August 2020

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to what will be a wonderful second grade year for you and your second grader!  I hope you have all had an amazing summer, filled with awesome adventures and memorable experiences.  My summer has been a busy one, balanced with lots of outdoor fun, and new learning and planning!  I am so excited about this great group of second graders!  I am grateful that I get to do this job everyday!  I have lots of fun things planned to enrich and encourage growth and learning!  This year may be a little different than any other, but I am excited for the adventure and challenge.  I will be here for you and your children every step of the way, so please feel free to contact me if you ever have any questions or concerns.  I check my email daily, or you can call my extensions at NBCS. I have very high expectations for this wonderful group; and we am confident that with a lot of encouragement and motivation these kids will reach great heights!

This upcoming year will involve a lot of new endeavors for your new second graders, and we will work through all of them until they become routine.  Some of these new experiences include reading, adding and subtracting multi-digit numbers, as well as exploring some new topics in science and social studies, and some incredible STEAM challenges.  We will also be learning and navigating remote platforms, like Zoom, Seesaw, IXL, amongst others.  We will practice each component of these at the beginning of the year, so that they are able to navigate with ease and independence.  Although we are not going to be sharing the same classroom space, I am excited to create a learning family with all of these kiddos.  We will be there to support each other, every step of the way. 

Back to school shopping is a fun way to get excited for school.  I realize that the start of school is fast approaching, so please don’t stress about having things before the first day.  The following is a list of things that might be helpful for your second grader to have, however, many of our tasks will be completed digitally, therefore many of these are optional. 

• pencils and erasers
• a pencil sharpener
• coloring materials (crayons, colored pencils, or markers)
• a large glue stick (I find elmers lasts the longest, and we use A LOT)
• a pair of kid friendly scissors
• a ruler
• a small whiteboard
• math materials that are NOT necessary (as they will have digital access to them, but are helpful).
  • Dice (these can be borrowed from a game, too!)
  • Deck of cards (these can also be borrowed from a game)
  • Small/cheap calculator (the more basic, the better) – we won’t use this until later in the year, and a digital one is available!
• headphones (this is so your parents don’t have to listen to our class every time we zoom!)
• a consistent space to work/Zoom from.
• a digital device with zoom capabilities (with audio and video capabilities). If you do not have access to this, please contact the school, so that we can assist.

If you do not have these materials at home, we can make them available to you!  I will be sending out some surveys early in the year to see what materials I can assist you with!  If, or when your child may return to school, we may have other materials that would be helpful in the classroom. 

I will also be arranging a time for you to pick up some learning materials from the school.  These will include some consumable materials, as well as reading materials that will need to be returned to the school at the end of the year. If you would prefer not to have these materials at home, digital resources will be available. There may also be regular times to pick up print resources, if you would prefer your child be working with paper/pencil resources.

I look forward to an incredible year of learning with your children.  I am so excited to get to know each and every member of our new class, and get started with building our new classroom community.  This year, we will keep a class blog, or website.  This will hopefully provide you with updates, and help to keep you organized throughout the year.  If you have any questions or concerns about your children’s second grade year, please do not hesitate to contact us.  Thank you in advance for all of your support and open communication.  We hope you all have had a wonderful summer, filled with lots of fun experiences. 

 

                                                                                                Take care,

                                                                                                Jen Prive