Sept. 29th- Oct. 3rd, Blessed Trinity, hear us

We have a wonderful week ahead of us! I am excited that we are getting into a routine, and the kids are doing wonderfully with procedures and classroom functions.

Literacy- 

 This week we are going to build our oral vocabulary by learning enormous, meteorite and launch. We will also be reviewing previous amazing words. We are also going to be writing a persuasive paper on fall and identifying main idea and details of a story. 
We will also be learning the phonics pattern VCe as well as consonant digraphs.
As our language skill, we will be focusing on the subject of a sentence.  

Religion-

   We finished our sacrifice beads last week and Fr. Joe is going to come in to bless them. This week we will be focusing on the Blessed Trinity. We will be discussing who God is, who is in the Trinity as well as how the Trinity is a mystery. 

Math-
  
This week we are reviewing addition strategies, we learned how to use doubles on Friday and will continue this week with near doubles, the commutative property and make a 1o to add.  These strategies may not work for your child. Other strategies include counting on fingers, using tallies, using counters, adding up. We will be talking about these other strategies in class, however when you are at home, if the strategy that the lesson is teaching, allow your child to use a different strategy.


Social Studies/Science-

This week we will be finishing up our activity called Me on the Map. We will be also learning how to read a map, answer questions about a map and create a map using direction words. 


Spelling-
This week we will be beginning our new spelling program.

This week, students will be given 10 words. 5 words that follow a spelling pattern and 5 sight words. On Friday, however, they will be given 18 spelling words. 10 words that follow the spelling pattern and 8 high frequency words, 5 from the beginning of the week and 3 from the previous week. 
This week we are working with the consonant digraphs sh, th, ph and ch. 
All students will have the same 10 words given to them on Monday. On Friday, triangles and squares will have differentiated lists. 
Here are the words for Monday:
our, sister, watch, fun, hill- sight words
chat, graph, chug, trash, ship- consonant digraphs

On Friday your child's spelling test will look similar to this:
1. chat
2. graph
3. chug
4. trash
5. ship
6. new consonant blend word
7. new consonant blend word
8. new consonant blend word
9. new consonant blend word
10. new consonant blend word
11. our
12. sister
13. watch
14. fun
15. hill
16. old sight word
17. old sight word
18. old sight word

Reminders-

On Friday, math homework 2.3, 2.4, 2.5 and 2.6 will be due. Until October conferences, I ask that you and your student just get used to getting online and taking the quiz. After October conferences, students will be required to turn in all homework sheets on Fridays. 


Friday is a noon dismissal day. 

If you have questions about anything, please feel free to email me.

Blessed Trinity, hear us!

Sept. 22nd- Sept. 26th St. Therese of Lisieux cont.

Thank you for the support of your student and for me. I love developing relationships with your children and I look forward to helping them grow this year. 

Please read below for information regarding a change in the spelling program as well as information about the upcoming week.
Literacy- 
 After our literacy tests last week, I now know your child's AR level and parent letters will be coming home this week so that you are about to help them find appropriate leveled books at home. 
We are going to be working on alphabetizing words as our word work for the week. We will also be building our oral vocabulary with the words ascend, descend, orbit, universe, enormous, journey, launch and meteorite.
As we are reading our text for the week, we will be looking at character and setting as well as identifying plot and main idea. 
We are also going to continue talking about how we speak and listen appropriately. 
Religion-

   Unfortunately, we weren't able to get to everything that was planned for the week so we are going to continue talking about the Bible, we will also be making sacrifice beads after talking about St. Therese of Lisieux. 

Math-
  
As you may have noticed, the mad minutes have been coming home this week for your child to practice. Please help your child practice by timing them while they complete their mad minute. Tuesday we will have a math test on topic 1. Topic 2 takes a closer look at addition strategies. Not all strategies are going to work for your child. We are reviewing them just as an option for them to use. 


