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St. Philip Neri Catholic School

Second Grade Update – Week of 1/6

Dear Second Grade Families, 

I hope you’ve all enjoyed a wonderful Christmas break so far! THANK YOU so much for your Christmas gifts! I truly loved the family pictures, homemade cards, lovely notes, tasty treats, generous gift cards, and creative and thoughtful presents! Wishing you all a very happy new year as we start 2025!

Sunday Reminder: The Rite of Illumination – If your child is preparing to receive the sacraments of First Reconciliation and First Holy Communion, please attend this Sunday’s 9am Mass for the Rite of Illumination and a family meeting in O’Brien Hall. You should have also received an email from Ms. Morales with additional information. 

On Monday, we will jump back into normal second grade routines. 🙂 It will be wonderful to see our students and hear about the time they spent with family and friends.

This week’s homework will include two non-routine items that are due on Friday:

  • Oratorical Fest – hard copy of their Oratorical Fest selection. Please follow requirements sent home before break and attached here for convenience. (Students do not need to have selections memorized until the week of Jan. 20th.)
  • Continent Project – three pictures to support their section(s) of the group continent project (if you don’t have a printer, you can always send them to me via email). Your child’s section(s) will be decided on Monday, and sent home with their normal homework page.

Focus Areas for Our Learning Next Week:

  • Reading – 
    • In reading groups, students will start our new SUPER magazine. We will focus on connecting articles with a general magazine theme and identifying the main idea within an informational paragraph. Students will resume practicing good listening skills and manners in our small groups. 
    • 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 decoding and encoding words with kn/n/ and wr/r/ words (ex. know, write). Students will also work with prefixes un- and re- and should practice their spelling words for homework.
  • Writing – To ring in the new year, students will write about a goal they’d like to work on during 2025. They will focus on expressing their goal clearly and using supporting sentences to describe why the goal is important as well as one strategy for meeting their goal. As always, students need to use their editing skills and neatest handwriting.
  • Math – The class will practice strategies for adding and subtracting 3-digit numbers when regrouping is required. We will also review concepts of measurement, practice estimating and measuring precisely, identify and relate standard units (inches, feet, yards), and use appropriate tools.
  • Religion – We will start our chapter about the Church as a community of disciples.
  • Social Studies/Science – Students will start their first group project! They will use their individual continent research to create a poster together. In addition to reinforcing content knowledge, the goals of the project include using collaboration as well as speaking and listening skills. The first step will be for groups to decide which part each student wants to be in charge of (i.e. people, animals and plants, land and climate).

Dates to Remember:

  • Dec. 20 – Jan. 3 – Christmas Break
  • Monday, Jan. 6 – Students return to school
  • Friday, Jan. 10 – Hard copy of Oratorical selections due to Mrs. Suer (8-12 lines only; please review rules)
  • Friday, Jan. 17 – No school for students; Staff Work Day
  • Monday, Jan. 20 – No school – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
  • Tuesday, Jan. 21 – Free dress January birthdays
  • Wednesday, Jan. 22 – Noon dismissal, Teacher Professional Development
  • Sunday, Jan. 26 – Catholic Schools Week kick-off with All School Mass, 9:00 am at SPN; Open House immediately following Mass, 10:00-11:30
  • Friday, Jan. 31 – Noon dismissal; No Share and Care; Teacher Appreciation Day

We look forward to seeing our students on Monday, January 6th!

All the best,
Catherine

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What Our Families are Saying

"The supportive teachers at SPN played a big role in preparing me for high school and helping me understand what to expect. They encouraged me to ask questions and seek help when needed, which made me more confident in my learning. Thanks to them, I entered freshman year already familiar with many concepts and effective study habits that have helped me stay on top of my work. SPN also taught me valuable life skills that I still use today, helping me succeed academically, build strong friendships, and maintain my overall well-being."
— Tibby Horvath, SPN Class of 2022
"We are very satisfied with the SPN community, something that is important to our family. My children feel safe and comfortable with SPN. Our family feels connected with the SPN community from parents and families to the staff and faculty. My children and we as parents have made healthy and positive relationships with other families from school. We share time outside of school with other families which brings a level of connectedness I don't know if we would have elsewhere"
— SPN Parent
"My children are experiencing community in other ways than just friends and playdates. Faith Families is an example of community, interacting with students from all grade levels, and learning and creating for others outside of SPN. Field trips to Kids Against Hunger or the Alameda Food Bank where they work and see firsthand how their efforts help others less fortunate, for those who are in need of support. Community is not just our SPN ‘bubble,’ and that is what SPN demonstrates and provides– opportunity to explore a bigger community."
— SPN Parent since 2016

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