Dear Parents,
On September 29, 2008 through October 3, 2008 your child will be taking the ITBS Test. I know some of the children all involved in extra curricular activities that keep them out in the evening. Please make sure that your child gets plenty of rest. Especially during ITBS testing week. Some of the tests last 15 to 20 minutes at a time. So that means your child has to seat at his/her desk for 20 minutes. We stretch and excercise after each test just to keep the blood circulating. As Mrs. Blackburn stated in her Newsletter please make sure that your child is at school everyday and on time. Please stress to your child that this is not at test to see how smart your child is but an evaluation to help the teachers determine the strengths of the students and a way for the teachers to evaluate the curriculum for the school.

I read an article on Reading Aloud to your child. I thought it was interesting so I want to pass it on to you. Reading aloud to your child makes for a wonderful parent-child sharing time, and will help your child to love books and to become a better reader. The article had some tips:
1. sit with your child in a comfortable place, 2. talk about the book and the illustrations, 3. encourage your child to ask questions and make comments before and after the story is read, 4. talk about the characters in the story, 5. predict story events, 6. point to words some of the time when reading, 7. enjoy the story together. All of these things need not be accomplished each time a story is read. These are some tips to help create a meaningful read-aloud memory. Do not treat the read-aloud experience as a teaching situation but as a casual, comfortable parent-child time together. HAPPY READING!

Dear Parents,
It was so good to see so many of you at Open House on Sunday. I know your child enjoyed you coming into his/her classroom. I hope you enjoyed yourself.
During Social Studies your childd has been studying about ancestors, familes and traditions. to illlusrate the importance of families we will create a visual of your unique "Family Tree". In the next few days your child will be home some papers titled, Getting to Know You, Baptism and a Family Tree information paper. The Getting to Know You paper have questions that Grandparents should answer. If your child has been Baptized fill in the Baptism information. Lastly the Family Tree paper, please fill in the information regarding your family. Once all the papers are returned they will be put into a book and returned to you. Your child has been busy in the classroom answering questions regarding families and traditions. This is a wonderful keepsake of Second Grade. I will send a note home when the "Family Tree" papers go home.
International Night is January 26, 2009. The country I have chosen for this year is Morocco. We will learn as much as we can about Morocco. The people, animals, houses, location , music and of course the food.
If you have any questions regarding the Family Tree project or International Night please feel
free to contact me