Social Studies/Science-

Over the past week we have been working with continents and oceans and identifying them. Your students have learned two different songs and I have included them. We also played a game that your child might enjoy playing at home. You can find that game here. 

This week will will be continuing to study our world. We are going to be cartographers and create a map. We will be talking about the hemispheres and equator as well as studying where we are on the map. Your child should have a sense that we are part of a big city, state, country, continent and world. 

Continents

(To the tune of: "Its a Small World")

It's a small world after all!
It's a small world after all!
It's a small world after all!
It's a small, small world!

North and South America, 
Europe, Asia, Africa, 
Australia and Antarctica, 
It's a small, small world!



The Oceans

(To the tune of "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean")

The earth is all covered with ocean, 
The earth is all covered with sea, 
The earth is all covered with ocean,
More water than land, don't you see?

(Chorus)
Water, water, there's water all over the world, the world,
water, water, there's water all over the world.

So salty and cold is the ocean, 
So salty and cold is the sea, 
So salty and cold is the ocean, 
Too cold and too salty for me.

Chorus

Atlantic, Pacific, the Arctic, 
Southern and Indian, too. 
These oceans all cover our planet, 
I named all of them, now can you?

Chorus




*These songs were not created by me. They were created by Bruce Frazee, Chris Garcia-Prats, Jenny Tasian, Amy Yang Hawthorne Elementary /Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas* 


Spelling-
Our spelling program is going to be looking a bit different beginning next week. However this week we will be focusing on sight words. These words are "no excuse" words and will not only go onto our word wall, but be required in all writing to be spelled correctly. 

Students know if they are triangles or squares. 
Square words:                     Triangle words:
small                                     was
have                                       have
into                                        into
then                                        then
ask                                         ask
outside                                  he
now                                       now
of                                            of
thank                                     and
where                                    has

Beginning next week, students will be given 10 words. 5 words that follow a spelling pattern and 5 sight words. On Friday, however, they will be given 18 spelling words. 10 words that follow the spelling pattern and 8 high frequency words, 5 from the beginning of the week and 3 from the previous week. For example, if the spelling pattern were short vowels you may see the following:

Pattern: Short vowels
1.pot
2. man
3. dog
4. hum
5. pit

High-frequency words:
6. me
7. you
8.I
9. be
10. we

The spelling test would then come home with 18 words. 10 pattern words and 8 high- frequency words. This will all be explained in class next week to your child. 


Reminders-

On Friday, math homework 1.7, 2.1 and 2.2 will be due. Until October conferences, I ask that you and your student just get used to getting online and taking the quiz. After October conferences, students will be required to turn in all homework sheets on Fridays. 

Picture day is coming up on Thursday. Students wear mass uniforms for both Wednesday and Thursday this week. Students are allowed to bring tennis shoes for gym on Thursday. 

If you have questions about anything, please feel free to email me.

St. Therese of Lisieux, pray for us! 

Sept. 15th- 19th- St. Therese of Lisieux

Good evening! I hope your weekend was blessed! I know this entry is a bit lengthy, but there is important information regarding homework and spelling. Please make sure that you read through and email me if you have questions. 
I have also input grades from this week. If your child is missing an assignment, I will talk to them on Monday about it. 

Thank you for letting me teach your child. I am truly blessed to be where I am and I already love your little ones! 

Literacy- 
This week we will be taking two literacy tests. One on comprehension and the other to find out your child's reading level. This will help to determine the books they read in class as well as grouping for centers among other things. 
We have been working on writing an informative paragraph about Johnny Appleseed and will finish it up this week. 
Your student will be learning how to determine the plot of a story. We also are learning what a complete sentence is.  As a student it is important to be able to speak and listen, so we are going to discuss and show what that looks like. 

Religion-

    Our first topic in religion is God our Father. We are talking about our souls and heaven. We will continue by talking about how our souls separate us from the rest of creation. We will be talking about the Bible. The saint of the week will be St. Therese of Lisieux. On Friday we will be making sacrifice beads. 

