Week of December 18th

This sure is a busy time of year. I love that your sweet second graders have been praying every morning to help us all remember the true reason for this Christmas season! 

They sure have their eyes fixed on Jesus! 

Here are some notes for this short three-day week 

and a look back on some fun things from last week... 

This week's NEWS and NOTES

TODAY - December 18th - 2nd Change Challenge Collection 

TODAY - December 18th - CCLS Advent Service 6:30pm (your child should arrive by 6:25 and sit in the pews with our class)

December Reading Logs Due ANY DAY THIS WEEK!

December 20th - Class Christmas Party! 

December 21st - Christmas breaks begins

BLESSINGS ON YOUR WEEK!

Last week, we had a special visitor come in and help us find answers to questions we had about Jesus. We LOVE our pastors!

 We shared lots of learning during independent reading...

And, we also really enjoyed reading the story of Jesus' birth and making inferences... 

along with a little art lesson on color value...

 Come check out the finished masterpieces in the hall!

Week of December 11th

Happy Monday! One more full week of school before Christmas break. The children are getting anxious, but it will be nice to have one more "normal" week of learning before our shortened week. Here's a look back on last week. 

Did you hear about our "Hour of Code?" 

If not, ask your second grader about how they dabbled with coding last week!
Wow! Many of them know way more than I do! 

CHRISTIAN CHARACTER FORMATION

This week we'll continue to read about the story of Jesus' birth. As we read, we'll discuss how we think the different characters were feeling and carry on the topic of "making inferences" as we read different perspectives of the Christmas story from The Bible. Your second graders sure have enjoyed using bibles, finding passages, and discussing their knowledge! 

PHONICS and SPELLING 

One more week of spelling before break! The students will read, sort, and spell words with the "bossy R" this week. These r-controlled words have the "ar" and "or" spelling patterns. 

READING SKILLS and STRATEGIES 

Inferring is kind of like the big umbrella and predicting fits neatly under it. But what’s the difference between them? We'll be investigating the two this week... Predicting is when you use your schema + clues the author gives you to make an “educated” guess. A prediction can usually be confirmed or denied through further reading. Making inferences also requires your schema + clues the author gives you to make a guess, but inferences are not clearly confirmed or denied through reading. Wow! We'll be working hard! 

GRAMMAR and WRITING

Our targeted grammar skill will challenge second graders to identify linking verbs and helping verbs this week.

In their own writing, Students have been publishing and practicing some "free writing" as they finish. Stay tuned for a nonfiction publishing party!

This week's NEWS and NOTES

• Week of December 17th - 2nd Change Challenge Collection 
• Last month we collected about $110.00 dollars! What a great start to our $250 goal! 
• December 17th - CCLS Advent Service 6:30pm  
• December Reading Logs Due December 21st
• December 21st - Class Christmas Party!   
• December 21st - End of 2nd Quarter - Christmas breaks begins

BLESSINGS ON YOUR WEEK!

Week of December 4th

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas... What a wonderful time of year!

Last week was a great week. It was so refreshing to dive back into our routines. 

Hopefully you heard, or maybe even saw, our class book arrived!! These second graders were thrilled to have their OWN PUBLISHED book! Wow! What an accomplishment!

We also celebrated Charlie's 8th birthday this week! 

Happy birthday, Charlie! 

And, our trip to Global Foods was a success! 

Hopefully those reports are coming along! 

We're excited to hear some of them next week already! 

Here's what's going on this week...

CHRISTIAN CHARACTER FORMATION PROJECT

Advent is a time of anticipation and preparation, a time of celebration of Jesus’ coming.

Just like a mom and dad have to prepare for a baby that’s on the way, or a host has to prepare to throw a party, we ask God to prepare our hearts for the birth of His son, Jesus. We will continue to use these weeks before Christmas to study the Christmas story, read it from The Bible, and maybe even do some inferring of the "characters feelings." 

PHONICS and SPELLING 

We'll be reading, sorting and spelling three letter consonant blends this week... (For example, words with scr, str, spr, squ). 

READING SKILLS and STRATEGIES

We can teach inferring for a variety of purposes. Children can infer how a character feels, about why a character behaves a certain way, or even the theme of a book. This week we'll continue to practice this higher level reading skill of making inferences. 

