Updates and Reminders

*Reminders and Announcements*

--> Dress Down Day

Students who have already registered for next year earned a dress down day for tomorrow (Friday), March 22nd. We are so excited to have you back for another great year!

--> Pajama Day

Tuesday, March 26th, is Pajama Day for the whole school. Students may come in their (appropriate) pajamas. If they wear slippers, the slippers must have backs (for safety). Your child may also bring a small blanket or stuffed animal. We will be spending a good portion of our day reading, as we are celebrating Reading Month during March... Ask your child about all of the different genres (types of books) we have read over the past couple of weeks!

--> Sacraments - Save the Dates!

First Reconciliation - Saturday, April 20th

First Communion - Saturday, May 11th

***Be sure to take your child to Mass every Sunday (or Saturday night). It is very important in their sacrament preparation. Please also discuss the gospel and other readings with them. It is very helpful in their understanding. Thank you!

--> Spring Break

Our last day of class before Spring Break is Wednesday, March 27th. Enjoy the break from Thursday, March 28th, through Sunday, April 7th!

St. Patrick's Day

Terra Nova testing is over! (Hooray!)

I am very proud of how hard the students worked during the past two weeks to do their best. It has also been nice to get back into the routine of regularly scheduled days.

I apologize for not posting for over one week. I was taken ill on Wednesday and had no voice on Thursday, but your children were cooperative, and we made it through the day.

On Friday, we celebrated St. Patrick's Day. Check out some photos from our day:

We had a visit from the leprechaun - He left us some gold at the end of the day!

We made over 65 words out of the letters from "St. Patrick's Day."

We worked with our Guardian Angels to do a writing activity - Who is worth more to you than gold?

Guardian Angels activity

We learned that the Trinity (God the Father, the son, and the Holy Spirit) was like... TOOTHPASTE???

We could not separate the three colors, just as we cannot separate God the Father, from Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

On a separate note:

Thank you to everyone who sent in gifts and cards for my birthday! I was so blessed to celebrate my special day with your children. We even enjoyed some tasty cake pops (courtesy of Alex and his mom) at the end of the day!

Reminders

*Please take your children to Mass every weekend!

   ---> First Reconciliation: Saturday, April 20th

   ---> First Communion: Saturday, May 11th

*Regular homework will resume this week. Please make sure your child completes his/her Reading Log, Math, and Spelling homework every night. Thank you for your help and cooperation!

*Spring Break starts on Holy Thursday (March 28th).

Hard at Work

Terra Nova has started! I am proud of the second graders as they pushed through three of the InView test sections today. (We took a break in between each test to keep our brains and bodies awake.)

They are taking it very seriously, which is a wonderful thing to see. I also hope they are not too nervous. Just before the test started, I had them take out their manila "Testing Tips" folders they made yesterday. Hopefully that helped to calm them down and remind them to focus. Check out some pictures of the folders they made:

Miss Foyle's models

Our 6 Testing Strategies to keep calm and test on...

Thank you for making sure to bring your children to school on time. We had perfect attendance today!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

We celebrated Dr. Seuss's birthday in 2nd grade today. His real birthday is tomorrow, March 2nd. Even though he died in 1991 (as we learned in the back of our book Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!), he wrote many great books and continues to inspire children and adults all over the world.

Check out some pictures from our day!

Wall display to celebrate Reading Month (March) - Each child's picture has a Dr. Seuss hat!

Claudia brought in books to share in her cool backpack!
Miss Foyle brought in a book and the Cat in the Hat!

The kids received treats to remember this special day!

The Cat in the Hat and the book we read today!

We even got to eat Dr. Seuss hats. Yum!

Have a great weekend! Remember Terra Nova testing starts next week.

Terra Nova Tips

St. Ann starts taking the Terra Nova state tests next week (week of March 4th). I know your child may be nervous about these tests, but please remind him/her that it is not for a grade. I want the students to try their very best, but I also want them to relax.

I sent home some helpful hints in preparing to do their best, but here they are again:

1. Get a good night's sleep. (It's hard to focus without enough rest!)

2. Eat a good breakfast. (It's hard to think on an empty stomach!)

3. Keep breathing. (It's hard to concentrate with too many nerves!)

4. Bring a healthy snack. (It's good to refuel!)

There is not any studying they can do to prepare. The best they can do is come to school ready to be a good listener and ready to listen to directions.

Also, your children will not have homework (or a spelling test) the next two weeks to allow for plenty of time to rest their bodies and their brains.

*Reminder* Don't forget to register your child(ren) for next year!

Inferring Detectives

February's reading strategy is Infer (or Making Inferences). The students have been doing just that.

We decided it is sort of like predicting, but you also use clues in the text or from pictures to help you make a good guess...

Miss Foyle's detective hat and magnifying glass

This week we have really focused on inferring characters' thoughts and feelings, and what better way to do that than to write in their thought bubbles?

Thought bubble chalk board and chalk

This student is happy! She would say something like "Yay!" or "Oh goody!" or "I am so happy to be at school!"

Here are some of the books we have visited with inferences. The one on the left is from the Target $1 buckets. The students add words to each cartoon for what the people or animals in the cartoons would say. The top book Pancakes for Breakfast (Tomie de Paola) is a wordless book. The students eagerly discussed what the main character (and even the pet animals) on the farm was thinking at various points in the story. The book on the right is Fireflies (Julie Brinckloe), which we'll read tomorrow (Thursday). It is the story of a child who has a dilemma after he catches fireflies in his jar.

Good books for inferences

Next week we'll focus on inferring the setting of stories and continue our detective work.

*Reminder*

2nd grade is preparing the Children's weekly liturgy this week. Please join us at 8:15 am in the church to see your children read, bring up the gifts, and participate in the mass.

Valentine's Day (in Pictures)

Happy Valentines Day!



How many words can you make out of these letters? Well, 2nd grade made...

over 100 words! They were so proud and excited for a job well done!

The students made Valentines for their families during writing time...

They worked so hard!

They really love their parents and families!

Great job!

They handed out candy and valentines at the end of the day. I hope they share some of it with you. ;)

Enjoy the long weekend! See you Tuesday!

Please remember to take your child to church.