Merry Christmas Everyone!

The second graders did an amazing job caroling at the nursing home today! They were such wonderful role models.

A huge thank you to Mrs. Abraham and Mrs. Haftarski for throwing a fun Christmas party for the class today! We loved it!

Over break there are lots of things you can do to keep the learning alive. Reading books is a always a great idea. They all have a math worksheet to complete, as well. Otherwise, don't forget our great web sites that we use to supplement our learning:

www.xtramath.org
www.sumdog.com
www.raz-kids.com
www.abcya.com
www.starfall.com

Have a fun, relaxing, blessed Christmas break and I'll see everyone on January 6th!

Christmas Is Almost Here!!!

So much learning today! Second grade created their own lines of symmetry shapes today in Math and they are doing a great job. We also continued our living and non-living unit in Science. We had lots of reading practice in the morning.

We all have PLENTY of reading for the long break. We have our guided reading assignments, and Mrs. Abraham took us all through the classroom library books this morning to make sure we're all bringing home plenty to read. Remember - keep reading at least 15 minutes a day over break!

Math homework for the holidays is coming home today. Side 62A is homework due on January 6th, and side 62B is optional extra credit.

Tomorrow students don't need to bring their binders to school. They should bring their backpacks and outdoor clothes. We'll go to Mass right away in the morning, then we hop on a bus and go caroling at a nursing home, then we come back and eat lunch. After recess we'll do some desk and room clean-up, and THEN we'll have our Christmas party. After that, they go home for two weeks!

Wishing you a peaceful, restful night!

We're Ready!

Second grade is ready - ready to give 100% tomorrow, ready for caroling on Friday, and ready for a fun Christmas break!

In Math today we learned about lines of symmetry. Again, second grade amazed me with how quickly they caught on. Tomorrow we'll be creating our own shapes that have lines of symmetry. Over Christmas break everyone will be bringing home a 200 problem addition facts worksheet (100 problems on each side). One side is homework and the other side will be extra credit. I know they can do it!

Today we made teepees in Social Studies. We learned that the women ran the inside of the teepee and the men decided what went on the outside of the teepee. We all chose Indian names, too - feel free to ask your child for their Indian name!

December reading logs are due when we come back to school. Remember to keep reading over break.

Second grade did an awesome job today - I'm very proud of them!

Tuesday's Updates

We're working hard as we head toward the end of the week and into Christmas vacation. The second graders worked hard at their pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters lesson today, and they also made a lot of progress on their "My Favorite Part Of Christmas (other than the gifts)" writing. I can't wait to hear them read out loud on Thursday!

A red form was sent home today regarding Christmas Eve Mass. If your child wants to be a part of the 4:30 Mass, please complete the form and send it back with your child. Participation in that Mass is optional.

Today we talked about the importance of keeping up with reading over Christmas. We have a long two weeks off, and it will make a big difference if the kids can read at least 15 minutes each day. Hopefully they all have some fun books to read at home. If not, just let me know and I'm happy to loan some out from our classroom library!

COMING UP: We have a 2nd grade parent Mass on Tuesday, January 21st in the morning - second grade will be presenting the Mass and then we'll have breakfast afterwards. I hope to see all of you there!

Busy Little Elves

Our classroom elves were busy working on secret projects today! I can't say what they are, but everyone is doing a great job.

Thank you to Mrs. Schanen for a wonderful Advent presentation last Friday and again this morning. Everyone enjoyed it.

There are no spelling words this week because we have so many things to catch up on before the Christmas break. Our spelling words start back up on January 6th.

We had guided reading groups today - everyone came to class prepared! We also have guided reading groups on Tuesday and Thursday this week.

Four more days to go - let's make the most of it!

Fabulous Friday!

Second grade had a wonderful day! We went Secret Santa shopping (shhhh!!!) and watched a great video of meteorologist Ms. Slater answering our 1st and 2nd grade weather questions...thanks Paiton!!! They loved watching that.

A look to next week:

Math: Selecting appropriate tools to measure; Counting dimes, nickels, pennies; Identifying lines of symmetry; Creating a symmetrical design

Social Studies: Evaluating different types of Indian housing

Science: Living and non-living things

Writing: My Favorite Part of Christmas (other than getting gifts)

Reading Strategies: Skipping an unknown word and coming back to it

Reminders for next week:
Wednesday $1 Dress Down
Friday $1 Dress Up
Friday morning: Field Trip - caroling to the nursing home
Friday afternoon: Christmas party in the classroom

Have a GREAT weekend everyone!

Our Day at a Glance

The kids were so excited with not having math homework two days in a row!!! I think we're back on track and they have math homework (and reading homework) tonight!

Our math test is tomorrow. They are all ready for it. We had guided reading groups today and I'm so proud of how they are all stepping up to the challenge of nightly reading and coming to school prepared. Great job!

Hopefully everyone got the email about the free dress down day tomorrow - enjoy! Also, Secret Santa is tomorrow morning so please send money with your child if you want them to shop. Permission slips for the nursing home field trip are due Tuesday.

Have a good Thursday!

What We Did Today

Second grade has a lot to do before Christmas! We made our angel decorations for the Dec. 20th nursing home visit. They look beautiful and we hope the residents love them.

Today in math we learned how to create a bar graph. We did two - one on our favorite candy, and one on our favorite toy. Our second graders really enjoy graphing.

In Social Studies, we studied Indian sign language and Indian signs. We learned how to copy several sign language examples such as the words hard, grow, and heavy. Then we practiced writing some early Indian tribe signs such as sunrise, corn, and hunt. Great job by all.

Please remember:
1. Field trip permission slips and $1 are due no later than next Tuesday.
2. Secret Santa money is due on Friday.
3. Our Math test is on Friday.

Have a good day!

