Week of December 17th

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! 

Be sure to check out our new art project in the hallway... 

READING SKILLS and STRATEGIES 

This week we will be having fun comparing and contrasting fiction and nonfiction Gingerbread books. We'll be finding facts, retelling, and having fun with a few STEM projects. 

NO SPELLING THIS WEEK

The words and pink sheet will come home for the week of January 7th (the week we come back from break).

WRITING 

Your second graders published their nonfiction stories last week. They are very proud! This week we'll practice writing with our own versions of The Gingerbread Man.

NEWS and NOTES

·                     ALL WEEK Change Challenge Collection to support CCLS-U sponsor children

·                     December 17th (tonight) CCLS Advent Service 6:30pm 

o    Your child should arrive by 6:25 and sit in the pews with our class

·                     December 21st - December Reading Logs Due 

·                     December 21st - End of 2nd Quarter and Class Christmas Party!  

BLESSINGS ON YOUR WEEK!

Week of December 10th

Happy Monday! Two more full week of school before Christmas break. The children are getting anxious, as we prepare for Jesus' birth! 
To get in the spirit, we were able to read Christmas stories to our preschool reading buddies last week...

Did you hear about the "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. 

PHONICS and SPELLING 

The spelling rule this week is "bossy R." 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, second graders will continue to work diligently as they consider their audience and work on engaging them with descriptions, interesting facts, or an enticing lead. Students will also be using their Google accounts to safely search for images that correspond to their nonfiction writing pieces. I have mentioned to the kiddos that they can always use their google account at home too! Therefore, here are some steps for finding more images at home... This is completely optional and while children search images, it's always smart to monitor the search by an adult.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHQQP5DejtY&authuser=0 - in depth tutorial

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J6NTA0-Yig&authuser=0 - quick tutorial 

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 3rd

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!

CHEERS to trying egg nog! 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas... What a wonderful time of year!
Come check out our hallway and what we learned and created last week...

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. 

PHONICS and SPELLING 

The spelling rule this week is three consonant blends. (For example: 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. 

We've also been practicing fluency with various readers theaters AND the green screen... 

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!

In writing, the kids will keep working on their nonfiction pieces. Have you asked your child about what topics they have chosen to write about yet?

This week's NEWS and NOTES

• December 3rd (TODAY) - Afternoon field trip to Laclede Groves
• December 6th (12:30 - 1:00) - Santa's Workshop 
• Week of December 17th - 2nd Change Challenge Collection 
• December 17th - CCLS Advent Service 6:30
• December Reading Logs Due December 21st 
• December 21st - End of 1st quarter - Christmas Breaks begins

BLESSINGS ON YOUR WEEK!

Week of November 26th

Welcome back! I hope you all had a wonderful time relaxing and enjoying family over the break. Can you believe that Christmas break is only four 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

This week we will read from Exodus about the Israelites crossing the Red Sea. We'll revisit the virtue of COURAGE. Courage is God's power for you to overcome fear. Our "Big question" is - How can God help you stay strong and have courage even when you are afraid?

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's spelling rule is common consonant digraphs - blends such as sh, ch, wh, th. 

GRAMMAR and WRITING 

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. As we investigate texts and edit our own writing this week, the grammar focus will be on verbs. 

This week's NEWS and NOTES

• FIRST Change Challenge Collection this week!
• November 28th - Afternoon field trip to Global Foods 
• November 30th - November Reading Logs Due
• December 3rd - Afternoon field trip to Laclede Groves
• December 17th - CCLS Advent Service
• December 21st - End of 2nd Quarter - Christmas Breaks begins

BLESSINGS ON YOUR WEEK!

Week of November 12th

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. 

Your children are almost official authors! Our class book was sent to Student Treasures Publishing Company last week! If you ordered one, it should arrive just before Christmas break. What a wonderful Christmas present! 

This Week's Objectives:
CHRISTIAN CHARACTER FORMATION PROJECT 
As we read more about the Passover we'll discuss JUSTICE. We define JUSTICE as God's power for you to do what is right according to His word. The "Big Question" we will discuss is - How are you delivered from being a slave to sin? 

PHONICS and SPELLING

The "rule" this week is all the different "long i" spelling patterns. (igh, i_e, ie, y, i) 

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! 

There continues to be a lot of great things happening in Reader's Workshop!

