NEWSLETTER - OCTOBER 29TH

Happy Trick-or-treat Friday! I'd like to start by thanking everyone from the bottom of my heart for making my birthday so special! You are all so wonderful to me, and I appreciate you!

Today was such a fun day! I really enjoyed seeing all of the children dressed like their favorite story book characters, and I had so much fun carving the pumpkin! While we carved, we said the pumpkin prayer:
Lord, open my mind so I can learn about you. (We cut off the top of the pumpkin.)
Take away all my sin and forgive me for the wrong things I do. (We cleaned out the inside.)
Open my eyes so I will see Your Love. (We cut eyes shaped like hearts.)
I'm sorry for turning up my nose to all you've given me. (We cut a nose in the shape of a
cross.)
Open my ears so I will hear Your Word. (We cut ears shaped like the Bible.)
Open my mouth so I can tell others You're near. (We cut a mouth in the shape of a fish.)
Let your Light shine in all I say and do! Amen. (We placed a candle in and lit it.)

In addition to all that, this week was, as always, SPECTACULAR! We did so many things! Here are some highlights:

*Reading - We finished up our reading unit on kindness by reading a folktale called The Paper Crane. We learned the elements of folktales and discussed how they are similar and different than fairy tales. We talked about the art of origami (which is in the story), and the children made origami cats. FUN! We also talked about cause and effect, and we focused on these reading strategies: Making predictions, monitoring & clarifying, and asking questions.

During reading group, we continued to read about the rainforest. These week, we learned about two tribes who live there! We learned about the things that we get from the rainforest, too!

*Writing - We reviewed the 5 steps of the writing process, and we began writing 5 paragraph essays about what we're thankful for.

*Math - As always, we reviewed lots of different skills in math this week, but we focused on fractions and place value.

*Language Arts - We continued to study quotation marks this week. We also reviewed nouns, verbs, and adjectives by watching School House Rock!

*Science - In the Science Lab, the children did an observation activity with earthworms.

In the classroom, we also talked about the Arctic environment. We discussed the adaptations that God gave the polar bear to help it survive, and we did an experiment to help us understand. Ask your child to tell you about it!

*Social Studies - We finished our study of American songs by talking about my all-time favorite, "God Bless America." We talked about the 3 branches of government in America, too, and we also discussed voting.

We met some characters who live on Sesame Street named Cookie Monster and Count von Count. They are both campaigning to be our classroom helper. Cookie Monster is promising to give us lots of cookies, and the Count is telling us that we'll always be able to count on him. Next Tuesday on Election Day, the children will be voting for the helper they'd most like to have!

Bible - We talked about how Joshua became the leader of the Israelites after Moses.


Here are just a few announcements/reminders:
*I would really like to have some time to conference with everyone sometime before Christmas break so that I can tell you all the wonderful things I notice about your child! I am available at these times:
Mondays - 7:30 AM or 3:30 PM (I am not available on Mon. 11/1st, though, because I have a doctor's appointment. :o)
Tuesdays - Not available - We have meetings on Tuesday mornings and afternoons.
Wednesdays - 3:30 PM
Thursdays - 7:30 AM or 3:30 PM
Fridays - 7:30 AM or 3:30 PM
Just jot a note in your child's agenda or e-mail me to let me know when you'd like to come and
I'll let you know if that date/time is available or if someone else already asked for it. Thanks!
*Next Thursday, November 4th is our annual auction. I am hoping to see everyone there for a night filled with fun! Please come support our school at this important event! I will be there from 5 until 7:30ish, but it doesn't actually end until 9:00.
*November 15-19th - Elementary Book Fair
*Tuesday, November 16th - Field trip to Mahaffey Theater to see School House Rock - Don't forget to send in $6.00 to cover the cost of admission and transportation! EACH CHILD WILL NEED TO PACK A LUNCH THAT DAY AS WE WILL BE LEAVING RIGHT AT LUNCH TIME AND WON'T HAVE TIME TO HAVE HOT LUNCH! WE WILL EAT JUST BEFORE WE LEAVE. Be sure to send a snack for your child to eat when we return to school. We already have our 2 chaperones for this trip...Mrs. Camarra and Mr. Huggins.
*Don't forget to send in a beige pillowcase for your child by November 5th!
*Thursday, November 18th -Thanksgiving on the Lawn - Please remember to send in your order sheet for lunch ASAP!

Currently, I am involved in 2 Bible studies...one at church and one here at school. The one here is all about the book of Revelation (which I just LOVE learning about!) One of the things we discussed was Revelation 1:8, where God says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega...who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty." God has always been in existence, and He always will be. We don't ever have to worry that He'll leave us because He promises that He won't...and God always keeps His promises!