Dreamcatchers

I thought you might enjoy this picture of the beautiful dreamcatchers made by our 1st and 2nd grade students! In Social Studies, we talked about the legend of the dreamcatcher which says that Indians believe bad dreams blow through the holes to be lost forever, while the good dreams get caught in the web. Then the good dreams slide down to the feather to drip into the head of the person who is asleep. They liked that!

Welcome Back!

We started the week off beautifully with Mass this morning. We'll also have a prayer service on Friday morning.

Thank you to those parents who replenished your child's supplies - it is appreciated. If you haven't had a chance yet, please send the supplies in as soon as possible.

TWO important items in today's OCEAN binder: 1. a field trip permission form and 2. Secret Santa envelopes. Please return the completed field trip permission slip this week so that we are all set to go caroling to the nursing home on Friday, Dec. 20th with the entire school. Also, please send the Secret Santa envelopes and money back to school on Friday. We are scheduled to shop from 9:30 - 10:00 a.m.

We had a school-wide lock down drill today and the second grade did such a wonderful job that they earned a brownie point!

We'll start crafting angel ornaments this week to give out at the nursing home. We're also working on a writing piece with the theme of "non-monetary gift ideas" to go along with our school-wide service theme for December.

Don't forget tomorrow night is our concert! Please arrive to the church at 6:15 p.m. We'll be practicing all afternoon so we're ready!

Reminder: Math test on Friday, no spelling test this week and no homework tomorrow night (concert night).

A Look Ahead

Hi everyone! We heard some fantastic writing pieces today! This week's topic was "What Jesus Means To Me" and I continue to be amazed at the thoughtful, insightful writings of second grade.

We have a FUN math lesson planned for this afternoon - be sure to ask your child about it! We also did a funny adjective lesson about Santa and his elves!

There is a "Supply Refresh List" in your child's OCEAN binder today. It's a list of supplies that need to be replenished for your child. Thanks for helping with that.

Next week is a busy week for 2nd grade: we have Mass on Monday, concert rehearsal Tuesday afternoon and our concert Tuesday night, Communal Reconciliation on Wednesday night, prayer service Friday morning, and Secret Santa Shop Friday morning. Because of the busy schedule, we won't have homework Tuesday night (concert night) and we won't have spelling words or a spelling test next week. That should help calm things down. However, we will have a math test later next week. More on that soon.

Looking ahead to next week:
Math: Identifying similarities and differences among coins, counting nickels, writing the date using digits, creating and reading a bar graph, creating and reading a Venn diagram, and ordering two digit numbers.

Social Studies: Native Americans (or American Indians): Looking at different types of housing (tee-pees, longhouses, etc.)

Writing:  Good deeds I can do for others (5 sentences by Friday)

Reading: Guided reading books (individual) and Christmas traditions (as a class)

Science:  Extreme Weather

Religion: Unit 1 review (Chapters 1-4) We Gather As Believers

Have a great day off on Friday!

Our Beautiful Snowman

Meet our newest project! We had fun making our snowmen this week. They are displayed in the hall and they look great! (Thanks Izaak, for letting me use your snowman for our photo!)

We also started our Native American unit in Social Studies today. We learned about the different traditions some of the Indian tribes used such as rain sticks, talking sticks and dreamcatchers. Then we made dreamcatchers for our hall.

Tomorrow is Spirit Wear day and we also have our spelling test. We practiced a little in class today, but it would help to go over the words tonight. Remember - no school on Friday.

Sorry for the late post!

Time slipped away from me today - I'm sorry for the late post.

Our second grade is AWESOME at measuring! We used rulers and 1" tiles to measure things in math, and they are pros already! We're ready to move on - next is measuring with measuring cups, tablespoons, and teaspoons!

Tomorrow we start a new Social Studies unit on identifying Native Americans as the first Americans. We have fun projects planned for that. We also have library and gym, so we'll need our books and gym shoes.

I'm hoping to post pictures of our fabulous projects - coming soon!

The Advent Season Is Here

We started our day with an Advent wreath lighting ceremony in church this morning. In reading, we also learned about what Advent is, and why we celebrate it. We also talked about the Advent colors of purple and pink and what they mean. At the end of the day, we started our Advent calendar in the classroom by opening up December 1st. We'll catch up tomorrow!

We also made snowmen decorations for our hall, which taught us the importance of following directions in order. Tomorrow we'll continue with our tree decorating!

In math, we had fun measuring things around the room and talked about the different types of measuring tools (rulers, tape measures, measuring cups) and talked about how we'll be using different types of measuring tools between now and Christmas.

We are back into guided reading groups, so please have your child remember to complete their reading homework each night and bring it back to school each day. Thanks for your help!

Coming up this week...

Hi families! I hope everyone had a wonderful, relaxing Thanksgiving break.

Here is a preview of what we're doing this week:

Math: Measuring to the nearest inch; adding 10 to a two digit number; and we begin measuring - identifying 1 cup, 1/2 cup, tablespoon, teaspoon, and 1/2 teaspoon.

Writing: What Jesus Means To Me - four sentences due by Thursday (this is done in class during Daily 5).

Grammar: Adjectives - inserting adjectives into stories.

Religion: Unit One review (chapters 1-4, no test - review done in class).

Social Studies: Identifying American Indians as the first Americans.

Reading: Using beginning and ending sounds to figure out words.

Spelling: Our test is Thursday. Our words are: deep, easy, feel, leave, party, read, seat, sleep, team, teeth, wheel, windy.  Our challenge words are: guess, science, electricity.

As a reminder, there's no school on Friday. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We had a GREAT day - everyone ended the day on perfectly pink!

Thank you to Mrs. Schanen for hosting a fun afternoon with a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving movie and some Thanksgiving feast snacks. We had a great time!

