November 20, 2025

LANGUAGE ARTS:  This week we read and discussed A Crow, a Lion, and a Mouse! Oh My! and Hollywood Chicken.  A Crow, a Lion, and a Mouse! Oh My! is a drama, while Hollywood Chicken is a fantasy.  We worked on skills such as decoding words with long /a/ as in rain, stay, make, and acorn, identifying and forming verbs in the present, past, and future tense, identifying adjectives in sentences, identifying a simile (compares two different things using the word "like" or "as," such as "she's as busy as a bee,") an idiom (a phrase that means something different from its everyday meaning, such as "it's raining cats and dogs,") and a hyperbole (a statement that is so crazy it can't be true, such as "her smile was a mile wide,") using story vocabulary in context, and learning ten new high-frequency words.

MATH:  We made numbers that are easier to subtract and then used mental math to find the difference, solved one and two-step problems using addition or subtraction, and chose various strategies we've learned so far to subtract two-digit numbers.

SCIENCE  We are wrapping up our unit over matter and will soon begin a new unit over environments for living things.  

SHORT WEEK NEXT WEEK:  Due to Thanksgiving and the short school week next week, we will not be taking a spelling pre and post test.  Also, take home folders will not be sent home and there will not be a second grade newsletter posted on my blog.

OUTDOOR CLASSROOM FUNDRAISER:  St. Malachy middle school students are raising money for an outdoor classroom! This space will be a natural immersive learning experience that will benefit all St. Malachy students for years to come.  All funds raised will be used to purchase sustainable outdoor classroom equipment, garden beds, water and sand tables and more.  To help raise money for this outdoor classroom, St. Malachy School is having a "sweatpants fundraiser."  Students can pay $20.00 to wear sweatpants to school throughout the month of December except on Mass days.  If you are interested in having your child participate in this fundraiser, please send money to school by Tuesday, December 2.

UPCOMING DATES TO REMEMBER:  Please note the following:

• Friday, November 21:  Spirit Day
• Wednesday, November 26-Friday, November 28:  Thanksgiving vacation
• Wednesday, December 3:  St. Malachy Christmas Concert, 6:00 P.M. at Creston High School

November 13, 2025

LANGUAGE ARTS:  This week we read and discussed Recipe for a Fairy Tale and How to Read a Story.  Both are procedural texts.  We worked on skills such as decoding words with consonants /k/ and /ck,/ adding -s  and -es to present-tense verbs, decoding words with silent letters /kn,/ /mb,/ /gn,/ and /wr,/ as in knot, comb, gnat, and write, decoding words with suffixes "ful" and "less" as in colorful and hopeless, decoding homographs (words with multiple meanings,) discussing chronological order to put steps in the correct order, using story vocabulary in context, and learning ten new high-frequency words.

MATH:  We took the chapter 4 test over fluently adding within 100 and started a new chapter over subtracting within 100 using strategies.  So far students have used a hundred chart and an open number line to subtract tens and ones.

RELIGION:  We discussed how the Holy Spirit helps us to do better and recognized that God loves us and rejoices when we are truly sorry for our sins.

SCIENCE:  We discussed how matter can change.  Some of those changes are reversible, such as freezing and melting, while others are irreversible, such as cooking or burning.

UPCOMING DATES TO REMEMBER:  Please note the following:

• Friday, November 14:  End of the first trimester of school 
• Friday, November 21:  Spirit Day
• Wednesday, November 26-Friday, November 28:  Thanksgiving vacation
• Wednesday, December 3:  St. Malachy Christmas Concert, 6:00 P.M. at Creston High School
• Friday, December 5:  Spirit Day

November 6, 2025

LANGUAGE ARTS:  This week we read and discussed Be a Hero! Work it Out! and Pepita and the Bully.  Be a Hero! Work it Out! is an infographic.  Infographics give information quickly and in a visual way using pictures, symbols, and words or phrases that stand out.  Pepita and the Bully is a realistic fiction selection.  We worked on skills such as decoding words with consonant digraphs /ph,/ /ch,/ /tch,/ /th,/ /sh,/ and /wh,/ identifying compound subjects and predicates in sentences, identifying coordinating conjunctions (words such as "and" & "or") to form compound subjects, decoding words with the prefixes "re" and "un" as in reread and unfold, and learning ten new high-frequency words.

MATH:  This week students added using place-value strategies and mental math, added three and four two-digit numbers, and used drawings, equations, and models to solve one and two-step problems.

RELIGION:  Since November 1 was All Saints Day, we have been learning about the lives of various saints.  We discussed how saints showed their love for God and others.  They are an example of Christian service, which God calls all people to do.

BOOK FAIR:  A big THANK YOU to all who donated books to our second grade classroom from the book fair.  We will enjoy having these books in our classroom library! Your generosity is very much appreciated!

DRESS CODE:  The dress code states that beginning November 1, shorts should not be worn to school.

SPIRIT DAY:  Tomorrow, November 7 is a Spirit Day at St. Malachy.  Students can pay $1.00 to wear sweat pants or a hat to school.  The money raised will help those in need in our local community.