Thank You & Happy Friday! 🙌🏻

Hello Everyone!

Thank you so much for joining me last night for our 2nd Grade Curriculum night! It was so great to have you all in our classroom. I hope I answered any questions you may have had last night. If you have any other questions, please feel free to email or call! I did want to let you know that I will be in a meeting today at the High School so if you need to reach me, email is the best way! If you weren't able to make it to curriculum night, I have information for you that will be sent home!

*A newsletter of our learning will be posted this weekend. Stay tuned for some awesome pictures and updates of what we have been up to! 

Reminder: Johnny Appleseed is this coming Tuesday, please send in an apple of any color or size for your dragonfly. We have an early release on Wednesday. Students will be dismissed at 12:50. 

Johnny Appleseed Day 9/26

Dear Dragonfly Families,

Did you know that John Chapman (also know as JOHNNY APPLESEED) was born in New England on September 26, 1774? Because Johnny Appleseed was an upstanding citizen who cared for others as well the world around him, his birthday has been declared as Johnny Appleseed Day! We will celebrate this special day on Tuesday, September 26th.

Second graders will travel to each of the five second grade classrooms to participate in an apple-based activity. There will be apple science, apple math, books and poems about apples, apple art, and maybe even a little tasting along the way!

In order to make this day a success, please send in one apple with your child by Tuesday, 9/26. The apple can be of any variety and of any size.

Thanks for helping to make learning fun!

A Few Reminders

Hello Dragonfly Families

I just wanted to send out a few notes and reminders for this week and next week!

Curriculum Night is Thursday, September 21st from 6:30-7:30. Everything from curriculum, classroom routines, and homework policies will be discussed! I hope to see you there!

Picture Day is Thursday, September 21st as well! 

September 27th is an Early Release Day and students will be dismissed at 12:50.

Tuesday, September 26th is Johnny Apple Seed Day! We will have a celebration day where we rotate to all of the second grade classes for activities all about apples! Please send your child to school with one apple. You can send this apple in any day prior to this event. 

I hope your week is off to a lovely start! 

        

2D Specifics!

Dear Families,

I wanted to reach out and give you some information about our classroom with more specifics. I have to say- we have had such a great transition and these students have come to school happy and excited to learn and grow together. We have already made new friends and dived right into the academics. We have practiced classroom routines and had a lot of talks about friendship and kindness- we are off to a great start together as a classroom family.

This letter is designed to provide you with specific information pertaining to this particular class so please read carefully. You also received the student/parent handbook that contains important information about overall school expectations. This should also be shared with your child because many of the topics in that document will be reinforced throughout the year.

