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!