  NEWS and NOTES

• Operation Christmas Child Boxes - Due this Wednesday 
• November 18th - CCLS Sunday at Webster
• November 19th-23rd NO SCHOOL for Thanksgiving Break
• November 30th - November Reading Logs Due 
• December 6th-7th- Santa's Workshop 
• December 17th - CCLS Advent Service 6:30pm
• December 21st - End of 2nd Quarter 
• December 24th - Christmas Break  

Week of November 5th

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 extra money for their CCLS-U sponsor students! 
Our first collection date is November 27th, but your child can bring in their jar anytime!

 We had another great experience with our preschool reading buddies last week...

This week's objectives: 

CHRISTIAN CHARACTER FORMATION PROJECT

We will revisit the virtue RESPECT. We define RESPECT as God's power for you to honor Him and others. We will read more from Exodus about Moses, Pharaoh, and the plagues. As we discuss, we will ask ourselves this "big question" - Why should I choose to RESPECT God above everyone else?

PHONICS and SPELLING

The rule this week is all the different "long e" spelling patterns.

READING SKILLS and STRATEGIES 

Students will continue to work on visualizing to help comprehend the text. We are also learning about "activating schema" to prepare us for reading... They discovered that we all have a filing cabinet in our brain! 😊 I hope you can encourage your child to use these strategies 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! Let me know if you have any questions about the note that went home regarding purchasing a copy of this book for your family!

NEWS and NOTES

• November 18th - CCLS Sunday at Webster
• November 19th-23rd NO SCHOOL for Thanksgiving Break
• November 30th - November Reading Logs Due
• December 17th - CCLS Advent Service

BLESSINGS ON YOUR WEEK!

Week of October 29th

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 your children take initiative and talk to you about their life at school. I also thoroughly enjoyed being able to have some one-on-one time with just you.  If you ever have ANY questions, I'm always happy to help! 
We are a TEAM! 

Also, thanks for another AMAZING birthday celebration! 
Mrs. Leet loved sharing her special day with John!

CHRISTIAN CHARACTER FORMATION PROJECT 

This week we will revisit the virtue of INTEGRITY as we discuss Moses' difficulties with Pharaoh as he worked to follow God's plan. We define integrity as God's power for you to do the right thing. Our "Big Question" is - How can you follow God's instructions when you're pressured to live by someone else's?

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! Stay tuned for information about ordering your own book.

As they write their paragraphs they'll be practicing applying all of their grammar skills, but our focus this week is plural and possessive nouns.


NEWS and NOTES

• OCTOBER READING LOGS are DUE WEDNESDAY - October 31st 
• November 18th - CCLS Sunday at Webster Gardens
• November 19th-23rd - NO SCHOOL Thanksgiving Break

Week of October 22nd

Last week was a super week!
Thanks for a wonderful Harvest Party! I heard amazing things!

And thanks to those of you that were able to join us on our field trip. 

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

This week's objectives 

CHRISTIAN CHARACTER FORMATION PROJECT 

We will read about how God wanted Moses to save His people. The virtue tied to this lesson is RESPONSIBILITY. We define responsibility as God's power for you to be accountable to Him and others. The "Big Question" is - How can I be ready to trust God and obey Him when He gives me a special job? 

PHONICS and SPELLING

NO SPELLING this week. Enjoy the break (again)!

READING SKILLS and STRATEGIES 

There will be a lot of review next week through an author study with the author/illustrator, 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 be visualizing with her books, which we practiced last week as well...

GRAMMAR and WRITING 
As you probably guessed we'll be doing some fall writing. As we study Lois Ehlert, we will try illustrating and writing like her. Don't forget to send in "fall items." We will be making our "Leaf Creations" on Tuesday. 

NEWS and NOTES

• This week - Book Fair at Elementary Campus
• Breakfast with a Buddy on Wednesday 
• October 25th Early Dismissal - conferences 
• October 26th NO SCHOOL - conferences
• October Reading Logs DUE October 31st 
• November 18th - CCLS Sunday at Webster Gardens
• November 19th-23rd - NO SCHOOL Thanksgiving Break

Week of October 15th

We're excited for another great week! 

First, here's a quick look back at last week...

Fire Safety Talks with the Webster Fire Department...

Mrs. Sanft's birthday!

Our pumpkin patch...

Come check out all of the unique pumpkins!

This week's objectives:

CHRISTIAN CHARACTER FORMATION PROJECT

This week we will read from Exodus and learn about how God called Moses. The virtue tied to this lesson is self-sacrifice. We define self-sacrifice as God's power for you to give up something to help others. The "Big Question" is - How can you let go of someone or something God has given you, even though it is very difficult? 

PHONICS and SPELLING

This week's spelling rule is "long A" spelling patterns, (specifically "ai" and "ay"). Some students added homophones to their lists as well.

