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St. Philip Neri Catholic School

Second Grade Update

Dear Second Grade Families,

Happy Friday!

I wanted to say thank you so much for the thoughtful birthday cards from your children! I really appreciated them and they warmed my heart. 🙂 The blanket was also so beautiful! I look forward to curling up with it, a cup of coffee, and my book sometime in the near future. 🙂

This Saturday, we look forward to celebrating First Communion with many of our second graders! It will surely be a joyous occasion. 🙂 Then on Monday, all students may wear their First Communion attire or fancy free dress. We will attend Mass at 8:30 and then go to the hall to celebrate with some brunch treats. If you are attending Mass and/or the brunch, we look forward to seeing you!

Upcoming: Our final Family Mass for the year will be on Saturday, May 21st at 5:15. The K-2nd grade classes are going to be readers! Please contact Hailey Castelaz (hcastelaz@gmail.com) if your child would like to be a reader. She can send them the readings in advance so that they can prepare.

Below is our second grade update.

Focus Areas for Our Learning Next Week:

  • Reading – We will continue our book club. Students will practice making connections between their lives and other texts they’ve read. We will identify new vocabulary words and ways of figuring out their meaning using context clues and background knowledge. Fluent reading (reading at an appropriate pace with accuracy and expression) is always a focus for all students.
  • Grammar/Spelling – In Superkids, students will decode and encode long “o” words using different spelling patterns (ex. “oa”, silent “e” at the end, “o” at the end, “oe”, “ow”, etc.). We will also practice with the suffix, “ness”, which changes an adjective into a noun.
  • Writing – Students will revise and edit their book reviews, and we will start working on our covers. 
  • Math – Students will continue working with fractions and build their conceptual understanding of the relationship between a whole, halves, fourths, and eighths. We will also review using data to create and interpret graphs.
  • Religion – We will finish our unit on the Mass and create a booklet to summarize each part. In Family Life, we will continue our unit, God’s Gift of Love, and students will reflect on how we show love to others in our lives.
  • Science – Students go on a habitat scavenger hunt to uncover the mystery of why an animal might move from one habitat to another. Students combine observations to create an understanding of how the living and nonliving parts of a habitat support the animals that live there.
  • Social Studies – We will continue our economics unit and review wants and needs by sorting different items into categories. Read-alouds will help us remember important changemakers in our world.

Other Updates for this Week:

  • COVID Safety– Please continue to be vigilant with the daily health screening. We appreciate your continued diligence – it keeps us all safe!
  • Dates to remember:
    • Saturday, May 7th – First Communion, 10am
    • Monday, May 9th – Celebration Mass (8:30am) and Brunch (to follow) – First Communion clothes or fancy free dress – students may bring their uniform to change into after the brunch, if they wish.
    • Tuesday, May 10th – Fun Run!
    • Thursday, May 12th – Celebration of the Arts (5:30-6:30 p.m. in O’Brien Hall) and Spring Concert (7:00 in Church, “A Song for Peace”), “All Are Welcome” into the classrooms for a brief Open House for families (5:30-6:30 p.m.)
    • Monday, May 16th – Uniform exchange
    • Tuesday, May 17th – Free dress for May b-days
    • Friday, May 20th – Sports Awards Night
    • Thursday, May 26th – St. Philip Neri Feast Day
    • Friday, May 27th – Noon dismissal

We look forward to seeing our students on Monday!

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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