Second Grade Update – Week of 2/6

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 share family traditions, bond with our Faith Families, focus on excellence and hard work with the Oratorical Fest, and celebrate our amazing students, faculty and staff! Thank you to Mrs. Losk and Mrs. Downes for taking care of our second graders while all the teachers and staff enjoyed a lovely brunch from the PTG on Friday! Thank you to the class for the gift card and chocolates! I do love Starbucks! 🙂

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.

Next week, students will enjoy a puppet show focused on the importance of clean water, how litter affects the animals of the creek, bay and ocean, and what we can do to help keep our water clean. This will support our upcoming science unit about habitats and the resources both plants and animals need to survive and thrive. We all need to care for God’s creation, and Mr. Joe Leon and his “Froggy Talk Radio” puppets will help us remember how we can do this everyday!

Next Thursday is our 100th day of school! For homework, students are creating a collection of 100 items and then creating a graph about their collection. Below are the instructions that will be on next week’s homework page if you want a preview:

Math: Complete Bridges Home Connections workbook pp. 85-88.

100 Collection and Graph – In anticipation of our 100th day of school, Thursday, Feb. 9th, students will create a collection of 100 items and use the collection to create a graph. The collection should be something where the student can create categories. Examples include: 1) 100 M&Ms – the color is the category, 2) 100 legos – the size OR color could be the category, 3) 100 coins – the type is the category, 4) leaves – the tree type would be the category, etc. Collections and math workbooks pages should be brought on Thursday as that is the 100th day of school!

Below is our second grade learning update.

Focus Areas for Our Learning Next Week:

• Reading – 
  • In reading groups, students will continue their book clubs. Texts continue to become more challenging to meet students where they are so they can continue to develop strong skills and the ability to analyze characters and plots and make inferences. As always, there is a focus on reading fluency and 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 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). 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 review problem/solution plots and practice creating a few scenarios together in small groups and then share out with the class. Then students will individually plan their own problem/solution plots for their descriptive narratives. They will use the main characters they have developed. 🙂 I can’t wait to see what these stories will be about! 🙂
• 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 wrap up our unit. 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 in Monday’s homework folder.
• Social Studies – Students will complete a project called “Me on the Map” where they will reinforce how they fit into the world around them, geographically – themselves, their street, city, state, country, continent, planet. 🙂
• Science – We continue to explore material properties, and this week, students will learn how new materials are invented. In our activity, students will come up with ideas for inventions that use an exciting futuristic material: glass that bounces and stretches like rubber! They will have the opportunity to present their ideas and get feedback. 

Other Updates for this Week:

• Enrichment Newsletter – Click the link to check out all the wonderful things happening in our enrichment classes!
• 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:
  • Thursday, Feb. 9 – 100th Day of School!
  • Tuesday, Feb. 14 – St. Valentine’s Day – red/white/pink free dress
  • Friday, Feb. 17 – Noon dismissal, Share and Care open
  • Monday, Feb. 20 – No School, President’s Day

We look forward to seeing our students on Monday!

All the best
Catherine