Newsletter - December 17th

What a FANTASTIC week it was here in second grade!   Today was the highlight of the week!  Chapel was absolutely beautiful---I was SOOOOOOOOO PROUD of the second graders for hiding Luke 2:8-19 in their hearts and reciting it.  They all truly understand the meaning of Christmas!  Afterwards, we all enjoyed our time together celebrating Jesus' birth.  Thanks so much for sending in the ornaments for your children as well as the items for our special breakfast.  Thanks also for all you've done the past few weeks---dressing your children to look like Mary and Joseph last Friday...coming to the Christmas Program on Tuesday night...remembering to send them in jammies on Wednesday---sending in items that we need...I know how much there is to do this time of year, and I appreciate you all!!!

We did lots of learning this week, too!  Here are some highlights:
*Reading - the children did lots of independent reading this week, and we also read some great Christmas stories.  One of my all time favorites was The Legend of the Candy Cane.  Ask your child to tell you why we eat candy canes at Christmastime.
*Writing - We finished up our Christmas Around the World picture books.
*Science - We finished our study of animals and their habitats.
*Math - We did lots of review, and we also began taking multiplication tests!
*Handwriting - We began learning our uppercase letters in cursive this week!
*Language Arts - We did lots of review, focusing on the 4 types of sentences.
*Bible - We continued to focus on the Christmas Story for Bible this week.

In school this week, I played one of my favorite Christmas Carols for the children...Mary Did You Know?  I just love this song because it's asking Jesus' mother if she knew what her baby boy would grow up to become.  Ultimately, He grew up to become the Savior of the World.  I still marvel at the wonder of the night He came into this world...and I marvel even more at the sacrifice He made for me.  John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal ife."  He loves us THAT much!

Have a WONDERFUL, JESUS-FILLED CHRISTMAS!  REMEMBER, THERE IS NO SCHOOL ON MONDAY, JANUARY 3RD.  SCHOOL WILL RESUME ON TUESDAY THE 4TH.  I'LL SEE YOU ALL THEN!

In Christ's Name,
Mrs. Corsino

PS  After Christmas break, our STAR STUDENT will be ANTHONY!!!

SECRET WORD: HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!

NEWSLETTER - DECEMBER 10TH



Hi!  Happy Friday!  This week just FLEW by!  We have been sooooooo busy!  The children really enjoyed learning more ways that Christmas is celebrated around the world!  On Monday and Tuesday, we focused on how Christmas is celebrated in Sweden.  We made crowns and ate ginger snaps like the Swedish children do on St. Lucia Day, and we made birdfeeders out of pine cones, peanut butter, and bird seed like they do on Christmas Eve!  On Wednesday we learned about Christmas in England, made "bobby hats," and went Christmas caroling around the school, just like they do in England!  On Thursday and Friday we learned about how Christmas is celebrated in Mexico!  We paraded around the school dressed like Mary and Joseph!

We also had a lot of fun on Thursday watching the High School production at the church!  What a blessing it was!

Here are some other things we did:
*Bible - We continued working on memorizing our Christmas passage and we talked a lot about the true meaning of Christmas.
*Reading - We discussed the elements of different types of genres, focusing on the difference between fact, fairy tales, and folktales.  We read a Swahili folktale called "How Guinea Fowl Got Her Spots," too!  While reading, we focused on the strategies of asking questions and making predictions.  The children worked independently on their reading tests this week, too!
*Writing - We reviewed the elements of picture books and continued working on our Christmas Around the World picture books.  We talked about adding adjectives, adverbs, and prepositional phrases to our writing to make our sentences more interesting and informative, too!  We also reviewed letter writing!
*Math - We learned a lot about geometry this week, focusing on the difference between slides, flips, and turns.  We did a fun activity on the Smart Board to help us remember.  We also practiced subtraction with regrouping.
*Handwriting - We learned how to make a lower case v and z in cursive this week.  Yay!  Now we know all of our lower case letters in cursive!
*Phonics - We focused on suffixes this week.

Here are a few important reminders:
*NEXT WEEK, THE ONLY DAY THAT HOT LUNCH WILL BE OFFERED IS ON MONDAY.  BE SURE TO PACK YOUR CHILD A LUNCH THE REST OF THE WEEK!  THANKS!
*NEXT TUESDAY, 12/14TH IS OUR CHRISTMAS CONCERT AT THE CHURCH!  We will travel to the church that morning to practice, and the program will be that night.  Be sure that your child wears dressy Christmas attire---red, green, and white would be great!  Arrive at 6:45---we'll meet in a pew in the sanctuary.
*Wednesday, 12/15th - Polar Express Party to celebrate Christmas in America!  Your child may wear jammies to school that day!  Feel free to send in popcorn, hot chocolate, or paper cups for us to enjoy that day!
*Friday, 12/17th - HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS PARTY!!!  Send your child with the following that day:
     -The special ornament that you bought for him/her, wrapped, with a note
     -Your assigned breakfast/party item
     -Christmas clothes (not required---just if you want to!)
     -REMEMBER---SCHOOL GETS OUT AT 11:30!!!

This week, I've been thinking a lot about the miracle of Jesus' birth.  What a wonderful gift He gave us when he left His perfect home in Heaven, to be born in a stable and laid in a manger, just so that He could grow up and die to pay for our sins.  And He promised that He would come again!  What a great promise!

