December 14th - 18th

"For unto you is born... A Savior, who is Christ the Lord." 

Last week was incredible, as your sweet second graders shared the Christmas story with their beautiful voices. I pray that the excitement of that day will stay with us throughout the rest of this Christmas season. 

 And as if that wasn't enough, students and their partners are working diligently on retelling the Christmas story in their own words. This week we plan on sharing these books with some of the younger classes at CCLS.

 I hope you heard that we visited Sweden last week!

Be sure to ask your second grader about their traditions!

Next we visited Australia... 

Did you now Santa comes to Australia on a surfboard?

Finally, we stopped in Italy. 

The nativity is one of the most beloved symbols in Italy. 

Our class also participated in the "hour of code" last week. 

The kids had a BLAST!

Be sure to ask them what "coding" is all about! 

RELIGION 

December is such a busy time for all families.  Sometimes the true meaning of Christmas gets lost in all the hustle and bustle.  At school we will continue to focus on what Christmas is all about.  At home try to remember to pray together and give thanks to God for giving us the gift of Jesus.

MEMORY
NO memory this week! - Merry Christmas. :)

SPELLING and GRAMMAR

This week, students will spell words with consonant digraphs this week (ch, sh, th, wh sounds) In grammar we will continue to explore verbs, focusing on forming past tense verbs.

LIST ONE

chest	think	shape	thing	wheat
chase	sheep	while	chill	white

LIST ONE

chunk	thirst	shin	throne	whine
chase	sheep	while	chill	white

BONUS - Bethlehem 

SOCIAL STUDIES and WRITING

This week we will wrap up our "Christmas around the world" theme study. Each day we "travel" to another country, we make something to help us remember a special fact about that country. Those projects will be coming home this week! I hope they create a lot of conversation between you and your child about Christmas traditions. 

Another tradition or "legend" we will explore this week is the legend of the Candy Cane. Stay tuned for some fun writing about this legend!

Please do not forget to start reading about your Famous American. Reports are not due until the week of January 19th, but it wouldn't hurt to get started early! I love seeing how excited all of the children are about the people they chose. 

NEWS and NOTES

• December 14th - Advent Worship Service- TONIGHT @ 7:00pm
• December 18th - End of Second Quarter
• December 21st to January 1st - Christmas Break

 

December 7th - 11th

It's been so fun traveling to other countries to learn how they celebrate Christmas. 

I hope your second grader has told you all about the traditions we learned last week!

It started with Poinsettia's in Mexico...

And then we traveled to Europe to explore England.

We tried English crackers - don't worry we didn't eat them!

Then we went to France and ate cake that looks like a log (Yule Log cake) and learned that most homes have a creche - a nativity scene made out of clay. 

The kids enjoyed making their own...

In Germany we learned about the legend of the Christmas tree and many other fun traditions!
When we traveled to Israel students were shocked to learn that only 2% of the population is Christian. We explored Hanukkah and made Stars of David... 

Happy Birthday, Jordan!

RELIGION 

How much of the Christmas story do second graders understand? Just ask them! Just like the shepherds, they come with wide-eyed wonder. They have heard it before, but they LOVE hearing it again. They also love telling it! After reading about the birth of our Savior students will retell the story in their own words, and pass on the goodwill that Jesus the Savior is born.

MEMORY
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:11

SPELLING and GRAMMAR

As we gear up for new spelling words this week, our focus will be on the "long u" spelling patterns. In grammar we will continue to explore verbs. Students will use present tense verbs to tell about current actions and choose verbs to agree with subjects.

LIST ONE

mule	use	June	music	bugle
fuse	flute	duke	tune	dune

LIST TWO

cute	menu	muse	unit	bugle
fuse	flute	duke	tune	dune

BONUS - Christmas traditions

Book reports went so well! Be sure to check the hallway to see everyone's hard work!

SOCIAL STUDIES and WRITING

We will continue to "travel the world" to see how other countries celebrate Christmas. We're learning a lot about similarities and differences between how we celebrate. I love that the children always refer back to the Savior's birth being the foundation for our belief's at Christmastime. We pray that everyone in the world knows what Christmas is all about.

Famous American final choices will come home TODAY. I will encourage students to get library books about their Famous American. Please remember to return library books this week. I will be sending home the poster and a rubric this week as well. Reports are due the Week of January 19th.

NEWS and NOTES

• December 7th (Today) - Singing at Laclede Groves 
• December 14th - Advent Worship Service
• December 18th - End of Second Quarter
• December 21st to January 1st - Christmas Break

November 30th - December 4th

Welcome back from break! I hope you all had a wonderful relaxing time with your families. 

Here are some great pictures from the week before Thanksgiving...

Scanning QR codes to read about thankfulness...

 Making Turkey prayer books...

Your children pray so boldly!

 Comparing and contrasting 

our lives to the lives of the Pilgrims...

 Cranberry Centers!! 

Such fun learning!

 Performing Thanksgiving Readers Theatres!

RELIGION
This week we move to the New Testament. As we read the stories that lead us to understand the baby born in Bethlehem is the Son of God, we will remember to praise God for sending Jesus to be our Savior from sins. We'll begin with the birth of John the Baptist. His birth heralded the message that the long-promised Messiah had come! 

MEMORY WORK 
John said, " Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the World!" John 1:29

"Change Challenge Jars" are DUE this Tuesday, December 1st. Please bring in those change jars to fill our class bucket and support our CCLS-U sponsor child!

SPELLING and GRAMMAR
NO SPELLING THIS WEEK!! As your children enjoy the break of spelling homework, please make sure their book reports are getting done. Book reports are due on Thursday, December 3rd. Students will be sharing them with the class Thursday and Friday. It might be a good idea to have your child to practice presenting their book report at home, (before Thursday). 

SOCIAL STUDIES
For the next three weeks your children will be "traveling the world" as we investigate how other counties celebrate Christmas. We will be using various sources of media to read and explore the different counties.  Students will fill out fact sheets and passports, sample various foods from the country, and even use their creativity to make something special to demonstrate what they learned. Super exciting!

Another thing to keep on your radar is the second grade Famous American Reports that are quickly approaching... This report has a poster that is similar to the butterfly book report your child just completed, and is due January 18th.  With Christmas break nearing, I want you and your child to have enough time to research and create. Next week, I'll send home a more detailed note about the project and I will ask each child to choose their top three Famous Americans. I will sort through the choices and let you all know quickly so that you can pace yourselves with the report.

NEWS and NOTES

• December 3rd - 5th and 6th grade Musical
• December 3rd and 4th - Santa's Workshop
• December 5th - CCLS Barnes and Noble Book Fair
• December 7th - Laclede Groves Field Trip - singing
• December 14th - Advent Worship
• December 18th - End of Second Quarter
• December 21st to January 1st - Christmas Break