Dear Family,
So much for our high hopes for a full week of school! I hope everyone is enjoying our surprise snow day! Please make necessary transportation adjustments as this Wednesday will NOT be an early release day after all. We are able to make up today by going a full day on Wednesday. Also, school WILL be in session on Monday Feb. 17 as an additional make-up day.
(2-10-14: The message below has been adjusted to reflect the most recent information regarding this week at school.)
Dear Family,
On Tuesday and Wednesday, students will go to art, and they will begin a new related arts rotation on Thursday with music. Wednesday is NOT an early release day. However, please make sure your student knows how they will be going home, and if transportation will be different please send in a note. Thanks so much!
To celebrate friendship and our love for reading, we will have a cozy reading event on Friday, Feb. 14. Students are welcome to wear their most cozy pj's, and bring in a blanket, a fluffy friend, a favorite book (or ebook) from home to read with a friend, and a Valentine for each student in our class. We have 27 students, and cards can be labeled From: Your Child. I will send home a white bag on Monday that can be decorated with your child's name at home, but students may decorate any type of small container of their choice. Students can bring it in on Friday to put their cards in. Please feel free to include a yummy peanut/ tree nut free treat for your child on Friday as well.
Friday is also device reading day for our class. We had our first go at this yesterday, and I think things went well for our first time. Please consider adding the Storia app from Scholastic to your student's device. Scholastic will start you off with 5 free ebooks! They also offer one FREE ebook each month, so you will be able to build your child's ebook library affordably in no time! The Reading Rainbow app looks promising, but it is very individualized and will work best if students have their own account. The app from MeeGenius also has a wide variety of free ebooks. Please consider sharing the apps your child enjoys for reading with us by posting them in the comments section of this blog. Remember to make sure the device is fully charged, and that your child knows how to access the ebooks on it independently. This is very important since I cannot guarantee internet access for student devices, and many apps require a username and password. In addition, students must have the signed permission slip turned in to me if they wish to bring in a device from home on Fridays. I will have access to several more devices with plenty of ebooks for your child, so don't worry if they are unable to bring a device from home on Fridays.
Please remember that ScootPad homework and reading logs are due on Friday as usual. In regards to the reading logs, I understand that several students were unable to fill them out last week due to the snow days even though they read at home. I will give them credit for reading last week if those days are filled in by this Friday.
Students are very excited about our current blogging project. Please know that they are welcome to count any work they do for this on their reading log. For example, if they spend time writing the retelling and opinion of their book, please indicate this work on their reading log instead of reading for that day. I have also extended the due date for this project to March 14th to give students enough time to complete this work. In addition, students will be allowed to turn in their work on paper if they do not wish to include it on the student blog.
As always, please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns. Thank you for your support! Second grade parents are the BEST!
Highest Regards,
Gina Weber
'Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much." -Helen Keller