Week of September 26th

We survived the heat at Eckert's and picked some very delicious apples! 
Thanks to those of you that came with us!
Here's a video from the trip. Enjoy! 

This week's goals and objectives

CHRISTIAN CHARACTER FORMATION 

This week we will investigate the virtue of COURAGE. We will read about Jacob wrestling God in Genesis 32. As we try to relate to this passage, we will discuss how our lives are never meant to be easy. This is especially true when we take it upon ourselves to wrestle with God and His will for our lives. Oftentimes fear can overpower us. Through Jacob’s example and through our own relationship and “wrestling” with God, we learn that we can indeed trust the Almighty God and His promises. I challenge you to discuss our "Big Question" with your child this week... How does trusting God give you the courage to face the fears you’re wrestling with?

READING SKILLS 

This week in reading your second graders will review making predictions. When they make predictions they will use the story text, the pictures, and what they know from real life (their schema) to make a guess about what will happen next. They LOVE making predictions! Read with your child at least once this week, and ask them to make predictions about the story.

SPELLING and PHONICS
Our concentration in phonics and spelling this week will be identifying spelling patterns with short and long o. Although it's review, we have also really been focusing on recognizing that "magic e" makes the vowel say its name! Knowing all these spelling patterns really helps writers when they are "stumped with spelling!"

The kiddos did GREAT with their first spelling test that had two lists! Props to you all for helping your children be prepared!

LIST ONE

fox	lock	cone	hope	rose
box	dog	pot	poke	rope

LIST TWO

fox	lock	cone	hope	smoke
stove	note	plot	crop	phone

BONUS - predict

WRITING and GRAMMAR 

In grammar we continue to review sentence structure.This week students will learn that you can combine sentences by joining two subjects or two predicates with the word and. Students will also be introduced to the use of quotation marks. 

This week in writing we will take a break from narratives and learn about writing to a prompt. Stay tuned for some fun stories about pumpkins!

Did you hear about our published pieces of writing?

 Your kiddos really enjoyed sharing all of their hard work! 

 NEWS and NOTES

• Remember to keep tracking reading from home with the September "RED" reading log. The logs will be due at the end of the month (September 30th or November 3rd if you child would like to read over the weekend) 
• October 5th - medicine collection for CCLS-U
• October 7th and 8th - CCLS Carnival
• October 14th - end of first quarter
• October 21st - Report cards go home 
• October 25th - 27th Elementary Book Fair
• October 27th - EARLY Dismissal & October 28th NO SCHOOL 
• student led conferences

BLESSINGS ON YOUR WEEK!

Week of September 19th

Wow! The weeks keep flying by and your children are learning so much! 

Last week we spent a lot of time thinking and discussing integrity. They even modeled a few examples and non-examples of integrity. (See below) 

Hopefully you saw your child's post on Seesaw.

This was one of our white board messages of the week...

This was a non-example of when you can see your neighbor's paper...

 This was an example of when a friend feels left out...

Keep talking about our virtues at home! 

I can see each child really building confidence in their identity!

The kiddos also worked hard as they tackled "main idea" with nonfiction this week. 

After reading a book or even just a chapter (if that's what you're reading) with your child at home, be sure to ask, "What's the WHOLE thing about? What's the main idea?" 

We couldn't help but sneak in a short "Flashlight Friday" when we found out our field trip was cancelled. It was so dark and gloomy anyway... 

We're also having fun learning about the legend of Johnny Appleseed...

GOALS and OBJECTIVES for the week 

CHRISTIAN CHARACTER FORMATION PROJECT
This week we will explore the virtue of self-sacrifice with a rather tough reading from Genesis 22. Last week we learned about how God had made Abraham many promises that seemed impossible to fulfill.  However, Isaac's birth had brought great joy to Abraham and Sarah. He was the child they had waited for so long, and yet this was the child that God now asked Abraham to sacrifice. It must have been painful to even consider. Because Abraham knew God's faithfulness and love, he was ready to give what he loved most back to God. God’s promises and strength make us capable of giving to Him and others. I challenge you to investigate this virtue with us by having tough conversations at home about how you can give God what matters most to you. 

READING SKILLS 

We will continue to discuss main idea with nonfiction this week. We will investigate with a variety of texts but always ask ourselves, "What's the WHOLE thing about?" We will also learn about different clues to help us determine the main idea... Reading the title, reading the first and last sentence, or even looking at the pictures can all give us clues! 

SPELLING and PHONICS 

Our focus this week will be discriminating between short i and long i. Look for some new homework to help with this skill! 

In spelling this week we will begin testing with two lists. LIST ONE will always be the on-level spelling words for the week. LIST TWO is called the beyond-level list, but usually contains at least half of the on-level words. Some of you may feel that your child is ready for a few more challenging words. If your family decides that your child can spell every word from list one, it can be your family's choice that your child be tested on list two. The homework and the classwork will always be with the list one words, so please be sure that you have a conversation with your child about this before Thursday's test. 

LIST ONE 

fin	pick	nine	pipe	side
hike	did	rip	mix	five

LIST TWO 

fin	pick	nine	pipe	side
hike	hive	dinner	smile	brick

BONUS - geologist 

WRITING and GRAMMAR

In grammar, we will continue to work on forming complete sentences with subjects and predicates. Students will learn that the predicate tells what the subject does or is.  

In writing, your second graders are working hard on applying what they know about sentences as they publish their small moment stories!! Having a published piece of writing is a very exciting time for an author! Be sure to ask your second grader what small moment they wrote about!

NEWS and NOTES

• Remember to keep tracking reading from home with the September "RED" reading log. They will be due at the end of the month (September 30th)
• Field trip to the apple orchard - MOVED TO WEDNESDAY!
• NO SCHOOL this Friday, September 23rd - teacher professional development
• October 7th and 8th - CCLS Carnival
• October 14th - end of first quarter
• October 21st - Report cards go home 
• October 27th - EARLY Dismissal & October 28th NO SCHOOL 
• student led conferences

BLESSINGS ON YOUR WEEK!