Have a fun, candy-filled weekend!

In Christ's Name,
Mrs. Corsino

NEXT WEEK'S STAR STUDENT WILL BE DOMINIC!

SECRET WORD: JACK-O-LANTERN

NEWSLETTER - OCTOBER 22ND

Hi! It's been a FANTASTIC WEEK FULL OF FUN here at NCS in second grade! We all had such a GREAT time celebrating our school during all of our Homecoming activities! Our class adopted a football player---Zach Fossen (#4), and we made him a sign and a goodie bag to show our appreciation for the hard work he does for our team! The dress up days were so much fun, too! I really enjoyed seeing all of my second grade sweeties looking so adorable each special day! I hope to see many of you at the game tonight---GOOOOOO MUSTANGS!!!

In addition to all of the festivities, we did lots of learning! Here are just a few highlights:
*Reading - We learned about folktales, read a fun folktale, continued our rainforest book in reading group, and talked about cause and effect. We did some buddy reading, too!
*Language Arts - We reviewed commas, learned all about quotation marks, and played a fun quotation mark game!
*Math - We focused on fractions this week, and we also counted our candy corn to see whose estimate was the closest. The winner was KAIYA! She estimated that there were 500 candy corn in our jar, and there were actually 545. WAY TO GO, KAIYA!!!
*Writing - We reviewed the elements of fairy tales, and each child wrote his/her own pumpkin fairy tale! These came out sooooo cute! The children journaled about Homecoming week, too!
*Social Studies - We learned the history of the song, "America the Beautiful."
*Science - We continued our study of animals, focusing on insects.
*Handwriting - We learned how to make a lower case a in cursive.
*Bible - We learned the story of how it took the Israelites 40 years before they could enter the promised land.

Here are a few announcements/reminders:
*Next Friday, October 29th will be our PUMPKIN STORY DAY! Each child may come to school dressed like his/her favorite story book character. Have your child bring in a book with this character in it to share with the class, if you can! We will celebrate our love of reading by snacking on pumpkin treats, and later in the afternoon we'll carve a pumpkin!
*Our annual auction will be on THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4TH. I hope to see all of you there!!!
*We need each child to bring a BEIGE COLORED PILLOW CASE to school NO LATER THAN FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5TH. We will be making Indian Costumes out of these!

*On TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 16TH we will be going on a field trip to the MAHAFFEY THEATER to see a production of School House Rock!!! The cost for this trip is $6.00, and you may send it in anytime! All money will be due no later than NOVEMBER 5TH. Because of limited seating, we may only have 2 CHAPERONES PER CLASS, so if you'd like to go please let me know ASAP! The first 2 parents I hear from will be the lucky winners!!! :o) (The cost for parents is $5.00 each.)
*Our THANKSGIVING ON THE LAWN celebration will be on THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 18TH. There is a lunch order form in your child's Friday folder. These are due NO LATER THAN FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5TH.

In class this week, we've been talking alot about trust. We discussed how we can trust God with our lives, and with Him on our side we don't have to be afraid of anything! Psalm 62:8 says, "Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge." I am so thankful to know that He will never let me down!

In Christ's Name,
:o) Mrs. Corsino

Next week's Star Student will be AVA!
SECRET WORD: PUMPKINS

NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 15TH

Hi, everyone! HAPPY FRIDAY! We've made it to the end of another FANTABULOUS week in second grade! This week we learned about Christopher Columbus and his well-known trip from Spain to an area near America. We learned the "Columbus Rap" and did a fun webquest on the Smartboard to find out more about him! We honored him for his bravery and discussed how exciting it must have been for him to take such a loooooong trip in search of treasure!

Here are some other things we learned:
*Math - We reviewed LOTS of skills this week, but we focused on greater than/less than, telling time (quarter past, half past, and quarter 'til), finding the nearest ten, and finding the missing number.
*Writing - We finished up our animal reports and began learning about Fairy Tales. We wrote letters to a character from Cinderella, too!
*Reading - We continued our factual chapter book about the rainforest habitat. We talked a lot about author's purpose, too, and about the difference between fact and fiction!
*Science - We learned more amazing things about animals! This week, we focused on amphibians.
*Language Arts - We focused on comma usage this week.
*Bible - We continued memorizing the 10 commandments, and the children did an INCREDIBLE job reciting these in chapel this morning! (By the way, chapel was AMAZING today!!!) We also talked about how God wants his people to be set apart, or to act differently than the rest of the world.
*Handwriting - We practiced our printing and reviewed how, when writing, our strokes should always go from top to bottom and from left to right. For cursive, we learned how to make a lower case j and p!