As we look to Christmas break, we'll be learning quite a bit. In math, one of our units is measuring using measuring cups, tablespoons and teaspoons. As you are doing your holiday cooking or baking, it would be a great idea to get your second grader's help in the kitchen with measuring. It would be a good introduction to measuring so that they will know a little about it when we get to that unit closer to Christmas.

Our homework for class is to read as much as you can each day - at least 15 minutes, but hopefully more. Everyone has guided reading homework. Children can also work on www.sumdog.com or www.raz-kids.com for extra work. Mrs. St. Louis gave the school TWO homework assignments: 1. On Thanksgiving day, tell your family two things you are thankful for; and 2. Start thinking about Advent and how you can let Jesus into your life.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone - we'll see you on Monday!

One More Day...

We are excited that Thanksgiving is almost here!

We had our Religion test today, so no more tests until after our break. Today we started researching extreme weather in Science, we talked about fractions in Math, and we looked at more possessive nouns in Language Arts. We also had a tornado drill, and we were ready!

Tomorrow Nathan's mom is bringing in a movie and Thanksgiving feast (snacks) for us to enjoy in the afternoon with the 1st grade- thank you!!!

There is an e-mail being sent home this afternoon - please take time to read it if possible. Thanks for your help!

So Much To Say!

Where do we start? Well, a favorite activity today was Gummy Bear Graphing - we had fun counting, graphing, and then eating our gummy bears for math! In Science, we finished our weather unit and watched a weather forecast to see what we could learn. We had our school-wide vision screening this morning, and also got to visit the 7th grade room to see some of the beautiful instruments that our middle-schoolers made.

This week we also practiced a tornado drill (just as a class) so that we're prepared if the school has a drill. The entire school also had a fire drill this week. Both went very well!

There's no spelling test next week since it's a short week. We do have a religion test on Monday. All of the students were given a study guide today and I suggested they take it home to study. The test is open book and open notes, which means they can use any of their notes as well as their religion book.

As I mentioned, next week is a short week. We fell a little behind in math due to our safety drills, vision testing, and our middle school instrument visit. Therefore, on Monday we'll learn how to name a fractional part of a whole, how to start comparing fractions, and how to write fractions. On Tuesday we'll learn how to trade in pennies for dimes.

ONE MORE NOTE:  Free dress down day on Monday for 2nd grade - yay!!! We earned it by having our wing bring in the most food for the Student Council food drive. Congratulations!

Have a great weekend!

Land Ahoy!

We had a great time finishing up our social studies project today! We recreated the Pilgrims' voyage from England to the U.S. Here's a peek at one of our maps (thanks Paiton!) with several model boats, too:


Feel free to ask your child about what they've learned - they're happy and eager to share what they know! We also started comparing and contrasting the life of the Pilgrims with the life of the Wampanoag Indian tribe. They have lots of wonderful information to share.

We have our math test tomorrow. We completed a practice test today in class and they all did great. We're looking forward to a strong finish to the week!

Tuesday updates

Yesterday I wrote about a new computer program we used called www.sumdog.com and we use this program for extra math practice in addition to our daily lessons. The kids enjoyed it so much that they asked if they could do it at home. I taped everyone's login information to the inside of their OCEAN binder today. Feel free to keep that information taped there, or keep it at home. It's great extra math practice in game form.

Tomorrow is $1 dress down day and library day - please remember your library books!

Also, there is a yellow survey in your child's take-home folder today. The survey asks for your opinion about our blog. Please take a minute to complete that survey and send it back to school with your child. You don't need to put your name on it - we're just using it for informational purposes. Thanks for your help!

We won! We won! We won!

Congratulations to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade wing for collecting the most food during the Student Council Food Drive!!! Our entire school collected 670 items, which is fantastic! As a reward for being the wing to bring in the most food, we won a free dress-down day next Monday, November 25th. Yay!!!

Today in computers we introduced a new program called www.sumdog.com to our class. It's a program to help build math and reading skills, and the kids really enjoyed it. Speaking of math and reading, this week in math we are learning about identifying the tens and ones position of a 2 digit number, identifying halves, fourths, and eighths of a whole, we'll introduce measuring items using 1 inch tile squares, and we'll start learning how to name fractional parts of a whole (1/4, 1/2, 1/8). Our math test is on Thursday with a practice test on Wednesday.

In Language Arts and Reading we're starting to edit our writings, we're talking about possessive nouns (Jessie's cat, the dog's bowl), and we're learning how to tell the different points of view of characters in fiction books. Also our spelling test (long A sound) is on Friday.

The First Thanksgiving is the topic in Social Studies right now. Last week we talked about the Pilgrims' voyage and this week we're talking about the differences in food, housing, and daily living of the Indians and the Pilgrims. We're finishing up a unit on atmosphere in Science.

Dress warm!

Next Week's Spelling Words

Back by popular demand...here's an early look at our spelling words for next week (long "A" sound):

away   brain   main   paint   play   raise   say   stay   tail   today   tray   wait

Our challenge words are:    brought    everybody    lumbered

Our test is Friday, Nov. 22nd. Happy studying!

Have a great weekend!

We had a wonderful week and second grade is ready for some rest!

We were going to have three tests next week (spelling, math, religion), but after seeing the looks of panic across second grade, we've changed that! Our math test is Thursday 11/21, our spelling test is Friday, 11/22, and our religion test (on Praise and Worship) is Monday, 11/25.T hat should make it easier to study.

Our writings for this week (If I had one super power it would be...) were fantastic! They wrote very creatively. Next week we will edit these writings.

Our homework for the long weekend is to read, read, and read some more. They all have guided reading assignments and those assignments count as their daily 15 minutes.

Have a fun weekend - see you on Monday!

A short week!

