Mrs. Woods' 2nd Grade Class 2025-2026
Monday, October 14- Columbus Day- No School.
- Thursday, October 24- No school. It is an academic conference day for the teachers.
- Friday, October 25th: Donate $5 to dress down in honor of SMS celebrating 71 years!
Tests and quizzes for the week:
- Tuesday- Religion…Chapter 3 notes and should be able to identify the 7 sacraments (written separately in notebook).
- Wednesday- Reading…Unit 1 Week 3 notes
- Thursday- Math…Topic 2 Math reteaching workbook pages
- Friday- Math…addition facts (+3 and +4). See addition facts sheet in the math notebook and a sheet was sent home in the SMS folder.
On Friday you received your child’s first progress report. Take a look through and please sign your name on the white label, with your child’s name on it, and return the envelope to school. You should keep the actual progress report for your records.
I will continue to send workbooks home to cover in clear contact paper. If you don’t have a chance to cover on the night the book is sent home, it is okay. Just please be sure to send the book back to school the next day.
In order to continue encouraging the love of reading, I am asking the children to bring to school a book they would like to read during a “free read time” or when they are given a chance to choose an activity. This book will be kept in their seat sack throughout the day for easy access.
During indoor recess, the children are being given the opportunity to bring a coloring book, activity book, wordfind, maze book etc. to school to use during indoor recess. I have these books in school for them to enjoy, but if they would like to bring their own that is fine too. Please be sure to put your child’s name on it.
Ice cream Fridays are going well and the children are enjoying their treats. If your child will be purchasing ice cream, please place the money in your child’s lunch box. By doing this, your child will definitely have his/her money in the lunchroom at lunchtime. Otherwise the money may be left in the classroom. All items are $1.00.
Religion- In religion class this week we will learn about Chapter 4 which focuses on Baptism. The children will discover more about Jesus, the sacraments, and the ways we worship God. The children enjoy recalling their experiences at the Baptism ceremonies of friends and family or as they relate stories of their own Baptisms. Please feel free, it is not mandatory, to send in a Baptism picture from your child's Baptism day. If a Baptism picture is not convenient to send or not available you can send in a baby photo of your child. We will display these pictures until they receive their next sacrament in March.
Math- We will begin Topic 3 this week in Math {Add within 100 Using Strategies}. Topic 3 introduces 2-digit addition strategies. It is an important topic, and addition facts fluency will be important. Please help your child to practice these on a daily basis.
Reading- This week the children will review how to write complete sentences. A complete sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought and has words in an order that makes sense. Every sentence ends in an end mark. It is very important that the children write in complete sentences when expressing their thoughts. Through Places We Go, our reading selection, we will integrate reading and social studies. We will explore main idea and supporting details and use graphic organizers.
A gentle reminder that our in-person Parent/Teacher Conferences will be on Thursday, November 21. Please be on the lookout for an email enabling you to sign up for a conference by choosing a time slot.
October has arrived and has continued to bring beautiful weather. I hope everyone had a great weekend! Here are some important dates and events to remember:
Tuesday, October 8- Band begins.
Friday, October 11- SMS Spirit Day. The children are encouraged to dress in school colors, blue and gold. When Catholic Schools Week arrives in January, we will be on the blue team.
Friday, October 11- Half Day…11:00 A.M. dismissal
Monday, October 14- Columbus Day- No school
Thursday, October 24- No school. It is an academic conference day for the teachers.
Tests and quizzes to be given this week- Math quiz on Wednesday, October 9
on 0, 1 and 2 addition facts. An addition facts sheet can be found in the math notebook and one will be in the SMS folder on Monday to be kept at home.
- Spelling test on Friday, October 11 Lesson 1.4
* *There will be a Religion Test on Tuesday, October 15 on Ch 3 notes.
In order to continue encouraging the love of reading, I am asking the children to bring to school a book they would like to read during a “free read time” or when they are given a chance to choose an activity. This book will be kept in their seat sack throughout the day for easy access.
During indoor recess, the children are being given the opportunity to bring a coloring book, activity book, wordfind, maze book etc. to school to use during indoor recess. I have these books in school for them to enjoy, but if they would like to bring their own that is fine too. Please be sure to put your child’s name on it.
