Throughout the school year, our second graders will be a year full of many new adventures and learning experiences. Our second graders will continue to improve their reading skills and practice addition and subtraction strategies. Our curriculum includes a strong focus on reading, language arts, and number logic in both languages. As our children learn to read more independently, they will progress in fluency, analysis, and comprehension. I am looking forward to working with parents and students to make this school year great. 

A typical day will contain the following subjects:

• Morning Meeting
• Reading Workshop
• Writing Workshop 
• Lunch
• Project-based Learning (Science and Social Studies)
• Chinese Language Art
• Special (Music/Physical Education/Art)

Here are some important reminders: 

Change of Clothes: Please send in an extra set of clothes, including socks, to keep at school in case of an emergency. Please send clothing in a large Ziploc bag, with their name on the outside of the bag.  If your child does need to be changed, please make sure their extra clothing gets replaced by their next school day. 

Sneakers: We will take rest time after lunch each day. Students will be taking off their shoes during rest time and putting them back on. To build student independence and their self-help skills we recommend that children wear sneakers with Velcro straps to school. We are extremely active each day, and shoes with laces can pose a hazard to student safety as we exercise and move throughout the day. In addition, dress shoes, open-toed shoes, or flip-flops are not appropriate for many of our activities.  

Blue Card & Emergency Contact: Each student should have a completed emergency contact card (blue card) on file. Blue cards are currently completed and housed in our OPEROO APP.  If there are any changes to parents’ contact information please notify us so it can be updated accordingly. Please update all emergency contacts on your child’s blue card in the event that you are unable to pick up your child. If the person picking up your child is not listed on the blue card, we cannot release your child due to safety protocols. Bring your ID for verification purposes.

Birthday Celebrations:  Every child has a birthday, and with birthdays come parties.  In order to ensure that instruction is not disrupted several times during the week for parties, all birthday celebrations will be held on one day during the week.   All birthday celebrations will be held on Friday afternoons during period 8.  

We celebrate the birthdays of our students in different ways at our school. We ask that birthday parties celebrate the child in ways that are not food-related due to dietary restrictions, food allergies, and the current safety protocols for COVID-19.  Some possible ways to celebrate a birthday include:

• Reading the child’s favorite story to the class 
• Sending a craft activity that the class can complete together. 
• Sharing baby pictures of the child and telling the story of the day they became part of their family. 

As for the distribution of small goody bags, we ask that parents not send prepared food or snacks. Parents can choose to include small items like notepads, pencils, erasers, etc. We look forward to working with your child and are excited to be a part of their growth and development. We are a firm believer in having open communication between home and school. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns you may have throughout the school year

Let’s work together to make this year full of fun, learning, and personal growth for your child!

Thank you,
Ms. Ou