Welcome to 2D!

Carrot Gleaning at IGI, November 1, 2024

News:

Happy February!

Well, it looks like 6 more weeks of winter according to Punxsutawney Phil! Please read ahead for some important dates as well as a classroom update. Hope you’re all having a nice weekend:

*We will do a small, end of day celebration for Valentine’s Day on Friday 2/14. I am posting our class names at the bottom of this email as well as teachers that may work with your children. We will not be eating any candy in school! Please reach out if you have any questions regarding this day of kindness:)

*Wednesday, 2/12 is a half day for professional development.

*Monday 2/17 no school for President’s Day.

*February Vacation is 2/24-2/28 and school will be closed.

Math: This week we wrapped up our fraction unit with an assessment.  Not only did the class love fractions, but they grasped the basic concepts well overall. We turned our focus to telling time on an analog clock this week and will continue to spiral our telling time skills into our learning. Upcoming this week we will turn our focus back onto word problems, but this time multi step word problems. This is where comprehending, or making sense of the story really comes into play. You can encourage your child’s math comprehension by asking them about math scenarios in real life such as: A store had 32 blue notebooks and 29 red notebooks. The store  sold 12 notebooks the first day of school.

a.How many notebooks did the store have at the start?

b.How many notebooks does the store have left?

Writing: We are deep into our informative writing unit and will continue this week learning about the structure of this genre.

Spelling/ Reading: In spelling this week we will learn various patterns for the long i sound. Per usual, homework will reflect this pattern. Keep up the great homework habits 2D :) The students have been buddy reading. Ask your child about “Cookies and Milk” (this is what we call our buddy reading sessions where partners take turns being the reader/ coach). They love it! I will introduce a new strategy this week to enhance “Cookies and Milk” called paragraph shrinking where they learn to identify the main idea in a passage.

Social Studies: Our fabulous librarian and art teacher, Mrs. Cole and Mrs. Shank have kicked off their famous 2nd grade Art Around the World unit with a focus on the 7 continents (North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, Antarctica). This project will culminate with an art show in the spring where we will invite parents in to see the work the students create. We will continue our learning about MLK Jr. as well as other inspirational African Americans such as Rosa Parks and Mae Jamison as we recognize Black History Month.

Sickness has been rampant in our school these last couple weeks, I know my family was hit hard this past week. We will continue good handwashing in the classroom. Thank you for keeping your child at home if they are under the weather.

Continuing to read every night will greatly impact your child’s abilities!

Thank you,

~Summer De Souza

Upcoming:

*2D Families 2024-25, please take a moment to fill this questionnaire out before the start of school: 

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~2D Parent Questionnaire~

Supply List:

(Collect these items to bring to school on the first day)

Share Schedule

Monday: Paige, Catherine, Isabelly

Tuesday: Maria, Avery, William

Wednesday: Kiara, Gunner, Sam

Thursday: Maeve, Acacia

Friday: Ava, Alicia

Hi! Welcome! I am your 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. DeSouza. I was born and raised on Martha’s Vineyard and care deeply about this island and our community. I love the beach, hikes in nature, teaching and learning. I have two amazing daughters, a wonderful husband, and a pup named Rusty. Our assistant teacher is Ms. Brooke Bulawka, she is a MA certified teacher herself and has experience in grades k-8.  We can’t wait to meet you all and get to know you. ❤️