The Taylor Times

Dear Second Grade Families,

We have had a busy beginning to our school year so far! We have spent time getting to know each other better, established some classroom routines, and begun our learning in all areas of the curriculum. We have practiced working independently, with partners, and in small groups.

Please reach out with any questions or concerns! I am easiest to contact through email at taylorm@rsu5.org.

I can't wait to share with you what we've been working on thus far!

Sincerely,

Meghan Taylor

In our classroom, we have a space dedicated to our families. I am requesting that you each send me a photo of your family (you decide who's included: household, extended family, two photos of each parent with children, etc.) to hang on this wall. It can be a physical copy or a digital one for me to print out here.

In our work here at Morse Street, we focus a lot on our responsibility to be learners, and seeing our families in our classroom helps to give us a reminder of who else we are working hard for! It's also helpful when we're feeling blue, missing home, or need ideas of something we can write about!

Thank you so much!!!

Thursday, September 17th will be the Morse Street School Open House for grades K-2! Please come visit our classroom, have your child show you what they've been working on at school, and learn more about our school day and routines! I look forward to seeing you that day between 6 and 7pm!

Most of our time in math so far has been building our math work-time routines and learning about some of the new (and old!) tools we will use this year! This week we explored with pattern blocks, base-ten blocks, dice, number cards, and dominoes in a variety of centers! This also allowed us to practice and refresh our minds on the expectations of working in small groups. Students were thoughtful, creative, and respectful as they worked with their partners and small groups to solve problems and follow directions!

In Reading, we have started setting up our Reading Workshop time with expectations for independent reading, increasing our reading stamina, and choosing books that we love to read. We will be working on our fluency as well as our comprehension of read-aloud, shared, and independently-read stories.

During our Interactive Read Aloud time this week, we have explored several great back-to-school picture books together. We read First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg, All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold, The Best Place to Read by Debbie Bertram and Susan Bloom, and The Magical Yet by Angela DiTerlizzi. Each book has a special message to students about our school year, and students were engaged and focused in our discussions during these books!

For Writing Workshop, we also have been setting up our routines and procedures for our work time. Students have also shared what they learned in first grade (a ton!), and done some brainstorming and writing about their hopes and dreams for this school year. They are very excited to grow and learn in many different areas!

In Phonics, students have been reminding themselves of everything they learned in first grade! We have yet to begin the formal phonics curriculum, but in all of our reviewing activities, students have been bringing all of their prior knowledge of word-solving skills to the table and working so hard! We also made time this week to add some very special words to our classroom word wall: our names! Today most students also got a cool new fantasy decodable book to add to their book boxes to help them continue to grow in their word-solving strategies. If they didn't get one today, they'll get one on Tuesday!

If you are interested in volunteering at all this year, please make sure you've watched the online video and filled out the volunteer application on the school website. You have to do this EVERY SCHOOL YEAR, not every calendar year, so you'll need to do it again now even if you just did one in May! It takes a few days to process (possibly longer!) so don't wait until an opportunity comes up to help out! Be ready now!

I will be sending out more information about volunteer opportunities in our classroom in the upcoming weeks, so keep your eyes open for those!

Monday: STEM

Tuesday: Art

Wednesday:Library (bring back your books!)

Thursday:PE & Music (wear sneakers!)

Friday:PE & Music (wear sneakers!)

Here are some upcoming dates to keep in mind!

Friday, September 4: No School

Monday, September 7: No School for Labor Day

Thursday, September 17 6-7pm: K-2 Open House!

Monday, September 21: Picture Day

Friday, September 25: PTC Movie Night at MLS

Friday, October 9: No School for Professional Development

Monday, October 12: No School for Indigenous Peoples Day

Follow Morse Street School on Instagram

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Keep up with our own Freeport Elementary PTC

RSU5 School Year Calendar 2026-2027

MSS Lunch Menus for September