Friday, December 18th

 Happy Friday Weckie Parents!

We have had a fantastic week of face to face learning here in Second Grade! All of the new protocols and procedures are beginning to sink in and we are getting into a pretty great routine. We are being careful and we are being safe. Every now and then I see a few eye rolls, but we all can agree that no one wants to get sick! 😄

Next week we have TWO days of in-person learning. Monday will be our "Holiday PJ Party" Day. Info came out this week about our afternoon of fun. Please remember to send your child to school on Monday in warm jammies. We will still have recess outside! They will also still need good shoes for PE class. In the afternoon on Monday we will be watching a movie and doing a special craft. The kids will also need a special afternoon snack that you can send in from home. Please keep it simple - a cookie, bag of chips, fruit snacks, etc. but it can be special too. Also please keep in mind we do have a few students with allergies and need the snacks coming into our room to remain peanut and tree nut free. Please no stuffed animals or blankets. We are trying to minimize things coming into the classrooms from home...

I moved our Holiday Party to Monday afternoon due to our FAPES schedule on Tuesday afternoon with PE and Art. Unfortunately due to the pandemic restrictions, we are unable to have visitors for our party on Monday. We will miss having you all here!! 

Readers' Workshop

In Reader's Workshop we have moved into a new reading unit that is all about growing our reading muscles! We have been working on building our reading stamina and learning new strategies to do so! These include: reading more and more books, focusing our attention when there are distractions around us, scooping up snap words and reading them faster and choosing how to read a book! Daily we have tried to do some quick partner reading as well, for just about 10 minutes.

Writers' Workshop

In Writers' Workshop we are wrapping up our Realistic Fiction Unit! The kids have been working hard to create their own series characters and books about their characters. We have spent time this week adding details, editing for spelling, punctuation and capital letters and we have created covers with illustrated title pages. We also spent time on a Meet the Author page. Look for these books to come home with your writer next week after our publishing celebration on Monday morning.

Phonics

In Phonics this week we have been continuing our work with spelling patterns in words (think: ee, ea, ai, oa...) and we have been looking for words with these patterns in our own writing and reading. We have practiced adding "r" onto some of these patterns as well as the r can change the sound the vowel team makes. 

Math Workshop

In Math we have been digging deeper with subtraction and all of the strategies we can use when solving subtraction problems. It has been great to hear the kids explain their thinking behind their strategies and see which strategies are more common! Strategies have included: counting up, counting back, counting back through friendly 10s, subtracting 0 and 1, and using number lines for any or all! Remember, the Home Links for Unit 3 came home awhile back when we took our pause with in-person learning the first time. You can use these at home any time to review lessons from Unit 3. We are through Lesson 3.9 right now. This will also help your child to return to school after break, if they have had time to review some of these skills.

Social Emotional Learning (SEL)

Our Social Emotional Learning (SEL) at Dublin is an important part of our learning in an elementary school. At Dublin we use the Second Step program and completed the first unit while we were virtual. This past week at Dublin we launched back our Monday Morning Meetings only instead of meeting with the whole school in the gym, we all gathered on Zoom. Mr. Drewno led an awesome review session on the beginning unit of Second Step goals - focusing on being welcome and being safe. As a class I have been working hard to catch students making good choices and rewarding them with Dublin Shamrocks. Shamrocks are awarded the first month for: being welcoming, being safe, being respectful and being responsible! I am happy to report that I have been filling out a TON of shamrocks! We will do a weekly drawing and send the rest home to be celebrated. 

This will be our last blog post for 2020... What a year!! I just wanted to extend a huge, heartfelt thank you for ALL that you have done at home this year to help your child to learn remote and to learn in person throughout all of 2020. I know this has been a tough year and that many of us have gone through unimaginable times during this pandemic. Please know that I appreciate you all and also look forward to better days ahead with everyone in 2021. Please have a safe, happy and healthy holiday season. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to work with your children this year. They are such an incredible bunch of learners. I look forward to the day when I can hug and squeeze them all!! Until then, I look forward to returning with the kids to school on Monday, January 4, 2021.  

Fondly, Mrs. Weckstein :-)