because we ask them to write about if they have opinions on what we could change at school.  One year, our students helped get the track in the upper playground get fixed because so many wrote about it. 

In Reader's workshop, students will be introduced to being a "super reader. " Students will be show their powers by looking around the room and other places to identify familiar words.  Then, they will use pointer power to point to words as they read.  

word wall words: little, girl  

In math students will be identifying solid and flat shapes.  We will identify and compare shapes using vocabulary words like face, sides, corners etc.  Students will be making different sizes of shapes.  We will also continue to add and subtract with word problems.


Reminders:
Talent Show coming up
Report Cards go home on March 20
Spring break is the week of March 27

Thank you and have a great week!

Mrs. Sandman

March 2-6

Hello Families,

This week, we are celebrating one of our favorite authors, Dr. Suess! His birthday is on Monday, March 2.  We will be doing activities in math, reading, art, and science that are themed with Dr. Suess.  Students who want to dress up daily to match the book we are reading are welcome to do so.  Also, students can bring in a Dr. Seuss book to share.  It should be a super fun week!

Monday: Dress up in stripes for "The Cat in the Hat"
Tuesday: Dress up in green for  "Green Eggs and Ham"
Wednesday: mix and match (backwards, inside out, etc.) for "Wacky Wednesday"
Thursday: something red or blue for "One fish Two fish Blue fish Red fish"
Friday:  Crazy socks "Fox on Socks"

Word wall words: want, feet

Writing workshop: Finishing up our "How to" book and celebrating on Wednesday with our buddies.

In Math:  In counting collections, students are exploring grouping of 2's, 5's, 10's, and other grouping.  Please practice at home.  We have also been discussing "place value" and counting the 10 way.  For example: for 12 it is 1 ten two, 13 is 1 ten 3, etc.  This is to help with placing the ten in the correct place. 

In Readers workshop: We are focusing on sounding out words instead of guessing.  You can use clues with the pictures to identify each letter in the word.

Nightly Homework:  Thank you for reading nightly with your child.  Please remember to sign the front of the envelope and return as soon as they master it.  I will not be sending books home on Fridays

Star of the Day:

For our next round of “Star of the Day,” we will be celebrating the Arts!  Students can bring in a piece of art they have created or by someone they know. (Please nothing of too much value) They may also do a musical performance with an instrument,  dance, sing a song, or bring in a poem they have created. This should be a lot of fun! We will begin on Monday.  

Wish List:

Paper towels
Baby wipes

Have a great week!

Feb. 24-28

Greetings Kinder Families,

We had a fun couple of short week! Next week we will have our first long week in a while!  We won't have a day off until Spring Break.  Let's try to win attendance, however please stay home if sick!

Here is a peek at next week.

Language Arts/Reading:  We are working on being "careful readers." "Careful readers" check their reading and make sure it makes sense.  We also try to sound out difficult words by using the picture to help us figure it out.  We continue to look for sight words in our reading. 

Homework:  Thank you for reading nightly with your child and returning the book each day.  I will be sending these books home daily. 

Math:  We are working hard learning about place value, teen numbers and missing addends.  (ie 3+_=5) This is a difficult skill but we will keep practicing!

Social Studies/Science:  We will continue learning about teeth.  This week we will learn about different types of animal teeth, and do an experiment to see what happens to teeth when exposed to sugary foods.

Writing Workshop:  We will continue to work on our "How to" books.  Our celebration is coming up next week.

Have a super weekend and I will see you all on Monday.
Mrs. Sandman

Feb. 17-21

Hello Families,

   We had such a fun Valentine's Day party!  Thank you so much to all of our parent helpers and amazing room parent! 

Here is a peek at next week:

No school on Monday for Presidents' Day. 

Social Studies/ Science: We will continue learning about presidents and our country. This week our focus is on George Washington.  In science, we will watch a video on dental health and eating healthy foods.  February is dental awareness month.  Please encourage students to brush teeth, floss and eat healthy foods. 

 Readers Workshop:  We are working on our "reading muscles."  We have learned many different strategies when reading.  For instance, using the picture to figure out a difficult word, putting words into "chunks" to sound it out, and using our pointer fingers (pointer power)to read each word on the page. When reading at home try to help them with reading for fluency with our take home books.  If students still continue to sound out the words have them repeat the sentence with fluency for understanding.  Please remind them that reading is for understanding/comprehending not just being able to read the words.  

Word Wall words: will, come

Math: We will continue with subtraction and addition with word problems and basic addition and subtraction to 10.  

Wednesday is spirit day!  Wear Tie Dye or spirit wear.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend.

Mrs. Sandman