Our class:

Tori

Noa

CamRon

Yasmin

Gus

Steve

Pete

Maple

Thayer

Joshua

Noah

Catherine

Stephanie

Enzo

Arayah

Hazel

Upcoming:

*2D Families 2026-27, please take a moment to fill this questionnaire out before the start of school: 

~2D Parent Questionnaire~

News:

Hello 2D Families,

This week in the classroom on Wednesday we wore orange in recognition of Indigenous children, we created our rules (see poster below), we shucked a whole lot of corn! We discussed just right books for independent reading and how finding them is important to making reading fun and engaging. We will continue to hone independence with just right books during DEAR time (Drop Everything And Read). The rules for finding a good book are: 

1. The book must be on a topic that interests the reader.

2. It must not be too easy.

3. It must not be too hard (the rule of 5 is a good guide and states that if 5 or more words on a page are too tricky, then the book is too difficult at this time and should be revisited later).

Reminder: students are to be reading every night for at least 20 minutes. If you would like me to send a book bag home with some choices, please reply here. 

In ELA we learned about closed syllables and some exceptions to the closed syllable types such as words ending in -ost, -old, -ost, -ind, ild. The words can have the long vowel sound, but they are closed in by consonants so they are considered rule breakers. We also learned about open syllables–syllables ending in a long vowel sound such as: me, we, no, a. We will be learning about all 6 syllable types this year. Knowing the syllables helps us decode new words. 

In math we are in our  “tune-up” portion where we are brushing up on 1st grade prerequisite skills. We have started daily fluency practice with sums/ differences within 20. If you want to support your student’s math fluency at home, I highly recommend getting some flash cards and practicing often. Friends of 10 are something students need to know with fluency so that is another area to practice (1+9, 2+8, 3+7, 4+6, 5+5).

We began writing narrative writing with an assessment on Thursday. I am so excited to write with this group, the stories are abundant!

Next week we have no school on Friday, 10/9 for professional development across the island and no school Monday 10/12 for Columbus/ Indigenous People’s Day.

Also, our first field trip to Island Grown Initiative to glean carrots is on Wednesday 10/21.

October Fun Run (Pumpkin Run!) 10/30

Thank you for reading and please enjoy the pictures below (some are repeats, I am resending so all can be viewed easily!)

~Summer

Sincerely,
~Mrs. (Summer) DeSouza
sdesouza@mvyps.org
508-627-3316 ext 136

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*2D Families 2026-27, please take a moment to fill this questionnaire out before the start of school: 

~2D Parent Questionnaire~

pencil box 
box of crayons (optional)
box of colored pencils(optional)

2 boxes of pencils
erasers
small pencil sharpener (not mechanical)
water bottle with fresh water daily

headphones to stay in school all year

At home: 

a nice, well-lit, quiet space to read

books to read

plenty of pencils for homework

Hi! Welcome! We are your 2nd grade teachers, Mrs. DeSouza and Ms. Uva. We were both born and raised on Martha’s Vineyard and care deeply about our island and our community. We can’t wait to get to know you all this year. ❤️