Week of September 12th

It's unbelievable to me that it's already been five weeks of school. It feel like just yesterday I had "first day jitters." One thing's for sure, though, your children are really learning a lot about their identity this year through our new Christian character formation project. 

Be sure to have conversations about the various virtues that we explore each week. This is not something that can only be done at school. 

Last week we discussed diligence. 

Your children stayed very focused and diligent during their reading test!

 And what do we do after all that hard work? 

Flashlight Friday!! 

It was a perfectly dark, rainy day too!

 During reading last week, your second graders learned about plot, and then helped each other learn about plot. They were great teachers!

 Between inside recess, whiteboard messages, choir, and birthday celebrations... 

I'd say it was a GREAT week!

Goals and Objectives for the week...

CHRISTIAN CHARACTER FORMATION PROJECT
This week we will return to the virtue of integrity. Integrity is God's power for you to be true to Him and yourself. We will study this through exploring when God promised Abraham a son (Genesis 15-20). I challenge you to discuss integrity at home and to ask yourselves... How do you stay true to God's promises even when you don't understand God's plan?

READING SKILLS
This week we will be switching gears a bit as we discuss nonfiction texts. As we explore nonfiction, we will discuss "the big umbrella" or the main idea. 

We also started "book clubs" last week. Ask your child what book they are reading with their group!

SPELLING and PHONICS
Our focus in phonics this week will be discriminating between short a and long a. 

bag	cap	ham	bake	mad
ate	cape	back	rake	made

BONUS - apple orchard

GRAMMAR
How is a sentence complete? This week we will learn about the importance of the subject in every sentence. The subject tells who or what does something. We will also be reviewing how to write a friendly letter. 

WRITING
Your second graders LOVE writing! They even moan and groan when I ask them to stop! They are learning the "writing process" as everyone completes stages of the process at different times. Some students will continue working on their rough drafts, some will be editing and revising, and some will even be "publishing" stories!

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 - this Friday!  
• NO SCHOOL 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!

Week of September 6th

What a fun week! 

I think we are all starting to settle into our routines... 

which means there is a lot of learning going on! 

Here's a look back on last week...

What a treat to hear from the famous author, Kate Messner. 

The kids were captivated by her thoughts and really learned a lot about how she gets her ideas. What a great kickoff for our first writing unit! 

 Morning messages are building community...

 Learning how to edit... with RED pens!!

ohhhh, so exciting!

 Brainstorming writing ideas...

Ask your second grader what small moment (or "seed story") they are choosing to write about!

We are all enjoying learning from each other in "share chair".

 Shhhhh. There is a lot of good writing going on!

 Boy, they've been so still and so quiet for so long. Ha!

Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedules to come to curriculum night. 

Please let us know if you have any questions about 2nd grade!

It was a birthday bonanza week! 

Happy birthday, Amelia!

 Happy birthday, Emma Jane and Parker!

 Happy birthday, Justin!

If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen that we had "Flashlight Friday" after our reading test on Friday. It was SO fun!

 Aaaannnd... a little bit of gonoodle!

CHARACTER FORMATION PROJECT
This week the virtue we will examine is diligence. We will discuss diligence as we read about Noah.

READING SKILLS 
We continue to explore story structure in reading. We will focus more on plot this week, and how the characters in our stories deal with problems and solutions. 

SPELLING and PHONICS
This week in spelling we will focus on words with short e, short o, and short u. Be sure to practice the spelling words and other short vowel words at home!

went	tell	pet	job	fog
not	tug	hut	tub	bun

BONUS - favorite and friend

GRAMMAR

Our skills in grammar this week will include a command - a sentence that tells someone to do something and ends with a period, and and an exclamation - a sentence that shows strong feelings and ends with an exclamation point!  We will also review capital letters and proper nouns.

WRITING 
Last week your children practiced their pre-writing skills and brainstormed ideas (small moments) that they wanted to write about. This week we will work on transferring our brainstorming thoughts into a narrative with a beginning, middle and end. 

NEWS and NOTES

• RED reading folders are due today. Next month's log will be in the folders for your child to take home.
• NO SCHOOL September 23rd - teacher professional development
• October 7th and 8th - CCLS Carnival! 
• October 14th - end of first quarter! 

BLESSINGS ON YOUR WEEK!