Second Grade Update – Week of 11/7

Dear Second Grade Families,

Happy Friday! 

First, please remember that the Rite of Enrollment is this Sunday at the 9am Mass at SPN if your child is preparing for First Reconciliation and First Communion. Please arrive at the church a bit early to check in with Mrs. Bustos. (Mrs. Bustos also sent an email earlier today.)

Now, on to our normal weekly update. 🙂 This week, students enjoyed the 
musical performance for the Dia de los Muertos. It was a fantastically fun and educational celebration as well as an opportunity for children to reflect on and remember their own ancestors. Thank you to Mrs. Kyle for joining us! 🙂
 
Another highlight was our first Adoration session in the church! If you are not familiar, Adoration is a time where Jesus is on display in the monstrance on the altar. It is a time for reverence and connecting with our Lord. Our second graders made me amazingly proud – they were quiet and reverent as I led our prayer reflection. Many had their eyes closed, some were looking at the monstrance, ALL were reverent. At the end, when I shared that we would have the opportunity to do Adoration every first Friday of the month, I saw a number of hands go up with wiggling fingers (our quiet signal for excitement)! One second grader later told me “Mrs. Suer, I REALLY enjoyed adoration.” Wonderful. 🙂

Next week on Monday and Tuesday, we will do our second round of STAR assessments in reading and math. Please make sure your child gets to bed on time and has a good breakfast.

We will also be treated to some more performances next week! The Pacific Boys’ Choir will come on Wednesday, and on Thursday, we will attend the middle school drama production. 🙂

Below is our second grade learning update.

Focus Areas for Our Learning Next Week:

• Reading – 
  • In reading groups, students will continue SUPER magazine. Students focus on informational text skills, including understanding cause and effect, using text features, and making inferences.
  • 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 will continue to practice decoding and encoding words with r-controlled vowels (ex. car, fork, girl). We will also practice decoding words with different spellings for /er/ (ex. her, curl, collar). Students should practice their spelling words for homework so they are prepared for the quiz on Thursday.
• Writing – Students are still working on completing the final copy of their personal narratives and adding an illustration to match the details of their story. In the coming weeks, they will have an opportunity to share their narratives and share constructive feedback / questions / compliments with classmates.
• Math – Students will review measurement, discussing and practicing how to measure with accuracy and with precision.
• Religion – We will continue our chapter about God the Father and focus on how we can live as children of God. Students have a copy of the Glory Be prayer in their homework folder (provided last week). Students should be working to memorize it by the end of the trimester.
• Science – This week, students explore the difficulty of measuring the length of a river. Figuring out which river is the shortest river is difficult to do if you can’t decide where a river starts or ends. After a review of our Work of Water unit, students will learn about two rivers that are each possibly the shortest rivers in the United States. Then, they map those rivers out and attempt to determine which river is the shortest.
• Social Studies – The class will start discussing our Earth as a group of continents and oceans. We will review vocabulary previously introduced and practice using it in conversation.

Other Updates for this Week:

• Covid Daily Screening – Please continue to do the daily screening. Your diligence is important and appreciated.
• Dates to Remember:
  • Friday, Nov. 11 – No School, Veterans Day
  • Nov. 14-18 – Scholastic Book Fair
  • Tuesday, Nov. 15 – Free Dress for November B-days
  • Friday, Nov. 18 – Report Card Day
  • Nov. 21-25 – Thanksgiving Break
  • Tuesday, Dec. 6 – Field Trip to the Bay Area Children’s Theater

We look forward to seeing our students on Monday!

All the best,
Catherine