Second Grade Update – Week of 2/5

Dear Second Grade Families, 

Happy Friday!

This week we celebrated Catholic Schools! What a treat to see many of you at Mass and Open House on Sunday! Throughout the week, it was lovely to visit other classrooms, share family traditions, focus on excellence and hard work with the Oratorical Fest, and celebrate our amazing students, faculty and staff! Thank you to Mrs. Bustos and Mrs. Holmes for taking care of our second graders while all the teachers and staff enjoyed a lovely brunch from the PTG on Friday! Finally, Mrs. Serles and I thank you all for helping your children put together the book of student thoughts about their teachers! They are precious, and it was so flattering to hear from some that they thought we were in our twenties! Haha! 🙂

In other news, we have now started our celebration of Black History month. Throughout the month, the class will highlight changemakers who have worked toward greater equality, justice, and respect in our society as well as individuals who have made positive impacts in all aspects of life – science, music, art, literature, etc.

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, I am encouraging all students to bring home their AR books. 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 words ending in -tion/shǝn/ and -ture/chėr/ (ex. association, adventure). They will also distinguish between ea/ē/ and ea/ě/ (ex. read vs. bread). They should practice their spelling words for homework so they are prepared for the quiz on Friday.
• Writing – Students will review problem/solution plots and practice creating a few scenarios together in small groups and then share out with the class. This is practice for planning their own narratives. 🙂
• Math – The class will wrap up their graphing projects by creating a poster of their survey question, data, graph, and analysis! We will also revisit place value with 3-digit numbers and practice using money in story problems.
• Religion – We will finish our chapter about the church and review our unit as well. Key ideas and vocabulary include:  the crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, mercy, God’s covenant with his people, the communion of saints, the body of Christ, and how we can be good disciples of Jesus. We will also start Family Life, and I will send  information about this curriculum home next week.
• Social Studies – The class will review our unit about our nation’s early history, and students will complete an assessment. We will also celebrate the Lunar New Year with a visit from Mrs. Cheng and Mrs. Wang! 🙂

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.
• Enrichment Newsletter – Click the link to check out all the wonderful things happening in our enrichment classes!
• Tissues – Please contribute 1-2 boxes of tissues. This class goes through them so quickly.
• AR Reading – Just a reminder – I am encouraging all students to use their AR book for their homework reading time (15 minutes each afternoon/evening).
• Dates to Remember:
  • Tuesday, Feb. 6 – 100th Day of School!
  • Friday, Feb. 9 – Special Lunar 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

We look forward to seeing our students on Monday!

All the best,
Catherine