Ice cream Fridays are going well and the children are enjoying their treats. If your child will be purchasing ice cream, please place the money in your child’s lunch box. By doing this, your child will definitely have his/her money in the lunchroom at lunchtime. Otherwise the money may be left in the classroom. All items are $1.00.
Religion- This week, we will focus on Ch 3 (continued from last week) where we celebrate God’s love. We will discuss how as Catholics we belong to the Catholic Church. We become part of the church at Baptism. As Catholics, we celebrate God’s love by praying and worshipping. Our faith is a gift from God and we worship, praise and give thanks to God. We celebrate with seven special signs called sacraments:
Baptism
Confirmation
Eucharist
Penance/Reconciliation
Anointing of the Sick
Matrimony
Holy Orders
We will also be focusing on Respect Life Lessons during our religion classes this week.
Math- This week we will work on Topic 2 {Working with Equal Groups}. This topic focuses on identifying odd and even numbers and repeated addition using arrays. It reinforces the connection between repeated addition and multiplication.
Reading- The children will be reading selection 1.3, Places We Go, their first informational text selection. They will begin to learn how to identify the main idea and details in a selection. During this week, they will be introduced to a main idea/supporting details graphic organizer.
I have noticed that many of the children’s handwriting could be a lot neater. They do not pay attention to the appropriate height of letters and use uppercase and lowercase letters randomly. I would like for the children to pay more attention to their handwriting and for them to realize that handwriting does count. We will be practicing in class to finetune their printing skills. There will be a page placed in the front of their spelling book and one to go home in their SMS folders which shows proper letter formation.
Enjoy the rest of the day and have a happy week ahead. I am so grateful to be working with such a wonderful group of children. If you have any questions, please let me know. Thank you!
I hope you had a great weekend! It was so nice to see so many parents on Thursday at our Back to School Night. I would like to thank Mrs. McKenna (Sean’s mom) and Mrs. McLaughlin (Johnny’s mom) for volunteering to be the class moms for 2W this year. They will be greatly involved in organizing our class events. You will be hearing from them over the course of the year as they will plan and arrange class celebrations and act as a liaison between the HSA (Home School Association) and second grade parents.
Friday, October 4- Feast of St. Francis Mass at 10:00 AM. All are welcome to attend.
Friday, October 4- Library begins.
Tuesday, October 8- Band begins.
Friday, October 11- SMS Spirit Day. The children are encouraged to dress in school colors, blue and gold.
Friday, October 11- Half Day…11:00 AM dismissal
Monday, October 14- Columbus Day- No school.
Tests to be given this week- Tuesday, October 1- Religion Chapter 2 notes
Wednesday, October 2 -Math Topic 1 review reteaching notes
Thursday, October 3 -Spelling Lesson 1.3
Friday, October 4- Reading Unit 1 Selection 2
I am going to start sending home the children’s workbooks, one at a time, to be covered in clear contact paper. If you do not have the paper available, or it is not a convenient day for covering, please send the book back to school the next day because we will be using it in class. I will send it home at another time.
Ice cream Fridays are going well and the children are enjoying their treats. If your child will be purchasing ice cream, please place the money in your child’s lunch box. By doing this, your child will definitely have his/her money in the lunchroom at lunchtime. Otherwise the money may be left in the classroom. All items are $1.00.
Please continue to review the SMS folder on a daily basis. There are two sides to the folder. One is for items that should be reviewed and kept at home. The other is for items that should be reviewed and returned to school. In addition, please send a note to school in your child’s SMS folder (not homework pad) if your child will change from his/her normal dismissal. If something happens during the school day that will change your child’s dismissal you can email me to make me aware. If I do not respond to your email, assume that I did not see it and call the office. This call should be made before 2:00 P.M.
Religion- This week, after the religion quiz, we will focus on Ch 3 where we celebrate God’s love. We will discuss how as Catholics we belong to the Catholic Church. We become part of the church at Baptism. As Catholics, we celebrate God’s love by praying and worshipping. Our faith is a gift from God and we worship, praise and give thanks to God. We celebrate with seven special signs called sacraments:
Baptism
Confirmation
Eucharist
Penance/Reconciliation
Anointing of the Sick
Matrimony
Holy Orders
Math- This week we will complete Topic 1. The topic presents a variety of strategies that can be used to fluently add and subtract within 20. The children are more comfortable with certain strategies than others. They will be focusing on explaining the basis for their answers and paying attention to all parts of a question. Throughout the year, the children will be learning how to explain their reasoning and how to use a variety of strategies effectively.