This week is a short week - there's no school on Friday. Second grade is looking forward to a long weekend!

Tomorrow we have our spelling test. We practiced using the Spelling Sparkle game today and they did very well! Tomorrow we'll also read our "Superpower" writings to the class.

As the snow and cold arrive, please remember that if there's snow on the ground, children need both boots and snow pants in order to play on the grassy area. Otherwise they need to stay on the blacktop.

Next week is full of learning! As we're looking ahead, we have a math test, a religion test, plus our regular spelling words to study. We'll spend time preparing in class, but it will be a good idea to study at home, as well. Our religion test is on Worship & Praise, and our math test will cover the last two weeks of our lessons. We'll do a practice math test together in class to prepare.

We had 100% attendance for our conferences and that is great - thanks to all of your for attending!

It's Snowing!

Even though we had indoor recess today, the snow was a great reminder to bundle up. We talked about remembering to bring hats and mittens to school, and before long we'll need boots and snow pants, too!

We enjoyed a brownie points snack today for earning 12 compliments on our classroom behavior - congratulations to second grade!!!

This week in math we are learning the difference between horizontal, vertical, and oblique lines. We are also studying how to divide a whole into halves, fourths, and eighths. Finally, we'll find out how to fill in missing numbers on a 100's chart and how to divide objects into groups of two.

As a reminder, Friday is a teacher in-service day so there is no school. We'll have our spelling test Thursday morning and we'll be sharing our Writer's Workshop writings on Thursday, as well. This week's writing topic is, "If I could have one super power, it would be..." and we're writing five sentences to tell about our super power! Also, last week we began learning how to correct and edit our writing.

Thank you for a great turnout Saturday night at Mass - it was fun seeing all of you there!

A Beautiful Mass

Most of you already know this because you were there, but second grade did a wonderful job at Mass this morning - I am so proud of all of them! They did such a great job that they earned lots of compliments - more than enough to earn a brownie party for Monday! Great job everyone:)

Since next week is a short week, the class asked me to post our spelling words for next week so they could have a little extra time to study. Our test is Thursday, Nov. 14th. Our words are:

baby    babies    lunch    lunches    note    notes    story    stories    switch    switches   tune    tunes

Our challenge words are:   bought    pleasant    musicians

I hope to see many of you at 5:00 pm Mass on Saturday. Have a great weekend!

A Fun Day Off (Hopefully!)

Well that was fun! I hope everyone had a nice day off yesterday!

Due to our unexpected "no school" day yesterday, we've changed our math lessons and homework. Please see "This Week's Happenings" for an update.

Report cards are going home today. After you have had a chance to look at your child's report card, please sign the envelope and send it back to school. Thanks!

Conferences are tonight - I hope to see everyone either tonight or next Tuesday.

Second grade is really looking forward to their 8:00 a.m. Mass tomorrow - please attend if you can. Children may dress up if they want.

Also, Saturday is the 5:00 pm 2nd grade Liturgy Mass. Although not mandatory, it is encouraged. I will meet students at 4:45 in the gathering area outside of church. Parts will be assigned then.

Finally, tomorrow is our spelling test. Let's start second quarter strong!

Welcome to Second Quarter

We're all off and running in second quarter, and ready to learn! In class, we talked about working toward our goal of becoming more independent in our work. First quarter was generally a collaborative (group) effort with our work (with the exception of math homework). Second quarter will see us striving to become more independent in our work. We're up for the challenge!

Saturday is St. Joe's parish/school 2nd grade Liturgy Mass at 5 PM. A note was sent home in your child's binder today. This Mass is not mandatory, but it is encouraged. Parts will be given out upon arrival at 4:45 pm on Saturday. It will include school and parish member second graders.

We practiced our Friday Mass today. We did a good job with our readings, and all agreed to remember our respectful behavior in church.

Please remember - we have library tomorrow so we'll need our library books!!

Lots of information!

There's a LOT happening this week! Our spelling test is this Friday (Nov. 8th) and here are our words:

birth     curb     curl     dirt     her     nurse     person     purse     serve     skirt     turn     turtle

Our challenge words are:  enough     challenge     embarrassed

In Math, we're studying addition and subtraction fact families (2 + 7 = 9 and 7 + 2 = 9. 9 - 7 = 2 and 9 - 2 = 7). We're also starting a money unit, so there's lot of information coming their way. Today we remembered that a penny is worth 1 cent and a nickel is worth 5 cents. Then we talked about dimes and quarters.

We start our Thanksgiving unit in Social Studies this week and will talk about the pilgrims' voyage here. In Science we did a fun rain experiment with shaving cream. For Religion, we will practice this week for Friday's second grade Mass service, and in Writing we're working on, "Our Favorite Fall Activity" and we're starting to edit our writings.

October reading logs are due by this Wednesday, Nov. 6th. Completed, signed and returned reading logs earn students a free pizza from Pizza Hut.

Student Council is sponsoring a school-wide non-perishable food drive from today through Nov. 18th. See today's flyer in your child's binder for more information.

Don't forget - there's a First Communion informational meeting this Wednesday night at 5:00 pm in the Day Chapel, and conferences start this Thursday evening. Let me know if you have any questions!

Happy November

I hope everyone has recovered from Halloween!

As mentioned earlier, second grade has the 8:00 am Mass next Friday, November 8th. Reading parts were sent home today. Please have your child practice their part so they are comfortable reading it next week. We will also practice our parts in school during the week.

Our homework for the weekend is to read 15 minutes each night. Have a great weekend!

Happy Halloween!

We had lots of fun today! Our Halloween parade in the gym was a hit, and so was our Halloween party! Thank you to Ava's mom and Ceili's mom for their wonderful help throwing our second grade Halloween party today. Everyone loved it!

