Welcome 2nd Grade Parents!

I am excited to be your childs teacher this year. I look forward to working with you and your child as we begin our adventure in 2nd grade. At Rota Elementary and in 2nd grade, we provide a standardsbased educational program. Our mission is to provide an exemplary education that inspires and prepares all DoDEA students for success in a dynamic, global environment. Our School Improvement Plan goals are:
* Students will improve understanding and number sense and number relations. * Students will increase in communicating understanding effectively, in all curricular areas by demonstrating improved ability to gather, organize and compose information in both oral and written formats.

This is my 29th year teaching elementary school and my 11th year at DGF. How time flies! My husband, Richard Gruetter, is an art/humanities professor for the University of Maryland, my son Leif is in 10th grade this year and my daughter Hailey, is in 8th grade. I have also taught for DoDEA in Atsugi, Japan and Sigonella, Sicily. It is a pleasure working at Rota Elementary and living in Spain. As of today we have 16 students in our class. Every year the dynamics of the classroom change due to the unique viewpoints and personalities of the children, and this in turn steers the direction of my teaching. I am anxious to get to know your child and learn his / her interests and perspectives. We are excited to have a new music teacher and a new PE teacher. We are also fortunate to have full time music and art this year. Due to this change, we have gone to a 4 day rotation for our specials schedules. A=Host Nation, B=Music, C=PE, D=Art. We have FLES every other day on B and D days, library on A days and computer lab on C days. We may be visiting the math lab or we may be having Ms. Garrison, the math resource specialist, help out in our classroom through enrichment and support activities. The second grade classroom is a very special place. It is an environment where children should feel valued and free to take risks. We are on an adventure together and it is important that we are kind, encouraging and supportive of one another. It is our differences that help us compliment each other and when we can work independently as well as cooperatively we can accomplish amazing things. We all work best in different ways and at different speeds. In our class students will not always be working on the same thing at the same time. Instruction is differentiated to provide appropriate instruction for unique learning styles and skills levels. Depending on the activity, students may be working with a partner or small group, independently or with a teacher. It is imperative that we respect each others individuality and unique learning styles as we realize there are numerous paths to get to the end result. Parents and teachers are PARTNERS in a childs education. In order for us to have a successful year, the lines of communication between parents and teachers must be kept open. I will do my best to keep you posted about the activities happening in school. I would GREATLY appreciate your input and ideas about things we are or arent doing in the classroom as well as ideas on how to improve. I love having parents come into our classroom as teachers. You have a wealth of information to share with our students. If you have ideas, please send a note and I will respond as soon as I can. I look forward to a year of learning and a year of fun! We will all be making discoveries and experiencing new things. Lets have a great year together!

Respectfully,

Dana Dufka