Dear Parents and Guardians,

Another week has come and gone! October is really flying by quickly! In math this week, we reviewed the place value of two- digit numbers, and identified the numbers in the tens places and ones place of those two- digit numbers. We also learned how to add two-digit numbers on an open number line. We learned that when adding on an open number line, we begin on the left hand side with the biggest number in the equation. We then look at the second addend and identify the tens and ones places and make tens and ones jumps that correlate to the place values of the addend. Lastly, we learned how to add two- digit numbers using the break apart strategy. The break apart strategy allows the student to break apart both addends into their tens and ones places. Then, students add the tens places of both numbers, then the ones places of both numbers and then the sum of both the tens and ones places to get a final sum. In reading, we learned  how to retell a book or chapter of a book using a retell strategy. This strategy allowed us to identify the who, what, where, when, why, and how that occurs in our books. It also allows us to identify the problem, and usually a solution to that problem within a book. We also learned what inferences are, and how to make inferences as we are reading our independent reading books using the Ice Cream Inference Worksheet. This worksheet asks us to make those inferences, and then use evidence from the book, to further explain our thinking. In writing, this week, we looked at all of the stories we have written so far and learned how to make revisions to our writing. We learned when making revisions, we needed to reread our stories in our heads, and see if our writing makes sense. If there were errors, we learned how to fix them, and use correct characters within the text to show we were making revisions. For example, if we needed to add a capital letter to the beginning of a sentence, we would draw three lines below that letter and the uppercase letter above it. We also dug deep and looked just at the beginning of our stories. We learned that the beginning of our stories are so important, because that is what “hooks” the reader into reading our story. Therefore, we practiced rewriting the beginning of our stories using “hooks” like dialogue, onomatopoeia, or a question. Lastly, we wrote all about our week in the third page of our October Nothing Books! In religion, our Youth Minister, Dan came in, and we wrote letters to college students! We also learned about the biblical stories of Jacob Meets Rachel and Leah as well as Jacob’s Children. We also read The Story of Isaac and Rebekah by Alice Davidson, and wrote about our favorite part. Lastly, in our second grade religion books, we discussed how Jesus shows us how to love others. In science, this week, we learned all about different kinds of minerals. We focused a lot of time on minerals halite and granite.

There is a professional development added into our calendar for Thursday, 10/21. There will be no lunch served that day, however, students will still be having snack in the classroom. On half days, students are to be picked up at 12:30pm. Also, if you are interested in tutoring after school, our 5th grade teacher, Ms. Tessier, is offering tutoring in all subject areas! Her email is: a.tessier@stpaulkensington.org. 

Reminders:

• 10/17: Open House
• 10/18: Wreath Sale Begins
• 10/21: Half Day (No Lunch) Professional Development for staff

Dear Parents and Guardians,

We had another awesome, but very busy week here in second grade! In math this week, we learned how to solve problems by using models! Some of the types of models we used to help us practice were arrays, drawings, and even writing an equation. We then reviewed all of the addition and subtraction strategies we learned from our unit for our test on Wednesday. Wednesday was the big day, our first unit math assessment! After studying and working so hard on unit one, it was time to move on from unit one, to unit two. Unit two begins with 2-digit place value! We practiced our place value by identifying the tens and ones places of 2-digit numbers. We also learned that numbers have different forms: standard form, expanded form, word form, and base ten form. We then made Place Value Monsters, to apply what we learned about tens and ones places of numbers and their different forms, to decorate our classroom for the Halloween season! In reading this week, we learned how writers check themselves as they read. They need to stop when a word they read doesn’t sound right, dont give up and try to decode those tricky words, use different strategies that they were taught to do so, use pictures and surrounding sentences to help make sense of what they are reading, and reread the sentence again. We also learned how to give our books a sneak peek before reading them, which would help us with our predictions. We learned that the front cover illustration, back cover, and chapters (if there are any in the book) can help us make an educated guess as to what might happen in a book. Lastly, we learned what character traits are, and picked a character from our own independent reading book, and provided evidence from the text, to prove why that character has that character trait. Once we wrote down our evidence, we were then able to create a drawing of that character. In writing, we continued to add more details to our small moment stories to stretch them out. We then took what we learned about stretching out our small moments with details, to then revise our finished small moment stories. Right now, revising is double checking whether our sentences are superstar sentences. This means they begin with a capital letter, have seven words or more, and end with punctuation. Next week, we will revise different parts of our small moment stories. For example, how to hook your reader with a strong beginning sentence. Lastly, we wrote all about our week in the second page of our October Nothing Books! In religion, we learned about the biblical stories of Jacob and Esau, The Covenant of Isaac, The Stolen Blessing, and Jacob’s Dream. We also read The Story of Exodus by Alice Davidson, and wrote about our favorite part. Lastly, in our second grade religion books, we discussed how Jesus shows us how to love God, our Father. 