We have a change in our homework - there is no math homework due tomorrow. We ran out of time today. Instead, please make sure your child studies for their math test tomorrow. We finished a practice test today in class and they all did great.

A reminder: there is an informational meeting for parents regarding 1st Communion next Wednesday, Nov. 6th at 5:00 pm in the Day Chapel. Also, second grade is hosting Mass next Friday, Nov. 8th. I hope we see many parents there! Finally, there is a 2nd grade Liturgy Mass at 5:00 pm on Saturday, Nov. 9th. More information is coming home soon about that.

All missing homework needs to be completed and turned in by tomorrow, which is the end of first quarter. If your child has any missing work, I will e-mail you and let you know.

I'm looking forward to seeing you at conferences - they are Thursday night, Nov. 7th and Tuesday night, Nov. 12th.

Happy Trick-or-Treating!

Lions and Tigers and...Skeletons!

Congratulations to Ben and Ceili - they are this month's Knights of the Round Table drawing winners! They were two of many who got "caught" being good this month. Mrs. St. Louis drew the winning names from a bucket this morning. Ben and Ceili enjoyed root beer floats at lunch as a reward.

This week we wrote a funny story about lions and tigers taking over the classroom as teachers! We have some very creative thinkers!

Our Boston Tea Party was a big hit today! We performed a mock protest in the hall, followed by (an apple juice) tea party.

Here's a picture of the pasta skeletons our second graders completed this week - they look great in our hallway!

Don't forget - tomorrow is our spelling test. We'll also have our practice math test so we're ready for Friday's math test. Tomorrow morning is dress-down and then we'll have costumes in the afternoon. Our school costume parade is at 12:45 and our classroom Halloween party is at 1:00 p.m.

Have a great Wednesday!

Coins and Floats

We were able to view a coin show in the cafeteria today and we really enjoyed it! We saw coins and money from all over the world!

This afternoon we had root beer floats and it was a great way to end the day.

Tomorrow we need our library books and gym shoes.

Oh - here is a picture of our beautifully scary 2nd grade Red Ribbon Week door!

Spelling words - contractions

Here are this week's spelling words:

didn't      hadn't     hasn't     he's     I'll     I'm     isn't     it's     she's     wasn't     we'll     who'll    

Our challenge, extra-credit words are:

couldn't     wouldn't     shouldn't

A Fun Start To The Week...

Today we made creepy pasta skeletons for our hallway walls - they were fun to make! We learned that following directions made for the best skeletons. We also decorated our door for Red Ribbon Week. Our creative second graders came up with "Drugs Will Eat You Alive" for our door theme. We have a skeleton on our door surrounded by a Pac Man theme. They did a terrific job!

In math we're learning about time and money this week. Math is teaching us "an hour or a half hour from now" and "an hour or a half hour ago." We also start learning about pennies and nickels this week.

We have a lot going on this week - please check our "This Week's Important Dates" to find out what is due and what tests we have going on this week. Our spelling test (contractions) is this Thursday, our Writing to Entertain stories are due Thursday (4 sentences about "Guess who/what I saw at the Halloween party..."), our practice math test is Thursday and our math test is Friday morning. Whew! I'll post spelling words soon.

We're off to a great start!

Happy Weekend!

Second graders put in a long, hard week and are ready for a rest this weekend! Today we read our "Writing To Entertain" pieces in class. Everyone did a beautiful job - we have wonderful writers! We will continue our "Writing to Entertain" stories through next week. In math we completed Skittle graphing and found out that no two charts were the same in class (and THEN we ate our work!).

A reminder - next week is Red Ribbon Week, so check out our fun days in our "October Happenings" section. Thursday is dress down in the morning and costume party in the afternoon (no scary costumes, fake blood, or weapons please).

Coming up:  We have our Boston Tea Party next Wednesday, Oct. 30th and second grade is planning the Friday Mass on November 8th. We hope to see you at Mass!

Our homework for the weekend is to read at least 15 minutes each day. Have a great weekend!

Brrr....

It's getting cold outside! Please remember to dress for the weather. It looks like winter will be here early!

Everyone brought home a Red Ribbon Week schedule for next week. There is one addition: the 8th grade class is selling $1 root beer floats next Tuesday afternoon. Next week is filled with lots of fun activities and fun dress days - be sure to see our "October Happenings" for more information. As a reminder, next Friday (Nov. 1st) is an early release day!

We're having fun with shapes in math - we're learning what "symmetry" and "congruent" mean, and we're learning how to divide squares and circles into equal shapes. This is our introduction into fractions and they're doing a great job! Next week we'll continue learning about fractions and we also start learning about pennies and nickels. On Friday (Nov. 1st) we'll have a test which covers the last two weeks. We'll do a practice test next Thursday so we know what to expect.

Enjoy your Thursday!

No More King!!

What? No more King? We had a fun Social Studies lesson today about the Boston Tea Party - please ask your child about it! We learned about "Taxation Without Representation" and used an 8th grade math test as an example! Next Wednesday we will protest the halls with our signs, Indian disguises, and our tea boxes. Then we will follow it up with our own tea party! We are all so excited about that!

Our spelling test is Friday, so please review the words. Also - remember that guided reading books are needed each day. Thanks!

It's Another Beautiful Monday!

I'm hoping we all had a nice weekend, even though they go way too fast!

An important reminder: we started guided reading groups last week. It's very important that everyone bring their book home each night and remember to bring it back to school each day. We use those books for guided group reading with me, and we need them daily. Starting today, everyone has a guided reading log in their plastic book baggies which tells you what we read in groups today and what your child's reading homework is.

