Category Archives: 2nd Newsletter

Second-2-None: Newsletter Week of 1-23

By vmccartney | Published: January 29, 2012

What We’re Learning

In Religion we are preparing for Reconciliation. We talk about sin, God’s mercy, and free will often. We will be discussing the steps of Reconciliation soon.

During our Language block, we finished writing a descriptive paper on a fellow classmate. The students also wrote a poem about themselves. Room 109 wrote cycle poems, while room 110 wrote alliterations about a penguin.

With Language, we’ve continued to classify sentences which include prepositional phrases. We’ll study these types of sentences for a bit.

In Math, we’ve almost finished our unit on double-digit subtraction. The students have grasped the basic steps. However, we found the most common error is not knowing basic facts. So please have your child practice basic facts daily.

We began to study our government in Social Studies. How is the State-in-a-Box project coming along? It’s due on February 15th.

In Science we are looking at Earth Science, specifically at what makes up the Earth and how it changes.

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Second-2-None: Newsletter for the Week of 1-16

By vmccartney | Published: January 20, 2012

What We’re Learning

This week we talked about sin, God’s mercy, and free will. We will continue to discuss these as we prepare for our first Reconciliation. 

During our Language block, we began writing a descriptive paper. The topic of our paper is a fellow classmate. So far, we’ve been working on our rough draft.

With Language, we’ve continued to classify sentences which include prepositional phrases. We also identify nouns and the jobs of those nouns. We’re doing well identifying subjects and predicates too.

In Math, we’ve finished our first chapter on double-digit subtraction. We’ll continue this skill in the next chapter. So please  practice basic addition and subtraction facts at home; it will help your child to know these well.

We will begin to study our government in the next Social Studies unit. Along with this we will be researching a state of choice for our State-in-a-Box project (more information and directions about this project to follow soon.) As a whole group, the class will be learning how to do online research in TLC for the state of Illinois.

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Second-2-None: Newsletter for Week of 1-9-12

By vmccartney | Published: January 13, 2012

What We’re Learning

This week we talked about the Ten Commandments. These, as well as the Act of Contrition prayer, were sent home on Tuesday. We will be testing the class on memorization of the Commandments and Act of Contrition in a couple of weeks. Please have your child start memorizing them. 

In Reading we’ve read a story which helped us practice determining cause and effect. We have also continued to use the strategy of context clues to define unfamiliar words. The bossy r has come back again, showing us that it will change the vowel sound.

In Grammar,  we’ve been practicing classifying prepositional phrases. Though it can be difficult, it has been going rather well. The class seems to be pros at classifying their sentences. We’ll be working with prepositions, object of the preposition, and prepositional phrases for a bit.

In Math, we’ve begun our double-digit subtraction unit. Most have the steps of subtracting but stumble over knowing the basic facts. Please continue to practice basic addition and subtraction facts.

We will begin to study our government in the next Social Studies unit. Along with this we will be researching a state of choice for our State-in-a-Box project (more information and directions about this project to follow soon.)

In Science, we’ve wrapped up our chapter on environments. The test on Chapter 4 will be next week, Wednesday, January 18. Please study over the long weekend. Remember the text is also online.

 

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Second-2-None Newsletter Week of 12-12-11

By vmccartney | Published: December 16, 2011

 

What We’re Learning

This week we celebrated the third week of the Advent Season.  We continue to talk about how we are growing as children of God and how we should live our lives each day by walking in Jesus’ footsteps.  We have also begun preparing for Reconciliation by discussing the Bible and its parts. The next prayer that our classes will learn is the Act of Contrition.  This prayer will need to be memorized before making Reconciliation. 

InReadingwe read a nonfiction story called Stirring Up Memories.  In this st0ry we practiced finding facts and conclusions.  We also reviewed prefixes.  Next week we will take our unit test. This is not a test that your child needs to study for ahead of time.

In Grammar, we continue to classify sentences, identify subjects, predicates, and determine singular from plural.  We will be learning a new song on prepositions.  We will also learn how to label the preposition correctly and find the object of the preposition. 

In Math we are continuing to work with regrouping in addition.  We have learned how to regroup 3 two digit numbers by finding double facts and groups of ten.  We also have been working on mental math.  Please continue to practice your math facts each night! The Unit 4 test will be on Wednesday, December 21. Our next chapter in math will be subtraction.

