Science, Spelling, and Sheep

The Science Fair is this Thursday.  The second graders will have a display of work that we are making at school.  It will be wonderful to see all of the families at the fair.  Please take time to explore the experiments, ask questions of the scientists, and talk to your students about new concepts.  The 2nd graders will especially be interested in the 3rd grade toothpaste commercials and maybe it will help them think of ideas for next year.

The Reading story this week is about sheep shearing, wool carding, wool dyeing, and finally weaving. We watched a video today about sheep shearing.  We learned that the wool needs to come off of the sheep in one piece and a crew of shearers will travel together from farm to farm until the sheep are all cared for.  It can take 3 minutes to shear one sheep.  The record time for shearing a sheep is 45 seconds.
We also have been talking about the way Jesus refers to us as sheep.  Sometimes that seems rather nice to be considered as a sheep until we learn more about them.  Learning more about sheep makes us think that sheep are difficult animals to guide and care for.  Our sin does make us a lot like sheep.  We have learned a bible verse which helps us know that the Lord calms our troubled heart even when we act like anxious sheep.  "My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me."  The Lord truly is a Good Shepherd to all of us! 

Unit 23 Spelling Words

1.    helpful

2.    sadly

3.    hopeful            Vocabulary Words

4.    thankful           1.  yarn

5.    slowly               2.  strands

6.    wishful             3.  spinning

7.    kindly               4.  dye

8.    useful               5.  weave

9.    safely              6.  sharpening

10.   painful             7.  duplicated

11.   mouthful           8.  delicious

12.   weakly             9.  directions

13.   jumped

14.   saying

15.   quickly

16.   wonderful

Look for other “ful” and “ly” words in everything you read.  Will you be the first one to type some new words on the comment section of the blog? 

Weekend Homework

HOMEWORK

Read for AR
Reading workbooks - If your child brought it home they have some old work to complete or fix
I kept the workbooks that were complete and did not have any corrections in them.
Religion books - Finish booklet including the covers & return it to school on Mon. Open Book Test
ART - the students were to complete 3 "faces" for last weeks art project

We cleaned desks.  We deep cleaned desks!  The Desks Are Clean!
Please check over the items your child brought home.  You may find work that is not graded and needs to be completed.  Students need to complete those items and return them on Monday.

It is my prayer that you spend these days with the Lord as you prepare your hearts for Easter.

Preparing for Good Friday

Our classroom has changed.  It is empty, bare, and sad just like churches will be tomorrow.
We spent some time talking today about our Lord and the Lenten Season.
We shared about how Jesus' life ended.
We went into the church to see for ourselves what would be changing for Good Friday (the day Jesus died).  It is a Good Friday for us because the battle for our salvation was being fought for us.  However it is a sad church service, a somber chruch service, and it makes the people attending reflect in their hearts. Those people leave the church in a quiet respectful way.  It is like we have just left the tomb of our Lord and like the women at the tomb it is powerful to see for ourselves that Jesus died.

When we went back to our classroom we finished the last few ideas of making our room like the tomb of Jesus. We thought about how Jesus took care of every last detail before he died.  He even found a disciple to care for his mother.  He promised eternal life to the thief next to him.  He forgave us all.

It is my prayer that you experience the entire Lenten Season with your student.  Please take them to a Good Friday service, help them think through and reread those last moments of our Lord's life, and pray together!  Then the love that comes to us in Easter is even that much more powerful and fulfilling to our Spirits.  God's Blessings on your families as you continue to learn about the Lord together!

Short Week Tender Feelings

We have a short week of school.  We will not have a spelling test this week.  St. John will not have school on Good Friday.  We will be back together for Easter Monday to share the love of our Lord.

Several students had tender feelings today which could mean they are fighting a cold or some sort of health bug that doesn't keep them home from school.  It is also a time in our spiritually lives where our students spend time thinking about the Lord's death and resurrection.  It is "good" to know that Jesus' death saved us from our sins, but as children they normally concentrate on our Lord's Resurrection from that death.  He Lives therefore, We Live!  If your student is more sentimental than usual it would be wonderful to take some time to find out what their thoughts are about this Lenten season.  Their perspective is quite different from ours.  Remind them of how we concentrate on our sins and Jesus' death during Lent, but that by Sunday we will all be celebrating the new life of Easter!

The Lenten Time and the Easter Season are central to the celebration of our faith.  Each part of the history of our faith is very important, but none as important as the Risen Lord.  It is my prayer that each of the students has the opportunity to attend all of this week's church services to help them learn and grow in their faith.

