The Second Grade Ranch

Hello Second Grade Families, Welcome to the 5th week of Lent and the gift of Spring!  The season of transformation, hope, and new beginnings.  This seems so appropriate given the circumstances that we are all currently enduring.  Today, I listened to a Mass being streamed through my computer, and the priest ended with these words, "This too shall pass."  His words certainly resonated with me and I hope that they place you and your family at ease too.  May you all stay happy, healthy, and safe and know that the Holy Spirit will give us strength and Jesus offers us his peace. This newsletter is going to be a little different than what I typically send out.  Instead, I'm going to try to simplify the newsletter and place it in a daily schedule format.  This format will also include "website links" to enhance your child's learning.  The links will appear in a light blue color.  I hope that it is both helpful and useful for all of our second grade families a

Hello Second Grade Families, Happy Distance Learning!  I hope that this message finds you safe, healthy, and happy in your homes.   As we now are all aware, our country is navigating through a world wide crisis and we will have to take an  "untraditional",  or "unconventional" approach to foster and promote learning with our children.  Please note, that it's not my intention to burden any of our families by adding an additional layer of stress to an already stressful situation.  I know that many of you are now having to work full time from your homes while balancing being a parent and often to multiple children.  You are saints! We are experiencing this situation at the Connell House too!  We are all in this together!  I am here to help!  My approach is to think "simply."  There are three key academic basics that we all know children need to focus on in order to enhance learning and they are: reading, writing, and arithmetic.  I will

Hello Second Grade Families, It's with a heavy heart that I am sending you this email.  Within the last 4 days, it has become evident that our country is facing a challenge with the Coronavirus.  As I know you are now aware, schools across the country have closed down until at least March 27th,  including ACS.  As a result, this will mean that our children will need a different "untraditional" model for learning.  Today, the ACS staff worked inside their classrooms to prepare learning materials for your children.  ACS will be opened on both Wednesday and Thursday of this week, so that you can stop by the classroom and pick up your child's learning items.  Please also know,  that on top of every child's desk you will find an assortment of learning materials which includes a folder with your child's name on it.  This folder has an assortment of learning activities for your child to work on.  The activities inside this folder are to assist your child in buildi

Hello Second Grade Families, This Thursday, the second graders will experience a "Lenten Retreat" at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church.  After the retreat, the students will return to ACS to have their lunch and recess.  Thank you to all of our parent chaperones who will be driving the students to our wonderful retreat. Please continue reading to stay up to date on everything that will be taking place in the second grade and right here at ACS. ELA Essential question that the students will answer:   How is art connected to the past? Target Skills:  Conclusions, Sequence of Events, Summarize Writing Focus:  Informative Writing Grammar Focus:  Irregular Verbs Spelling Focus:  Suffixes -y -ly -ful Review and Challenge Words:  jumped, saying,  quickly, wonderful ITBS Prep! The students will have mini test prep sessions to prepare them for the upcoming ITBS test that will begin on March 25th. Math The students will be learning about Geometry concepts. Social S

Hello Second Grade Families, Welcome to the month of March!  The month where winter shifts into spring, the season of Lent, and the month where we all hope to have the "Luck of the  Irish."  Here's to a beautiful month up ahead which will be filled with lenten activities and reflections.  On Monday, March 2nd, the second graders will be leading our school wide Rosary in St. Gabriel's Catholic Church at 2:10 pm.  What a beautiful way to begin the month of March.  Please continue reading to discover what will be taking place inside the second grade classroom and right here at ACS. ELA Essential question that the students will answer:   How do friends help each other? Target Skills:  Understanding Characters, Figurative Language, Questions Writing Focus:  Informative Writing Grammar Focus:  Using Adjectives Spelling Focus:  Homophones Review and Challenge Words:  sea,  see,  threw,  through Math The students will complete their lessons on triple digit ad