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