This week in math, we'll continue our fractions unit by learning what are parts of a whole. In Science, we're continuing our cloud unit, and in Social Studies, we're moving forward with our Important Events in U.S. History lesson. We have fun things planned for that! "We Praise And Thank God - How To Pray" starts are next Religion lesson. This week in writing, we're working on our final author's purpose: writing to entertain. Students will be writing fun stories in their writing journals, and we'll be writing a fun class story together this week about "How To Train A Spider!"

Our spelling test is Friday, and our spelling words for this week are:
before     born     chore     corn     farm     hard     horse     more     part     porch     score     smart

Our extra words are:    family     heard     listen

Thursday we have a staff vs. students volleyball game at 1:30 - we're all ready for that! Have a great Monday!

A "WOW" Friday!

Second grade ended the week on a very high note! Our math tests were wonderful, and we ended our day learning about fractions with food! They seemed to love that, but feel free to ask them about it!

Our homework for the weekend is to read their guided reading books (in the large baggie). They also need to read at least 15 minutes a day, and their guided reading can count toward that 15 minutes.

We gave out so many stickers today for great behavior that I lost count...it was a great way to end the day. I hope everyone has a fun weekend!

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

We all decided that the rain can go away now! We still had a great day, though.

A few reminders: Everyone has their Religion take-home test in their OCEAN binder. They need to finish it tonight and return it tomorrow. They got a great start in class today! We also started our guided reading groups today. Starting today, everyone is bringing home their guided reading book in a gallon size baggie. This book will come home each night and needs to come back to school each day. If they have a reading assignment from guided reading, that can count towards their 15 minutes of nightly reading.

Other than reading and a little bit of the take-home Religion test, there is no homework tonight because I wanted to give everyone plenty of time to study for the spelling and math tests tomorrow. I know they'll do great!

Better late than never!

Sorry for the late post today! We took our practice test today in math and everyone did a great job. The most important thing to remember is to read the instructions carefully and to make sure all of the questions are answered. The practice test came home today, and our real test is on Friday. If someone doesn't understand any of it, please have them see me tomorrow.

Today we made "Hall Heads" in school - they are heads that we colored to look like ourselves! We are hanging them in the hall outside of our room so we can display our beautiful second grade work below it. Please feel free to stop by and check it out!

Finally, conference confirmations were sent home on Monday. If your day or time doesn't work for you, just drop me a line at rtheriault@stjoesbb.com and we can change it.

I'll see everyone in class tomorrow!

Tuesday's Happenings

The rain might have kept us in, but it didn't stop us from learning! We started learning about fractions in math, and we are up for the challenge. When we got to our homework section today, we noticed that it was a challenge. There were questions on there that some students weren't sure of. There was a lot of new information. Everyone should try their best on the homework, but not worry about it. If it's too hard, we'll back up and practice some more.

We have library on Wednesday, so we need to remember our library books. Also, it's $1 dress down day, so we're looking forward to that.

Have a great Tuesday!

Welcome Back!

It sounds like second grade had a fun, long weekend! We're back to work today. We started our week by praying the Rosary in the Day Chapel with the entire school. They are quick learners and were respectful listeners.

Our spelling words this week involve the ch, sh, wh, and tch sounds. Our test is Friday and our words are:

that     when     them     itch     wish     what     shape     chase     patch     math     whale     bunch

Our optional, challenge words are:     whiskers     shrimp     switch

In math, we're studying polygons this week, along with adding 9 to a number and adding 10 to a number. We'll have a review of these lessons (plus pictographs) on Thursday along with a practice test, and our math test is on Friday.

We also have a Religion test on Thursday which is about "The Church Teaches Us How To Live". This will be another in-class test to be finished at home Thursday night, and we'll review for it this week. They will be able to use their books for the test.

It Science, we're starting a unit on atmosphere, and in Social Studies we're starting to learn about important events in U.S. History.

It's going to be a fun week filled with lots of learning, and second grade is ready to go!

It's Official - Second Grade is Amazing!

We had a great day and week in second grade! We are learning about pictographs in Math and they are all fast, fabulous learners! Also, today everyone read to the class their "writing to inform or teach about something" piece that they've been working on in their journals all week. They were fantastic - I think we have some budding journalists in our class!

Today we had a fire drill, followed by a fire safety presentation given by the Big Bend Fire Dept. Our class was very well-behaved, asked great questions, and we all learned a lot.

Our homework for this mini-break is for all students to read at least 15 minutes a day. If they are bored, they can also practice their addition facts up to 10 + 10. It will help them with our upcoming math lessons.

Enjoy your break, everyone!

We are an awesome class!

The second grade has had a very good start to the week! Today we started a pictograph unit in math (using pictures to represent data) and we are all having fun with it.

Congratulations to Ceili - who was our 1st Queen of the Couch winner! Ceili saved up 25 of her good behavior stickers to earn this honor. Megan is our 2nd Queen of the Couch winner, and she will have the couch to herself tomorrow! Congratulations to both Ceili and Megan!

Scholastic book order forms are coming home in today's OCEAN binder. Every book you order helps our class earn books for the classroom. Our next order due date is Oct. 28th. The instructions for online ordering are on the blog. Thanks for your help!

Hello Autumn!

It sure feels like Autumn today! It's a good reminder to bring jackets to school. Soon we'll need mittens, hats and boots - but thankfully not yet! It's a short week this week and we have so much to learn! (Sadly, there are no spelling words and therefore no spelling test this week!)

We're learning about another Author's Purpose - to inform, or to teach, in writing. Students are writing informative pieces in their journal about a hobby or passion of theirs, and they will share their writings in class on Wednesday.

In math, we're learning about weekdays and weekends, and then we start our pictograph unit, which is reading & creating graphs and charts.

We're studying "The Church Teaches Us How To Live" in Religion and the second graders have had great stories to share in class!

In Social Studies, we're finishing up a unit on Important People In History. They've really had fun with this!

