Welcome to

Back to School Night!!

Photos from the rst 2 weeks of school:
Hometown: Philadelphia, USA

Years Teaching: 14 years

Previous International Schools:
GERMANY, Japan, Korea, & China

Previous US Teaching Positions:
North CAROLINA; virginia, & St.
Simons Island, Georgia

Interests: Travel, Photography,
Soccer, Korean Food, Hiking,
Kayaking, stocks & investing,
Technology, Coaching Sports...
Steve Heere (HAIR)
Units of Inquiry
!
Who we are - The different structures of the body function together to support life. - understanding body
systems and how they work; how the body systems are interdependent; the impact of lifestyle choices on the
body systems

!
Where we are in time and place - The earths physical geography has an impact on human interactions
and settlements. - how home designs are influenced by the environment; how home designs reflects culture
and daily life; how homes change over time

!
How we express ourselves - People recognize important personal and cultural events through celebrations
and rituals. - what, why and when we celebrate; similarities between rituals and celebrations across cultures

!
How the world works - Energy is found in various forms and is used to support human endeavors. -
different forms of energy sources; how energy is used; sustainable energy practices

!
How we organize ourselves - The community provides work for various people to help meet basic human
needs and wants. - how jobs help shape our community; how our local environment influences the jobs
available; ways our local community meets our needs and wants; different jobs receive different pay rates

!
Sharing the planet - When interacting with the environment, humans make choices that can have an
impact on other living things. - how our actions effect the environment; our responsibility to the
environment; how my decisions effect the environment
Literacy - Part I
!
Novel Studies (individually, small groups or whole class)
!
Literature Circles & Discussion Groups (ability level grouping)
!
Take Home Readers (Daily leveled reading books)
!
Take Home Readers (5-7 nights per week & 15-20 minutes per
night)
!
Guided Reading (teacher directed small reading groups)
!
7 Keys of Comprehension (Visualization, Asking Questioning,
Making Connections, Making Inferences, Determining Importance,
Synthesize, & Fix-up Strategies)
!
Reading A - Z (leveled reading program)
!
Read-Alouds & Silent Reading
!
Fluency, Rate, Tone, Expression, Retelling (Summarizing),
Predicting, Reading Comprehension, & Inferencing
!
Plays, Skits, Readers Theater, Book Presentations...
!
Exploring All Genres
!
Show & Tell and Mini-Presentations (almost daily)
Literacy - Part II
! 6 +1 Traits of Writing (Ideas, Organization, Sentence
Fluency, Voice, Word Choice, Conventions, & Presentation)
!
Spelling, Grammar & Vocabulary Development (integrated
in all subjects)
!
Mini lessons, conferencing and sharing loosely using
Readers and Writers Workshop Model
!
New Spelling program (Words Their Way) which is
specically di"erentiated to your childs pre-assessments in
Spelling (what he or she knows and does not know)
!
Journal Writing, Personal Narratives, Creative Writing,
Procedural Writing, Letter Writing, Poetry, Reports, etc.
!
Handwriting formally taught
!
Library lessons and book check-out on Tuesdays
Mathematics
!
Daily lessons to teach, reinforce and enrich the PYP
Math Curriculum (linked to the units of inquiry as
much as possible, but some lessons will be taught
separately to the PYP)
!
Learning problem solving strategies
!
Application of math to everyday life
!
Integration of math in other disciplines
!
Math manipulatives, challenges, centers, and games
to aid and deepen the learning of the concepts taught
!
Mad Math Quizzes - once a week on addition,
subtraction, multiplication and division to help
children develop a quick recall of their basic facts
!
Marcy Cook Math number tiles and resources
General Topics in Math:
Numeracy & Place Value
Estimation, Rounding & Measuring
Data Management (Collecting Data & Graphing)
Time
Addition & Subtraction (up to 3-digit numbers)
Patterns & Functions
Multiplication & Division
Fractions
Shape & Space (2D & 3D shapes)
Directions, Coordinates & Mapping
Patterns & Functions
Symmetry
Probability
Mastering basic +, -, x, and / facts with speed and accuracy
Mathletics:

Website: http://www.mathletics.asia/

Something Easier & Something Harder as

reinforcement & extension

Play Mathletics Live - practice basic facts - 5 levels

Points, awards, & certificates - bronze, silver and gold

Rainforest Math - extra website owned by Mathletics

Reading & Grammar activities now apart of Mathletics

program through Challenger

Problem Solving section too

Homework

Signatures - childs responsibility to have Their Reading Log signed; 5-7 xs per week

HW Packets - passed out every Friday in class and due The following Friday

Reading Time Should average about 15-20 minutes per night

100 reading minutes per week -- 75% or 75 minutes per week should be read aloud to
parents, adult, older sibling, etc.

Spelling - word list every week based on level (ice cream flavor)

Parents Help with HW: read the cover page with your child; scan through the completed HW
packet to check if your child gave solid effort; are there any skipped sections or questions?;
is their work neat? help your child become an independent proofreader and checker; Do All
sentences start with a period and end with a full stop? did your child miss anything in
mathletics? please log in and check. Please help with basic math facts (Speed & Accuracy) -
especially during holidays and weekends

Students should be able to do most of the tasks independently, but there are some
challenges inside; also, students may need some extra support on certain assignments

Students may be asked to complete additional projects at home (in relation to our units of
inquiry
Miscellaneous

Healthy snacks & water; Hat on sunny and hot days

Try to avoid sending birthday invitations to school (unless all of boys or all girls
in class are invited) as this hurts the feelings of children who may not be invited

Field Trips - related to the curriculum (many during spring)

Library -Tuesdays (usually 2 periods for ICT & 1 period for Library)

Sometimes students will be allowed to visit the Library during morning recess
or lunch recess if they would like to read more; Occasionally, Students may work
on Mathletics at the Library during recess

PE - Wednesdays & Fridays (sneakers and clean PE uniform)

ESL - Mrs. Lewis will be supporting our students in class a few times per week
and will pull ESL students out during Korean class

ICT - Wednesdays and Fridays (2 lessons) team taught by Mr. Lea & Mr. Heere\

Digital Portfolios - Successfully used in Grade 2 last year using student Weebly
accounts. Students learned IT skills, reflective blogging skills, website design,
improved visual thinking skills, fluency in many new apps and software, problem
solving skills improved, and its an eco-friendly choice.
Classroom Management
Class Agreements (created as a class in August 2014):
!
Treat people kind and help each other.
!
Listen to others and raise your hand before talking in whole class settings.
!
Respect your classmates.
!
Think before doing, and be careful.
Incentive/Reward System:
!
Students receive little stickers on their name tags for: group of the day, kindness
to their peers, helping a classmate or the teacher, growth or improvement, extra
minutes in their reading log, following directions, team or individual challenges,
displaying the PYP Attitudes, bonus homework, etc.
!
Stickers can be turned in for a variety of prices every Friday!
!
Please feel free to donate the following items throughout the school year if you
would like: old toys, games, cards, balls or play items that your child doesnt use
or play with anymore (small sizes only please), sticker packs, pencils, erasers,
highlighters, markers, or other school supplies, sports cards, Pokemon cards or
other collecting cards, puzzles, bouncy balls, childrens books, childrens
magazines....
Thanks!!
Feel free to visit and dont hesitate to email me at:
sheere@bifskorea.org

Grade 2 Blog:
http://bifselementarygrade2.weebly.com/
(Updated at the end of each week)

Class Parent:
?