The Social Studies unit on Goods and Services has come to an end. Room 109 has completed the chapter while room 110 will finish it the week of the 19th.  Our next unit in Social studies focuses on Government.

In Science, we began our new unit on animals and their habitats.  We learned how animals adapt to their environments.  We will be creating a habitat booklet that describes many different habitats and the animals that live in each. These should be used when preparing for the test, which will be after Christmas break.

 

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Second-2-None: Newsletter 12/5/11

By vmccartney | Published: December 9, 2011

What We’re Learning

In Religion we’ve begun preparing for Reconciliation by discussing the Bible and its parts. Please talk about it at home as well.

In Language we wrote our 3 paragraph expository.  We also continue to classify sentences, identify subjects, predicates, and determine singular from plural.  In Phonics this week we continued by writing words with consonant digraphs.

In Math we continue to work with regrouping.  We also learned how to rewrite horizontal problems in the vertical form. We need to remember to line up the tens and ones carefully when doing this.

We are finishing up our unit on Goods and Services. The test will be next week. We will also be presenting our stores.  

In Science, we began our new unit on animals and their habitats.  We learned how animals adapt to their environments.  We will be creating a habitat booklet that describes many different habitats and the animals that live in each.

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Second-2-None Newsletter 11-28

By vmccartney | Published: December 2, 2011

 

What We’re Learning

In Religion this week continued talking about Advent and how we are preparing for Jesus’ birth.  We learned a new song about staying awake and being ready.  We have also been learning about all the different people who share God’s love.  We have learned that single people, married people, priests, deacons, and religious brothers and sisters, all share God’s love in similar ways.

In Language we wrote our 3 paragraph expository.  This was the first essay that we have written, and it went well.  Students learned about indenting and creating paragraphs that focus on one idea.  This longer writing will prepare us for our upcoming changes in our journals.  After Christmas break, we will no longer be writing 5 sentences for journals.  There will be an 8 sentence requirement.

 In Phonics this week we continued with soft and hard c and g sounds.

In Math we continue to work with regrouping.  This is a difficult skill for many students and at home practice would be appreciated. We will have our first test on regrouping next week.

Our Goods & Services project is due on Monday, December 5th.  Please be sure they are brought to school in the morning with your child on Monday.  Students will lose points if the projects are not turned in on time.  Next week, we will begin giving our presentations on our boxes.  Please be sure that your child is prepared to talk for 2 minutes on their store. 

In Science, we are beginning our new unit on animals and their habitats.  We will be learning about how animals adapt to their environments.  In science we will also be creating a habitat booklet that describes many different habitats and the animals that live in each.

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Second-2-None: Newsletter 11-18

By vmccartney | Published: November 18, 2011

 

 

What We’re Learning

In Religion this week we reviewed all we learned this unit, from Sacraments to the Seasons Church Year.  Next week, we will begin looking at how we can share God’s love.

In Language we identified common and proper nouns. We are becoming experts at classifying our sentences, even as they become more complex.  Look for complete subjects and complete predicates to be labeled shortly. We have also looked at counting syllables, writing compound words, and soft c/soft g words.

In Math we have begun Chapter 10, which is adding double digit numbers with a single digit. We will progress to double digit addition soon after this. Knowing basic addition facts will help your child with the new skill.

This week in Social Studies we continue using our geography skills by looking at state capitals, continents, and oceans. Our Goods & Services project directions were sent home today. Please review the directions. Have your child know how they will present their store for the class. They will each have two minutes.

In Science, we finished our chapter on plants.  Our next chapter, chapter 4, is about living things in their environment. We will begin this chapter after the Thanksgiving holiday.

 

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Second-2-None Week of Nov.7th Newsletter

By vmccartney | Published: November 11, 2011

What We’re Learning

In Religion this week we learned about the Church calendar.  We discussed what we celebrate during each season.  Our next chapter focuses on Ordinary Time.  This is the church year that we are celebrating now.