1. Communication: I am a big communicator! I post weekly newsletters to the blog of our happenings in 2D. Information about subscribing to the blog came home last Friday. The blog will have any important information or reminders- weekly or more frequently. If you have any questions at any time (about anything- big or small) please email me or call me at sdonlon@sau16.org & (603) 772- 5413 ext. #155.  Email will be the quickest way for me to respond, but the communication form that works best for you works for me!
2. Birthdays: Students at SMS receive some pretty special treatment when celebrating their birthday at school! How many other kids can say that their principal SINGS to them?! We will also have a day toward the end of the year to celebrate summer birthdays. Due to the number of allergies, please do not send any food items in [per the SMS policy, all food coming in must be store bought, labeled, and sent to the nurse.] We will have an extra recess celebration at the end of each month for all of the birthdays of the month. If you’d like our class to enjoy an additional treat on your child’s birthday, please consider donating a book to the class in your child’s name, coming in to have lunch with your child, handing out special pencils for each member of our class, or something else creative! Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
3. Book Orders: Scholastic book orders will be sent home every month throughout the school year. The book orders can be paid by check or, more conveniently, online. Our class code is PFM73 if you wish to order online. This is a great way for our class to earn free books!
4. Student Belongings: Please put your child’s name on ALL belongings coming to school. This makes it a lot easier to find owners when it is time to get ready to go home.
5. Homework:
1. As part of our school-wide homework policy, students will be responsible completing 20 minutes of homework per night (10min. x 2nd grade). As a second grade team, we see that as time spent reading, practicing math facts, and completing word sorts.
2. It is important that second graders are reading every night. Reading should be a "just right book" for the child--a concept we work hard on at school. A quick way to check if a book is “just right” is to read the first page and if there are five or more words that are very tricky to solve for the child- it is too hard. For reluctant readers, I encourage parents to take turns reading a page during their child's reading. I will also be sending home questions for you to ask your reader.
3. It is also imperative that students are practicing their math facts. In second grade, many math fact strategies and games are introduced. Directions will be sent home after we have practiced in class.
4. Your child will be given their spelling words every week or sometimes every other week. These words are for them to practice and “sort” throughout the week. My goal is for students to learn and master spelling strategies and patterns and not just be "Friday spellers" (memorizing their words for the test and then quickly erasing them from their brains). This is why we will be using Words Their Way to create our spelling lists. Students will be assessed at the beginning of the year to determine their developmental spelling stage and will be given words accordingly. Every other week, each group of spellers will be given a new pattern to focus on. We will do several activities throughout the week, which students will then be asked to perform at home. At the end of their two week cycle, they will be tested on their use of the spelling pattern as well as on several dictated sentences. More information will be sent home during our first word study unit. Students will also be asked to work on five second grade sight words a week. We will include these on their spelling test.
5. Throughout the year, additional assignments may be sent home to be completed. These typically relate to thematic units and will be due after an extended period of time.
6. Toys: I allow students to bring in “recess” toys such as baseball gloves, tennis balls, and jump ropes.  Once recess is over, toys need to be put back into backpacks. Any other “toys” are best left at home so they don’t become distracting, or become lost, stolen, or broken in the classroom.  See the student handbook for electronic devices that should not be coming to school. Students are invited to bring in ojects for share during our morning meeting. Items brought in for show-and-tell must stay in backpacks until it is time to share, and then be put right back in. This is a great time for children to share important things in their lives, such as pictures, post cards, letters, etc. Due to allergies, pets are never allowed. Prohibited items in the school handbook are, of course, never allowed either.
7. Field Trips: There will be some field trips this year by bus, so some parent volunteers may be needed. Full description of the trip as well as the permission slip will always be sent home for you to sign by the designated date prior to the departure date. I’ll be in touch when it’s time!
8. Class Blog: I will work hard throughout the year to keep up-to-date with a classroom blog. Our class site can be found at http://smsdragonflies.blogspot.com/ Please bookmark this site as I will post important information, pertinent to our class, throughout the year. There is a link to our class website from the SMS school page. I have also manually sent confirmation emails to those of you who had not confirmed your subscription yet. If you have an email from "feed burner"- that is where the confirmation link will be! If you didn't receive an email from "feed burner" you are all set and subscribed successfully!
9. Snack: Our snack time will be around 10:00 every day. Healthy snacks are encouraged to help us stay energized throughout or morning. Water bottles are encouraged daily so students stay hydrated and don’t have to leave the room to do so. One small snack is plenty. The students have been doing great with this!
10. Home/School Folders: The blue SMS folder will serve as your child’s home/school folder. These are very useful for student paperwork especially on Fridays when many important notices are sent home from the office. They are also a very safe place to transport any notes back and forth to school every day. Our classroom also uses Friday Folders where I write a small weekly update about your child’s week. Please sign or initial that you have read it and feel free to write a note back! It is a fun way to stay communicating throughout the year. There will also be corrected work sent home in this folder.
11. Behavior Plan: Our classroom runs using the responsive classroom approach (https://www.responsiveclassroom.org). As a class, we will work together at the beginning of the year to establish expected classroom behaviors. We will draft a classroom contract that we will all sign. Through lots of positive, clear language, student behavior will be reinforced, reminded, or redirected. I continually find students are motivated to do well and be positive members of our classroom community.
12. Parent Volunteers: Parents are always welcome in the classroom and there are many types of opportunities throughout the year for you to help. I will of course let everyone know when there are special events going on in our classroom and when we start Mystery Readers!!! We welcome volunteers during regular learning time as well!

***Please don't hesitate to contact me with any other questions. I am looking forward to getting to know your families and sharing this year together. My door is always open if you ever have any questions or concerns!

Sincerely,

Sara Donlon

Typical Day in 2D

8:25-8:45 Morning Jobs & Morning Work

8:45-9:00 Morning Meeting

9:00-10:00 Math

10:00-10:15 Snack

10:15-10:30 Word Work

10:30-11:25 Writer's Workshop

11:25-12:05 Recess & Lunch

12:05-12:15 Reset Time

12:15-1:00 Encore

1:00-1:15 Read Aloud

1:15-2:15 Reader's Workshop

2:15-2:40 Social Studies/ Science

2:40-2:50 Pack Up/Clean up/ Closing Circle

______________________________

Dragonfly Color Day Schedule

2017-2018

Music

P.E

Art

Library

P.E.

Maker Space

*If possible, please have your child bring in an extra pair of sneakers to keep in our classroom for P.E. days. 

Back ✌🏼School

Welcome to the Dragonfly Class Blog! 

Each student brought a folder labeled "Friday Folder" home with them today containing instructions to subscribe to this blog for weekly updates! Please return Friday Folders to school each Monday. 