HOMEWORK

Reading Workbook 102 and 103
Memory Work is due Tuesday
Math #103
Spelling Test to Sign and Return
Report Card Slips to sign and return
Easter Cards to color (for Mrs. Fritz to mail)
Read for AR

Happy Birthday, Coloring Buddies, & Wow!

The Wow is for the treats that Nolan's mom brought to school for his birthday!  His favorite caramel brownies, apple slices, and orange slices!  It was enough that we had an afternoon snack!  We all wish Nolan the best birthday ever & we think it is pretty cool that his birthday celebration is on carnival day!

We got together with our PreK buddies today to be their coloring buddies for an Easter Card project.
It was fun to see how well our buddies can color, have time to talk together, and even read stories together once we were done with the project.

All of this excitement is almost too much to take in. We are moving our Spelling Test to Monday.
The students will have the weekend to get those homophones firmly into their knowledge base.
Reviewing with cold spaghetti noodles is a lot of fun if you haven't tried it yet.

HOMEWORK
Reading Workbook pages 98, 99, 100, 101
Handwriting Review Page
Math #102
Read for AR
Enjoy Friday Fun Books
Come to the Carnival
Worship the Lord over the weekend

Anxiously Waiting

We are ready for the school carnival!  Everyone is excited!  We had art with Mrs. Germain and time with Mrs. Samuelson this afternoon.  They both realized how anxious the students are for Friday evening!  It is always good to gather as a St. John Community, participate in the games, eat some food, and enjoy the auction!  The students are all talking about who they want to vote for in the pie in the face contest.  It will be good to see everyone at the carnival!

HOMEWORK
Math #101
Reading workbook 96 & 97
Spelling Words (Test Friday)
AR
Friday Fun books need to be returned in order to get other books!

Precious Carnival Families

Our booth has plenty of helpers! 

I have sent some of your names on to the Mother's Club Carnival Organizers.  They need workers!
All of the help you give setting up the carnival, running carnival booths, and cleaning up is appreciated. The set up is on Thursday, the carnival is on Friday, and help with cleaning up follows the carnival. Your volunteer time all counts for PIP hours.  If you are not listed below please volunteer your assistance with Lisa Casper or contact the school office.  Everyone is welcome and everyone is needed!

THANK YOU TO THE FOLLOWING FAMILIES FOR RUNNING THE RING TOSS!

5:30 - 6:00 Gabrielle and the Krueger Family

6:00 - 6:30 Akeela and the Vandre Family

6:30 - 7:00 Laken and the Frederick Family

7:00 - 7:30 Alexa and the VanDeWeerd Family

7:30 - 8:00 Matthew and the Steffen Family

The rules will be posted at the booth.  I will be at the carnival incase you need me!  It is a fun booth to run and the students like to be heckled a bit when they play the game. I hope you enjoy running our 2nd grade booth.  The time passes very quickly!

Happy Hearts

Our new bulletin board is full of success!
The students are proud of their school work and are very encouraging to each other as they work!  It is wonderful to announce that every second grader had their name or an A paper stapled to the board for the first week.  We are all on "first base"!  More papers and names are posted every day.  You can ask your student about the Baseball Board!

We earned a video moment today with everyone reaching first base.  We watched the Veggie Tales movie of "Madame Blueberry" who is searching for happiness.  She shops for all of the most wonderful things she thinks she wants.  It is awesome when she finally realizes that none of the things she buys are making her truely happy.  She asks the shop workers where she can buy a happy heart. Then she shares that GOD GIVES US HAPPY HEARTS! 
A Thankful Heart is a Happy Heart. We're glad for what we have and that's an easy place to start!

The show has Madame Blueberry shopping at Stuff Mart, but maybe we should remember the moral of the story as we all shop at the new Merrill WalMart.  There will always be stuff that we want, but we don't really need it.  God gives us all we need.  He provides us with jobs, food, clothing, and shelter.  The number one, most important need we all have is LOVE... HIS LOVE and you can't buy that at WalMart, Stuff Mart, or anywhere.  A happy thankful heart is a blessing from God.  

We are going to try to spread our happy hearts around our school on Thursday.  We are hoping to make Mrs. Germain, Mrs. Samuelson, and Miss Spring smile as we share our happy hearts with them.

HOMEWORK

Memory Verse is Due Thurs.
Handwriting of the cursive letter q
Read for AR
STANDARD ACH. TESTING IS EVERY DAY THIS WEEK & THROUGH WED. 4/16

A Trick of the Eyes

Homophones are a trick that only your eyes can tell your brain about!