Here are some important reminders:
*THIS COMING MONDAY (10/18th), be sure to send your child to school with his/her little pumpkin. Decorate it at home over the weekend to look like a character from a book...ORRRR...your child may make up a character of his/her own!

HOMECOMING DRESS UP DAYS FOR NEXT WEEK:
MONDAY - SPORTS DAY
TUESDAY - CRAZY HAT AND SOCKS DAY
WEDNESDAY - COWBOY DAY
THURSDAY - CLASH DAY (DRESS REALLY TACKY!)
FRIDAY - SPIRIT DAY (WEAR MUSTANG T-SHIRTS OR RED, WHITE, AND BLUE.
NO HAIR DYE OR FACE PAINT, PLEASE!)

*Friday, October 29th - PUMPKIN STORY DAY!!! Your child may come to school dressed like his/her favorite story book character! Have your child bring a book with this character in it to school to share with a friend!!! Feel free to send in a pumkin treat (i.e. pumpkin cookies, pumpkin bread, etc.) to share with the class that day, too!

*Thursday, November 4th - Make plans to attend our annual auction!

On the way to school one morning this week, I was listening to Spirit FM. Matthew West was talking about one of his new songs. It's about a girl who was really struggling with medical issues. One day, her mom told her that God doesn't give us more than we can handle, and the girl replied, "He must think I'm really strong." I thought about this for a while and came to this conclusion---God does give us more than we can handle on our own...but He never gives us more than we can handle WITH HIS HELP. Philippians 4:13 says, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength." On my own, my life can sometimes be overwhelming, but with God's help I can do anything!!!

Have a great October weekend!

In Christ's Name,
Mrs. Corsino

PS Next week's Star Student will be JOSHUA!

SECRET WORD: MUSTANGS

NEWSLETTER - OCTOBER 8TH

Hi, everyone! We made it to another Friday! It's been a wonderful week of fun and learning! We began our unit on animals this week. We did a fun experiment about camouflage using animal print scrapboking paper---ask your child to tell you about it! We cut out pictures of animals from magazines and categorized them, and we played a fun categorization game on the Smart Board, too!

Here are some other things we learned:
*Reading - During reading group, we're continuing to read a factual chapter book all about the rainforest. While reading, we're practicing all of the reading strategies we've learned so far this year!
*Writing - We reviewed the 5 steps of the writing process and began working on our animal reports.
*Math - We focused on estimation and probability this week and practiced lots of other math skills, too!
*Social Studies - We worked on some map reading skills and reviewed the 4 directions. We also learned the history of the song The Star Spangled Banner.
*Language Arts - We focused on capitalization rules.
*Handwriting - We learned how to make a cursive r this week!
*Bible - We learned about how God gave Moses and the Israelites the 10 Commandments. We talked about why rules are important and continued memorizing the commandments, too!

Here are a few important announcements/reminders:
*HOMECOMING will be the week of October 18-22ND. The dress up days will be as follows: MONDAY - SPORTS DAY - Wear attire from your favorite sports team.
TUESDAY - CRAZY HAT AND SOCKS DAY - Need I say more???
WEDNESDAY - COWBOY DAY - Dress like a cowboy or a cowgirl from the wild west!
THURSDAY - CLASH DAY (WEAR CLOTHES THAT DON'T MATCH!)
FRIDAY - SPIRIT DAY - WEAR RED, WHITE, AND BLUE OR MUSTANG CLOTHES! No hair dye or face paint, please.

*During the month of October, the 2nd grade will be learning about fictional stories and fairy tales. We are asking each child to decorate a small pumpkin to be any type of character (a made up one is fine, too) and bring it in on MONDAY, OCTOBER 18TH. In school that week, each child will write a fairy tale with his/her pumpkin character as a main character. FUN!
*Then, on FRIDAY, OCTOBER29TH we will celebrate PUMPKIN STORY DAY! Each child may come to school that day dressed like his/her favorite story book character. Have your child bring a book to school that day with his/her character in it. The children will be sharing their stories with each other in class that day. If anyone would like to send in a pumpkin treat to share with the class that day (i.e. pumpkin pie, pumpkin seeds, pumpkin bread, etc), that would be great! We are also hoping that a parent will send in a big pumpkin for our class to carve. Let me know if you'd like to send one in for us!
*Our ANNUAL AUCTION this year will be held on NOVEMBER 4TH! Be sure to put this date on your calendar and come out that night for all the FUN!!!

During my personal devotion time this week, I was reading in the Book of Matthew, Chapter 12. Today I read verses 34-37 which say, "...For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned." This is a great reminder that God is watching us and listening to us always. He loves us so much that He holds us accountable for the things that we say and do...just like we hold our own children accountable. I pray that, each and every day, the things that I think, say, and do will bring a smile to His face!

