Parents/Guardians, We are teaching and learning now in an environment that puts a lot of emphasis on student assessments. Assessments are needed for almost any and everything that our students participate in while in school. While assessments may add a lot of pressure on families, there are strategies that can be practiced to help alleviate the stress that often comes with testing taking. Below is a set of strategies to support students (especially in the upper grades) as they prepare and study for a test. It was taken from the following site:https://go.sadlier.com/school/thank-you-multiple-choice-champion-tip-sheet?submissionGuid=59ab4729-1d22-4d20-896b-c0e476fb6725 Please visit and read more. Respectfully, Ms. Watkis

L. Watkis (Assistant Principal)

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L. Watkis (Assistant Principal)

October 22, 2021 Hello Tiger Family, We are now at the end of October. Time is truly flying for our scholars here in Second Grade. We are absolutely thrilled to announce that each homeroom is now self contained and will only see their homeroom teacher for all subjects. While we are saddened that we will no longer see all of second grade, we are grateful for the time that we shared with them and the opportunity to make a difference in their educational journey. This decision was made to keep our students and ourselves safe due to learning in a pandemic. Please note that students may also be placed in different homerooms, look for a message on classdojo regarding the switch. We look forward to the new relationships that we will build with our students and family. Here is what we are learning in Second Grade! Reading: This week in Reading, our essential question is, “What happens when families work together?” We will be reading a story called “Families Working Together” about a family that lives and works on a farm. This builds off of our story from last week by taking what we learned about taking care of all sorts of animals and how families need to work together in order to take care of their farm. Our phonics focus is the “long i” sound. Spelling Words: all any goes new number other right says work understand Vocabulary: Check - to look at something to make sure it is good condition Choose - to decide or make up your mind on one thing Chores - small jobs you do to help out around the house Cost - how much money you have to pay for something Customers - people buying something from a store or company Jobs - the work that people do to earn money Spend - to use money to buy or pay for something Tools - equipment used to make or fix things Math: CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.2.OA.C.4 Use addition to find the total number of objects arranged in rectangular arrays with up to 5 rows and up to 5 columns; write an equation to express the total as a sum of equal addends. Students have started identifying rows and columns on rectangular arrays. They have also begun learning how to use repeated addition to determine how many in all. This week, students will continue working with arrays, including how to determine if a group of objects is even or odd. By the end of next week, we will begin our unit on measurement! Supplies needed: Please be sure your scholar has a ruler. Many have them in their cubbies/desks. Please check with your child and ensure that they have one available to use. Homework: Students should be working for 15 minutes, nightly, on IXL recommended skills. This is tailored to their specific needs. Social Studies: This week in Social Studies, we learned about voting for our leaders and what it means to be the President of the United States.Our objective was: Students will identify government leaders and their roles in a community, state, and nation. Students were given the opportunity to write a narrative about what they would do for their individual classrooms if they were elected to become Class President. Classroom voting will take place next Friday on Book Character Day (October 29th). Next week our essential Question will be “How can your classmates show respect for your country?” The objective will be: Students will identify symbols and songs that reflect democracy and freedom. We will listen to the National Anthem, America the Beautiful and learn about the creation of these symbols that identify America. Science: This week in Science, we learned about the patterns that bodies of water are found in. Our objective was” Students will obtain information to identify patterns that about where water is found on Earths surface and in what forms. Students learned about Underground water and how the same machine that was used to dig for water is the same machine that they see at Carivals and amusement parks called a Ferris wheel. Today students had an assessment on the bodies of water and had to draw a picture to describe their favorite body of water and provide details for it. Next week our Essential Question will be: “What causes water to freeze?” Our objective will be “Students will apply the patterns of freezing water to predict the safety of a frozen lake based on scientific information.” We will look at a time elapsed video of lake freezing and analyze the properties that caused the lake to freeze. Health: This week in Health, we learned that our brain has different functions that control our responses. Our Objective was : Think about thinking, use decision making steps to avoid unhealthy influences. Students learned to use their brain in new ways to see the how the different parts of the brain control their feelings and emotions. Next week we will: List ways to protect your brain from injury and from damage due to drugs Increase the desire to protect the brain by realizing it can’t be replaced. Practice safety routines, including refusal skills, to protect your brain from harm. Use the Predicting Consequences Steps in scenarios to determine the likelihood of head injury.

2nd Grade Team Ms. Phillips Mrs. Boggess Mrs. Valera Mr. Rowland

Hello! The second and third grades just finished up some lovely work involving oil pastels! In second grade, students took a look at a folk art called molas, created in Panamá and Colombia by its Kuna people. Students determined which elements of art were the most important in molas (lines and color) then they created artworks inspired by molas using oil pastels and watercolors instead of the traditional fabric. Their subject matter was an animal that most represents them. In third grade, students finished creating a folk art called amate bark paintings. This folk art is created mainly by the Otomi peoples of Puebla. They turn bark into paper by hand and then decorate it them as an important part of rituals and ceremonies. Now in days, some are also made to be sold to tourists and art dealers. Students looked at the elements of art, as well as the features of amate bark painting to gain inspiration. They recycled paper tubes and used them as their canvas!

Stay happy, healthy, and creative! Miss James

Hello everyone! We are already coming towards the end of October! Thank you to everyone who reminded their children to participate in anti-bullying spirit week! We had a great amount of participation and we will be sharing photos soon! Please make sure students are keeping up with their assignments on Canvas as we are in the second half of the quarter! Please use our Google Site as it has many helpful resources for you all! Here's the link to our google site: https://sites.google.com/pgcps.org/3rdgradeclasssite Also, next week we have character day on Friday, October 29! Students can dress up as their favorite book character! We will also have our first pep rally on that afternoon to celebrate the beginning of the year and also reveal our student of the month winners! Finally, picture day will be coming up soon! It is scheduled for November 8, so we will give more information on that once it gets closer. Have a great weekend and we are looking forward to another great week next week! From your 3rd Grade Team! :)

Leah McDonagh Kylie Fleet Tamara Mathews Rashidah Balogun

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L. Watkis (Assistant Principal)

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L. Watkis (Assistant Principal)