September 6, 2022

Dear Families,

Hello and welcome to second grade!  My name is Shayna Gruenewald and I will be your child’s teacher this year. 

My classroom is set up to promote academic growth, safety, comfort, and positive outcomes.  I believe that every child is a learner and grows at his or her individual pace.  This classroom is a place that shows respect for all learners and where your child will be safe and loved. 

I have been teaching since 1999.  My Elementary Education teaching certificate and Masters of Early Childhood Education are from Eastern Michigan University.  I have endorsements in Early Childhood Education, Mathematics, and Language Arts.  Prior to my career in teaching, I spent 10 years as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and tax software developer.  I received my bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Michigan State University. 

Please feel free to contact me via email with any questions, concerns or comments.  I generally reply to email within a day.  Every now and again emails play “hide and seek” with me, so please resend your email if you haven’t heard back from me after 24 hours.

I am looking forward to meeting you and working with you and your child this year.

Sincerely, 

Shayna Gruenewald

Email:  sgruenew@livoniapublicschools.org

Website:  https://www.livoniapublicschools.org/domain/1929

Buchanan Telephone: (734) 744-2690

Important Beginning of the Year Information

Mrs. Gruenewald’s Class 2022-2023

 

Dismissal Information

• Students being picked up will be dismissed through exterior classroom doors this year.  Our classroom is near the east end of the building (far end of the parking lot).  The door is marked “12” on the outside of the building.

 

Open House & Curriculum Night

• Open House is scheduled for this Thursday, September 8^th from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m.

 

Parent Email Addresses

• Please be sure your email address in Parent Connect is correct.  This is the email address that I will use to create my parent email group.

 

Daily Folders

Each day your child will bring home a folder. This is an important means of communication between the school and home. Please check it every day for important notes and homework. Please send items such as notes, and completed homework to school in this folder.

 

Weekly Folders

At the end of each week (usually Friday), your child will bring home a weekly folder. It will include a checklist overview of your child's week and student work. Please review the folder with your child and return it to school on Monday mornings. Be sure to review the weekly overview, write any comments or questions that you have, and sign it.

 

Healthy Snacks (Brain Food)

We will have a snack time in the morning. This is optional for your child. If your child would like to bring a snack, it must be a healthy snack. Appropriate snacks include fruit (fresh washed vegetables and bananas are great options), Goldfish crackers or pretzels, and cheese sticks or cubes. Snacks need to be easy to eat without a fork or a spoon.

 

Star of the Week

During the school year each child will have the opportunity to be our Star of the Week. Star of the Week provides your child the opportunity to be in the spotlight. Your child will have special privileges such as:

♪ Completing and sharing a Star Student poster (sent home approximately one week before your child’s assigned week)

♪ Getting a special sticker and pencil

 

 

 

Birthdays

Birthdays are a wonderful and exciting time for children. Our class will wish your child a happy birthday. Your child will also receive a special sticker, and pencil. If you do not wish for us to celebrate your child's birthday for any reason, please send a note or email.

If your child would like to bring something to share with the class on his/her birthday, it must be a non-food item.  For example, pencils, erasers, etc.

 

Classroom Behavior

Since my goal is to create a safe, academic, positive learning environment, it is crucial that we all understand behavior guidelines. Each student must:

• Be responsible for his/her choices

• Be respectful of people and property

• Be honest and trustworthy

• Be safe

• Be a good listener

• Follow directions

• Always do his/her personal best ... the best job he/she possibly can

These guidelines are to help your child make good choices about his/her behavior so he/she is successful in his/her learning.

 

2^nd Grade Reading

Here are priority standards that we will focus on this year:

Reading Foundations

• Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
• Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

Reading Literature

• Ask and answer Who, What, Where, When, Why and How questions.
• Retell stories (including fables and folktales).
• Determine the central message, lesson, or moral of stories, fables, and folktales.
• Describe characters (character traits).
• Describe how characters respond to events and challenges.

Reading Information

• Ask and answer Who, What, Where, When, Why and How questions. 
• Identify the main idea of a multi-paragraph text.
• Identify the focus of paragraphs in a text.
• Tell how ideas are connected.

Reading includes three parts: decoding (saying the words), fluency (smooth, expressive reading), and comprehension.

Decoding strategies include:

• Getting your mouth ready
• Looking for chunks you know (ex. "at")
• Looking for picture clues
• Think about the story.  What word would be make sense?
• Does it look right?
• Does it sound right?
• Does it make sense?