GRAMMAR and WRITING 

In grammar we continue our focus on verbs. This week we will zone into changing a verb based on its tense (past, present, or future). Your children are doing their best using all the phonics, spelling, and grammar rules they know to apply this skill in their writing!

Have you asked your child about what topics they have chosen to write nonfiction (informational) pieces of writing about yet? We're going to start publishing very soon! 

This week's NEWS and NOTES

• December 4th (TODAY) - Afternoon field trip to Laclede Groves
• December 7th - Santa's Workshop 
• December 18th - 2nd Change Challenge Collection 
• December 18th - CCLS Advent Service 6:00pm 
• December Reading Logs Due December 19th or 20th 
• December 21st - Christmas breaks begins

BLESSINGS ON YOUR WEEK!

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Week of November 27th

Welcome back! I hope you all had a wonderful time relaxing and enjoying family over the break. Can you believe that Christmas break is roughly three and a half weeks away? This year is going by so quickly. I'm proud of all the learning happening EVERY DAY in our class! Thanks so much for sharing your children with me!  Here's what's in store for the week... 

CHRISTIAN CHARACTER FORMATION PROJECT
Advent is a season every year in which we are prompted to remember the incredible narrative of Christmas and the people God used to play a role in all of it. It’s an opportunity to reflect back and celebrate the miraculous birth of Jesus Christ, and an opportunity to look ahead and remember that our risen king will one day return! For the next three weeks, we’ll look at the various men and women in the Christmas story, what they would do, where they go, and what they say. As we see how they give whatever God asked of them, we will be reminded of all the virtues, which will be an excellent review. 

READING SKILLS and STRATEGIES
As we continue to learn about "good reading habits," we will begin to explore making inferences. Making inferences can be a challenging skill... it requires students to read between the lines, to dig deeper and to find out the answer to the question, “what is the author really trying to say?" 

PHONICS and SPELLING
This week, students will read, sort and spell words with common consonant digraphs (sh, ch, wh, th), and practice alphabetizing the word lists. 

GRAMMAR and WRITING 
Wow! Your second graders sure have a lot of knowledge! They are working so vigorously on filling their nonfiction writing pieces with so many facts! As they write, they are also learning all about the elements of nonfiction and how to write to a particular audience. As we investigate texts and edit our own writing this week, our grammar focus will be on verbs. 

This week's NEWS and NOTES

• November 29th - Afternoon field trip to Global Foods 
• November 30th - November Reading Logs Due
• December 4th - Afternoon field trip to Laclede Groves
• December 18th - 2nd Change Challenge Collection 
• December 18th - CCLS Advent Service 6:00pm 
• December 21st - Christmas breaks begins

BLESSINGS ON YOUR WEEK! 

Week of November 20th

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Two more days of school and then it's time for a well deserved break. It's time to celebrate all the amazing blessings God has given us! We have so much for which to be thankful!

 As the days lead up to Thanksgiving, I encourage you and your second grader to take some time every day to say a prayer of thanksgiving. By focusing on the reasons you and your kids have to be grateful, you can use everyday moments to make gratitude and thankfulness a part of your family’s daily life. 

Thank you Heavenly Father for blessing me with the opportunity to teach all of these beautiful children at CCLS.  I am grateful that you have connected each of our lives in ways that honor you and show how much you love each of us. 

Thank you for the love you provide to us through one another.

And we praise you, Lord, for all you have sacrificed for us through your Son, Jesus Christ. He made the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. We are grateful for your forgiveness when we sin. Lord, let us never forget how much we owe to you, and let us always be humble before you. 

Thank you for providing and protecting.

In Your Holy Name, Amen. 

This week's NEWS and NOTES

• First "Change Challenge" collection - November 20th (TODAY)
• November 20th - CCLS University 7:00pm (tonight) 
• November 22nd Thanksgiving Break begins 
• November 29th - Afternoon field trip to Global Foods 
• November 30th - November Reading Logs Due
• December 4th - Afternoon field trip to Laclede Groves
• December 18th - CCLS Advent Service 6:00pm 

Thanksgiving Websites

Here's the link! Enjoy! 

http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/?eml=TNL/e/20171101////NovemberNL/GR12/////&ET_CID=20171101_TNL_NovNL_12_RET_21552&ET_RID=234485727

Week of November 13th

Happy (belated) Veteran's Day to all who have served, or are currently serving our county. 

