Dear Second Grade Families,
Happy Friday!
This week, students reflected about what it means to complete quality work and to have pride in your work. They had great thoughts: focusing on what is in front of you, doing your best job, checking your work / rereading / editing, writing in your neatest handwriting, getting better and better by practicing, and making your work nice so that you feel good about it. Awesome! The trick is to actually DO these things. 🙂 At this point in second grade, these are expectations for both classroom work and homework. Thank you for your support at home!
Next week, we celebrate Catholic schools! There are many events throughout the week celebrating our students, our faith, our community and families, and excellence! On Sunday, the 28th, please join us for Mass at 9am and Open House to follow! I look forward to seeing you and sharing our classroom. You are also invited to visit other classrooms as well. 🙂 Please note that students should always be with a parent while at Open House. Also, if students wear their uniform to Mass and Open House, they will get free dress on Monday. 🙂
Homework Next Week is DUE Wednesday – Please read carefully so your child can be prepared.
To celebrate our families during Catholic Schools Week, students will write a paragraph about a family tradition and draw a picture to match. These will be shared by students during class on Wednesday, 1/31. To accomodate this assignment, there will be no other homework next week. *Here is the assignment link and writing paper (attached) in case you want your child to have a head start over the weekend. Please help your child be prepared and successful with this assignment. Their paragraph should be quality work:
- neatest handwriting
- a paragraph that starts with a topic sentence, includes details, and ends with a closing sentence
- edited for spelling, capitals letters where appropriate, and end marks
- an illustration that matches their tradition and includes color
Below is our second grade learning update.
Focus Areas for Our Learning Next Week:
- Reading –
- In reading groups, students will continue SUPER magazine. Students will use their knowledge of cause and effect, comparing and contrasting, and determining the meaning of unknown vocabulary words to better understand the informational text articles. As always, there is a focus on speaking and listening skills as we work together in a small group.
- At night, students should read aloud to practice fluent reading skills. Please encourage your child to observe punctuation, read at a good pace, and read the words as they appear in the text (no deletions or substitutions).
- Grammar/Spelling – In Superkids, students practice with decoding and encoding words with -īld, -īnd, -ōld, -ōst (ex. child, find, told, host). Students will also review compound words. They should practice their spelling words for homework so they are prepared for the quiz on Friday.
- Writing – Students will continue developing the main character for their story with as many details as possible (likes, dislikes, what they look like, where they live, etc.). They will also have an opportunity to share their family tradition paragraph (homework) on the 31st.
- Math – The class will work together to create graphs. 🙂 We have been discussing questions that someone might ask to gather information as well as how to display that information in the form of a graph (labels, increments, etc.) to ensure the information presented is clear.
- Religion – We will continue our chapter about the Church. Key ideas include the “Body of Christ” meaning the faith congregation, and the “Communion of Saints” another name for the followers of Christ, also including those who have passed on before us.
- Social Studies – Students will continue our unit on discovering our past. This week, we will discuss the Civil War and connect to important change makers of that time. As mentioned, conversations will be age appropriate, but we will also address that injustice is also part of our nation’s history and that changemakers were needed then AND now to ensure we always uphold justice, equality, and liberty.
- Science – Students will review how certain materials can change states between solid and liquid.
Other Updates for this Week:
- Valentine’s Day – If they would like to, students may bring in valentines to exchange, but please do not put specific names on individual cards (it takes too long to pass them out). They should bring in their valentines on Tuesday, February 13th as per the newsletter, the school will be celebrating Valentine’s Day early since Ash Wednesday is on the 14th.
- Baby Wipes – We’ve had about 1/2 of the class contribute – thank you! We still need a refill of baby wipes – 1-2 packs from all families. We use them after each recess, so they go quickly!
- AR Reading – Many students are reading more challenging books these days. I am encouraging all students to use their AR book for their homework reading time (15 minutes each afternoon/evening). This means they can bring their AR book back and forth to school. As soon as students finish reading at home, they should put their book right back in their backpack each evening.
- Dates to Remember:
- Sunday, Jan. 28 – Catholic Schools Week kick-off with All School Mass, 9:00 am at SPN; Open House immediately following Mass, 10:00-11:30 PLEASE COME! 🙂
- Friday, Feb. 2 – Noon dismissal, Teacher Appreciation Day, NO Share and Care
- Tuesday, Feb. 6 – 100th Day of School!
- Friday, Feb. 9 – Special Chinese New Year lesson with Mrs. Cheng and Mrs. Wang
- Tuesday, Feb. 13 – Burning of the Palms, morning assembly
- Tuesday, Feb. 13 – St. Valentine’s Day celebrated (red, white, and pink free dress; students may bring valentines – 25 students in the class)
- Wednesday, Feb. 14 – All School Mass for Ash Wednesday, 9:30am
- Friday, Feb. 16 – Noon dismissal
- Monday, Feb. 19 – No School, Presidents’ Day
- Tuesday, Feb. 20 – Free dress, February birthdays
- Friday, Feb. 23 – Field Trip to see “Seussical” at CMT San Jose!
- Saturday, Feb. 24 – Gala Auction
