2F

December in the Second Grade

Where Christmas is in the air!

Brought to you by Mrs. Feller's Class

Last Updated November 29

It's been a good first trimester. It's hard to believe that the months have passed so quickly. The second graders are doing a terrific job and are becoming responsible and more independent learners. There is always much going on in our second grade classroom. Please check this website often to see what we've been doing, what we're going to be doing, and dates for long term assignments and major tests.

Just Notes

Time does fly by-- and the first trimester ended November 20. The students will be receiving their report cards on December 3. Even though daily work sometimes reflect O, S+, S , S- and N grades, the report card will only show O, S, and N. Conferences are scheduled for the following week.

Please continue to ask your child from time to time if their folders, crayons, dry erase markers, or glue bottles need replacement. We use the dry erase slates just about every day. It's very important for your child to have good working supplies.

The Pizza Hut reading program seems to going well. Please continue to help your child keep track of the minutes read. Each month that the student reads at least 300 minutes, he/she will be rewarded with a pizza certificate. The November calendars will be due on December 1 or 2. December's calendars will be due January 6 or 7.

Religion

During this month we will focus on Advent and how it is a time to prepare for the birth of our Savior. Each week during Advent we will participate in a prayer service to help us better understand the holy season. One of our projects will be to make an Advent chain. This simple Advent chain is a reminder that we are called to help and serve others. Each student will be bringing home a paper chain with 24 links. On each link the student will have written a kind act that he/she plans to do. Each day during Advent each child is to tear off the bottom link and perform the service. When the chain is gone, Christmas will be here! In our religion books, we will be studying the 10 commandments. We will learn that God requires us to love Him above all else and in order to do that, we must love others as ourselves.

Reading

In the second theme of the reading book, all the stories center on the theme of "Doing Our Best". Each story shows how characters need to do his/her best even when it's tough going. We will be starting on "Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type" this week. This make believe story tells of some talented cows and Farmer Brown compromise to work out their problems. As we study this story, our focus skill will be working on recognizing elements of plot.

One of Mrs. S. enrichment groups worked very well as a team and made a beautiful mural. They did absolutely wonderful work and even more importantly worked very well together. They can be very proud of a job well done!

Writing

We will be doing our first book report during the month of December. This book report will need to be about a Christmas book (students' own choosing). The student will need to write a summary of the book. A form will be given in class to make this job a bit easier. Each student also will need to choose one main character to present to the class. Details will be coming later about this part of the book report. Both the written and the presentation will be due on December 12. In class, we will start to work on letter writing skills. Once again during this project, we use the five basic steps of the writing process-pre write, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing.

Spelling

In the next spelling unit we will study the long o sound, five content words from reading and social studies Unit 5 and five high frequency words. Each student will receive a spelling list on Monday, December 1. On the back of this list, there are five sentences that the student also needs to practice. We will have the final test on Friday, December 5.

Grammar

Proper nouns are the focus right now in grammar. We've studied specific names and places as proper nouns. Soon we will also identify months of the year, days of the week, and holidays as proper nouns. Often at the beginning of the day, the students will do a quick review sentence. These papers are designed to review the different things that we've studied so far and to keep these skills fresh.

Math

In math we will continue our study of measurement. Although we are finished with the pages in the book that practice telling time, we will continue to reinforce this skill. With Christmas fast approaching, an inexpensive analog watch may make a great stocking stuffer! We will be measuring using both inches and centimeters. Please continue to practice the basic addition and subtraction facts with your child. Soon we will be doing two and three digit addition and subtraction. To be successful, your child needs to know the facts.

Test 7 Addition thru 13 (4 minutes) December 3

Test 8 Subtraction thru 12 (5 minutes) December 17

Social Studies

We will continue to study Unit 5 in our social studies book. In this unit we are learning about our country's history. We are currently learning about the 13 colonies and their decision to fight for independence. One of our major projects will be making a time line showing our how country began and grew. We had a lot of fun making sand art to go with understanding how Native Americans contributed so much to our country's history.

Health

We are working on Chapter 2 in health. In this chapter we are discussing ways that we grow and change throughout our lives. We will have a test on Chapter 1 and 2 in a few weeks.

Insect Day continues to be a lot of fun. Thanks to Jacob B. mom, everyone learned a great deal about ants. Making a model of an ant with marshmallows and pretzel sticks was a real treat--especially when the students got to eat their models after they made them. What a fun way to learn!

Thank you for sharing your children with me. They are a delightful group--energetic, enthusiastic, and ready to learn. It's going to be a good year!

My name is Mrs. Karen Feller and I live in Milford with my husband, Paul. We enjoy traveling, gardening, and visiting with family that live from Iowa to New York. I have a BS degree in Elementary Education from Kent State University and have taken many graduate classes to continue to be current with the latest teaching ideas and theories. I'm very happy to be your child's teacher this year. I've been teaching here at Immaculate Heart of Mary for many years--all of them in the second grade. I truly enjoy the second graders' enthusiasm, energy, and eagerness to learn. I believe that every child has many talents that need to be encouraged and developed through a wide range of activities, projects, and discussions.

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