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!