NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 18TH

Hi, everyone! It's been another WONDERFUL WEEK in second grade here at NCS! Today was Hispanic Heritage Day, and the children had lots of fun celebrating! We heard from some wonderful speakers with Hispanic backgrounds, and we did tons of fun activities, too! Have your child tell you all about it!

We did lots and lots of learning this week, too! We continued learning about Johnny Appleseed! We discussed his journey across several states, and we learned lots of things about the life he lived! We learned some things about apples and apple trees, too, as well as about animals and their habitats. Ask your child to tell you what we've learned about mammals and about rain forests!

Here are some other things we studied this week:

• Math - subtraction stories; double-digit addition and subtraction with and without regrouping.
  
• Science - We concluded our plant experiment and began learning about animals!!!
• Writing - We read a cute story called Jolly Postman and leaned the proper way to write a letter; We finished our autobiographies! YAY! The sloppy copies will come home soon (you may see your child's in the Friday folder either this week or next week) and the published copies will go into your child's memory book until the end of the year when you will take them home!


• Language Arts - Possessive nouns and pronouns


• Reading - We reviewed the long e spellings, made connections, made predictions, made inferences, and discussed characterization.


• Bible - We continued learning about Moses' life and about the plagues God sent because Pharaoh refused to free the Israelites.

Don't forget!!! Next Friday we will be celebrating all that we've learned about Johnny Appleseed! The fun will start at 1 and go until about 2:30. Remember to send in your assigned item and let me know if you'll be able to come and help with the fun! It should be a blast!!! Your child may come to school dressed like Johnny Appleseed or like someone from the pioneer period that day!

We will also have a chance to shop at the "Christmas in September" sale in the high school library next week! Both classes will get to preview the books next Tuesday, September 22nd, and we will make our purchases on Thursday, September 24th. Be sure to send your child to school with money that day if he/she would like to buy a book! Reading is so much fun!!!

Also, we will be taking a field trip to the Mahaffey Theater on THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5TH to see the production "Newton's Revenge," which is a live stage show to teach about the role of physics in our everyday lives. The cost will be $6.00 for students and chaperones. If you'd like to come, we can only take 2 chaperones per class, so the first 2 notes we see in the planners will be "the lucky winners!" You may start sending the $6.00 in whenever you can! The bus will be leaving school around 9:45 that day and returning around noon, so everyone will need to pack a lunch that day as we won't be back to school in time for lunch in the Surfside Cafe. Thanks!

This week, Mrs. Neri came to our classroom to talk about a reading incentive that our school will be doing. We are encouraging the children to READ, READ, READ, because research shows that "good readers" also perform well across other subject areas. So...we will be setting a school wide goal of how many hours we want the student body to read this year. If they meet the goal, they will get to choose something ZANY for Mrs. Neri...and maybe for us teachers...to do! Today the children came up with ideas like having us dress up like a chicken, kiss a pig, get a pie in our faces, etc. So please encourage your child to read, and be sure to keep track of minutes read on the bookmark each day!

This week I've been thinking a lot about the everyday stresses we all feel in our lives. It's soooo important to put things into perspective...I know that I get so caught up in being perfect (which I WILL NEVER be able to do no matter how hard I try) that I sometimes forget about all the wonderful things the Lord is doing in my life. He has given me so many gifts...my husband and my wonderful children...this AMAZING job with your sweet children...a home...food...family...friends...the list of blessings just goes on and on. I need to remember to thank God and praise Him for taking care of me. "I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart..."(Psalm 9:1).

Enjoy your blessings this weekend!

In His Name,

:) Jennifer Corsino and Rachel Lupia

*Mrs. Corsino's Star Student next week will be MACAULEY!

*Mrs. Lupia's Star Student next week will be GAVIN!

SECRET WORD: applesauce