Ms. Alexander
I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Tammi Alexander, and I am your child's second grade teacher. I have two children, Ashley and Zachary. They are 26 and 21, respectively. Raising my children to be happy, healthy and successful is my #1 priority in life. My children are my motivation. First I am a mother, and then a teacher. I believe that motherhood and teaching compliment each other nicely, as a mother is a child's first teacher.
I earned my bachelor's degree from Mansfield University, and my master's degree from Elmira College. This will be my first year teaching at Fassett Elementary, but my eleventh year teaching grade two, and my twelth year with the Elmira City School District. I taught grade two at T.K. Beecher Elementary School for ten years, until the merge of the two elementary schools for the 2012 - 2013 school year.
Since earning my undergraduate degree, I've taught every grade level in some capacity; either full-time, in a long-term assignment, or as a per diem substitute teacher. There is something I like about every grade level. What can I say? I love children! Overall, though, I would have to say that 2nd grade is my favorite. I just love second grade!
Not only is second grade one of the most important grade levels, but in my opinion, seven and eight year olds are the BEST! They are funny, loving and come ready to learn. They are natural sponges! Second graders learn an enormous amount of information, and are expected to make the biggest jump in their oral reading fluency (ORF). The end of the year benchmark for 2nd grade is a minimum of 87 words per minute (wpm). I love teaching children to read, and marvel at their rate of progress! My students spend at least 90 minutes each morning reading, writing, speaking, thinking and viewing all sorts of interesting text, in various genres. This does not include process writing, which we do for an additional 2 hours per week. Our entire school day (all content areas) focuses on the 5 components of reading: Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Vocabulary and Comprehension.
As seasoned veterans of at least two years of schooling, second-graders are increasingly able to reason, listen to others, and show social give-and-take. They can display flexibility, open-mindedness, and tolerance of unfamiliar ideas to a remarkable extent.
In second grade, students become fluent as readers and apply comprehension and vocabulary strategies to a wide variety of literary and informational text. They demonstrate comprehension by participating in discussions, writing responses, and using evidence from text to support their thinking. Reading for pleasure continues to be an enjoyable habit.
"Readers are Leaders!"