If you are interested in tutoring after school, our 5th grade teacher, Ms. Tessier, is offering tutoring in all subject areas! Her email is: a.tessier@stpaulkensington.org. 

Reminders:

• 10/11: No School- Columbus Day
• 10/13: Class Pictures (Dress Uniforms Required)
• 10/14: Individual Pictures 

Have a great long weekend,
Ms. Mappa

Dear Parents and Guardians, 

For a shortened week (for students) we were very busy! In math this week, we began learning about even and odd numbers, and why those numbers are even and odd. For example, two is an even number because it can be divided evenly into two groups of one. However, a number like five cannot be evenly distributed into groups, so it is not even, it is classified as odd. We also learned all about arrays and how they visually help us with finding totals in addition problems, and also how we can make them to help us find a total of two addends. In reading this week, we got new independent reading books, and continued using stop and jots as a tool to track our reading. This week, we focused on jotting down questions we had while we were reading as well as things we were wondering about while we were reading. The great thing about stop and jots, is that they are written on sticky notes, so when we get an answer to a question, or a wonder, we can write them down, and visually see our progress about our thoughts on our reading. We also learned about what the author's message is, and how our hand can help us identify it. The palm of the hand is the topic, the thumb is the the characters, the index finger is the setting, the middle finger is the beginning of the story, the ring finger is the middle of the story, and the pinky finger is the ending to that story, which is all needed for author’s message. In writing this week, we learned how to capture our small moment story ideas. We also learned how to add more details in our small moment stories to be able to stretch them out, and make them longer in length. Some of us even got to finish small moment stories, and created final copies of them for our writing folders. Lastly,  we began and wrote all about our week in the first page in our October Nothing Books! In religion, we learned about the biblical stories of God Tests Abraham and Isaac Marries Rebekah. Lastly, we read our second grade religion books and continued to discuss how God Speaks to Us. In science, we discussed changing states of matter, transparency of matter, magnetic attraction, as well as poles of a magnet. In social studies, we finished our This Is How We Do It book, and learned how students around the world help their families, what they do in the evening, and where they sleep. After reading, students then compared the book to their own lives, and wrote sentences about how we do these things.

Reminders:

• 10/4- 10/8: Scholastic Book Fair
• 10/4: All School Mass- Dress Uniforms Required
• 10/4: Lyman Pie Fundraiser Begins
• 10/4- 10/6: Lunch in the Classroom (No Nut Products)