READING SKILLS and STRATEGIES  

For the next few weeks our reading strategy will be VISUALIZING. When we read, we make pictures in our minds to go with the words. It's so fun to see and hear about what mental images the kiddos are creating in their heads.

GRAMMAR and WRITING 

Our specific grammar target this week is learning abbreviations. 

Your second graders worked so hard on publishing their personal narratives. Next we will be doing some "free writing" and writing with prompts as we gear up for our next unit of study. 

NEWS and NOTES

• Box-Top Collection - THIS WEEK 
• October 16th - Field Trip to Powell Symphony Hall
• October 19th - Harvest Party AND Report Cards Released
• October 22nd - 24th - Scholastic Book Fair at the Webster Campus 
• October 25th - Noon Dismissal (Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences)
• October 26th - NO SCHOOL (Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences)
• October 31st - October Reading Log Due

BLESSINGS ON YOUR WEEK!

Week of Octboer 8th

This Friday marks the end of the 1st quarter!

These first eight weeks have gone by SO FAST! 
Your children are learning and working very hard. 
Be proud of their effort!

Here are this week's objectives:

CHRISTIAN CHARACTER FORMATION PROJECT

We will read more from Genesis this week and learn more about how God would use Joseph to save his family and the nation of Israel through an unforgettable act of forgiveness. This week's virtue is INTEGRITY. We define integrity as God's power for you to do the right thing. The "Big Question" is - How can you forgive with a forgiveness that lasts? 

SPELLING 

There is NO SPELLING this week. Yes, your children cried when they heard the news.

READING SKILLS and STRATEGIES

Last week we read The Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf, and this week we will read The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig. After reading both of these folktales we will be able to make text to text connections by comparing and contrasting the two stories.

Everyone is still working hard on independently reading "just right" books AND writing their thinking in their "reader's notebooks"...

GRAMMAR and WRITING

Our mentor sentence this week comes from the book, Dear Deer by Gene Barretta. This very silly book will help us learn about homophones. We will also be reviewing commas and plural nouns. Also, as students finish publishing their stories, they will be focusing on EVERYTHING they know about good sentence structure. We'll be having a personal narrative publishing party this week! 

NEWS and NOTES

• October 12th - End of 1st Quarter 
• October 19th - Harvest Party AND Report Cards Released
• October 22nd - 24th - Scholastic Book Fair at the Webster Campus 
• October 25th - Noon Dismissal (Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences)
• October 26th - NO SCHOOL (Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences)
• October 31st - October Reading Log Due

Week of October 1st

Thank you SO very much for all the wonderful birthday wishes! I truly had the BEST day! Thank you for showering me with so many treats! 

I feel so blessed by this crew! 

Here are this week's objectives: 

CHRISTIAN CHARACTER FORMATION PROJECT
Abraham had Isaac, Isaac had Jacob, and Jacob had twelve sons who would create the twelve tribes of Israel. Joseph was one of the twelve sons of Jacob. This week we will read from Genesis 37 and learn about how Joseph was rejected by his own brothers – abandoned, sold into slavery, and betrayed because his brothers were intensely jealous of him. The virtue of the week is RESPONSIBILITY. We define responsibility as God’s power for you to be accountable to Him and others. The “Big Question” is – How can you stay responsible when circumstances seem unfair?

PHONICS and SPELLING
This week we will read, review, and sort words with beginning consonant blends.

READING SKILLS and STRATEGIES 
We will read the story The Three Little Pigs and practice retelling - focusing on noticing the problem and solution.  Also, I hope you heard about "reading buddy" time with our preschool friends!

GRAMMAR and WRITING
Our mentor sentence come from a book called Smelly Socks by Robert Munsch. The kiddos will focus on commas and plural nouns this week. 

There was excitement in the air last week when the class heard it was time to pick one of their favorite personal narratives to polish into a published piece of writing. We'll be reviewing the writing process and begin publishing this week. 

NEWS and NOTES

• September Reading Logs Due TODAY 
• October 8th is Mrs. Sanft's birthday. The 2nd grade teachers are putting together a basket of snacks/treats for her. If you would like to contribute something, please send it in any day this week. THANKS! 
• October 12th - End of 1st Quarter 
• October 19th - Harvest Party AND Report Cards Released
• October 22nd - 24th Scholastic Book Fair at the Webster Campus 
• October 25th - Noon Dismissal (Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences)
• October 26th - NO SCHOOL (Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences)
• October 31st - October Reading Log Due