Greetings from 2nd grade!! It was wonderful to see all the kids back after the extended weekend. I hope many of you got a chance to enjoy the time off too. They have done such a wonderful job this week getting right back into the routine. Again, I just want to highlight a few things for the upcoming weeks.

Don’t forget we sing at Zion Lutheran Church at 8:00 a.m. this coming Sunday, October 11th. Mrs. Bell is asking that all the kids meet in our classroom by 7:45 a.m. This is an awesome opportunity for both 2nd grade classes to share Christ with others and to praise the Lord! Remember, if you can’t make it please send in a note for Mrs. Bell.

Read! Read! Read! Don’t forget to keep track of the minutes you read outside of school on your calendar. Your goal is 15 minutes a day or 465 minutes for the month of November!

Our science test is this coming Monday, October 12th. The study guide went home a few weeks ago. We have been studying in class and hopefully you have been spending time on it at home. If not you have time to brush up on it this weekend.

Remember the Yankee Candle fundraiser packets are due back on Monday, October 19th.

On Friday, October 23rd we will dismiss at 11:30 a.m. This marks the end of the first quarter. Report cards will go out on Wednesday, October 28th.

There will also be no school on Friday, October 30th. Parent teacher conferences will take place on Thursday the 29th and Friday the 30th. Being looking for a conference sign up sheet in the next couple weeks.

Here’s what we have been up to this week:

Religion: This week in religion, we talked about how Moses lead the people out of Egypt (the Exodus). Really, we know we can’t give all the credit to Moses. As a class we talked about the 3 P’s: present, patient, and powerful. God was present the entire time. A pillar of cloud led them by day, and a pillar of fire led them by night. We know that He is always with us too. God was patient. God had shown His power and protection. But at the first sign of trouble, the Israelites panicked and complained. God could have given up on these people. Instead He was patient and faithful. God is patient with us even though we make mistakes and sin. He continues to love us, forgive us, and help us to follow Jesus. God is powerful. God showed his power as we parted the Red Sea and destroyed the enemy. Jesus has shown His power over sin, death, and the devil—the greatest enemies of all. We also began talking about the Ten Commandments. The commandments tell us what we should not do, but they also help us understand what we will do through God’s power working in us. God loved us and sent Jesus to save us. Now, because of our love for God, we want to do His will. It is impossible for us to follow the commandments perfectly because we are sinners. But God had a plan. He sent someone who could obey for us. Since we break the rules we deserve to be punished, but God sent Jesus to take the punishment for us. We are truly loved! Now we strive to live as children of God.

Math: We started out the week by taking a written test and practicing measuring in inches with a ruler. The kids liked it. Challenge your child to do some measuring at home. We also practiced trading pennies for dimes. This is something that can also be worked on at home. I suggest keeping a bag or bowl of change around to practice with weekly.

Reading: This week in reading we continue to work on fluency. We read some passages several times and I talked to the kids about how much better it flowed after they felt more confident and comfortable. Sometimes we have to break the sentence into sections and read them. We did a lot of group reading this week. In addition, we talked about answering questions in complete sentences and using part of the question in the answer.

Science and SS: In science this week we talked about the plant life cycle. Our big word for the day was germination. In addition, we spent much of our time reviewing for the test, which is on Monday. In social studies, we talked about independence. We discussed the 13 colonies and how they wanted to form their own country. The Declaration of Independence was written and then signed on July 4, 1776. Finally, we talked about the American Revolution and some important leaders at that time.

Language Arts: This week we reviewed when to use capital letters. Some kids are making silly mistakes on these worksheets by rushing or simply not following directions. I have reminded many of them several times, but perhaps you could encourage reading the directions, etc. at home. I also introduced plural nouns. The rule we learned is when the word ends with ch, sh, s, x, or z, then you add –es. In most other cases you just need to add –s to make a word plural. When the word ends with a y, then you change the y to an i and add –es. Then of course there are those words that are irregular and don’t follow the rules.

Spelling and Phonics: This week we did more vowel-consonant-e words and next week we will be studying words with consonant clusters. In phonics, we went over long “i” and long “u” spellings. In addition, we studied the following high frequency words: could, over, very, come, one, and these.

God’s blessings on your weekend! Remember the three P’s! God is present. God is patient. God is powerful!

In Christ,

Miss Rempfer

Spelling Words: trip, swim, step, nest, club, stone, next, brave, glad, lost, flat, slip,
Challenge words: branches, storm

Alternate List: indeed, fourteen, thanking, hurry, shame, tool, while, roar, pulling, somebody, higher, grain, navy, oats
Challenge Words: lightning, believe

Memory: The Third Commandment-Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
The Fourth Commandment-Honor your father and your mother.
The Fifth Commandment-You shall not murder.