Have a great weekend,
Ms. Mappa

Dear Parents and Guardians,

We had a great full week of learning in second grade! In math this week, we learned different strategies for subtraction. One strategy was how to subtract on an open number line. You start with the biggest number in the equation and then count back by the second number in the equation to land on the answer. We also learned how to count on to subtract on a number line. With this strategy you begin with the smaller number in the equation and count on to get to the bigger number in the equation. Then, you count the jumps to get your answer. Another strategy we learned was how to use addition to help us subtract. We learned this by taking a look at fact families. Fact families have turn around facts for the addition facts and switch around facts for subtraction, so no matter the numbers in an equation, each one is related. We also learned how to subtract using a 10- frame, which allowed us to make an equation more simple to solve by making a 10. Then, we also got some time this week to review all the addition and subtraction strategies we learned and practice them! In reading this week, we began by finishing up reading testing! If you would like to know your students reading level please contact me and I will send you that information! In addition to finishing reading testing, students also learned different strategies they can use to figure out tricky words while reading independently. We also set goals for ourselves while we were reading, and made sure they were attainable to do in our reading block. We also completed a Wake Up Your Brain Worksheet, which allowed students to create wonders and ask questions about what was going on in their books while reading. In addition, we learned how to retell a book or chapter in a book using the Five Finger Retell strategy. Lastly, we learned about what an author's lesson is, and how to identify it in a book. In writing this week, we read The Dot, created our own dot, and wrote about how we as second graders show our creativity. We also took a writing pre-assessment for our writing unit. This allows me to see where students are with their writing, and where I need to begin instruction. We then jumped into our unit and discussed how we discover small moments that matter and how to capture story ideas. Lastly,  we completed our third page in our September Nothing Books! In religion, we learned about the biblical stories of The Separation of Abram and Lot, Abram Saves Lot, The Birth of Ishmael, and Sodom and Gomorrah. Lastly, we read our second grade religion books and continued to discuss how God Speaks to Us. In science, we discussed measuring the mass of a solid and liquids and gases. In social studies we learned how students around the world eat lunch, play, help and eat dinner. Then, we compared it to our own lives, and wrote sentences about how we do these things.

If you are interested in tutoring after school, our 5th grade teacher, Ms. Tessier, is offering tutoring in all subject areas! Her email is: a.tessier@stpaulkensington.org

Reminders:

• 9/28: No School: OEEC Conference 
• 9/29: Fall Golf Club

Have a great weekend,
Ms. Mappa

Dear Parents and Guardians,

We had another great week here in second grade! We are now beginning to become comfortable with our second grade routines! In math this week, we learned about doubles and near doubles facts. For example, 3 + 3 = 6, and 3 + 4 = 7. When solving doubles and near doubles facts, we discussed how our doubles facts can help us solve near doubles facts, so that problems become more simple, and automatic. We also learned about how to add using ten frames. Ten frames are a strategy that allows students to visually see problems, and makes them simple. The idea behind this is that if a student is given a problem like 9 + 3 they could add one to 9 from 3 and the new problem becomes 10 + 2. Both answers still equal 12, but this strategy allows students to add using a 10. In reading this week, we continued, and are almost finished with our reading testing! We also continued our review in our Superkids Goodbye Summer Packet, which focused on vowel teams and the sounds that the letters in those vowel teams make. We also learned special cases that certain vowels make certain sounds (as in long or short). One of the special cases we discussed was magic “e”. Lastly, we began reading books at our just right reading level, and began describing the settings of our books, as well as the characters in them. In writing, we jumped into our first writing unit! Our first writing unit is small moment narrative stories that focus on one time and one place. We began our unit by creating Heart Maps. Heart Maps allow the student to brainstorm story ideas that they can write about that have actually happened in their own lives. For example, a vacation to Disney that they went on. Students then chose one idea from their Heart Maps, and began planning a story by listing where the small moment took place, who was in their small moment, what happened, when it happened, and how it ended. Lastly, we completed our second page in our September Nothing Books! In religion, our youth minister, Dan, came in and taught us a lesson about saints! We also learned about the bible story: The Tower of Babel. Lastly, we read our second grade religion books and discussed how God Lives in His Church. In science, we discussed what matter is, and different types of matter such as man-made matter, and natural matter. In social studies, we continued reading a book called “This Is How We Do It.” This book follows the life of students in different countries and describes their everyday lives as students. 

