Week of December 17th

Important Happenings this Week-
*2nd Grade leads Advent Prayer Service Monday
*Christmas, Kwanzaa and Hanukkah Assessment Tuesday
*Reconciliation Assessment Wednesday
*Grinch Day Thursday

Week of December 10th

RELIGION

*Mini-unit on the liturgical seasons of the church

*Recognize meaning and symbols of each season

*Draw favorite liturgical season

*Assessment

*Making sins disappear magic

*Practice the Act of Contrition

MATH

*Double digit addition using partial sums

*Double digit addition using paper-pencil strategy

*Unit 4 Review

*Unit 4 Assessment

*Time Tests continue ~ weekly practice

~Pre-test Monday; Post-test Friday (unless 98-100 on pretest)

~Goal is three seconds per problem

DAILY 5

*Mini-Lesson: Adverbs and Adjectives Review

*Daily 5 routines

*Guided Reading groups

SOCIAL STUDIES

*Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah Assessment

*Identify who celebrates each holiday and what is celebrated

*Recognize key symbols of each holiday

WRITING

*Elf Application activity

*Let's Get a Pup! (tradebook)

*Write about a pet or favorite animal

*Sheila Rae the Brave (tradebok)

*Discuss the importance of character development

*Turn into a story about a Christmas chracter

*Practice handwriting, spelling, capital letters and ending punctuation

Week of December 3rd

RELIGION

*Advent begins!

*Identify key symbols of Advent

*Mini-unit on the liturgical seasons of the church

*Recognize meaning and symbols of each season

*Feast of the Immaculate Conception

*Practice the Act of Contrition

MATH

*Double digit addition using partial sums

*Double digit addition using paper-pencil strategy

*Explorations

*Time Tests continue ~ weekly practice

~Pre-test Monday; Post-test Friday (unless 98-100 on pretest)

~Goal is three seconds per problem

DAILY 5

*Mini-Lesson: Adverbs

*Daily 5 routines

*Guided Reading groups

SOCIAL STUDIES

*Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah

*Identify who celebrates each holiday and what is celebrated

*Recognize key symbols of each holiday

*Play games, art projects and written summaries will be completed for each holiday

WRITING

*Elf Application activity

*I Will Never NOT EVER Eat a Tomato (tradebook)

*Generate a likes and dislikes list

*Turn into a story

*Practice handwriting, spelling, capital letters and ending punctuation

Advent begins December 2nd...

Week of November 26th

RELIGION

*Define sin

*Identify the difference between a mortal and venial sin

*Complete an Examination of Conscience

*Listen to the story of The Prodigal Son

*Discuss penance and absolution

*Practice the Act of Contrition

MATH

*Unit 4 continues

*Part-part-total number stories

*Explorations

*Estimating costs

*Reading a thermometer - counting by 1's and 2's

*Time Tests continue ~ weekly practice

~Pre-test Monday; Post-test Friday (unless 98-100 on pretest)

DAILY 5

*Mini-Lesson: Adjectives

*Daily 5 routines

*Guided Reading groups

SCIENCE

*HUMAN BODY!

*Identify major organs in the body, their location and their functions

WRITING

*Identify and incorporation transition words into writing - first, next, then, after, etc...

*Write about a time outside - practice incorporating details to give more information

*Write a fantasy story

*Practice handwriting, spelling, capital letters and ending punctuation

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Week of November 12th

RELIGION

*Use God's Commandment and the Golden rule in real life situations

*Assessment over God's Laws of Love

*Begin practicing the Act of Contrition

MATH

*Learning to make change using amounts less than $1.00

*Unit 3 Review and Assessment

*Time Tests continue ~ weekly practice

~Pre-test Monday; Post-test Friday (unless 98-100 on pretest)

DAILY 5

*Mini-Lesson: Nouns practice/Thanksgiving nouns

*Daily 5 routines

*Guided Reading groups

SCIENCE

*HUMAN BODY!

