News from 2nd Grade
Mrs. Palczynski

Second Quarter:
A highlight of our second quarter was a trip to the nursing home on Halloween. There we performed for the residents. We gave a gift of a creative storybook to residents. Everyone had a wonderful time. In November, we have heard some Native American legends or folktales and learned the Pilgrims and our country's past with the help of our parent helpers. In Science we studied the three states of matter. We even made GOO. The students had fun feeling the solid GOO change into a liquid state.

The month of December brought our class to the Jesse Tree. We read a Bible story everyday and add an ornament on our Jesse Tree. To celebrate International Christmas, we talk about the customs of many nations and religions. We read about Hindu festival of lights called Diwali and the Moslem sacred month of Ramadan. The class met a Christmas Witch from Italy, and from a Germany folktale an old woman, who had her Christmas made special by spiders.

After our Christmas break the children returned to school ready to work and learn cursive handwriting. It is a slow process helping each student with a letter, but they are doing a great job. In science and reading, we worked on our insect units. With the help of our parent volunteers we are learning a lot and answering many of questions we have about these tiny creatures. In January, we studied Martin Luther King, Jr. This great man was a wonderful example to us all. We read many books and do activities about his life and his fight for civil rights. We will end the month of January with Catholic School Week. The students always enjoy lunch with someone special.

Third Quarter Preview:
We will start the third quarter with double-digit addition with and without regrouping. (That is what carrying over is now called.) A major theme in February will be African folktales. We will learn the many tricks of Anasis the spider. Dinosaurs will invade our room through our reading books.

In math, we will be starting double-digit subtraction. We will start the season of Lent and we will learn about forgiveness in religion. Our Government unit will carry us from February to March.

In March, money and time will be our focus.

First Quarter
November 9, 2007

As we started the school year, we did many get-acquainted activities to discover the uniqueness of everyone in our room. In science, we did many hands on activities to learn about magnets. Math taught us about number operations (addition and subtraction) and place value. In reading the children learned how to use a dictionary and write the definition of the vocabulary words. We are enjoying our new Reading series.

Sebastian, the German student visited our class weekly to tell us about Germany. We also learned our colors and numbers to ten in German.

In month of October, we also started the Terra Novas testing. Even though our daily schedule was disrupted, all the children tried to do their best. After a busy day of testing, we took a break and read Arthur books by Marc Brown. Another theme was fire safety. We read the story “A Trip to the Firehouse” that is in our reading series. Christopher Columbus captured our attention next. With the help of our parent helpers, we read books about Columbus’ life and his travels. As Halloween slowly approached we learned about skeletons. After studying about bones and our skeletons, we made paper skeletons to use as decorations at our houses. We decorated our primary hallway in a special way.

As the first quarter ended, we work many creative writing projects. One project was Halloween poems. We wrote the poems, typed them and added a computer made picture. We took these poems on our trip to the Archbishop Lieboldt Home for the Aged. There we sang and performed for the residents. After sharing a small snack the children had time to talk with the residents and read their poems to them.

Upcoming Attractions:

During the month of November, we will learn about Native Americans and many of their folktales. Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims will also be themes. I am looking forward to conference time and meeting with all the parents.

Advent and our Jesse Tree will be our first theme as we begin December. Everyday we will pray, sing and hear a story about one of the people in the lineage of Jesus. International Christmas will be a month long celebration to discover the traditions, customs and folktales that surround the Christmas Season from around the world.

Welcome to the New School Year

The second grade is a very exciting grade. I am looking forward to getting to know your children and working with them. During this year we will face many educational and religious milestones, but with your help and cooperation I know this class will accomplish many things.

The second grade is a special year, and I am looking forward to introducing many new activities and events. Science, health, and social studies are taught on a weekly basis along with a weekly spelling test. We will begin cursive writing in January. We will celebrate the sacrament of Holy Communion. The class will take the Terra Novas in October, and this will be their first exposure to standardized testing. I am looking forward to a trip to a nursing home to entertain the residents with Halloween songs. In January we will do an insect unit in science, which carries over into all subject areas, even the Internet. On a monthly basis we concentrate on themes that center on holidays or even a story or idea from our reading series.

In second grade we do homework almost every night. Homework is used to reinforce skills that have been introduced during the day and to promote responsibility. It also indicates to me if the child understands the material presented.

As we started the school year, we will do many get-acquainted activities to discover the uniqueness of everyone in our room. In science, we will explore magnets. Number sense will be our first focus in math. We will enjoy reading the unit on silly stories in our Reading series. A German assistant, Sebastian will visit our class weekly to tell us about Germany and his culture. Some themes we will learn about are Johnny Appleseed, Fire Safety, Halloween and its customs.