We're learning about thermometers in Science, and learning how they work.

And of course, we started learning cursive writing last week and they are doing great!

As a reminder, conference slips were sent home last Thursday. Please make sure you complete your slip and send it back ASAP so we can get everyone on the schedule.

We will not have gym this Wednesday, so gym shoes won't be necessary. Finally, the Fire Dept. will be here on Wednesday afternoon for a fun and informative presentation about fire safety.

Have a great Monday everyone!

We Did It!!!

Second grade earned their 12th compliment today (thanks to Library) which means they officially earned 12 brownie points. They will be enjoying brownies for a class treat tomorrow! I am so proud of them!

Speaking of snacks, I started the year with a nice supply of snacks that I brought in - combined with some parent donations. However, several students are forgetting to bring in a morning snack on a daily basis and our class snack supply is almost gone. Please remember to send a snack with your child each day. I have tomorrow covered (brownies) and Friday is field trip day, so next week we'll all need to remember to bring in our own snacks. Thanks!

We completed a practice math test today and everyone did a great job! We also practiced our spelling words for tomorrow's test, and we all agreed it would help if we studied for a little while tonight.

Friday is our field trip - yay! The forecast is still calling for rain, so remember to bring rain ponchos. Students will also need a pillowcase (for their pumpkin) and a disposable lunch. It's going to be fun, rain or shine!

Thanks for your patience!

We are having technical difficulties with some of the areas of our school blogs (like the calendar sections). Thanks for your patience while we work through it.

Please check your child's binder today for important information about our Friday field trip. Also - students should bring a pillowcase to school on Friday so they can carry their pumpkins home more easily.

Just a reminder - there is a math test on Thursday as well as a spelling test. We're taking a practice math test on Wednesday and we'll also do some reviewing. They can bring the practice test home to study.

Have a great Tuesday!

Here's what's happening in 2nd grade

We're learning a lot of new things this week!

In MATH we're learning about identifying positions (first, second, third), adding 2 to a number, and creating/reading repeating patterns. We have a short math test on Thursday, 10/3 and we'll do a practice test in class on Wednesday.

In SPELLING, our words are: talked, talking, dropped, dropping, excited, exciting, lifted, lifting, hugged, hugging, smiled, smiling. Our challenge words are: dragging, amazed, danced. Our test is Thursday afternoon (due to our Friday field trip).

In WRITING we're learning about author's purpose, and writing persuasive letters in our journals.

In GRAMMAR we're learning about joining sentences using "and" or "but".

In READING we're talking about the five W's of fiction: who, what, when, where, and why.

In RELIGION, we're studying how the Catholic church teaches us to live.

In SCIENCE, we're finishing up the water cycle.

In SOCIAL STUDIES, we're looking at important people in history.

Whew! After all that studying, we'll be ready for a fun field trip to Green Meadows Farm on Friday!

Happy Friday!

We had a fantastic end to the week! Everyone ended the week earning extra reward stickers because everyone had great Friday behavior! We also earned another "brownie point" because Mrs. Caporale told the 2nd graders that she was proud of their behavior in Mass today. Two more brownie points (compliments) to go, and the class earns a brownie party!

Everyone's homework for the weekend is to read at least 15 minutes each day, and to HAVE FUN! Have a great weekend everyone!

What are we up to today?

We second graders have done a lot this week so far! In math we started to tell time to the 1/2 hour, and we're learning to tell the difference between odd and even numbers. We also spent time learning "some, and then some went away" math problems, which is our introduction to subtraction. They are doing a great job!

In writing, we talked about brainstorming, which is coming up with as many ideas as you can. Our writing topic of the week is "Important Places In My Life." They have interesting stories! We also started learning beginning cursive strokes this week.

In spelling, we're talking about consonant blends, and we used our spelling words this week as an example. We talked about the sounds associated with th, sh, st, and br. We're ready for our Friday spelling test!

In grammar, we're working on starting sentences with a capital letter and ending them with a period, exclamation mark, or question mark.

In Social Studies, we are finishing our personal timelines this week - what hard workers! In Science we're finishing up a unit on Weather.

Finally, in Religion we are studying the Sacrament of Baptism, and learning the signs (water, oil, candle, white clothes) that go along with Baptism. They are bringing home a take-home test today and it's due tomorrow. Everyone got a great start on it in class today.

So - that's our busy, fantastic week so far!  Please remember that field trip permission slips and money are due tomorrow! If you have questions, please feel free to ask!

Congratulations to our newest Student Council Members!

We held Student Council elections today, and Sam and Gianna were chosen as our class Student Council Representatives today, and Braeden is our alternate. Once a month Gianna and Sam will attend Student Council meetings with other classroom representatives. The first meeting is this Thursday, September 26th at noon. Braeden will attend if Sam or Gianna can't make it. Congratulations!

We have a Religion test this Thursday, but don't panic! This chapter was a long one with lots of information, so we decided to make it a take-home test. Everyone got a review sheet in class today, and they can use it on their take-home test. We also reviewed the chapter in class today and we'll do the same thing on Thursday. The test will come home Thursday and it is due Friday.

FIELD TRIP COMING UP: Field trip forms are in the red dot section of your child's OCEAN binder. We are going to Green Meadows Farm on Friday, Oct. 4th. The forms are due this Friday, and the students earn a valuable Brownie Point if all of the forms are returned tomorrow!

As a reminder, please sign your child's assignment notebooks each night. They earn rewards if their ANB (assignment notebook) is signed for the entire week. Thanks!

A New Week of Exciting Learning

It sounds like everyone had a great weekend. We are back and ready to learn. Today we also celebrated Ben's birthday - thanks for the cupcakes, Ben!