The kiddos really enjoyed leaning about Veteran's Day last week. 

Stay tuned on Seesaw for pictures of "Our Veteran's Wall."

Did you watch the Veteran's Day Reader's Theater? 

Sorry about my amateur videography, ha! 

 They practiced hard! 

On another note, we your child is an official author! 

Our class book was sent to Student Treasures Publishing Company! If you ordered one, it should arrive just before Christmas break. What a wonderful Christmas present! 

Here is a silly picture of our writers! 

CHRISTIAN CHARACTER FORMATION PROJECT 

We will read about Ruth this week as we study the virtue of Self-Sacrifice. We define Self-Sacrifice as God's power for you to give something up to help others. Ruth willingly gave up her family, the comforts of her own culture, and her native land because she loved Naomi, her mother-in-law. She gave of herself expecting nothing in return. The "Big Question" this week is, "How does God's power help you live a life of self-sacrifice, despite the hard times you're facing?"

PHONICS and SPELLING

There are a lot of ways to spell "long i!" This week, students will read, sort and spell words with all of the "long i" spelling patterns. We will also practice putting the words in alphabetical order this week. 

READING SKILLS and STRATEGIES 

Your second graders are going to have an exciting week of exploring the similarities and differences between themselves and a Pilgrim boy or Pilgrim girl their age! We'll read "a day in the life of..." and work on comparing and contrasting! 

WRITING 

This week we are launching a new writing genre in writer's workshop - nonfiction! Your second graders will begin by learning from other nonfiction authors and expand their ideas to teach readers lots of information.

NEWS and NOTES 

• Operation Christmas Child collection is on Wednesday, November 15th
• First "Change Challenge" collection - November 20th
• November 22nd Thanksgiving break begins 
• November 30th - November Reading Logs Due
• December 18th - CCLS Advent Service 6:00pm

BLESSINGS ON YOUR WEEK!

Week of November 6th

Did you hear about our "change challenge"? 

The kiddos are pretty stoked to practice self-sacrifice - and do extra chores around the house to earn money for their CCLS-U change jars! 

The plastic jars to collect the change went home on Friday. Our first collection date in November 20th. Please let me know if you have any questions! 

CHRISTIAN CHARACTER FORMATION PROJECT
This week we will revisit the virtue RESPECT. Respect is God's power for you to honor Him and others. We will read from 1 Kings and learn about how God chose to divide the nation of Israel in two. Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, would rule the southern kingdom of Judah, but Jeroboam, who was one of Solomon’s officials, would rule the northern kingdom of Israel. Jeroboam was seen as a respected young man, but once given reign of Israel, he did not obey and respect God in the responsibilities that God gave him. As we discuss, we will ask ourselves this "big question" - How can you respect God through the responsibilities He has given you?

PHONICS and SPELLING
There are a lot of ways to spell "long e!" This week, students will read, sort, and spell words with all of the "long e" spelling patterns. We will also practice rhyming with the words! 

READING SKILLS and STRATEGIES 
Students will continue to visualize to help them "make sense of the text." We also learned about "activating our schema" to prepare us for reading... We have a filing cabinet in our brain! 😊 As we read our mentor text, The Paperboy, next week, we will practice both of those skills. I encourage you to ask your children about this at home too! 

 

GRAMMAR and WRITING 
Grammar skills will target the apostrophe again, but this week, we'll see it in contractions. So much grammar to learn in our crazy English language! We always practice applying spelling and grammar skills in our writing, particularly this week as students finish their "thanksgiving paragraphs." These paragraphs will be sent to Student Treasures Publishing Company to be published as a hardcover class book! Please be on the lookout for the note coming home about purchasing this book for your family! 

NEWS and NOTES 

• November 12th - CCLS Sunday at Mt. Calvary 
• First "Change Challenge" collection - November 20th
• November 22nd Thanksgiving break begins 
• November 30th - November Reading Logs Due
• December 18th - CCLS Advent Service 6:00pm

BLESSINGS ON YOUR WEEK!

