Hello and welcome back to another exciting school year! We had a great first day in Room 210! As your child transitions to a new grade, new teacher, new schedule, and different routines, don’t be alarmed if irritability and anxieties surface. Please be patient as your child adjusts to his or her new environment. Over the next few weeks we will be establishing classroom routines, rules, and hopes & dreams. We will continue to reconnect to things learned last year and expand upon them in the upcoming months. The following will explain some of our routines, schedules and things to know about Room 210:

 o Open House is currently scheduled for Tuesday, September 23rd.

 o The lunch price has increased to $3.00. Milk, juice, water, cookies, and snacks are $0.60

 o Our Lunch/Recess break is at 11:35 – 12:25 as follows: Lunch 11:35 – 12:00 and Recess 12:00 – 12:25

 o We will be having one snack break in the morning. Please be mindful that snack in the classroom is Peanut and Tree Nut Free. It is important for your child to eat a complete and healthy breakfast each morning, and pack a HEALTHY snack and drink each day (i.e., fruits, veggies, crackers, cheese, water and/or real fruit juice,etc). Snacks containing high sugar content, while yummy, will give your child a sugar high and then they will crash and burn. Empty tummies will not enable your child to reach his or her learning potential. We would like all children ready for the challenges of learning each and every day. Healthy snacks are the way to go! Feel free to send in bottled water (clearly labeled) for you child as well, especially during these hot days.

 o I have supplied the students with pencils, crayons, colored pencils, markers, glue sticks, erasers, pencil boxes, and folders that should accommodate our needs for most of the school year. Additional school supplies that your child has purchased for school can be used during his or her homework time at home.

 o A homework folder will go home with your child every night to facilitate communication between home and school. On the inside-left is a section for parent notices and/or corrected papers and the inside-right is for homework. This folder MUST be checked and returned to school each day. Please place any communication to me in the parent side of the folder.

 o At this point, Homework will consist of reading for 20 minutes each day. Your child should also be practicing +/- math facts on a daily basis as part of their homework routine. More structured homework expectations (written homework) will begin soon. While homework assignments may vary, I will try to keep the routine as consistent as possible. In addition, your child may have mini projects to complete over time.

 o Our “Specials Block” is each afternoon from 1:40-2:25 at which time your child will be engaged in Art,
   P.E., Music, and library/technology.
 The tentative schedule is as follows:
 Monday – P.E. (Sneakers required)
 Tuesday – Library/Art (Art Smock recommended)
 Wednesday – Music
 Thursday – P.E. (Sneakers required)
 Friday – Music
*Sneakers should be worn on Mondays and Thursdays for P.E.

Pine Glen School uses a reading incentive program we call Reading Corps. Information about Reading Corps should be found in your child’s Homework Folder today. For each 15 minutes your child reads, he or she is able to fill in 1 box on a Reading Corps slip. Once he or she completes 14 slips, the school celebrates your child’s accomplishment by announcing his/her name over the school PA system, and he/she will receive a prize.

To help facilitate a successful and safe dismissal, it is extremely important that we know where your child is going at the beginning of each school day. While emergencies do arise, we suggest that you send a note to school with your child each time he or she will be going home a different way, being picked up, or leaving early for an appointment. The office needs this information by 10:00AM. If there is a discrepancy as to where your child is going (i.e., your child says he or she is going home a different way, but there is no note to back it up), your child will be sent to the office at the end of the school day. You will be called and will be responsible for picking up your child if necessary.

I hope this letter answers some of your beginning of the year questions. If you have additional questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. My telephone number is 781-221-7773 and email address is anderson@bpsk12.org. Also, visit our classroom blog http://www.pineglenanderson.blogspot.com/, which will provide you with information throughout the year. It will be updated by the end of the day today. Thank you for filling out the student questionnaire that was sent home last month. It really helps me to get to know your child and helps me in the case of an emergency. If you need a new one please let me know and I can send another one home. I look forward to meeting you at Open House on September 23rd!

 Sincerely,
 Krystel Anderson

Busy, Busy, Busy........

Over the last couple of months we have learned a lot of new interesting things!  In math we worked on identifying and counting money, measurement, and now we are beginning our unit on telling time to the 5 minute mark, graphs, and data.
     In science we have learned about the moon, amphibians, insects and will be learning about reptiles next!  Our classroom has many visiting pets that align with the topics taught in our curriculum.  The Science Center brought us 3 amphibians when we learned about amphibians so that the children could observe them and see them up close.  During a three week rotation with the other second grade classrooms we had a bullfrog, an american toad, and two tiger salamanders.  We also received wood frog eggs so that the children could observe the life cycle of a frog.  Right now our tadpoles are just beginning to grow their back legs!  In addition to the amphibians we also have a moth cocoon and painted lady caterpillars that we have watched change into chrysalis'.  As we learned about insects it was really cool to have the insect life cycle right at our fingertips!  We are beginning to learn about reptiles now and currently have a corn snake visiting with us.  It just went through a molt.  What a cool thing to see!  We already had a baby snapping turtle visit with us and a gecko that will be making it's way to our classroom soon!
     Another really exciting this going on now is our "special" art project with Miss Fallon.  She is amazing and has found some time to work with the second graders to create 3-D insects!  They are enormous!  The children built the base out of cardboard, tubes, empty containers, and whatever else Miss Fallon could find.  The second  class was used to cover the insects in paper mache.  The children were covered and so was I but we had a blast!  The final session was used to paint the insects in a realistic way.  They came out fantastic!  We are just waiting to put a few finishing touches on our bee, dragonfly, and cricket.
     We went on our third and final field trip to the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary on Friday for an insect program.  We had an amazing time and got more than just an insect lesson while we were there!  Our group was extremely lucky to see all three animal groups during our trip.  We saw a baby painted turtle, many insects, a snake actually in the process of eating a toad and many other interesting sights.  Make sure you ask your child about all of the neat things we saw while were learning in the great outdoors.  Below are some pictures of the field trip and the many other science activities going on in our classroom!

In Fundations we just finished our unit on the (ow) sound using ou and ow.  Our next unit will focus on the (u) sound using ou, oo, ue, and ew.  During reading groups the children are practicing fluency through reader's theater.  One group is working on perfecting Goldilocks and the Three Bullfrogs and the other group is practicing The Pig Who Cried Wolf.  They seem to really enjoy this and we hope to perform for Mrs. Lane's and/or Ms. Varrell's reading groups this week!