blausea 我在這裡慢慢潛泳,緩緩漂流前進著

一整個學年我把二年級的 weekly newsletter kept just for myself. 學年進入尾聲,這一期的 newsletter 有很多 personal touch, 有一些好建議 for reading/math/writing practice and even how to kill the boredom! 二年級的老師一向非常 resourceful, 常常給我們很好的意見和啟發.(BTW, 二年級老師下學期開始升任校長.)

Recent goings-on

Students enjoyed step-up day in third grade. They have so much to look forward to next year!

I hope everyone is enjoying the whimsical clay frogs made by your second grader. Isabella M’s (third grader) mom, Desiree, and Aunt Darcy were instrumental in making this project happen. The Maggiorie family not only donated the clay and glaze, but transported the projects back and forth from school to the kiln. They also provided all wrapping materials.

Thank you Dr. G for the wonderful solar workshop! The students loved making and testing their solar ovens and learned much about energy. The solar cars were a real hit!

Thank you Dr. K for our wonderful presentation about families! Students learned that families are all different and families provide love, care, joy, and help. People within families rely on each other. Students drew pictures of their families and learned that all families are real.

Our Safeway field trip was the final field trip in our exploration of how food gets from the farm to the table. Students received a “behind the scenes” tour and saw the food storage areas behind the retail display areas.

Animal Reports

We will work on writing the animal reports this week. The artwork that students produced as part of this project is truly remarkable. Thanks Mr. R!

Important information about this week

Tuesday 6/8: Students may bring in 2 items to share, as we will have free sharing that day. Items must be small enough to fit in their backpacks. No live animals please!

Thursday 6/10: 2nd grade Free Dress and Read-in. We will be having a low-key day enjoying a lot of free reading time. Students may bring a beach towel to read on as we pretend to read by the pool/on the beach! Students may dress in free dress of play clothes. Please follow school dress code: no spaghetti straps, no open toed shoes and no exposed mid-drifts.

Friday 6/11: Last day of school – full dress uniform for 8th grade graduation.
Girls: skirts (no leggings or wild socks) Boys: pants in good repair. Students DO NOT need their cardigans as it will likely be warm. You are welcome to come into the classroom between 11am and noon to say goodbye and pick up your second graders. All students must be picked up in the classroom by noon as summer vacation officially starts at that time! Remember the lower school campus will be crowded due to the graduation ceremony. Parking may be limited so you may want to park in the neighborhood. If driving through campus, please remember to drive slowly because there will be many people here enjoying 8th grade graduation.

Reading

As you and your child plan for summer reading, a good on-line resource is: www.readingrockets.org This site is federally funded and is very useful.  This Saturday, several local kids’ summer reading incentive programs get underway. Hicklebees bookstore’s summer reading program is sure to be engaging and motivating. They usually have booklists with this program. Hicklebees also has authors visit the store. This makes a great summer outing. Check their website at www.hicklebees.com for more information. San Jose and Santa Clara County Public libraries will kick off their summer reading programs, too. Large chain bookstores like Barnes and Nobel and Borders usually have kids’ summer reading programs with giveaways as well.

Writing

This week, your child is bringing home his or her Weekend News. I hope you will enjoy seeing your child’s progression in writing as this captures a writing sample from each week in second grade. Later this week, your child will bring home his or her journal. Although not everything in it is a journal entry (there are some word games), this will be something to cherish as well.

By the time their journals are sent home, I will have had second graders write a letter to themselves to be read sometime in the future. In it students will reflect on what their life is like now and what they want their older-selves to remember about it. This may be a wonderful thing for the students to do every year and then get them back on a special occasion like high-school or college graduation, or on a special birthday. This may be something you want to do with your child and present to him or her sometime in the future.

I highly encourage you to look for authentic writing opportunities for your second grader so that he or she can practice writing over the summer. One idea is writing letters to friends. Who doesn’t love mail? Another is to keep a journal, especially if you are traveling. E-mailing relatives is another wonderful writing exercise for kids.

Final Thoughts

This has been a great year and I have loved having the privilege of working with your kids. What a wonderful group!! They have forever touched my life and, it is with a great deal of love and hope for each of them that I gently nudge them from second grade out into the world. I am looking forward to continue to work with them and you as the school principal.

Your kids are so capable at this age. They know so much applicable math that this summer they can: practice counting back change from their purchases, measure as they help you cook, calculate distances when traveling, work out time duration problems (i.e. if the movie is 2 hours and 45 minutes long what time will it be when we get out?).

Your kids are also very capable to help around the house. They feel so empowered when they are a contributing part of a group. I hope, if you don’t already do this, that you give them jobs around the house so that they can contribute to the family (sorting and folding laundry, setting and clearing the table, keeping their room picked up, packing themselves for camp or trips, etc.)

I wish for everyone a great summer full of lazy days and memory building. I hope you will limit “screen time” and that you will let your kids get bored. It is out of boredom that their amazing imaginations and creativity have room to expand and fill the boredom. Here is an idea that I’ve used with my own kids: they make a job jar. They think of things that they can do around the house above and beyond their normal chores. If they ever say, “I’m bored,” they either think of something to do or go to the job jar and select something to do. It’s amazing how they never get bored anymore!

As I have mentioned before, kids this age usually end the school year with a bit of anxiety. They are uncertain as to their summer schedules. They see the last day of school as the end of the comfort of the school routine, the autonomy they feel at school and seeing their friends everyday. Please talk to your child about things your family will be doing the first few days of summer so they can start looking forward to their summer vacation.

Best wishes for a wonderful summer and a great third grade year!!