As a reminder, homework packets are given out on a Monday. For the reading log, students need to be reading for 20 minutes each night, after that the reading log can be filled out. As for math, there will be four pages. Students can do one page a night, or all at once. However, keep in mind that some strategies won't be taught until a Tuesday or a Wednesday of that week, so they may not be able to complete those pages until after the lesson is taught. The homework packet is then due Friday morning (or whatever day is the last day of school for that week).  If students do not hand in their homework, they will owe me 5 minutes of their recess time as a penalty. 

Reminders:

• 9/17: No School: Berlin Fair

Have a great weekend,
Ms. Mappa

Dear Parents and Guardians, 

Another week has come and gone! I had such a great time meeting with you all at Back to School Night, and discussing second grade more in depth! Thank you all for your patience and understanding, I truly appreciate it! As I stated that night, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to email me, and I will get back to you within those twenty-four hours! Even though it was a short week, we were very busy! In math, we began learning our second grade strategies for solving addition and subtraction problems! Those strategies are: counting on and back on an open number line, break apart strategy, partial sums strategy, and how to dissect and solve one and two step word problems. In reading, we continued with our reading testing. We also continued our review in our Superkids Goodbye Summer Packet, which focused on vowel teams and the sounds that the letters in those vowel teams make. In writing, we wrote a narrative piece about what we did over our Labor Day weekend! We also discussed second grade writing rules, like when to use capital letters in a sentence. We also discussed what superstar sentences are. A superstar sentence must begin with a capital letter, have seven words or more, and end with some type of punctuation. In addition, we edited our weekend news narratives, to make sure they included superstar sentences and began a new narrative on how to have a “sweet” second grade year. Lastly, we completed our first page in our September Nothing Books! I am excited for you to read all about your students' week, and what they did in each subject area! In religion, we learned about the stories of The Fall, Cain and Abel, The Tower of Babel, and The Call of Abram. We also discussed how Jesus is God's Best Gift. In social studies, we began reading a book called “This Is How We Do It.” This book follows the life of students in different countries and describes their everyday lives as students. Our students then wrote their own sentences about their everyday lives. So far they have written about what they wear to school, what they eat for breakfast, how they get to school, describing their teacher, how they learn, and how they write their names. 

Parents:
If you go to: https://www.getepic.com I have signed our class up for a free program that allows them to read books at home online! When you go to the website, click “log in” and choose “students and parents” and enter our class code which is: zec2456. After you enter the code, find your students name and click it, and then they are able to begin reading online for free!

I also have attached the step by step directions to this email, and they are also located on my St. Paul Class Page under “Grade 2 Resources.” Included there are other reading resources, and also math resources, all which are completely FREE!

Reminders:

• 9/17: No School: Berlin Fair

Have a great weekend,
Ms. Mappa

Dear Parents and Guardians,

We have officially made it through our first full week of school! We are beginning to get into a routine, and get used to our schedule! In saying this, with no school this Monday due to Labor Day, homework will begin the following week 9/13.  This week in math, we set math goals and made them on our math ninjas. We also took a math assessment. This assessment was 100 addition, 100 hundred subtraction, and 100 addition and subtraction facts. Students had five minutes to solve as many problems as they could in pencil, and then were given an additional five minutes to solve more problems in crayon or colored pencil. The point of this is to track student growth from the beginning of the year to the end when solving problems within 20. We also learned a strategy called part- part- whole. This strategy allows students to see facts visually. For example, for the problem 10 + 2, one of the parts would be 10, so students would draw 10 dots to represent it. The other part is 2, so students would draw 2 dots to represent it. For the whole, students would count both dots from the parts to figure out what the whole is, which in this case would be 12.  Lastly, we completed a school graphing activity that asked students to check a graph with tally marks and to find errors if there were any. In reading, we began our reading review in our Goodbye Summer Workbooks. We also began our class read aloud which is Junie B. Jones and The Stupid Smelly Bus. In spelling, we took a spelling inventory “test”. This is a list of words that I ask your students to spell. The point of this is to identify their spelling needs based upon how they spelled the words. By looking at the class as a whole, I can put like needs into spelling groups and begin instruction. In writing, we finished our I am Special Flowers and hung them up in our room! We also wrote portrait poems about ourselves that asked us to compare ourselves with certain things like shapes and weather. We also wrote about our favorite activities we have done so far in second grade, and how we are feeling now that we have been in school for a full week. In religion, we created a class contract with rules that your students came up with, and signed it. We also began our work in our second grade religion book about how God gives us life and love. Lastly, we completed a worksheet that taught us all about the creation of the Earth. 

