Greetings from 2nd grade! I pray you all enjoyed Tuesday off. I hope you all enjoy the long weekend as well. I am looking forward to meeting with all of you for conferences. Please take note of the following:

If you haven’t yet, please sign and return your child’s report card envelope.

We are now in the fourth quarter. If your child does not remember to put his/her name on the paper they will have to write their name 100 times. My expectations for this quarter are high. By now the kids should be able to read and follow directions. I will not be giving many reminders. It is my job to prepare them for 3rd grade when they will need to be able to read and follow directions, and work more independently.

Don’t forget to mark April 7th on your calendars. Our class will be presenting our chapel message at 12:45 p.m. Be sure to keep their script and song in your child’s folder. We will spend a lot of time practicing next week. We are excited to share God’s Word with you.

Don’t forget to return your summer school form if you would like your child to participate in a reading or math class. It is a good review and refresher so that your child does not forget the information they have learned over the school year. Classes are 3 days a week for 5 weeks.

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

Religion: This week we talked about Jesus’ crucifixion. Jesus was mocked. When the people heard that Jesus claimed to be a king they teased him by giving him a crown of thorns, a robe, and a scepter. They even placed a sign over his head on the cross reading, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. The Roman soldiers ridiculed and laughed at Jesus. Yes, they mocked him as King, but we praise Him as King. He did not have to suffer the way He did. He had the power to come down off that cross at any time. So, why didn’t He come down off the cross? Well, from childhood Jesus’ role on earth was recognized, but many people didn’t understand because they were looking for an earthly king. But, Jesus once said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” Jesus came to earth to fulfill God’s will. He never did anything wrong. He was holy. He was falsely accused, mocked, and tortured. He suffered through all this and died because He had to complete everything for our salvation. Jesus died on the day we now call Good Friday. It is not good because of everything He went through, but it is good because through his death we are saved. What an awesome sacrifice!!

Math: In math this week we continued to practice representing and writing mixed numbers. We also worked on creating and reading a bar graph with a scale of two. This did get a little confusing for some. Finally, we identified right (90 degree) angles. If you have extra time at home please review counting money and telling time. These are life long skills that we need to be confident in doing day to day.

Reading: In reading this week we reviewed the following high frequency words: cold, guess, later, leave, and often. We reviewed possessives and the vowel sound in cow. Remember to read at home as well. The best way to improve your child’s reading is to practice. Be sure if your child is reading aloud to you that you stop periodically and ask them questions to make sure they understand what they have read.

Science/SS: In science we continued to talk about matter, focusing on liquids and gases. We learned that liquids do not have their own shape. Rather, they take the shape of their container and gases fill the space. We learned that the measure of a liquid is its volume. Volume can be measured in milliliters and ounces. We did not get into social studies this week. After spring break you will be receiving a study guide for our next test.

Language Arts: In language arts this week we worked on alphabetical order. This proved to be quite difficult for some kids. It made me realize we need more practice. In addition we worked on identifying synonyms. Finally, we started a new unit on adjective and adverbs.

Spelling and Phonics: We will resume with our regular spelling unit next week. It is attached. In phonics we had a test over contractions, endings, and suffixes. We started a new unit on vowel pairs. We started off by talking about “ay” and “ai.” Generally, “ai” is used in the middle of a word and “ay” is most commonly used at the end of a word. We also worked with “ee” and “ea.”

Think about this Bible verse as Good Friday approaches. Romans 5:8 says, “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

In HIM,
Miss Rempfer

Spelling Words: I’ll, we’ve, don’t you’re, isn’t didn’t, you’ll, I’ve, hasn’t, we’ll, can’t, it, us
Challenge Words: they’re, wouldn’t

Extra List: coal, army, sore, somewhere, hours, warmer, wagon, alone, base, cross, drum, fears, bathing, early
Challenge Words: railroads, taught
Extra Challenge Words: camouflage, determination, dictionary, Jerusalem, Minnesota, subtraction, carbohydrate, delicious, unbelievable, Epiphany

Memory: First half of the Old Testament Books of the Bible:

Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
I Samuel
II Samuel
I Kings
II Kings
I Chronicles
II Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
Job
Psalms
Proverbs