LAST FEW WEEKS OF SCHOOL

Hello families-

We are in our last few weeks of school. Field day is this week -kindergarten and 1st are on Wednesday, May 2nd, 2nd and 3rd grades on Thursday, May 3rd, and 4th and 5th grades on on Friday, May 4th.  I have enjoyed teaching your children this school year.

Please make sure to have your children read EVERY day this summer. They can check books out from the public library by simply using their student ID which they know by heart. It is the same id they use for lunch. In addition, the dollar store has math fact books and cards to practice math during the summer months. The children will forget what they have learned if they don't practice during the summer months.

Have a safe and fun filled summer!

Janet Donald

Last Quarter of School!

My goodness, this school year has flown by very quickly. We are in our last 9 weeks for the school year, and I am amazed with the academic progress of our students. We have spent  couple of weeks working on comparing (same) and contrasting (differences) within a passage and between two separate passages. In addition, the student worked hard writing about the comparisons and contrasts. We are now moving onto describing how characters react to conflicts (problems) in a story. In addition, they are continuing to work on their verbal skills and being able to express themselves in full sentences. I encourage the children to take their writing home and discuss what they have learned with you! I have truly enjoyed being a part of the Park family and feel very blessed to have the opportunity to serve your children this year.

ACCESS TESTING

January has been very inconsistent with our weather. The children have missed several days of school but Cobb County School District has already built extra time into the school day to make up for unexpected days off. We have started ACCESS testing. The ACCESS testing is a test that scores you child's English proficiency level in listening, reading, speaking and writing. This testing will be administered the next couple of weeks and will should be completed by February break. Yes, our winter break is coming  February 19-23, 2018!

Winter is fast approaching!

I cannot believe we are in the month of December! The year is going quickly and we have so much to accomplish. All of the second grade students just completed a unit on sequencing and transition words and how those help us in our reading and writing. Our reading detectives read passages and had to highlight the transition words, find text evidence, and answer questions by constructing complete sentences rephrasing the question into their response. They worked very hard and did a great job. In addition, we worked on higher order thinking while writing and using more descriptive words than "stuff" and "nice" so our audience can visualize what we (the authors) are trying to convey in our writing. 

We are moving into working with our new textbook adoption, " National Geographic-Reach" which integrates our four domains of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. We are focusing our efforts on vocabulary skills to help our understanding in reading and writing.

Please take the time to have conversations during family time about what your children are learning in school. Have them respond to you in complete sentences. For example you may ask,"What was one thing you learned today?" They should respond by rephrasing your question, " Today, I learned about......" It is so important the children know you are interested in what they are learning in school. I love teaching at Norton Park and thank you for allowing me the opportunity to teach and enjoy your sweet children!

Just a reminder: Tuesday, December 19 and Wednesday, December 20th are half days. The children will be released at 12:15! December 21st through January 3rd is our winter break. Your children will return Thursday, January 4th.

Fall is here and 2nd quarter has begun!

I cannot believe the first quarter is already over! Thank you to those of you whom I met at conference week. Your children are working very hard each and every day to become better scholars. 

This quarter, we are working on sequencing (putting things in order of the way they happen), transition words in our writing, finding text evidence to answer questions, and responding to questions in full sentences by rephrasing the question into our answers. For example, if the question is ,"What is the first stage in the Life Cycle of  a Pumpkin?" The answer would be written: The first stage in the life cycle of a pumpkin is the seed. 

We are reading passages following an UNRAVEL strategy where the students underline the title, predict what the passage will talk about, and share their prior knowledge of the topic before reading. Then, we read the questions first and highlight the key words. Next, discuss vocabulary that may be new to the children. After that, we read and then become reading detectives to find the text evidence to answer the questions. 

I am having a great time working with all of your sweet children. Thank you for making sure they are completing their homework every day and reading EVERY NIGHT! The only way to become better readers is to read as much as possible.

If you have any questions or concerns, please email me janet.donald@cobbk12.org

Vowels and Consonants

We are reviewing our alphabet and how we have two groups of letters called vowels and consonants. The children learned about these groups in kindergarten and first grade. The vowels are A,E,I,O,U and sometimes Y and the consonants are all of the other letters in the alphabet. In order for your children to be successful readers, they need to know all of the letter sounds and how vowels can change their sounds. It would help your children if you would allow them to sign onto Starfall.com and review their letters every day. Starfall also has fun activities and books to read. I am truly loving getting to know all of your children!

Great Beginning

Last week was a whirlwind during preplanning. I was very excited to meet many students during our community bus tour. Meet and Greet gave me the opportunity to meet more families and students at Norton Park. All of the families are warm and welcoming. I can definitely see that all stakeholders make this a loving community and I can't wait to work with all of my new little scholars in the 2nd grade!