*Identify major organs in the body, their location and their functions

WRITING

*Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving writing activity

*Save a Turkey, Eat ??? Students create their opinion with supporting sentences

*Article: "The Pilgrims and Squanto"

*Article summary activity using key vocabulary and word combining

*Practice handwriting, spelling, capital letters and ending punctuation

Week of November 5th

RELIGION

*Sacraments review and assessment

*Discuss the importance of rules

*Introduce God's rules: The 10 Commandments

*Listen to the story The Good Samaritin

MATH

*Gather data and create a bar graph

*Double frame and arrow tasks with two rules

*Learn how to make change by counting up

*Coin exchanges

*Time Tests continue ~ weekly practice

~Pre-test Monday; Post-test Friday (unless 98-100 on pretest)

DAILY 5

*Mini-Lesson: Opinion Writing

*Daily 5 routines

*Guided Reading groups

SCIENCE

*HUMAN BODY!

*Guest speaker on the human brain

*Field trip to the DM Science Center

*Identify major organs in the body and their functions

WRITING

*Scary Stories published! BOO!

*Finish drafts of scary stories and publish with teacher assistance 

*Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving writing activity

*Save a Turkey, Eat ??? Students create their opinion with supporting sentences

*Practice handwriting, spelling, capital letters and ending punctuation

Week of October 29th

RELIGION

*Finish sacraments brochure to name the seven sacraments

*Identify key characteristics of each sacrament

MATH

*Using coins to show amounts two different ways

*Problem Solving Task (whole class)

*Winifred the Witch problem solving task (independent)

*Telling time

*Explorations in small groups (place value, time and using geoboards)

*Time Tests continue ~ weekly practice

~Pre-test Monday; Post-test Friday (unless 98-100 on pretest)

DAILY 5

*Mini-Lesson: Proper Nouns and Common Nouns Assessment

*Daily 5 routines

*Guided Reading groups

SCIENCE

*HUMAN BODY!

*Cells and Germs Experiments

*Define organ

*Identify major organs in the body and their functions

WRITING

*Scary Stories published! BOO!

*Finish drafts of scary stories and publish with teacher assistance

*Practice handwriting, spelling, capital letters and ending punctuation

Week of October 22nd

RELIGION

*First Reconciliation preparation begins

*Define Sacrament

*How do sacraments bring us closer to God

*Create a sacraments brochure to name the seven sacraments

*Identify key characteristics of each sacrament

MATH

*Unit Two Review

*Unit Two Assessment Wednesday

*Begin Unit 3 ~ look for a new Family Letter

*Time Tests continue ~ weekly practice

~Pre-test Monday; Post-test Friday (unless 98-100 on pretest)

DAILY 5

*Mini-Lesson: Proper Nouns and Common Nouns

*Daily 5 routines

*Guided Reading groups

SOCIAL STUDIES

*Government Unit Review

*Government Unit Assessment Tuesday *Shift to Science Unit ~ HUMAN BODY!

WRITING

*Scary Stories Week! BOO!

*Put ideas into a graphic organizer as a pre-writing strategy

*First drafts of scary stories

*Practice handwriting, spelling, capital letters and ending punctuation

Week of October 16th

RELIGION

*Whole Life Curriculum

*What makes children so special?

*Letter from God homework

*God gives each of us many gifts

*Chart our unique talents

MATH

*Unit Two

*What's My Rule? Function Machine!

*Subtraction Facts strategies

*Time Tests continue ~ weekly practice

~Pre-test Monday; Post-test Friday (unless 98-100 on pretest)

DAILY 5

*Mini-Lesson: Proper Nouns

*Daily 5 routines

*Guided Reading groups

SOCIAL STUDIES

*Government Unit *Define democracy

*Identify the president and governor

*List key roles of the president, governor and mayor

*Identify the state capital and national capital

WRITING

*Scary Stories Week Begins! BOO!

*Read Harry and the Terrible Whatzit

*Write scary sentences to generate story ideas

*Practice handwriting, spelling, capital letters and ending punctuation

Remember, it's...

