September 13th Newsletter

Welcome!
Welcome to 2J! The students are full of enthusiasm and
each day has been a pleasure. I am looking forward to
the rest of the year! Just a reminder that my door is
always open for any queries you might have about your
child. To set up a meeting, please email me at
djakins@ais-dhaka.net. If you would like to come in and
volunteer to do a read aloud or share expertise in any of
our units of inquiry please email me to set up a time.

Language Arts
Writing We have successfully launched our writing
workshop and their writing folders are overflowing with
stories! A goal is for all students to see themselves as
authors. We have been working on adding details to our
writing, zooming in, and using expression to enhance our
stories. Students are doing a great job rereading and
improving their stories. Our class motto is “when you
are done, you have just begun!” Our next step is to look
at revising and editing.

Word Inquiry/Spelling
We have been working on the sounds the <c> makes in
spelling. We continue to explore the words that contain a
<c> and are working on creating rules to explain when
the <c> makes the /s/ or /k/ sound. We are using the base
word <read> to explore word parts. By the end of the
week, students will be using the words prefix, suffix and
base to discuss words.
For homework, most students have been working on the
2nd grade words. We will be revisiting these words to
incorporate them into the work we do with spelling
patterns. Please remember that students are to do 3
activities and return it on Thursday. It is important that
they remember to return their notebooks on time.

Math
Our introductory math unit is a numbers unit that focuses
on a range of concepts which may be new to some
students and may seem like more of a review to others.
We are learning strategies to make us more efficient and
accurate mathematicians. We’ve been working on
patterns on the 100‘s chart, time, how to count and
combine coins, arrays and dimensions, prime and perfect
square numbers, numbers that make 10, counting by 2’s,
5’s and 10’s, looking for patterns as well as solving and
creating story problems.

Unit
Authors and Illustrators
In unit we have been exploring how we and other people
express ourselves/themselves. We have been learning
about the differences between fiction and non-fiction
books, how illustrators express the author’s ideas in their
art, and why books are written. In talking about the
purposes of books our particular findings are that books
are used to entertain, to teach, and to inform. In addition
to being authors, we have also been illustrators. We have
experimented with a variety of mediums and used them
to express our ideas. Our class is particularly interested
in award winning books and we are finding out about
Caldecott winners, Newbery Winners and Coretta Scott
King award winners.

MAP Testing
We started MAP testing today. I am very proud of the
students for taking their time, focusing and trying their
best. See the schedule below for the remaining testing
dates. Please make sure your child is getting lots of rest,
eats a substantial breakfast and is on time!

Sunday, Sept. 18 - 8:00-9:15 Reading
Tuesday, Sept. 20 - 8:00-9:15 Language Usage