Friday

In religion we reviewed what the Bible is and who gave it us and who wrote it. I also read them a story about a new students at school called, The Brand New Kid. This was our CARE class meeting for bully prevention. We talked about how one student in the story became a defender instead of just a bystander. We also talked about how others besides the one being bullied can have their hearts broken by mean words or behavior.
In maths students worked on different ways numbers can be written. The standard form, the word form and the expanded form. They are also learning how to write their answers in their math journal and transfer from the textbook to the journal. This is a really hard skill to learn. They did an awesome job!

Students had Spanish and art today. We also had a practice lock down.
We will be having a spelling test on Tuesday. The words are on the website in the Homework section and in their agendas.

The second grade will be leading Mass on Sept. 11. They will also have morning courtyard prayer on Monday, Sept. 9, and afternoon courtyard prayer on Friday, Sept 13. That is also the week of the 2nd grade Faith in Action project: The School Supplies Drive. More information will follow next week.
Have a great long weekend!

Thursday

Wow! Even with PE and music we did a lot of work. In math students worked on place value and numbers up to 1,000. They enjoyed working on the Smartboard. They also worked in their math workbooks.
In language we started a new story called, "Mr. Putter and Tabby Pour the Tea". Students are working on the plot using beginning, middle and end. We worked on spelling the hard to remember words "they" and "there". Students used dry erase boards for phonics.
They were able to work independently as I began calling small groups.

Wednesday

Everyone is happy now that the hard math and reading benchmarks are done and we are back working on beginning of the year reviews and skills.
Today was Mass with Fr. Pat.  Then we worked in grammar learning editing marks for capitals, periods and question marks. Students organized their binders. Then they were able to use Word in the netbooks to spell their spelling words. They explored how to make the words bigger, different colors and different fonts.
After lunch we went to Adoration and then spent the rest of the afternoon working on math. Students were able to write numbers on the Smartboard. We reviewed hundreds, tens, and ones using base ten blocks.

We are still looking for a Faith in Action parent to lead our School Supplies Drive the week of Sept. 9-13. It isn't very complicated and it's a lot of fun! Contact me or Patti Jasinski. She will also be to help the Faith in Action parent.

Tuesday

2B is in need of a Faith in Action parent to lead our School Supplies Drive that runs the week of Sept. 9-13. If you are interested, you may let me know or Patti Jasinski. She can also give you any information for being our Faith in Action parent. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Please remember to send in morning snacks even when your child has hot lunch. They hungry by mid morning are in need of a snack.

In religion we talked about how God gave us a soul that is the thinking part of us. Students also worked on some basic catechism questions like: Who is God? Where does God live? Is God everywhere? What is our soul?
In reading students worked on comprehension, dictionary skills, text features like captions, character and setting. We began spelling today. The spelling words are in the homework section of the 2B website and they are in the student agendas.
In math we began by reviewing counting by tens by playing a game like Chutes and Ladders. We also reviewed the different ways of writing numbers.
In science we began a unit on germs, by starting with how germs spread.
Tomorrow is Mass and we will be going to Adoration from about 12:45-1:15.

Thank you  for remembering to send in water bottles. It is so humid that even going on a restroom break leaves many thirsty and the water bottles seem to keep the germs from spreading.

Monday

Today students wrote in their agendas. The agendas and their yellow folders are to go back and forth daily. I also sent home the Homework Grid for this week. They are to do one activity a night or they may do them all at once. All grid homework is due on Fridays. Spelling words will be given out on Tuesdays. They will be listed in agendas and on the website in the homework section. Next week we will begin to send home additional homework during the week.

I will be sending home the IXL.com usernames and passwords. They will be located on the inside cover of the agendas.

Thank you for sending in water bottles. Students get thirsty even when they are inside.
Today in religion we talked about God the Father in heaven.
Students completed a few assessments this week. They are all done now except for Dibels and the IOWA tests. Students did some phonics, vocabulary and they worked on characters and settings in a story.
Students benchmarked in math today.

Friday

We have begun our studies and students worked hard today. In religion I read the story, Just the Way You Are, then students created butterflies and wrote about their favorite things. We also discussed that God loves you just the way you are.

We began our first reading story, "David's New Friends". We discussed character and setting. In their writing journals students wrote about their first day of school using complete sentences with capitals and periods. I was very impressed with their writing! Students also looked through the stories and found stories that they thought might be about a creation God made, like whales, seals, and fire.
In math we began "The Number of the Day". This routine is daily math practice using great than, less than, odd, even, and writing the word form of a number. This is great for review daily using different numbers.

Students also had their first day of Spanish.
Another great day in 2B!

See you all at Bingo tonight!

The First Full Day of School

What a fun first day back! We celebrated Mass first thing. Students were so well behaved.
After Mass students learned the words "multi-tasking", as they ate their snacks and worked on the letters worm. We also learned about our classroom rules and where items were in the room.
Students also sorted their supplies. We grouped art supplies and I collected pencils, glue sticks, and white glue for community use.

Students completed a math review to see what they remember from 1st grade.
We read You are Special  by Max Lucado and we talked about how great God is and He made all of us to be His special creations. We ended the day discussing how we can be defenders of anyone who cannot defend themselves as Jesus calls us to do. This worked into a review of our bully prevention rules.
They all seemed to have a great day and want to come back tomorrow.

WELCOME TO 2nd GRADE

It has been wonderful meeting all my new students.
Tomorrow is the first full day of school. Be sure to bring a snack and a water bottle.
See you soon.