Week of October 30th

Happy (almost) Halloween! 

I hope you all have a fun and safe evening!

I want to thank you all so very much for arranging your schedules so that we could have such successful conferences. I just LOVED watching the children talk to you about their feelings toward school, and I also thoroughly enjoyed being able to have some one-on-one time with just the parents. I know I presented a lot of reading information, so I strongly encourage you to contact me if you have ANY questions!

I'm always here to help! We are a TEAM! 

Also, thanks for another AMAZING birthday celebration!

Mrs. Leet felt VERY loved!

Here's what's in store for the week! 

CHRISTIAN CHARACTER FORMATION PROJECT 

This week we will revisit the virtue of COURAGE as we read from 2 Chronicles and learn about a king named Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat uses courage when he is faced with the terrifying news that the nations bordering Judah to the east, Ammon and Moab, were coming to wage war against him with larger armies than Judah had. He courageously turns to God for help and answers. We will define courage as God's power for you to overcome fear, and ask ourselves this big question, "How can we trust, seek, and follow the Lord in every situation, especially when we are afraid? 

PHONICS and GRAMMAR

As students work with words and spelling patterns this week, they'll focus on the long O sound, particularly "o", "oa", "ow", and "oe" spelling patterns. And as usual we will also be reviewing commonly misspelled sight words. 

READING SKILLS and STRATEGIES 

What is alliteration? Simply solicit a second grade student for the solution! While our reading target is still "visualizing", we'll be using poetry (with alliteration) to go beyond the text as we think about what we are reading! 

GRAMMAR and WRITING 

Wasn't it fun to hear your child's "published piece" of writing? Well, this week we are going to learn about writing a paragraph. The paragraphs we write are going to be mailed to a REAL publishing company and turned into a class book! The kiddos are ALREADY excited about this! 

As they write their paragraphs we'll focus on applying all of our grammar skills! We're learning about plural and possessive nouns this week! 

NEWS and NOTES

• October Reading Logs DUE TUESDAY - October 31st 
• November 12th - CCLS Sunday at Mt. Calvary 
• First "Change Challenge" collection - November 20th (more information to come)
• November 22nd Thanksgiving break begins 

BLESSINGS ON YOUR WEEK! 

Week of October 23rd

WOW! We sure had a lot going on last week! 

My camera roll was full of photos! Here's a look back...

Thanks to those of you that were able to go on the field trip with us! 

Listening to the beautiful sounds of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra was a treat!  

Did you hear about our "publishing party"? 

After finishing our personal narratives, we decided to share them with Mrs. Ladd's class! 

We got to read to our preschool buddies! 

We made sure we had "just right" book for US, and "just right" book for our audience. 

And last but not least, our "Harvest Party" was a HUGE success! 

Thanks to everyone that helped make this such a fun event!

It was a great party! 

CHRISTIAN CHARACTER FORMATION PROJECT 

This week we will learn more about RESPECT as we further study Job. Satan brought Job enormous suffering. In his agony he cried out to the Lord with questions. Eventually we see God's compassion and mercy when He restores everything that Job had lost two times. We'll remember RESPECT as God's power for you to honor Him and others, and ask ourselves, "How can seeing God in everything help you respect Him in every part of your life?" 

PHONICS and SPELLING

There will be no spelling homework this week, but we will be working on spelling commonly misspelled sight words in class. Enjoy the break! 

READING SKILLS and STRATEGIES 

We'll be reviewing all of the skills and strategies we've learned through an "author study" this week. The author we'll be studying Lois Ehlert. She has a very unique style of writing and illustrating. The kiddos are going to LOVE hearing her books and studying her craft! We'll probably be doing a lot of visualizing... which can look a little like napping at times, hehe! 

GRAMMAR and WRITING 

As you probably guessed we'll be doing some fall writing this week. As we study Lois, we might even try writing like her!

NEWS and NOTES

• This week - Book Fair at Elementary Campus 
• October 26th Early Dismissal - conferences 
• October 27th NO SCHOOL - conferences
• October Reading Logs DUE October 31st 
• November 12th - CCLS Sunday at Mt. Calvary 
• November 22nd Thanksgiving break begins