Welcome to Montgomery Knolls Elementary School

1. Welcome to Montgomery Knolls Elementary School 2013-2014

2. Student ScheduleSecond Grade

4. Integrated Curriculum • The EIC blends reading, language arts and mathematics instruction with lessons in science, social studies, music, art and physical education in a way that spurs creativity and critical thinking skills. • Making connections across disciplines and real life. • For the 2013-2014 school year, we will be utilizing Formative assessments (testing during the unit) instead of Unit assessments (testing all concepts at the end of the unit). • With formative assessments, students are evaluated during the learning process .

5. Inquiry Projects/Research Projects • Each quarter of the school year, the second grade students will work on an inquiry project. For 1st quarter, we are researching healthy food & lifestyle choices. • For these projects, the media specialist will collaborate with the 2nd grade teachers to create a deep and meaningful research experience for the students. • Steps to the Inquiry Process • “I Wonder”/Ask Questions • Find & Evaluate Information • Create & Share • Reflect

6. Grading Scale ES- Exceptional: Student demonstrates and applies creative thinking and problem solving at an exceptional level. S/he is able to extend their thinking beyond what the standard asks. P- Proficient: Student is meeting grade level standards. I- In progress: The student is making steady progress toward the specified goal. N- Needs Improvement * Some work that is sent home may have a check mark on it instead of an ES, P, I , Or N.

7. Behavior Policy Red: students will be moved to red if they continue to make poor choices. They will also go to the thinking spot to complete a reflection sheet. The sheet will be sent home for parent review and signature. Yellow: students will be moved to yellow if they have had more than three reminders about their behavior. This is a warning for students to “slow down” and make better choices. Green: students are on green if they are doing exactly what is expected of them. Rainbow: students can be moved to rainbow if they go above and beyond to show good values, effort, help a peer, etc.

8. Data Notebooks • Data Notebooks are to show data of your child’s progress. • They are sent home to be reviewed with parents each quarter. • Please review and send back the Data Notebooks as soon as possible so that we can add new data.

9. How to contact us. Phone Numbers: 301-431-7667 Website: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/knollses/

10. Helpful Tips! Note: Parents can also check out books from the MKES library! Stop by the library anytime to get an account started! Happy Reading! Homework: *HW Basket-materials that may be needed to complete Homework. -crayons -glue -pencils -scissors -erasers -library books *Completed nightly Monday through Thursday. Reading: *Read every night. *Students will be bringing home books from their reading groups to practice reading on their level. *Use strategies you learn in class to help solve unknown words in reading. *When writing unknown words encourage your child to say the word slowly and write the sounds they hear. *Review High Frequency Words *Talk about words: Lowercase and capital letters, vowels, rhyming w words, beginning and ending sounds, words that sound the same.

11. Helpful Tips Math: *Deck of Cards -Flip Two cards over and many questions can be asked. *Which number is more? Less? *Which number is greater? Less? *Is my number odd or even? *Add two cards together and who ever has the greater sum keeps the cards. *Ask your child to read you numbers, count coins, count objects in the real world (grocery shopping).

12. Homework Policy Homework is given out weekly. The homework reflects the daily instruction for your child. Please follow the directions on the homework and return it each Friday. Students will have math, reading, and/or spelling. Homework should take your child approximately 15 minutes. Students will have nightly reading from their reading group, library or books from home. Your child should read to an older reader for approximately 15 minutes a night. Words their way is every week. Please review the spelling words with yourchild as their assessment will occur that Friday.

13. Your child will bring home a word sort each week. Have them cut out the word cards to use for their daily sorting activity. These cards can be kept in an envelope or zip lock bag and used throughout the week. These word cards do not need to be returned to school so you may keep them at home to review in the future. •Choose one activity each night to complete at home. Check off the activity you do each night.•Many of the activities require your child to work with a partner. •We will have a spelling test on Friday. The spelling test can consist of any 10 of the words from the sort and/or words that are not in your sort but follow the same spelling pattern.

14. Volunteers Needed Volunteers are a integral part of MKES. Here are some things you can do to help: • Volunteer in the classroom to help students or teachers. • Volunteer to help our other staff. • Volunteer at school events. • If you are unable to come into our school than you can volunteer at home by having your child’s teacher send home items you can do at home like cutting art supplies or folding papers.

15. Thank you so much for all your support. Please remember that parents are the first teachers in your child’s life. We are looking forward to becoming partners with you in your child’s educational journey.