Week 14

We have a very short week this week with some fun things happening!

Early Dismissals and No School:

• Monday: early dismissal at 11:15 AM
• Tuesday: early dismissal at 11:15 AM
• Wednesday: no school
• Thursday: no school (Thanksgiving)
• Friday: no school

Extra Credit:
The 2^nd graders will have another opportunity for some extra credit over Thanksgiving break.  They’ll have the chance to do 20 minutes of reading and/or 5 minutes of flash cards for extra credit.  That’s going home today and will be due back Tuesday, December 3 for those who choose to participate.

Special Guest:
We have a special guest coming to 2^nd grade on Monday!  More information to come (it’s a surprise for the kids)!

Week 13

We have a few schedule changes this week and next to prepare for parent-teacher conferences and Thanksgiving break. 

·       Friday, November 22:  Early dismissal at 11:15 AM

·       Monday, November 25:  Early dismissal at 11:15 AM

·       Tuesday, November 26:  Early dismissal at 11:15 AM

·       Wednesday, November 27-Friday, November 29: No school (Thanksgiving Break)

Movie/Stuffed Animal/Free Dress Day:

On Thursday, November 21 we’ll have a different kind of day! 

·       It’ll be 2^nd grade’s last free dress day that we earned through our Fall Fest fundraising.  Please check page 29 of the handbook for free dress guidelines.

·       We’ll also be watching The Tale of Despereaux in class.  We finished the book last week, so we’ll be watching the movie and comparing and contrasting the two.

·       For the movie, the students have the option to bring a stuffed animal.  I ask that the stuffed animals are a standard size (about 12 inches or smaller) and that they don’t make noise or light up.

Christian Studies:
This week in Christian Studies we’ll be learning about David, both before he was king and after he became king.  We’ll start off by learning about David showing Saul mercy when he could have killed him in a cave.  We’ll discuss David’s mercy and obedience to God, and we’ll relate that to our lives.  Then we’ll learn about David and Bathsheba—a time that David did not obey God.  We’ll discuss forgiveness and God’s mercy to David.

Math:
We’ll be starting our module on identifying coins and their value, and counting money.  This week we’ll start off by relating coins to place value, then we’ll identify coins and find their value.  Then we’ll compare the value of coin combinations and show amounts in different ways.  This week, it might benefit the students to practice counting coins at home for their 5 minutes of flash cards.

Language Arts:
This week in Language Arts our phonics concept is the doubling rule—when adding a suffix to a word with a short vowel sound, the last consonant will be doubled so the vowel sound remains short.

Social Studies:
We’ll also be finishing up our unit in Social Studies on Leaders and Government.  We’ll talk about how every country has their own government, leaders, and rules.  We’ll also talk about how nations work together to live in peace.

Week 12

I hope everyone got some extra rest with our Monday off of school!

Veterans’ Day Assembly:
We’ll be honoring veterans at our Veterans’ Day Assembly on Tuesday, November 12 at 2:15 PM.  Everyone is welcome!  Any veterans that would like to come should arrive a few minutes early so we can honor them.

Picture Retakes:
Picture retakes are Wednesday, November 13.  Any students who missed picture day in October will get their picture taken.  If you’d like your child to get their pictures retaken, please send them to school with their original picture packet, which will be returned to the studio.  It helps if you also let me know that your child needs to get their pictures retaken so I know to send them down, too.

Christian Studies:
This week in Christian Studies we’ll learn some more history of Israel, some of it not as happy as others.  We’ll learn about Eli and his sons.  We’ll learn about God’s punishment for Eli and his sons for not following Him, and we’ll learn about God’s punishment for the Philistines, who stole the ark of the covenant.  We’ll also learn about David and Jonathan and Saul and discuss the good decisions they made, as well as the bad choices they made.

Math:
This week in math we’ll be finishing up three-digit numbers, comparing them with words, then symbols, and then putting all of our learning together to review and take our test on three-digit numbers.

Language Arts:
This week our phonics concept is the vowel team “igh.”  We’ll be practicing this all week.

We’ll also be reading our text more closely, picking out evidence to discuss the genre “realistic fiction.”

Social Studies:
We’ll learn about the three equal branches of government and checks and balances.  We’ll also discuss Washington, D.C. as our nation’s capital, and we’ll discuss local, state, and national governments and their roles.

Week 11

This week we got an extra hour of sleep and it’ll be lighter in the mornings!  I hope that brings with it some good rest and rejuvenation for the 2^nd graders, especially after a fun week with Halloween and harvest party!

Christian Studies:
This week in Christian Studies we’ll be learning about two very different people God chose to carry out His plan.  We’ll learn about Othniel, who God used to lead His people to victory, and we’ll learn about Ruth, who not only learned to love God and trust Him, but also was part of Jesus’ lineage.

Math:
This week in math we’ll finish up our module on three-digit numbers.  We’ll then start a module looking specifically at using place value within 1,000.  We’ll add and subtract 10 or 100, and use place value to identify and extend number patterns.

Language Arts:
This week our phonics concept is another diphthong: ou and ow.  We’ll practice spelling it with “ou” when it’s at the beginning or the middle of a word or syllable, and we’ll practice spelling it “ow” when it’s at the end, or when it’s followed by a single “l” or “n.”

In reading, we’ll compare and contrast two different states.  We’ll then discuss the elements of realistic fiction.  We’ll use reading strategies to closely read our new text: You Can’t Climb a Cactus.

Social Studies:

We’ll be continuing to look at government and leaders, focusing on the leaders of our local, state, and national governments.  We’ll then look at the three branches of government and their roles.