• 9/6: No School- Labor Day
• 9/8: Back- To- School Night 6:30- 8:00pm (No Students)

Happy 2nd Day of School! I just wanted to start off by saying thank you all for being so helpful and flexible as we move into the new school year, I really appreciate it! I just wanted to begin this newsletter by giving you some information! As most of you know, we have a big class this year! With that being said, my first priority is your students! Email is the best way to get in touch with me, but with that being said, the best time to get the quickest response is before and after school, due to our learning schedule throughout the day. I try to write back within 24 hours at most. If it is extremely urgent, calling and notifying the office to notify me, is best. Just like last year, we will be having a snack day, where students can buy one snack, which will begin next Friday 9/3. However, no cookies are being offered at this time, just popsicles and chips. I will notify you once cookies are back for sale! As far as birthdays go, I love celebrating them with the class! However, we have many allergies in our room, so we need to be extremely careful! Due to allergies, last year, we had parents (if they chose to) buy popsicles for the entire class through Donna McPherson, who runs the lunch program, and ate them right after lunch. As a reminder, our new P.E. day is Thursdays, so make sure students come dressed in their P.E. uniforms on that day of the week! Also, checking your students home folder every night is extremely important. You will be getting notices from the office, flyers, as well as graded work (eventually). Lastly, at the end of this newsletter, I put important dates that are coming up for the upcoming week. Make sure to scroll all the way down, because those also include Mass days, where students will be required to wear their dress uniforms.

These past two days, your students have been very busy! In math, we used our math skills to make a math about me person! This asked them to use numbers to describe themselves! For example, one of the questions they were asked to answer was “how many teeth have you lost?” In reading, we read A Letter From Your Teacher and completed an All About Me Poster, and answered questions about ourselves, for me to get to know them a little better. In writing, we read Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon and created I Am Special Flowers. For these flowers, students created four sentences that described what makes them special. I hang these throughout our room for the entire year to remind them of how special they are. In religion, we talked about rules and expectations that not only apply in our classroom, or at home, but also in our relationship with God, and what he expects of us. After our discussion, we created a class contract, with rules that everyone will abide by, and we each signed it, and are holding each other accountable! In social studies, we talked all about new students and new names. We read Chrysanthemum, and completed a graphing activity that dealt with the book, but then we also took it a step further. We counted how many letters were in each of our names, and then made a huge class graph to show this information! 

• Mum Sale begins Monday, August 30th
• School Mass Tuesday, August 31st @ 8:45am: Dress Uniforms Required 

Dear Parents and Guardians,

I hope everyone is relaxing on their last few weeks of summer vacation! I just want to formally introduce myself! I am Tiana Mappa, and I will be your child's second grade teacher this year! I am excited to meet you in person at our Meet and Greet on Thursday, August 19th from 6-8pm! Before then, your student should also be receiving a little something from me in the mail! These are my “famous” parent newsletters. I send them out on Fridays after school. These newsletters give you some insight about what we have learned as a class during the week, and what we will be moving toward the following week. I also try to include any important dates or events going on within the school just as a reminder. Just for your reference, I have just emailed the “family” email from the contact list I was given. If you have another email, or would like another family member to receive these newsletters as well, I will be sending out a contact form where you can write all that information in. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns at any point throughout the year, please do not hesitate to email me. I am looking forward to meeting your students on the 19th!