Welcome to Second Grade!

To my fabulous second graders and parents,

I am so excited to be your teacher next year. It is going to be a great year, and I am thrilled to meet you. I am a new teacher at Syracuse Arts Academy, but I am not new to teaching. I taught two years as a fifth grade teacher, one year in a 4/5 grade split, and I taught as a second grade teacher in Arizona. I also completed my student teaching in a third a grade classroom. I have to say that out of all the grades that I have taught, I love second graders the best.

This summer has been very eventful; I attended a class in July and learned some amazing new ways to integrate literature, music, and art in the classroom. It is going to be a fun year as we learn and explore together.

Last year I began a classroom blog and loved the interaction that I received from the parents. This was such a wonderful experience that I decided create a new blog for my second graders. At the beginning of the year I will ask you to sign a permission slip that will allow me to post your students pictures. When journaling, I only refer to the students by their first name. The blog is secured and you will need to email me your email address in order to access it. Please try to do this before school starts so you can be informed of any upcoming events that may take place in the classroom. My email address is tamrawoodland@mail.weber.edu

Summer is a great time for kids to read. With no school and no homework there are usually plenty of extra hours to fill. Please encourage your child to fill those hours reading. Studies have shown that children who read during their summer vacation retain more of what they learned throughout the school year and are better prepared for that first day of school in the fall. A love of reading will provide a lifetime of pleasure and learning.

You can encourage your child to read by providing them with books, magazines, and newspapers. Have them read aloud to you or to a brother or sister. All that is needed from you is encouragement and perhaps a few trips to the library. Attached you will find my Alien Book Club minute sheet. For every 20 minutes your child reads have them color an alien. Bring this sheet back at the beginning of school and we will have a Popsicle party!

Children love to feel encouragement from their parents, family members and teachers. One way that I encourage this is through, what I call, Happy Grams! Attached is a sheet of happy grams to be filled out by you or another family member. A Happy Gram is just a quick note telling your child what a wonderful person they are.

· Example: Dear Katie, Thank you so much for making your bed today, that made getting ready for school a lot nicer. Love Mom

I will send these in their weekly homework folder and we will spend a couple minutes each day reading them in class. Please fill out one or two happy grams for your student during the summer and we will begin reading them the first week of school.


Thank you for all your support and have a great summer.

Love,


Mrs. Woodland