We had our spelling pre-test today. Our test is Friday and here are this week's consonant blend spelling words:

stop          stream        
strap         mask
nest           twin
hand         breeze
brave        state
ask
clip

Our alternate, optional spelling words are:

browse       straight        skeleton

Have a great day everyone!

We are HAPPY 2nd graders today!

Second grade had a GREAT day! Everyone did a fabulous job on their math test!

Our most exciting news is that everyone in the class was on green or higher for our behavior chart! That means everyone did their job today and so they ALL earned stickers toward their reward goals.

Nathan reminded the class that we also added another brownie to our "Brownie Points" pan today, because Mrs. St. Louis complimented us on the great job we did on our math test!

Some of us are ready for tomorrow's spelling test and some of us need to study a little tonight. Don't forget, there is no school on Friday. The kids are ready for a long weekend!

2nd Grade Says "Hi"

Here we are, and we just finished lunch and recess. The second graders would like you to know what we've been up to today. We read a fun book about Bats, and learned how to organize the main ideas for writing.Our class also wants the parents to know that there is a password master list in today's take-home folder for each child. Hopefully this will help you keep all the the passwords straight! There is one web site (www.storybird.com) that we haven't started using yet, but we will soon.

We had our first music class today with our new teacher, Mrs. Kuhl. It was fun!

Also - since most of the parents would like to know how their child's behavior was in class each day, we started a daily behavior chart. Please look for it in the front of the OCEAN binder. We will complete these each day, so you know how your child's day went.

Thanks for reading - from Mrs. Theriault's second grade class :)

Happy Monday!

Hello and welcome to Monday! Today we prepared for Wednesday's math test by completing a sample test in class together. They all did great! They can review the practice test between now and Wednesday. 

Today we also continued our Daily 5 centers - they are going well! We continued our Weather unit in Science, and we started our cursive handwriting unit by learning beginning cursive strokes. Everyone is very excited to get started on cursive! We also visited scootpad.com and brushed up on our math practice in Computer Lab. It was a great day!

Our spelling test is this Thursday, and our words this week are:
tune             mice
page            late
nose            cube
space          blaze
size             home
fine            vote
and our optional, extra-credit challenge words are:
erase         spice
confuse

As a reminder, please make sure your child has gym shoes for Wednesday and Thursday, and that they bring their library books to school on Wednesday. Have a great Monday!

A short and busy week coming up!

Today we had a LOT of fun with all the grandparents visiting - it was sad saying goodbye to them. Also, our Team Delightful (1st & 2nd grade) performed their cheer at the Friday Scattering. They did a wonderful job and Mrs. Goertz and I are so proud of them all! It was an exciting day.

Next week there is no school on Friday, so we'll be packing a lot into the four days that we're here. Our spelling pre-test is on Monday (and will come home Monday night), our spelling test is Thursday, Sept. 19th (since there is no school on Friday), and we will have a short math test on Wednesday. If your child has been doing ok on their daily math homework, they will do fine on the math test. The test is about graph reading (they do great at that), continuing a simple repeating AB pattern, knowing "one more" and "one less" than, telling time to the hour, filling in missing numbers on a number grid, and double digit addition up to the number 9 (such as 2+2, 3+3, etc.). We'll be reviewing for the test on Monday and Tuesday.

Monday we start a bathroom reward system! Students always have the opportunity to use the bathroom before 8:00 am, at 10:00 recess, between lunch and noon recess, and after specials. Every Monday, each student will receive 5 bathroom tokens to use for the week. If they need to use the bathroom in addition to the "free" times I just listed, they simply turn in a coin. At the end of the week, they can turn in any unused coins for stickers, which they use to earn rewards. The kids are excited to start this!

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Be safe and God Bless!

Classroom rules & reminders

Hi families of 2nd grade!
Today we spent a lot of time reviewing classroom rules about talking out of turn, raising our hand, listening, and being respectful. We found that we need to be reminded of these rules every so often.

We also talked about our religion test tomorrow, and we all agreed it was a good idea to look over the review sheet tonight.

We finished up our Team Delightful cheer and are ready to perform it for the school - we are excited for Friday's Scattering so we can show everyone the cheer we have been working on with 1st grade!

Have a great day everyone - hope to see all of the parents at Parent's Night tomorrow night, and hope to see all of the grandparents on Friday!

Upcoming homework and tests

Parents, just a reminder that your child has a spelling test this Friday. This week's words on are on the blog in the previous post. Also, there is a Religion test on chapter 1 on Thursday. We went over everything today and they all were given a study guide which we completed in class. They should be bringing the study guide home at night to look it over. If they know the information on the study guide, they will do fine on the test! Finally, they have a math homework sheet due each Monday through Friday. There is no math homework given on Fridays unless they have missing work.

Also - please remember to initial assignment notebooks each day. The children are earning rewards for this.

They are doing a wonderful job! Hope to see all of you at Parent's Night on Thursday at 6:30 pm!

Spelling Words and Book Rewards!

We will have a spelling pre-test each Monday, and a test on Friday. This week's spelling words are:

drum
rock
list
desk
job
sad
chop
sack
tag
rib
mess
dust

AND...our challenge (optional, extra credit) words are:
pocket
lettuce
engine

Please help your child study these words so that they are prepared for Friday's test. Their pre-test is in today's take-home OCEAN binder.

READING: Remember that your child should be reading at least 15 minutes each night. Those minutes get logged onto the September reading calendar which came home the first week of school. Anyone who turns in their September sheet with an average reading time of at least 15 minutes a night earns a free personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut! Let's get reading!!

Newsletter - Sept. 6, 2013

Our blog is up and running! This is where you can come for regular information on happenings in our class and throughout the school. Please subscribe to the e-mail subscription link at the bottom of the page, right-hand side to keep up on the latest news in 2nd grade!

Newsletter - Aug. 30, 2013