In Language we focused on poetry.  This week we created a variety of poems.  We began the week with a haiku.  Although it is a short poem, we practiced carefully counting syllables to make sure each line uses the correct number.  After our haikus, we created a Thanksgiving poem and a sensory poem.  The Thanksgiving poem was an acrostic poem that used all the beginning letters in Thanksgiving.  Our sensory poem focused on a feeling.  We then used our 5 senses to describe the feeling.  Our final poem of the week was a shape poem.  The students chose a noun of their choice and created a list of adjectives that describe the noun.  Everyone really enjoyed writing our poems and reading different poems throughout the week.  Next week in Language, we will begin writing a three paragraph paper.

In Math we are wrapping up our chapter.  We practiced creating patterns by using growing patterns and repeating patterns.  We will complete this chapter last next week.

This week in Social Studies we continue using our geography skills by looking at state capitals, continents, and oceans. If you have an extra shoe box lying around, keep it, everyone will need one for this project. Please look for more information to be sent home on this project.

In Science, we are finishing our chapter on plants.  The test will be late next week.  Remember, the science book is online now.  Check it out to begin preparing for the upcoming test.

 

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Second-2-None: Week of 10/31 Newsletter

By vmccartney | Published: November 4, 2011

What We’re Learning

In Religion, we will be moving on to look at the church calendar next week.  We will be learning about what is celebrated in each season of the Church and learn the colors that represent the seasons.

In Language, we are doing so much. We will soon finish our study of long vowels in Phonics, with a test next week. In Reading, we reviewed fiction and nonfiction. We also practiced writing and stating summaries of a given story. We are also adding suffixes to words now. We have activities, like “Stretch It” which helps us learn to add details to our writing by asking who? what? where? when? why? and how?

In Math we have looked at odd and even numbers. We also have learned to play a few games that focus on addition skills. Ask your child about Close to Ten, Bottoms Up, and Pigs.  These are the games that we will play during our Family Math Day. 

This week in Social Studies we have practiced our geography skills, looking at state capitals, continents, and oceans. At the end of this unit students will create their own store with goods and services. If you have an extra shoe box lying around, keep it, everyone will need one for this project. Please look for more information to be sent home on this project.

In Science, we are looking at plants more closely. We have labeled the parts of plants and discuss various characteristics of plants, including their needs.

 

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Second-2-None Newsletter Week of Oct. 24

By vmccartney | Published: October 28, 2011

What We’re Learning

In Religion, we’ve begun looking more closely at the sacrament of
Confirmation. We learned about the symbols that are used during Confirmation.
Please remember to say your prayers each night with your child. Everyone should
be able to say The Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be. We have noticed that
many students are saying incorrect words during the prayers. Ex. Instead of Thy
students say I and instead of us many say our.

In Language, we are working on long vowel words. Students have
been practicing one syllable words with two vowels. “The first vowel does
the talking and the second vowel does the walking.” We are also continuing
to classify sentences in Grammar. Everyone should be familiar with the four parts
of speech, noun, verb, adjective, and adverbs. These are helping us stretch our
sentences. Within Reading class we read about famous African American
inventors. This story helped us learn about comparing and contrasting. We also
continue practicing adding prefixes and suffixes to base words. Students have
learned when to add a consonant to short vowel words to keep them short. (stop
+ ing = stopping)

In Math we have begun our new chapter by looking at double digit
numbers. This chapter involves a lot of reviewing. We are using the same skills
that have already been learned, but now are using larger numbers to solve the
problems.

This week in Social Studies we completed our Unit on the Earth. We
will begin our next unit on Working Together. This unit teaches us about goods
and services. We will also learn about important community workers. At the end
of this unit students will create their own store with goods and services. If
you have an extra shoe box lying around, keep it, everyone will need one for this
project. Please look for more information to be sent home on this project.

In Science, we are looking at plants more closely. Within the
chapter, we will labels the parts of plants and discuss various characteristics
of plants, including their needs.

 

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Second-2-None: Newsletter Week of 10-17

By vmccartney | Published: October 21, 2011

 

 

What We’re Learning

In Religion, we’ve been preparing for our Mass on Tuesday, as well as learning the new songs for the Mass of Joy & Peace.  Please join us in church if you can. We will next look at Confirmation more closely.

In Language, we continue studying various sounds and the letters which make that sound. We continue to classify sentences in Grammar.  Within Reading class, we looked at making words plural, adding suffixes to words, and comparing similar stories.

In Math we have begun our new chapter by looking at double digit numbers.

We will be wrapping up our unit next week on landforms, producers, and consumers. The test will be towards the end of the week.

