Week of August 29th

Wow!

What a great first full week of school!

Amazing things were happening as we continued to learn about each other and the rituals and routines of second grade. 
This is vital as your child learns, grows and takes risks this year!  
A part of our everyday learning is, of course, reading! 
Your children had a lot of fun decorating their "book bags"... 

 We practiced buddy reading with some favorite books...

The kiddos also worked really hard on writing their summer story. 
Here are pictures of them sharing their finished products.

Enjoying time with math manipulatives...

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

This week the virtue we will examine is respect. We will discuss respect as we read about  Adam and Eve. How can we respect God by doing things His way?

READING

For our first week's reading comprehension skill we will dive into story structure, focusing on characters and setting. As second graders, the children will learn to identify the main character and determine traits that describe that character on the inside and the outside using evidence from the text. The kiddos will also practice visualizing and inferring about characters.

SPELLING and GRAMMAR

New beginnings! This week kiddos will receive their first spelling list. For now, we have one list with 10 words. Your child will practice the words throughout the week, and will be expected to complete 2 pages, front and back (so you could say 4 pages) of spelling homework for the week. Sometimes there is an extra skill page added to the spelling packet. Spelling homework is given on Mondays, and is due back by Thursday.  It can be turned in earlier if you'd like.  Spelling tests are also on Thursdays. There are usually one or two bonus words with the lists. 

Along with the spelling test, your child will also be quizzed on a few dictation sentences. Most of the words in the dictation portion should be words that your child has already learned in previous grades. Our grammar lessons this week will focus on statement sentences and question sentences. Your kiddos will be using a practice workbook in class to review the skills, and we will also except them to use what they learn in their writing.

Spelling List (short a and short i words)

has	wag	bad	six	will
sat	had	fix	him	if

Bonus words

because

went

WRITING
We will begin a "writers' workshop" style writing curriculum this week. The children will explore narratives and begin writing their own stories. Our focus will be brainstorming ideas, and writing with a beginning, middle, and end. Ask your child how a cheeseburger helps them write a story!

NEWS AND NOTES

• Elementary school pictures TODAY - August 29th
• Author Visit Kate Messer - August 30th
• Curriculum Night (for parents) September 1st 7:00pm
• No School Labor Day - September 5th

BLESSINGS ON YOUR WEEK!

Week of August 22

Well, we did it! We survived the first week!
As a child, the first week of school was always one of my favorites... Starting back up with regular routines at home and learning new ones at school. Buying fresh, new school supplies and organizing my desk, checking the class list to see all of my friends in my class, and of course, meeting my new teacher, which was never a disappointment. 
Through the excitement, I also had nerves. I had anxiety about all the uncertainties, but there was one thing that I could always count on...
God's love.

I'm absolutely thrilled to begin this new year with you all and your precious second graders. As a CCLS graduate, I feel extremely blessed to be back in this loving community as an educator. I can't wait to start growing together and sharing the gift of God's love with one another.
I pray that we all act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with each other every day.

Here's a look back at last week. Be sure to read the weekly objectives after the pictures to find out this week's happenings.
What an awesome beginning of the year chapel!
Thanks, Pastor King!

We read the book, How Full is Your Bucket and discussed how to keep our "buckets full" every day.  Each one of us signed our list of classroom expectations.

We got to know each other well during a class scavenger hunt and sharing items from the "sacks". What a great bunch of kiddos! 

In reading, we started learning about reading workshop. My goal is for each child to view reading as a purposeful and important part of their lives. Part of that is making their own decisions about their reading. Here we are practicing reading independently...

AND... (sniff, sniff) We are old now. 

We received our planners.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

As you may have heard, this year our school is piloting a project called the Character Formation Project. Character formation is a life-long process. The starting point is to understand how character is acquired and held. Through this study, each week, we will discuss that when character is acquired and held internally, it leads to a virtuous life of greater purpose.

As we study the character formation process it will be represented through a trademarked Character Formation Triangle which illustrates the connections between Identity, Purpose and Performance. A person’s character is the answer to three foundational questions:

• Identity: Who am I?
• Purpose: Why am I?
• Performance: How am I doing at living my purpose?

This week the virtue we will examine is integrity. We will discuss living a life of integrity as we study the creation of the world. 

READING 
Last week your second graders learned about a structure for teaching reading called reading workshop. The purpose for teaching reading workshop is to teach students useful strategies to use as they read, and then give them practice applying those strategies. 

As you know, children learn to read by... you guessed it... reading! This week we will be learning about how to choose "just right" books to read independently, and a few specific ways to help ourselves comprehend what we are reading. One strategy we will learn is to make connections. Use this picture to get the idea...

We will also discuss making predictions. Check this one out!

Reading logs will be coming home today! I encourage your child to find books to read at home that are "just right" and to use some of the comprehension strategies we will be learning this week with their reading at home. 

WRITING
This week in writing we will be working on our summer poster stories. Our focus will be brainstorming topic sentences, a body with details about our summers, and a concluding sentence. These summer stories help me get to know and assess everyone's various writing talents. I can't wait to take off from there!

NEWS AND NOTES

• CCLS Sunday at Webster Gardens August 28th
• Elementary school pictures 29th and 30th 
• Author Visit Kate Messer - August 30th
• Curriculum Night (for parents) September 1st 7:00pm
• No School Labor Day - September 5th

I'm so excited for this school year!

Please contact me if you have questions or concerns.

My e-mail is rklug@ccls-stlouis.org.

BLESSINGS ON YOUR WEEK!