Math-
  
As part of being good mathematicians, we have been reviewing addition and subtraction. We have been writing number sentences as well working with word problems. This week we are going to talk about fact families and the commutative property. 
Homework online will be 1.4, 1.5 and 1.6. Please see information regarding homework in the reminders section below.

Social Studies/Science-

Over the past week we have been working with continents and oceans and identifying them. Your students have learned two different songs and I have included them. We also played a game that your child might enjoy playing at home. You can find that game here. 

This week will will be continuing to study our world. We are going to be cartographers and create a map. We will also be studying where we are on the map. Your child should have a sense that we are part of a big city, state, country, continent and world. 

Continents

(To the tune of: "Its a Small World")

It's a small world after all!
It's a small world after all!
It's a small world after all!
It's a small, small world!

North and South America, 
Europe, Asia, Africa, 
Australia and Antarctica, 
It's a small, small world!



The Oceans

(To the tune of "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean")

The earth is all covered with ocean, 
The earth is all covered with sea, 
The earth is all covered with ocean,
More water than land, don't you see?

(Chorus)
Water, water, there's water all over the world, the world,
water, water, there's water all over the world.

So salty and cold is the ocean, 
So salty and cold is the sea, 
So salty and cold is the ocean, 
Too cold and too salty for me.

Chorus

Atlantic, Pacific, the Arctic, 
Southern and Indian, too. 
These oceans all cover our planet, 
I named all of them, now can you?

Chorus




*These songs were not created by me. They were created by Bruce Frazee, Chris Garcia-Prats, Jenny Tasian, Amy Yang Hawthorne Elementary /Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas* 


Spelling-
We will have our first spelling test this week. On Monday, we will take a pretest in the planner.  After this first week, we will have differentiated spelling lists. 

The spelling words for this week are as follows:
rock
job
sack
mess
list
sad
tag
dust
desk
chop
rib
drum

Please help your child practice their spelling words by using the Spellers Choice Menu sent home Monday. (These will not be required to turn in.)

Reminders-

On Friday, math homework 1.4, 1.5 and 1.6 will be due. Until October conferences, I ask that you and your student just get used to getting online and taking the quiz. After October conferences, students will be required to turn in all homework sheets on Fridays. 

Our annual Jog-a-thon will also be taking place on Friday. Please have your permission slips back to me by Wednesday or your child may not be able to participate. 

If you have questions about anything, please feel free to email me.

St. Therese of Lisieux, pray for us! 

Back to School! Week of Sept. 7th

Good evening!

I hope that you have had a wonderful weekend! We are ready to get into the full swing of things in second grade. 

Thursday and Friday, we worked on getting to know our classroom, classmates, school and procedures. 

This week we will continue working on getting to know how the classroom works, each other as well as the school. 

If you were not able to make it to the back to school night, a red folder came home with your students on Friday. Please make sure that you look through and email me if you have any questions. 

This week we will begin working with our math program. There will be NO math homework this week, as I want the students to feel comfortable with just using our math program. We are going to talk about how to get online, and what I want them to do. Math homework will begin next week. Just a reminder, math homework will be put online for Monday through Thursday. All four papers will be due on Friday.

This week in Religion we will be talking about God our Father, prayer and names of Mary.

Homework for the week:

      On Tuesday, an owl activity will be coming home. This will be due on Monday, Sept. 15th. 

Reminders:

      We have mass on Wednesday at 1:45. 

       Thursday we will have PE. Your students may come in tennis shoes.
       Friday is a spirit day. Spirit days mean a Spirit shirt with uniform bottoms and shoes. 

      Please read the handbook for uniform policies as well at other important information. 

Have a wonderfully blessed week.

Mary, mother of God, pray for us. 

WELCOME!

WELCOME 2nd Grade Families! See you next week! :)