Miss Mock’s 2nd Grade Class
Handbook
Room 108
Bryden Elementary School
2014-2015
About Miss Mock
Miss Mock graduated from Kent State University in
December of 2010. This past summer she was busy catching up
with friends and taking graduate courses. This will be her third
year in her own classroom and she is VERY excited to be
teaching second grade again! She loves to read, spend time
with her family, and go hiking in the Cuyahoga Valley National
Park. She would love to get e-mails from parents that have
questions or want to check in. E-mail her at
amock@beachwoodschools.org. Be sure to check out her
website located on the Beachwood City Schools website.
Our Classroom Rules
The first week of school we worked together to create a set of
classroom rules. We talked about how we want to feel in our
classroom, how we want to be treated by others, and how we
can learn our best. Here is what we came up with…
1. Be Respectful
2. Be a Kind Friend
3. Be Responsible
4. Always try your best!
Our Specials
Monday
P.E.
*** bring tennis shoes
Music
Tuesday
Music
P.E.
*** bring tennis shoes
Wednesday
Media (Tech and Library)
Thursday
Science
Friday
Art
______________________________________________________
Library- Children may check out two books (one for at school
and one to take home). If your child does not return their books
they will not be permitted to check out another book until the
overdue one is returned. Please help you child be responsible
with their library books. Lost or damaged books will be billed to
you.
Bus Notes
All notes regarding after school activities should be sent to
school in your child’s folder. Any time your child is not riding
his/her own bus home; he/she must bring in a note and give it
to the teacher first thing in the morning. The note should include
your signature. Please do not e-mail bus changes to the
classroom teacher. If last minute changes need to be made
please contact the office and talk with our secretary.
Parent Participation
Parent involvement is certainly welcome and encouraged!
There are many opportunities for you to get involved. PTO
membership is a great way to get involved and support your
schools. Other good ways to get involved are lunch/recess
volunteer program and read aloud.
Folders:
Your child has a “home/school” green folder for bringing work
and notes home and for returning work and parents’ notes to
me. Homework assignments are sent home nightly MondayThursday. Please make sure to check your child’s folder each
night and return anything that requires signature! While it is
your child’s responsibility to manage his/her own folder, your
attention to the materials sent home each day is critical. If your
child’s folder becomes torn or lost please replace it as soon as
possible.
Absences
The Bryden school handbook defines policies on absences.
Please make sure that you call the office if your child will not be
in school and inform us of any contagious illness. If your child
has missed more than 3 days of school due to illness please call
me and I will prepare some work for him/her to do at home.
Work can be picked up in the office at the end of the school
day. If you know of an absence in advance please let me
know. See the handbook for policies on vacations.
Snacks
Second grade has lunch at 10:50 a.m. each day. In the
afternoon at 1:20 p.m. the children will be given the
opportunity to enjoy a healthy snack during Bison Time. You
can send a snack with your child daily or provide a sealed
plastic bag of non-perishable food for them to store in their
locker for the week. Please be sure to pack their snack
SEPARATE from their lunch. If your child decides to bring a water
bottle please label it with their name. Please note that we are a
PEANUT/TREE NUT FREE room.
Our Birthdays
Bryden School celebrates birthdays in a special way. Once a
month there will be a birthday party in the lunch room for all
the children who are celebrating their birthdays that month.
This is done to minimize junk foods at school. The PTO will
contact parents by phone or e-mail to plan a treat ahead of
time. Please note that we are a PEANUT/TREE NUT FREE room.
January
Mendele (16)
February
March
Josh (7)
April
Willy (10)
Griffin (10)
Shreya (14)
Jaya (17)
Nicholas (23)
May
Emma (18)
June
Molly (8)
July
Grant (1)
Samantha (8)
Keita (10)
London (11)
August
Ning (13)
Makayla (13)
September
Madison (7)
October
Jeremiah (10)
November
Lexi (1)
December
Miss Mock (16)
Social Studies
We will be using a wonderful Social Studies curriculum called
We Live Together. It covers some of the materials mandated in
the Ohio standards for second grade Social Studies and I
create and supplement all other materials.
Science
At Bryden we are fortunate enough to have a science resource
lab. I will be working with Mrs. Michelle Leizman to create and
implement inquiry based science lessons in the classroom that
align with the new common core standards. We will visit Mrs.
Leizman’s science lab once a week for an hour.
Math
Bryden will be using a math curriculum called My Math. This
curriculum is aligned with the new common core standards.
The children will work through two workbooks this year. Math
homework will be given Monday- Thursday. The children will
also work in a spiral curriculum math workbook called Simple
Solutions to reinforce math skills.
Handwriting
Will use the Zaner-Bloser handwriting curriculum. For the first half
of the year we will review manuscript writing, concentrating on
the body position, pencil grip, and paper position. Please do
not encourage you second grader to use cursive until we start
teaching it in January. Children will begin using cursive starting
with the lower case letters and then the upper case letters and
numbers. Legibility will be the emphasis of the year.
Reading
“The ultimate goal of the reading program is effective
comprehension of a wide variety of materials presented in
different ways and for different purposes. These materials
should be understood at the literal, inferential, critical, and
creative levels.”-Beachwood Philosophy of Reading
At the beginning of September, second graders are tested for
reading using the DRA (Developmental Reading Assessment).
Groupings may change throughout the year. Although students
are reading at different levels the instruction content is similar
for all students. They will be instructed in word recognition,
vocabulary, comprehension, and written expression. Fiction
and non-fiction literature will be emphasized. Groups are
flexible.
Homework
Your child will typically have math homework Monday through
Thursday as well as spelling that is due every Friday. Typically
there will be no more than two assignments to complete aside
from reading and math facts.
Please set aside a time and place for your child to dedicate to
doing homework. Homework is assigned to reinforce and
practice skills learned during the school day and allow your
child to complete unfinished work. Please help your child be
responsible completing and remembering to return homework
on time.
Speeches
The students will be asked to give several speeches throughout
the school year. Speeches are formal oral presentations about
specific topics. Children will prepare for their speeches with
written notes. They will be evaluated and the evaluations will
be sent home. Each speech should include an intro, facts
about the topic, and a conclusion. The first speech will be
informally at school, and then I will send assignments to be
done for homework. Encourage your child to use notecards as
a visual aid. You can expect you child to give about one
speech every month or so.
Writing
One of the important goals at Bryden is to help students write
as fluently as they speak. Throughout the year, your second
grader will participate in a variety of writing experiences. We
will have daily Writer’s Workshop where the children learn and
practice writing and editing skills. They learn to follow the
writing process of prewriting, drafting, revising, editing and
publishing. Children can write in their own private journals,
which are not checked for spelling and punctuation, but are
used to encourage the development of ideas and creativity.
They will also be given a writer’s notebook. We share children’s
writing through writing conferences and class presentations.
Twice a year, their writing is assessed based on:
 Purpose (clear idea of assignment, topic and
development of ideas)
 Direction (sentence progresses logically with beginning,
middle and ending)
 Ideas (interesting ideas, variety and clarity)
 Style (varies sentence structure, using descriptive and
interesting vocabulary)
 Presentation (student uses complete sentences, correct
capitalization and punctuation, correct spelling of words
that have been assigned and good use of invented
spelling.
Our Class List
Makayla Brown
Shreya Chellu
Mendele Friedman
Madison Gray
Jeremiah Harris
Lexi Jaffe
Willy Seunghwan
Grant Keilin
Jaya Korah
Samantha Lewin
Molly Lewis
Emma Penney
London Peters
Griffin Preisler
Nicholas Reese
Ning Sang
Keita Takahashi
Josh Stephany