Addition facts have been placed in your child’s math notebook. I will also send a copy home. It should remain at home in a safe place where it can be reviewed and studied. Next week I will begin quizzing them on a few groups at a time starting with the 0, 1 and 2 addition facts.
Reading- At the end of the week we will begin Unit 1 Selection 3. The story is Places We Go. The genre is informational text. The comprehension focus is the main idea. The phonics focus is consonant blends. Our HFW are more, things, sound. Our vocabulary words are community, services, librarian, supermarkets and hospital. Notes can be found in their reading notebook toward the end of the week.
Welcome to the first day of fall! It has been a beautiful weekend. I wanted to share with you some important dates and events:
Monday, September 23- Lunch program begins
Monday, September 23- Band forms are due
Tuesday, September 24- First Holy Communion Meeting for all those receiving the sacrament of First Holy Communion
Thursday, September 26- Back to School Night from 6:00-8:00 PM
Friday, September 27- SMS Spirit Day- Dress down day. The children can dress in blue and gold.
On Friday, I sent home the students’ assessment folders. When this folder is sent home, please review the papers, sign each assessment and return the folder with the signed assessments.
In our religion lessons this week, we see how Jesus gathered those who followed him as his disciples. Jesus’ twelve chosen disciples became his Apostles. After Jesus’ resurrection he sent the Holy Spirit to his disciples to help and guide them.
The children did a great job on their spelling test last week. The test focused on words with short vowel sounds. This week the spelling words contain long vowel sounds with a CVCe pattern. The first vowel usually has a long sound and the e is silent. Our spelling test will take place this Thursday 9/26.
This week there will be a reading test on Wednesday, 9/25. The notes for this test are in your child’s reading notebook. It is Unit 1, Week 1 How Many Stars in the Sky? This week’s HFW, vocabulary and comprehension of the selection will be emphasized. The concept of character and setting are also explored this week. The weekly selections will always be read at least twice in class.
In math we will continue Topic 1. We are exploring a variety of strategies for remembering math facts. Some of these strategies include number lines, “making a ten” to subtract, using near doubles and using addition to solve subtraction problems.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. I look forward to seeing many of you on Thursday evening at Back to School Night.
I am happy to report that our second graders had a great first full week of school. They were wonderful! Here are some important dates and events to remember:
Wednesday, September 18- HSA Meeting in-person from 7:30-8:30 P.M. in the cafeteria (optional)
Handbook and School Sign off sheets are due by Friday, September 20. Please submit earlier if possible.
Lunch program begins on Monday, September 23.
Back to School Night is on Thursday, September 26.
At this point you have seen your child’s SMS folder. This folder will go home each day and should be returned to school each day. This folder will contain homework assignments, important notices or notes. If you have information to share, a note should be sent in the folder or an email can be sent to mwoods@saintmargaretschool.com. The folder acts as an open means of communication.
Your children’s homework will be written in their assignment pads each day. Please review and sign your child's assignment pad every day, including Fridays. Sometimes, in addition to homework assignments, the homework pad might include important reminders or updates. Although I will not be assigning required homework on Fridays, it is always best to check the assignment pad on Friday in case there is a message or your child has make-up work to complete. Also please contact me if your child is having difficulty with any of the homework assignments. All homework is reinforcement of work taught in school.
The children have 4 marble notebooks. One is for religion, one reading, another math and the last is for spelling. The children brought home their reading and spelling notebooks this weekend. Each book has notes for the week. These notes will be used for tests that will take place this upcoming week. I will confirm tomorrow the day each test will be given this week.
This week’s spelling/phonics focus shows the children that CVC pattern (consonant-vowel-consonant pattern), like cat, or a CVCC pattern (consonant-vowel-consonant-consonant pattern), like mess, usually produces words with short vowel sounds. Even if your child is an advanced reader or speller, and spells the list words easily, it is important that he/she understands the weekly strategy that is being highlighted in our weekly list.
In math this week, we will continue to work on Topic 1. In this topic, the children will review ways to add and subtract fluently within 20. Mastery of basic math facts is essential to success in second grade. Their doubles sheet should be at home and they will be tested on these facts on Wednesday.
I hope this information helps and I look forward to seeing you at Back to School Night. Enjoy the week ahead.