We had a wonderful first week getting to know each other and our new classroom. This week was full  of games, artwork, and community building. We were so lucky to have four full days to start off our school year! The students worked so hard on learning their new classroom rules and expectations. We created a contract with rules we found to be the most important and signed our names to show we agree! I am feeling so excited to start this new school year with such amazing individuals. After "flying" through this short week, I have already felt such positive energy and kindness from each of them. As we continue to build our community we will focus on becoming a classroom family and truly being there for one another- with a main goal of creating an environment that will be best for learning. We are off to a good start with many good times ahead of us! Here is a look at our classroom and some of our work from our first week together. 

Thank you for bringing in supplies for our classroom- it is very much appreciated!

Important Dates to Remember:

Curriculum Night is Thursday, September 21st from 6:30-7:30. 

Picture Day is Thursday, September 21st as well! 

September 27th is an Early Release Day and students will be dismissed at 12:50.

Stratham Hill Park Day

Good Morning Everyone!

We have officially reached our last full week of school as the Dragonfly Class! It is crazy how fast the time is going!

I want to send you a reminder about our class trip to Stratham Hill Park on Monday June 19th. We will be walking through the trails to the park and then enjoying a day together playing and having lunch outside! You are welcome to stop by and join us if you would like! If you are attending, please meet us at the park! It is important that students dress appropriately for this day and come to school with sunscreen applied already! Students can bring safe games to play, balls, wiffle ball bats and frisbees for this day! I have not received any emails about students getting a bagged lunch from the cafeteria on this day. If you want your child to get a prepared lunch from SMS please email me! I will then give your child the options and organize that with the cafe! Thank you!

We are in need of a few items for this fun filled day:

watermelon slices

strawberries

chip snack bags

mini waters

*Please email me if you are planning to provide any of these snack items for the kids*

Enjoy your week!

Field Day

Hello Dragonfly Families! 

This Friday, June 9th is Field Day! If weather is permitting (it looks good right now) we will be gathering outside for some activities in the morning! Students will work in teams and complete the fun tasks put together by volunteers and students from the high school. We will wrap up our field day activities before lunch and then join the rest of the second graders for a grade wide afternoon activity. 

The theme for this year's field day is"Where's Waldo" so wearing red, white or stripes is encouraged! Please have students dress in clothing that is comfortable to run and be active in! It is also important to pack a snack and a water bottle for this day, as we will be moving around a lot. If it is sunny, please apply sunblock on your dragonfly BEFORE they come to school. If you have any questions regarding this day, please let me know! 

Newsletter 6-2-17

Happy Friday Everyone!

We have officially made it to June! What a busy week. Thank you for coming to the Plant Play and making that night so memorable to the students. I hope you enjoyed watching them play their role of H2O. They worked so hard and it took such courage to get up and perform the way they did! I was a very proud teacher. As you know, we have a field trip on Monday morning. We will be leaving school at 8:45 so it is very important that students arrive on time. We will be arriving to Great Bay Discovery Center at 9:00am. If you are chaperoning, we will see you there at 9:00 for our fun filled morning! Please have your child wear sneakers for this day and dress accordingly to weather. Right now, the weather looks rainy! I am keeping my fingers crossed for a change! The Grand Luncheon is directly after our field trip. Lunch is at 12:15-12:50 and recess is at 12:50-1:10. There will be no activity in our classroom for grandparents before the lunch, as we will be rushing to get back from our field trip as it is! 

Reading

We continue to work in our series books and will explore a new series next week! Over the summer buy your dragonfly some sticky notes and encourage them to continue to take notes about their reading! We call them "stop and jots" and the students are so great at them. 

Writing

Persuasive writing is off to a fun start and we have convinced others to vist our favorite places and eat our favorite foods! We are working hard to stretch our words and use all of the rules we are still learning for our word work! 

Math 

It's all about fractions these days in 2D. The students have grasped this concept so well and are using the language with ease. We have been talking about equal parts, half, whole, and math phrases like one third and one fourth. We have seen a connection between fractions, arrays and multiplication. The students are so excited to be learning about fractions. It's been a fun way to kick off June!

Stratham Hill Park Day

All 2nd graders will be going to Stratham Hill Park on Monday, June 19th. This will be our big celebration to wrap up the year! If you would like to join us we will be heading to the park around 9:00 and coming back just in time for encore classes at 2:05. Students will need to pack a lunch from home on this day or order a bagged lunch from the cafeteria. If you would like to have your child order a bagged lunch, please email me and let me know! I will then read off the options to them and organize it for that day! :)

Have a safe and  happy weekend!