See with two ee's is a reminder of your eyes with two ee's.
Sea with ea is a reminder of the ocean with ea!

Rode is to get on or in something to travel.
Road is tar, blacktop, or gravel areas your car or bike ride on.

Our Spelling Words can be confusing.  Please look them up in a dictionary.  Define them, draw them, and spelling them with cold spaghetti on the dining room table.  It will be fun and it will creep into the brains of your students!

HOMEWORK!

Reading workbook pages 92, 93, and 95
Study Spelling Words
Memory due Thursday
Read the Reading Story "Gloria Who Might Be My Best Friend"
Religion booklets 5 and 6

Review, Retest, Rejoice

Most of the class didn't accomplish the mastery of these words last week.  We are not going to move on to another list this week.  All of the students will have a retest on Friday, April 11th.  

Homophones are words we hear as if they were the same.  The spelling we see is the way our brain assigns it meaning. I find ideas with the word that allow the students to make a connection. 
Spelling Words

Meet has "ee" like the word see and we meet or see our friends at school.
Meat has "eat" inside it and it is the "meat we eat".

A week has seven days.  We are weak but Jesus is strong.

The mane belongs to "an" animal.  The main idea is found "in" our writing.

A tail does not fail a monkey when it is swinging.  A tale is a story.

I would not like to be a bee. 

Too is an amount or a way of saying also.       I like ice cream and the students do too!
       It is still too cold for Spring time flowers.  They are going to eat too many cookies.
It is fun to play with two friends. 

He was in trouble when he threw the football through the window.

I can see the sea.

Vocabulary Words

You change the y to an i and add the ending when you spell the words below.
heavily, happier, funniest

Lonely has the word one inside it and that makes it sad and "lonely".

Knot and answered have silent letters in them.

The last three vocabulary words are copy, planning, and seriously!

HOMEWORK

Memory Work is Due Tuesday (we worked on this with partners and also independently)
Reading Workbook pages 89, 90, and 91 (we worked on with partners and then also independently)
Math #100 (we had worktime in class)
READ for AR  -  AR notes will be sent home with Report cards
STUDY HOMOPHONES AND VOCABULARY WORDS
Review Health Unit 5 (Test pages 104 & 105 on Tues.)

Late Start & a Day of Loudness

The title says it all!  Wow!  Every moment was filled with excited chatter about many things.  It was so hard to focus on any ideas.  We did manage to get some work done, take our Spelling Tests, finish some projects, and practice for Saturday Night Church.  We had Friday fun day in the Library, AR testing in the Computer Room, Outside Recess, and even Computer time with Mrs. Samuelson.  The day flew by with excitement for the weekend.

HOMEWORK

Math #99 (Test on Monday)
Read for AR
*Some students need to finish their grass for art
*Some students need to balance their parrots for Science
*Some students found old work that needs to be completed and returned

SEE YOU SATURDAY EVENING AT 5:30 to SING IN CHURCH!!

Science Fun

We are learning to experiment!
The students want me to hand them premade items they can play with instead of taking the provided material and exploring.  We had a great deal of fun today when they tried to balance their base (popcicle stick) using wire and metal washers.  What can you balance at home?  Can you balance a spoon?  How about two forks? Is there any way to balance a banana?

HOMEWORK
Reading workbook pages 86, 87, 88
Handwriting page 82 (cursive d)
Memory Work is Due Thursday
Study Homophones for Spelling Test on Friday
Read for AR

LATE ITEMS 
Drawing and Labeling a Healthy Breakfast
Finishing Art of creating a layered flower
Any old Math
Any old Reading Workbook Pages
Any old Memory Verses

HOMEWORK

Just a short note tonight to list our homework and let you know 2 dates.

We sing in church this Saturday night at 5:30.  The school is dressing in Badger clothing or Badger Red if you don't have a specific "Wisconsin Badger" shirt.
Please do not purchase special clothing for this day.

HOMEWORK
Workbook pages 82 - 83
Religion Booklet pages 1 - 2
Math #97
Handwriting #80 - cursive a
Health - Breakfast drawings (please label items with correct spelling)
Memory Work (the last one for 3rd quarter is due on Thursday)
Study Spelling Words (We need your help with homophones)
Read for AR
Pack Offering for Church and the Food Pantry 

**This looks like a long list, but your student had plenty of school time to accomplish these goals!**