Enjoy your weekend!!!  Get some Christmas shopping done!!!

In Christ's Name,
Mrs. Corsino

Next week's Star Student will be JACK T.
SECRET WORD: WREATH

THERE WILL NOT BE A SPELLING TEST NEXT WEEK OR THE WEEK WE RETURN.  NEXT WEEK, WE'LL BE LEARNING SOME FUN CHRISTMAS WORDS!  THESE ARE ON THIS WEBSITE AND ALSO ON SPELLING CITY IF YOUR CHILD WANTS TO PRACTICE JUST FOR FUN!!!

PS BE SURE TO TELL SANTA THAT A GREAT IDEA FOR STOCKING STUFFERS IS SCHOOL SUPPLIES!  MOST OF THE CHILDREN ARE IN NEED OF WET GLUE, GLUE STICKS, CRAYONS, AND MARKERS, AND SOME OF THEM HAVE LOST THEIR SCISSORS!!!  SEVERAL HAVE FILLED UP THEIR AUTHOR'S NOTEBOOKS (SPIRAL NOTEBOOKS) TOO!

PPS  There are still several of you who I haven't had a chance to conference with yet this year!  Please be sure to write me a note to let me know when you'd like to get together!  Next week isn't good---but we can meet sometime in January.  I'm available at 7:30 AM on MONDAYS, THURSDAYS, and FRIDAYS and at 3:30 on MONDAYS, WEDNESDAYS, AND FRIDAYS.  Just let me know what date and time is good for you!  :o)

Matthew is making a bird feeder out of a pine cone, peanut butter, and bird seed---just like they do in Sweden on Christmas Eve!

The girls are wearing the St. Lucia crowns that they made!

The boys are wearing their St. Lucia crowns!

Riley and Joshua in their St. Lucia crowns!

We're caroling just like they do in England!

Aren't they adorable???!!!

Buddy Reading

We learned about slides, flips, and turns during our Geometry unit in math.

NEWSLETTER - DECEMBER 3RD

Hi!  Happy December!  It's been a SUPER DUPER CHRISTMASSY WEEK here in second grade!  We've had lots of fun making our classroom look like Christmas!  The children made paper chains & ornaments for our class tree and decorated our bulletin board to look like the nativity!  Here are some other things we did:

*Bible - We practiced out Christmas Passage many times and talked about the first Christmas.
*Writing - We talked about perspective for writing this week.  Then, each child made either an inanimate object or an animal for our Christmas bulletin board and wrote about Jesus' birth from that item's perspective.  We also learned about picture books and the children began writing picture books, too!
*Reading - We continued our unit about camouflage for reading, and we talked a lot about Author's Purpose this week.  We discussed how to choose a "Just Right" book, too!
*Math - We focused on Geometry concepts this week!  We talked about symmetry and made "SymmeTREES!"
*Social Studies - For the month of December, we're focusing on the ways that Christmas is celebrated around the world.  This week, we learned about how Christmas is celebrated in France and Holland and wrote about what we learned.  To help them remember, we made Yule log cakes out of Twinkies for France, and we drew gingerbread houses and glued candy onto them for Holland.  We also got a visit from "Sinter Klaas," Holland's Santa!
*Science - We continued to learn about animals and their habitats during reading group by focusing on manatees and dugongs.  We compared and contrasted these animals and talked about how they're endangered and what we can do to help!
*Language Arts - We learned the difference between helping verbs and linking verbs this week, and we began learning a verb song!

Here are a few reminders:
*On THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9TH, we will be going over to the church to see a High School performance.  We will leave school at 1:00 and arrive back by 2:30.
*On FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10TH (Next Friday) we will be learning about Christmas in Mexico.  Children may come to school dressed to look like Mary or Joseph that day.  (...Nothing fancy...keep it simple...they can wrap up in sheets...) Children may bring dolls to pretend they're Baby Jesus if they want to!
*On our last week before Christmas break, hot lunch will ONLY BE OFFERED ON MONDAY, 12/13, AND THE ONLY OPTION WILL BE PIZZA!  There will be no hot lunch offered the rest of that week because High School will be taking their exams.
*Our Christmas Concert at Northside Baptist Church will be on TUESDAY, DECEMBER 14TH, so be sure to put this date on your calendar!
*We will talke about Christmas in America on WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15TH, and we will celebrate by having a Polar Express Party!  Children may come to school in their pajamas that day!
*FRIDAY, DECEMBER 17TH will be a half day!  It will also be our class Christmas Party!  Remember to send in a wrapped ornament for your child to open during our party and a note telling him/her why you picked that ornament and how your child is special to you!  There is a note in this week's Friday Folder letting you know what else you need to send in!

At church last weekend, Pastor Kroll was talking to us about the miracle of Christ's birth.  It is SOOOOO INCREDIBLY AMAZING to me that prophets told about this miracle hundreds and hundreds of years before it happened!  Isaiah 7:13-14 tells us about Jesus' mom; Isaiah 9:6-7 tells us about Jesus' heritage and character; and Micah 5: 2 tells us that He would be born in Bethlehem.  Then, hundreds of years after the prophets talked about these things, they happened!  I just marel at the wonder of it all!

Enjoy your weekend!

In Christ's Name,
Jen Corsino

Next week's Star Student will be JASON.

SECRET WORD: ANGEL