This week is Homecoming week for Kaukauna. New Directions will be walking in the parade again this year. The parade is on Wednesday evening starting at Tanner Elementary School at 6:00. Please watch for more information coming early this week if you are interested in walking with New Directions.

Upcoming Dates to Remember
Wednesday, September 28 - Homecoming Parade 
Monday, October 3 - PSC Meeting 
Tuesday, October 18 - 2nd grade field trip to Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary 
Tuesday, October 18 - Family Night - Grandparents, Games, and Goodies 
       (see below for information on signing up for this event)
Thursday and Friday, October 27 & 28 - No School


Book orders are being sent home on Monday. Ordering books through Scholastic is an easy and inexpensive way to build your home library and get books into the hands of your child. These orders are due on Friday.


Ways to help at New Directions
Please complete the following survey to help New Directions learn all of our families special talents.

• https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/F2KHTQN

Family Night Sign-Up
Future Family Night invites and RSVPs will be sent via email with a link to a google form.  Google forms save staff a few steps when determining numbers for Family Nights, as well as saving our school paper.  

October's Family Night is "Grandparents, Goodies and Games". It will be held on October 18th from 6:00-7:00PM. There is NOT a meal this night, but there will be a little snack for students and their grandparents to enjoy. In addition, there will be games and other activities for them to enjoy in the classrooms. Please RSVP (only once per family) using this link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScyV_Ksq5kugruQU6RPIt5lWo1WLSO3tz0nwfWB-_Fl4VL3WA/viewform

Curricular Updates

Reading Workshop:
Partnership talk and writing about our reading have been in the forefront of our learning recently in reading. We will continue to work on these things, along with tackling tricky words, this week.

Writing Workshop:
This week our writing lessons are filled with noticing mentor author's moves and trying those moves out in our own writing. We will continue to look closely at Jane Yolen's book, Owl Moon, as well as other mentor authors the children choose. Noticing what those authors do, how they do it, and why they do it enables us to enhance our own writing.  

Word Work:
On Friday, students will be assessed on the high frequency words in their agendas. New words will come home next week.

Science:
You've probably heard that our caterpillars are chrysalises! We are anxiously awaiting our butterflies to emerge!



Have a great week!

There is lots of fun and learning going on in second grade! This is such a fun group of kids and they are SO excited to learn. I can already tell that it is going to be an amazing year!

A few notes:

-Just a reminder that there is no school tomorrow, Tuesday, September 20th. Teachers will be involved in professional development.

-We will be heading to the Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary on October 18th. We are excited to participate in their Butterfly Life Cycle program. Permission slips are coming home today.

-We will be going to the Computer Lab for MAP testing today and next Tuesday. MAP is a standardized math and reading test that is nationally normed. All of our 2nd-4th grade students take three times each year: September, January, and May. Results will be shared with parents at conferences in November. 

-I am excited that so many of you can make it to our first family night, “Hot Dogs and How to Help”, this Thursday! Dinner will be at 5:30, followed by informational sessions for parents at 6:05. Teachers will be taking school-aged kids outside for part of the time and will bring the kids back into the cafeteria for a short video for part of the time. Childcare will be available for younger siblings.

-Through September 25th, New Directions is once again having a back to school clothing order. This year, however, will be a little different. All ordering will be done online through Eagle Graphics. There are some samples in Mrs. Mitchell’s office. See the following link to view the AWESOME options in the new order:

https://eaglegraphics.itemorder.com/
Code:  NDLCSPIRIT

-It is Safety Week in Kaukauna. Throughout the week, we will practice a tornado drill, a fire drill, and a lockdown/evacuation drill. You will receive more information about these drills from the school district.

Curricular Update:

-We were excited to welcome Painted Lady caterpillars to our classroom last Wednesday. We enjoy coming to school each day to see how much they have grown. We've spent lots of time observing and recording our observations in class.

Word Study - Word study will consist of both word sorts and high frequency words this year. The students will have daily practice and application of their word sort words in class. High frequency words will be practiced in class, but will also be sent home every two weeks for practice at home. Work at home can include writing the words or orally spelling them, writing a creative sentence with the words, finding the words in books, etc. Your child will receive 5-10 words every two weeks, beginning today. The test on the words that are coming home tonight will be on Friday, September 30th. Please keep the words in your child's agenda so he/she can practice at both home and at school. Thank you! 

-Math - I have done fact fluency assessments with each of the children to assess where they are with their fact development. Students will receive 4-8 facts to practice. I will be checking for automaticity on a weekly basis and will replace flash cards as facts are mastered.

In addition to math fact work, we have been learning about the different math tools available to us and how they can support our learning. We have been working on place value using cubes, bead racks, 10-frames, hundreds charts, and base 10 blocks.

-Readers Workshop - We are working on monitoring our comprehension.  One way to do this is by pausing during reading and do a retell of the story so far, as well as retelling at the end of the story.  Prompts to help the reader retell are:

Somebody (the character) wanted______, but_________, so____________. 

Have your child try this strategy at home with their nightly reading.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. :)
Have a great week!

We are off to a great start in second grade! Last week we learned and practiced many of our routines. We also learned about how to be safe and respectful in the different areas of our school. We are so excited to be jumping into our regular schedule this week including all of our special classes: art, gym, music, and library!

Our special class schedule this year is as follows:

• Monday - Gym and Music
• Tuesday - Library Checkout
• Wednesday - Gym
• Thursday - Gym and Library Skills
• Friday - Art and Music

Family night notes were sent home last week. Our first family night, "Hot Dogs and How to Help", will be Thursday, September 22th from 5:30-7:00. You only need to return one RSVP per family. For future family nights, look for email invites.

Through September 25th, New Directions is once again having a back to school clothing order. This year, however, will be a little different. All ordering will be done online through Eagle Graphics. There are some samples in Mrs. Mitchell’s office. See the following link to view the AWESOME options in the new order:

https://eaglegraphics.itemorder.com/
Code:  NDLCSPIRIT

Important Dates:

Monday, September 12 - Boy Scout visit during recess

Wednesday, September 14 - PICTURE DAY!

Friday, September 16 - FitnessWear Friday

Friday, September 16 - Fox Cities Kids Fun Run

Curriculum Updates:

Student of the Day started today. If you did not receive the note with your child's day last week, please let me know and I will send another sheet. This is a great way to get to know our classmates at the beginning of the year.

Readers Workshop: We are working on goal setting and keeping ourselves reading during independent time. Students are also working on reading together with a partner.

Writers Workshop: Students have been writing true, small moment stories. These are one time stories, such as the time I lost my first tooth or the time I fell off my bike.

Math Workshop: We have been setting up our math routines and learning how to use our math tools. Students are being assessed on addition math facts.

Social Studies: Last week we talked about our hopes and dreams for second grade. This week we will be brainstorming rules to help us reach our hopes and dreams. 

Thanks for all you do to help and support your child. If you have any thoughts, questions, or concerns, please let me know!

Have a great  week!

Lisa