Have a FANTASTIC weekend!

In Christ's Name,
Mrs. Corsino and Mrs. Ludwig

PS Mrs. Corsino's Star Student next week will be ABBY.
Mrs. Ludwig's will be KAYLA.
SECRET WORD: MAMMALS

NEWSLETTER - OCTOBER 1ST

Hi, everyone! Happy October! It's been a FANTASTIC week here in second grade! We continued our Science Unit on plants! Ask your child to tell you all about our experiment---we put tin foil on the leaves of a plant and predicted what would happen. Now we're waiting to see if our predictions are correct. We learned all about the Scientific Method during this experiment. The children played a review game on the Smart Board all about plants, and they took their Science test on plants, too!

Wednesday's Hispanic Heritage Day was definitely the highlight of the week! It's so wonderful that our children have the privilege of learning Spanish at such a young age, and it's an even bigger privilege that they are able to experience parts of the Hispanic culture. Muy Bien, Mrs. Hernandez!!!

Here are some other things we learned:
*Reading - During reading group, we're reading a factual chapter book all about the rainforest. While reading, we're practicing all of the reading strategies we've learned so far this year!
*Writing - We reviewed the 5 steps of the writing process and wrote a piggy-back paragraph telling how we can be a light for Jesus! These are hanging up on our bulletin board. We made some jack-o-lanterns, too, and these are also hanging up. Come by and take a peek if you get a chance!
*Math - We reviewed telling time, counting change, place value, and fractions this week. We continued to practice double digit addition and subtraction with and without regrouping, too! Many of the children can solve these difficult problems but are still struggling with teen subtraction facts (i.e. 13-9, 18-7, etc.) If you have a chance, it's a good idea to practice these at home. THANKS!
*Social Studies - We worked on some map reading skills and reviewed the 4 directions. We also learned the history of the song Yankee Doodle.
*Language Arts - We reviewed possessive nouns and possessive pronouns. We talked about contractions, too!
*Handwriting - We learned how to make a cursive h this week!

Here are a few important announcements/reminders:

*Next Friday, 10/8th will be a half day. Dismissal will be t 11:30.
*HOMECOMING will be the week of October 18-22ND. The dress up days will be as follows:
MONDAY - SPORTS DAY

TUESDAY - CRAZY HAT AND SOCKS DAY

WEDNESDAY - COWBOY DAY

THURSDAY - CLASH DAY (WEAR CLOTHES THAT DON'T MATCH!)

FRIDAY - SPIRIT DAY - WEAR RED, WHITE, AND BLUE OR MUSTANG CLOTHES!
*During the month of October, the 2nd grade will be learning about fictional stories and fairy tales. We are asking each child to decorate a small pumpkin to be any type of character (a made up one is fine, too) and bring it in on MONDAY, OCTOBER 18TH. In school that week, each child will write a fairy tale with his/her pumpkin character as a main character. FUN!
*Then, on FRIDAY, OCTOBER29TH we will celebrate PUMPKIN STORY DAY! Each child may come to school that day dressed like his/her favorite story book character. Have your child bring a book to school that day with his/her character in it. The children will be sharing their stories with each other in class that day. If anyone would like to send in a pumpkin treat to share with the class that day (i.e. pumpkin pie, pumpkin seeds, pumpkin bread, etc), that would be great! We are also hoping that a parent will send in a big pumpkin for our class to carve. Let me know if you'd like to send one in for us!
*This year's ANNUAL AUCTION will be held on NOVEMBER 4TH! Mrs. Corsino's class is responsible for a "Movie" basket, and Mrs. Ludwig's class is responsible for a "Gators" basket. Please send in items NO LATER THAN THIS COMING MONDAY if you can! For Mrs. Corsino's class, some ideas include movie tickets, movie candy, popcorn, the popcorn containers you can buy at Target, a DVD of a great movie, movie stickers, etc. So far, we have one movie and a bunch of movie candy, so we are in need of many more items! For Mrs. Ludwig, anything that goes along with the Florida Gators will do!

During my personal devotion time this week, I've been reading in the Book of Matthew. Chapter 11 verse 28 really spoke to me. It says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Sometimes in life we have burdens to bear. Sometimes in life the things we must accomplish on a day-to-day basis may leave us feeling tired and weary. Sometimes I get all caught up in all that needs to be done that I forget to take the time to turn to the Lord in prayer...but all we need to do is turn to Him and He will give us rest.

Have an AMAZING weekend!

In Christ's Name,
Mrs. Corsino and Mrs. Ludwig

PS Mrs. Corsino's star student will be MATTHEW.
Mrs. Ludwig's will be LOGAN BROWN.

SECRET WORD: autumn