Dear Redeemer Community,

The beginning of the school year feels fresh - perfectly polished floors, sharpened pencils, crayons that shine, glue bottles that flow freely, neatly stacked papers, stuffed animals and baby dolls straight from the box, and books cracked open for the first time. It almost feels as if we should freeze time.

In what seems like the blink of an eye, things change. The floors lose their luster. Pencils become worn and crayons are turned into nubs by the child who wishes the world were blue. Glue bottles are clogged. The perfectly stacked papers are in disarray - returned to the pile in an enthusiastic rush, and the stuffed animals, baby dolls and books begin to show signs of loving wear.

At the beginning of the school year we are all excited about what lies ahead, but it is a few weeks into school when the magic begins, revealing a more genuine story. It is a story where that unique relationship between teachers and students has begun to form, where the signs of learning, sense of comfort and the character of a class are revealed. While the beginning of the year is always something to be relished, in many senses it is best preserved as a fleeting memory. Ultimately it is the well-loved classroom that tells the true story of the individuals who make it whole.

It is a joy to be back in school. Thank you for sharing your children with us!

Best regards,

Mary

Mrs. Sheckell's Second Grade

Second Graders at RPDS are having an awesome start to the school year! We are enjoying playing with friends and teachers in all grades who we missed over the summer! We especially love playing Gaga Ball with our first-grade friends at recess. We enjoy using our brain break room to build with Legos, craft with Play-Doh, play giant Jenga, and use all types of brain-break fidgets. In math, our class explored number grids to help us understand patterns between numbers 1 to 100. We also played math games such as the Number Grid Game and Fishing for 10 to increase our mental math fluency. In Language Arts, we began writer’s workshop where we are working on writing personal narratives. We also used mentor texts such as Seed Stash, Stone Soup, and Corduroy to grow our understanding of story mapping. In Social Studies, we used various texts written from the perspective of people from other cultures to help us understand our own culture and what makes us unique. We are excited for our next Social Studies project based on the book, This is How We Do It by Matt Lamothe. We can’t wait to see what October brings us in Grade 2!

Find out what's happening in all our classes.

CLICK HERE!