In Science, we are looking at plants more closely. Within the chapter, we will labels the parts of plants and discuss various characteristics of plants, including their needs.

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Second-2-None: Week of 10-10 Newsletter

By vmccartney | Published: October 14, 2011

What We’re Learning

In Religion, we’ve finished up with Baptism. We will next look at Confirmation more closely.

In Language, we continue studying various sounds and the letters which make that sound. We continue to classify sentences in Grammar. We’ll use the same 5 parts of speech for a while, learning how to label each. The parts of speech are nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, and article adjectives.  Within Reading class, we looked at compound words, long i words, and compared fiction to nonfiction.

In Math we are beginning to wrap up our chapter. We’ve looked at tally charts, bar graphs, pictographs, probability, and predicting outcomes.

We continue practicing our state capitals in Social Studies. We continue to look at landforms in Technology, as well as in Social Studies. We will begin to talk about producers and consumers next week.

In Science class, we reviewed and took our animal chapter test. We’ll start our new chapter next week.

 

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Second-2-None: Week of 10/3 Newsletter

By vmccartney | Published: October 7, 2011

What We’re Learning

In Religion, we’ve continue to look at the Sacraments more closely.  We’ve begun to create a Sacrament booklet. Hope you like it!

In Language, we continue studying our vowel sounds and looking at blends. Many of the sounds are looked at throughout the year repeatedly. We have also learned about article adjectives in grammar. We are slowly becoming experts at classifying our sentences.  Within Reading class, we looked more at prefixes, long e words, and multiple-meaning words.

In Math we have begun our unit on data and probability. We’ve looked at two types of information so far, a tally chart and pictograph. We’ll look at bar graphs next week.

We continue practicing our state capitals in Social Studies. We have read about different types of water and various kinds of landforms. During technology class, the second grade class has searched for information on these various forms, and they are all typing the definitions of each.

In Science class, we have created a study tool – our animal classification book.  These are looking great and will be useful when studying for our chapter test, which will be at the end of next week.

 

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Second-2-None: Week of 9/26 Newsletter

By vmccartney | Published: September 29, 2011

What We’re Learning

In Religion, we’ve begun to look at the Sacraments more closely.  We’ve started with Baptism, which is a Sacrament of Initiation.

In Language, we’ve been studying our vowel sounds and looking at blends. We have also learned about adverbs, classifying sentences with a basic Subject Verb pattern. Also, the class has been using context clues to define unfamiliar words. We continue our word play to help phonemic awareness, and sing our jingles to remember our parts of speech.

In Math we have been subtracting numbers and looking at fact families. Knowing how fact families work will help with basic facts (and vice versa.)  We will have the chapter test in the middle of next week.

Social Studies we continue practicing our state capitals.  We will begin our new unit next week, which looks at consumers, producers, crops, landforms, etc. Ask your child to sing the continent song… they should be able to remember and sing it to you.

We’ve looked at characteristics of different kinds of animals, including mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and birds. We’ve talked about how animals go through a life cycle and even began creating a frog’s life cycle drawing. We’ll be creating an animal characteristics book soon.

 

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Second-2-None Newsletter 9/12/11

By vmccartney | Published: September 16, 2011

What We’re Learning

In Religion, we’ve continued to talk about the gift of the Holy Spirit and how we each have the Holy Spirit inside us to help us to be brave.  We have also been working with our Second Step program.  This helps us with expressing our feelings and problem solving.

In Language, we’ve been working on finding rhyming words.  We still continue with blends and digraphs.  This week’s story was about a young girl who went to a school for the deaf.  The students learned about sign language.  We also learned how Rosina enjoys doing the same things that we do.

In Math we finished our chapter on adding with 3 numbers.  We will begin our new chapter on subtraction next week.   Throughout this chapter we will learn new skills to help us with our subtraction.  We will also learn about fact families.

Social Studies we have been practicing our state capitals.  The students have started on the east coast and will know all the state capitals by the end of the year. In social studies we have also been learning about communities.  The students have learned about suburbs, rural, and urban areas.  We are hoping to finish up with this chapter late next week.

We completed our unit on living and nonliving things in Science.  Our next Unit is Animals.  We will learn about the different characteristics  of animals and learn about their needs.

 

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