Week of August 28th

Wow!

What a great first full week of school!

Amazing things were happening as we continued to learn about each other as well as the rituals and routines of second grade.
This is vital as your child learns, grows and takes risks this year!  
Here's a look back on some fun times last week...

We know from Scripture that God uses signs and wonders in heaven to communicate with His people. That includes our rare TOTAL solar eclipse!! God is indeed a GREAT artist! 

During Readers Workshop, students learned different ways to read... 
buddy reading...

And listening to reading... 

Several of the children were very eager to practice using "Epic" (my personal favorite reading app). Epic allows students to choose from a vast assortment of books online. Some books are audio, some are read to the child, and some the child reads independently. 

I can enable access of Epic for your child at HOME! 

Please e-mail me if you're interested, and I can send you the invite.

CHRISTIAN CHARACTER FORMATION

This week we look at the story of Saul becoming King over Israel (1 Samuel 8-11) with focus on the virtue of responsibility. We define responsibility as God's power for you to be accountable to God and others. This week you are encouraged to have conversations with your family about how God’s Spirit blesses others through the responsibilities He has given to us. 

PHONICS and SPELLING

This year in spelling we are trying an approach that allows students to learn words at their individual level of instruction and teach them how words work. At the beginning of each week we will focus on a certain word study skill. Your child will take a pretest based on that skill. Any words missed will be on their individual list. To complete their list of ten words, your child will choose from a list generated in the classroom. A paper copy of these words will be sent home every MONDAY. You can also look for this list in your child’s planner and on Seesaw. Every Thursday the students will take their spelling test. Spelling homework is also DUE Thursday. 

The word study skill this week is short vowels. 

READING SKILLS and STRATEGIES
As we build our reading community this week, our reading targets will include making text- to-self connections, and answering questions to understand the story's details.  Ask your child about making connections with what they are reading at home! 

 

We will also start vocabulary this week! 

WRITING 

I am thrilled to announce that we are launching writers' workshop this week! In our first sessions we will study from the masters for inspiration and ideas as we capture and write about small moments. I can't wait to see your young authors hard at work!

GRAMMAR 

Mentor sentences are the perfect way to teach grammar and author's craft through examples of excellent sentences from our favorite read-aloud books! This week we'll focus on capital letters and periods, and common and proper nouns through a mentor sentence from the book, First Day Jitters. 

NEWS AND NOTES

• Curriculum Night (for parents) August 29th 7:00pm
• No School Labor Day - September 4th 
• Did your child complete the "CCLS Summer Reading Challenge?" You will be receiving information about that free dress day soon, but please feel free to send in whatever your child used to track their summer reading at any point. 

BLESSINGS ON YOUR WEEK!