Comprehension strategies include:

• Schema and making connections
• Visualizing/sensory images
• Questioning/wondering
• Inferring
• Determining importance
• Synthesizing

2^nd Grade Writing

Here are priority standards that we will focus on this year:

* Write opinion pieces that include:  stating an opinion, giving reasons and examples to support your opinion, including linking words (such as and, also, because, ...).

 * Write informational pieces that include: introducing the topic, telling facts and definitions, words that tell order (first, next, then, after that, finally, ...) and a wrap-up (ending).

 * Write narrative pieces that recount an event (or series of events) and include: details that describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, words to signal order (first, next, then, after than, later, finally, ...), and a wrap-up sentence that provides a sense of closure.

 

2^nd Grade Speaking & Listening

Here are priority standards that we will focus on this year:

* Participate in collaborative conversations in small and large groups.

 * Follow agreed upon rules for discussion.  For example, listen when other are speaking, look at the speaker, agree or disagree respectfully, etc.

* Build on others' talk.  For example, add an additional detail or example to something another person said.

* Ask for clarification and further explanation.  For example, "Can you tell me how you got this answer?"

 

 

2^nd Grade Math

Here are priority standards that we will focus on this year:

Numbers & Operations in Base Ten 

* Read and write numbers to 1000 using base-ten numerals, number names, and expanded form.

* Compare two three-digit numbers based on meanings of the hundreds, tens, and ones digits, using >, =, and < symbols to record the results of the comparisons.

* Fluently add and subtract within 100 using strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction.

* Add and subtract within 1000, using concrete models or drawings and strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction; relate the strategy to a written method.  Understand that in adding or subtracting three-digit numbers, one adds or subtracts hundreds and hundreds, tens and tens, ones and ones; and sometimes it is necessary to compose or decompose tens or hundreds.

* Explain why addition and subtraction strategies work, using place value and the properties of operations.

Operations & Algebraic Thinking

* Use addition and subtraction within 100 to solve one- and two-step word problems involving situations of adding to, taking from, putting together, taking apart, and comparing, with unknowns in all positions, e.g., by using drawings and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem.

* Fluently add and subtract within 20 using mental strategies.  By the end of Grade 2, know from memory all sums of two one-digit numbers.

Measurement & Data

* Measure the length of an object twice, using different units for the two measurements; describe how the two measurements relate to the size of the unit chosen.

* Estimate lengths using units of inches, feet, centimeters, and meters.

* Use addition and subtraction within 100 to solve word problems involving lengths that are given in the same units.  For example, by using drawings (such as drawings of rulers) and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem.

* Tell and write time from analog and digital clocks to the nearest five minutes, using a.m. and p.m.

* Solve word problems involving dollar bills, quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies, using $ and ¢ symbols appropriately. 

* Draw a picture graph and a bar graph (with single-unit scale) to represent a data set with up to four categories.  Solve simple put-together, take-apart, and compare problems using information represented in a bar graph.

Geometry

* Recognize and draw shapes having specified attributes, such as a given number of angles or a given number of equal faces.  Identify triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons, and cubes.

* Partition circles and rectangles into two, three, or four equal shares, describe the shares using the words halves, thirds, half of, a third of, etc. and describe the whole as two halves, three thirds, four fourths.  Recognize that equal shares of identical wholes need not have the same shape.

 

 

Mathematical Practices

We focus heavily on practice 1.

Practice 1: Make sense of problems, and persevere in solving them.

Practice 2: Reason abstractly and quantitatively.

Practice 3: Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.

Practice 4: Model with mathematics.

Practice 5: Use appropriate tools strategically.

Practice 6: Attend to precision.

Practice 7: Look for and make use of structure.

Practice 8: Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.

Ideas for Practicing Math Facts at Home

• Roll dice. Add or subtract the dots.    6 and 5 are rolled.  6 + 5 = 11 , 6 – 5 = 1

 

• Use flash cards. Simply read the facts (with answers) aloud.

 

• Use flash cards. Try to figure out the answer.  Then check the answer on the flash card.

 

• Orally quiz your child with facts (up to 10 + 10). This is a great game to play in the car while commuting!

 

• Use online resources such as org (Note:  the parent can type in the child’s answer to help with keyboarding challenges.)

 

• Play card games such as Top It.

• Addition Top It
• Turn over 2 cards and add the numbers together (J, Q, and K = 10; A = 1).  The person with the highest sum keeps all 4 cards.
• Turn over 2 more card for a tie-breaker round, if necessary.
• Subtraction Top It
• Turn over 2 cards and add the numbers together (J, Q, and K = 10; A = 1).  The person with the highest difference keeps all 4 cards.
• Turn over 2 more card for a tie-breaker round, if necessary.