Second Grade Update – Week of 9/23

Dear Second Grade Families,

Happy Friday!

This week, we not only walked to a enlightening author visit at the library (another thank you to Mrs. Cooke and Mrs. Castelaz for chaperoning!), but we also had our first art docent lesson with Mrs. Goins and Mr. Matarrese! They tapped into your children’s eye for detail with clay busts of themselves. 🙂 Thank you to her assistants, Mr. Weesner, Mrs. Campos, and Mrs. Toner for supporting our students with the project! 🙂 We look forward to welcoming our art docents throughout the year!

Regarding student behavior, this week was better. Thank you to everyone who had a conversation with your child. Please continue the conversation at home – what was your child proud of this week, what do they know they can still do better, how did they do with their specific goal? Keeping the conversation alive will help students know that you think their goals are important and that behavior choices are not a one-time improvement, but rather an ongoing effort. Thank you again!

Next week, second grade will create our LIFTS Garden using each student’s flower! A big THANK YOU to all of you for helping your child with these at home this week – every single one of them was done with quality work and thoughtfulness. SO wonderful! 🙂

Focus Areas for Our Learning Next Week:

• Reading – 
  • In reading groups, students will continue SUPER magazine with a focus on connecting articles to themselves and the world around them. We will also cite text evidence for responses and compare/contrast information presented.
  • 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 practice identifying homonyms, words that sound the same, but have different meanings and often different spellings – example: there, they’re, their. In spelling homework, students will practice sight word pronouns and should be prepared for the quiz on Friday.
• Writing – The class will review opinion writing and then complete a paragraph that shares reasons for their opinion. As always, we will focus on the structure of the paragraph – topic sentence, reasons and details, wrap-up sentence. Students will use editing skills to finalize their paragraphs (focus on capitalization, punctuation, and their best spelling). Students will have the opportunity to illustrate their writing as well.
• Math – Throughout the week, the class will also be reinforcing our fluency with counting by twos, fives, and tens from different starting points. Telling time on an analog clock to the nearest five minutes continues to be a focus as well.
• Religion – We will wrap up our new chapter with a focus on the ways God invites us to know and believe in him and the importance of demonstrating faith and hospitality to others as disciples of Jesus and signs of God’s love.
• Science – Students revisit the mountain model we created last week and connect concepts about rivers to our anchor phenomenon. They will expand on their initial ideas about how and why two rivers come together and look a certain way. Students will document these new hypotheses in preparation for our next exploration.
• Social Studies – We will discuss the concepts of neighborhoods and communities as part of understanding our own families and the world around us. We will also celebrate Hispanic Heritage this month with read-alouds and discussion.

Other Updates for this Week:

• Conferences – If you haven’t already, please sign up for a parent/teacher/student conference using this link: Second Grade Conferences
• Daily Screening – Please continue to do the daily screening. Your diligence is important and appreciated.
• Dates to Remember:
  • Saturday, Sep 21 – FUN FAIR!
  • Wednesday, Sep 25 – Noon Dismissal: Teacher Development
  • Saturday, Sep 28 – 8th Grade Car Wash Fundraiser!
  • Friday, Oct 4 – Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, Prayer Service Blessing of the Animals, 8:00 a.m.
  • Friday, Oct 4 – Progress Reports
  • Sunday, Oct 6 – Family Mass, 9:00 a.m., hosted by grades 7-8
  • Oct 8-11 – Noon Dismissal, Parent-Teacher-Student Conferences
  • Monday, Oct 14 – NO SCHOOL: Indigenous Peoples Day
  • Tuesday, Oct 15 – Free Dress Oct B-Days!
  • Thursday, Oct 31 – Noon Dismissal; Halloween Parade 8:15 a.m.

We look forward to seeing our students on Monday! 

All the best,
Catherine