Second Grade Update – Week of 1/9

Dear Second Grade Families, 

Happy Friday!

This week, we jumped back into our second grade routines! Students worked hard, followed our SLEs, and had fun seeing friends again!
It was wonderful to see students collaborating for their continent projects. Working in a group can be awesome AND challenging at times. We discussed strategies for working through disagreements in fair, kind, and thoughtful ways with the goal of producing an engaging and informative poster. Their posters are looking good, and the groups will finalize and present them next week! 

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 decoding words where c sounds like /s/ and g sounds like /j/ (face, cage, fence, giraffe). Students will also work with synonyms and antonyms and should practice their spelling words for homework so they are prepared for the quiz on Friday.
• Writing – Students will review prayers they already know and write their own prayer to the Holy Spirit. The focus of the prayer will be to ask for support and guidance in our lives. Students will practice editing their work.
• Math – The class will continue practicing strategies for subtraction of 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 finish our chapter about the Holy Spirit, the third divine person of the Holy Trinity. We will discuss the Ascension of Jesus and Pentecost, the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise to send a helper to guide and support us.
• Social Studies – Students will finish continent posters in groups. In addition to reinforcing content knowledge, the goals of the project include using collaboration as well as speaking and listening skills.  We will also read about and discuss Martin Luther King, Jr.’s accomplishments and why he is an inspirational change maker.
• Science – The class will connect back to our anchor phenomenon about the types of clothing workers need in a foundry and add to our initial ideas using new knowledge from this week’s exploration. We will reinforce the concept that materials have different properties which make them useful for specific activities.

Other Updates for this Week:

• Oratorical Fest – Please have your child practice their piece at home. They will need to have it memorized and ready to recite for the week of January 17th. They will start with:
  
  • Good afternoon. My name is _________ and I am in the second grade. The (poem, speech, prayer, etc.) I will be reciting is _________, written by _________.
  • When finished, say, Thank you.
    
• Dates to Remember:
  • Friday, Jan. 13 – No school for students; staff work day
  • Monday, Jan. 16 – No school – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
  • Wednesday, Jan. 18 – Pajama Day!
  • Tuesday, Jan. 24 – Free dress for January birthdays
  • Wednesday, Jan. 25th – Noon dismissal; teacher professional development
  • Sunday, Jan. 29 – Mass (9am) and Open House (10-11:30am) to kick off Catholic Schools Week
  • Jan. 29 – Feb. 3 – Catholic Schools Week

We look forward to seeing our students on Monday!

All the best,
Catherine