Week of October 1st

RELIGION

*Celebrate our patron saint, St. Francis of Assisi

*View a video of St. Francis's life

*Complete a brochure to record new learnings

*Create St. Francis cinquain poems for hallway bulletin board

*Rosary Tuesday at 9:00 a.m. in the church

MATH

*Unit Two

*Basic Facts Strategies Lessons:

-Doubles +/- one and two

-Fact Families

*Explorations Day (explore new concepts with work stations)

*Begin Time Tests ~ weekly practice

-Goal is solve a given fact within three seconds

-Students will work at their own developmental pace

-More information to come at conferences

DAILY 5

*Mini-Lesson: Adjectives Week #2 and Opinion Writing

*Daily 5 routines

*Guided Reading groups

SOCIAL STUDIES

*Communities Unit

*Big Questions: What is a community?

What are the responsibilities of being part of a community?

What are rules and laws?

How do they keep us safe?

*Guest Speaker to visit about laws and safety: Officer Brent Kock

*Assessment this week

WRITING

*Write about a friend

*Halloween adjectives project: "Who's Under the Mask?"

*Practice handwriting, spelling, capital letters and ending punctuation

Week of September 24th

RELIGION

*Bible Hunt ~ Alphabet Boxes Activity

*Identify Old and New Testaments

*Chapter 3: God's Word

*Identify God's promise to Noah in the sign of a rainbow

*Review The Beatitudes and how to live them out in daily life

*Begin learning about the Feast of St. Francis

MATH

*Begin Unit Two

*Basic Facts Strategies Lessons:

-Adding one and two ~ counting on

-Doubles and Doubles + 1

-Turn around facts

-Adding nine shortcut = students add 10 and minus 1

DAILY 5

*Mini-Lesson: Adjectives = What are they? How are they used?

*Continue practicing Daily 5 routines

*Benchmark students to identify reading levels

SOCIAL STUDIES

*State Map Assessment

*Begin Communities Unit

*Big Questions: What is a community?

What are the responsibilities of being part of a community?

What are rules and laws?

How do they keep us safe?

WRITING

*Learn how to and incorporate descriptive words into writing

*Listen to the book Miss Tizzy

*Make a friends list

*Write about a friend

*Practice handwriting, spelling, capital letters and ending punctuation

Happy Friday!

Week of September 17th

RELIGION

*Chapter 2: God's Promise

*Learn of the tree of knowledge of good and evil ~ original sin

*List ways we can choose God

*Listen to the story of The Good Shepherd ~ help students understand connection to God

*Guided Meditation: Who Knows Best?

*Send a Bible from home to school on Friday or Monday!

MATH

*Explorations Day - students will explore new concepts with interactive stations around the room

*Unit One Chapter Review

*Unit One Assessment Wednesday

*Begin Unit Two

*Identify appropriate steps to solve word problems

DAILY 5

*Continue practicing Daily 5 routines

*Benchmark students to identify reading levels

SOCIAL STUDIES

*Identify and use four cardinal directions

*Read and use a simple map with a key

*Create a simple map with a key: BAREFOOT ISLAND

*Understand and use a state map

WRITING

*Listen to the book Shortcut

*Sketch a picture and write sentences to support illustrations

*Write an "It Happened to Me" story

*Learn how to and incorporate descriptive words into writing

*Practice handwriting, spelling, capital letters and ending punctuation

Week of September 10th

RELIGION

*People of Faith: Our Lady of Fatima

*Students will complete a Mary brochure

*Chapter 2: God's Promise

*Listen to the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden

*Learn of the tree of knowledge of good and evil ~ original sin

MATH

*Play the Number Grid game

*Practice using a calculator by brainstorming number sentences to equal a predetermined number

*Form patterns using a calculator code

*Explorations Day - students will explore new concepts with interactive stations around the room

*FIRST MATH HOMELINK THIS WEEK!!

DAILY 5

*Continue practicing Daily 5 routines

*Benchmark students to identify reading levels

SOCIAL STUDIES

*Post mindset goals in the classroom

*Begin Maps Unit

*Identify and use four cardinal directions

*Read and use a simple map with a key

WRITING

*Listen to the book Big Mama's House

*Discuss how author's use illustrations to brainstorm ideas

*Sketch a picture and write sentences to support illustrations

*Practice handwriting, spelling, capital letters and ending punctuation

In Memory of 9/11