Week of February 27th

The "Walk of Fame" was such a success! 

Thanks for all of your hard work at home! They kiddos really enjoyed sharing all the information they had learned...

We're gearing up for three full weeks of school before spring break! Here's a look at our goals and objectives for the week...

CHRISTIAN CHARACTER FORMATION PROJECT
What scares you? This week we will reexamine the virtue COURAGE as we study some of Jesus’s miracles, specifically Jesus walking on water. Courage is God’s power for you to overcome fear. As we explore this miracle in Matthew 14, we will think about how we need to face our fears as we boldly talk to others about Jesus! Ask yourselves this “big question”: How do you find courage even in the most terrifying circumstances?

READING SKILLS and STRATEGIES
We've really been working hard on comprehension as a class and in small group "book club" instruction. This week we will revisit a challenging skill called making inferences. When a reader makes an inference, he makes decisions, or draws conclusions about a story based on the clues in the text, the pictures, and his schema (what he already knows). Making inferences can help the reader better understand the characters and events in the story.

PHONICS and SPELLING 
This week your second graders will identify and spell words with variant vowel sounds (au and aw). Variant vowels are vowel sounds that are controlled by the letters surrounding them. This can be confusing! Remember to practice these words with your children this week!

LIST ONE

pause	launch	fault	fawn	hawk
crawl	draw	law	jaw	raw

LIST TWO

pause	launch	fault	fawn	hawk
crawl	cause	lawn	yawn	thaw

BONUS – inference 

GRAMMAR and WRITING 

Our grammar focus will be on contractions this week. Although we talk about and use contractions in our writing all the time, we will zone in more on what each contraction stands for and learning the appropriate place for the apostrophe. 

Also, I can't wait for you to start seeing some of our book reviews in the hallways! We're about halfway through the March Book Madness book selections and voting starts this week (March 1st). Thankfully, we have an entire week to cast our ballots. 

 NEWS and NOTES

• Reading Logs DUE Tuesday, February 28th
• Our last "Coin Collection" for our CCLS-U students will be in March
• SPRING BREAK March 20th

BLESSINGS ON YOUR WEEK!

Week of February 21st

Happy Tuesday!

God sure blessed us with amazing weather this weekend.

I hope you were all able to enjoy it along with the extra day off.

Last week was pretty great too.

For the last two weeks, we've been studying black history. As a culmination to our studies, the kiddos did mini reports on various famous African Americans...

 Happy Birthday to Carrington!

Lots going on!
Here's what's in store for this week...

CHRISTIAN CHARACTER FORMATION PROJECT
This week we will study the virtue of integrity through one of Jesus’ favorite methods of instruction – a parable. We remember integrity as God’s power for you to be true to Him and yourself. In this particular parable, we get down to the very essence of our faith and discuss debt. As sinners, we expect to get what is “owed” to us just like the unforgiving servant in this parable. However, we will examine how we need to remember to make a conscious effort to be merciful and forgiving. We will pray for help to remember what Jesus did for us when we feel wronged by other people. I challenge you to pray this prayer at home with your children this week, and ask yourselves this “big question,” “How well do you reflect God’s forgiveness of you when you need to forgive others?”

READING SKILLS and STRATEGIES
Your kids will really enjoy revisiting predicting this week. Although we predict ALL THE TIME, zoning in on making and confirming predictions through clues in the text, the pictures, and what we already know is a great skill to formally practice. It's what "good readers" do!

PHONICS and SPELLING
This week we will practice identifying, sorting, and spelling words with oo, ou, ui, ew, oe spelling patterns.

LIST ONE

fruit	clue	flew	canoe	root
boot	suit	glue	new	shoe

LIST TWO

fruit	clue	flew	canoe	school
mood	bruise	glued	chewed	shoelace

BONUS – president 

GRAMMAR and WRITING 

We will continue to read March Book Madness books and write book reviews. It's been really interesting seeing all the diverse reactions to the different books. Your kids are really working hard on explaining their thinking. Your second graders are also buckling down and concentrating on what we know about grammar and spelling as they write. Pretty soon the hallways of our school will be filled with reviews! I hope you get a chance to check it out. Voting starts soon!!! 

NEWS and NOTES

• Breakfast for Belize 
• Come delight in donuts for breakfast this Wednesday 7:30 to 8:30
• February 24th - Six Flags "Read to Succeed" forms due
• Reading logs due Next week - end of February
• March 20th - SPRING BREAK!!

BLESSINGS ON YOUR WEEK