🌟 2A Weekly Update & Reminders 🌟 

Greetings 2A Families,

What a wonderful week we had in 2A! 💛 I continue to be so proud of this group of kiddos and the classroom community we are building together. Each week, I see more confidence, independence, kindness, and willingness to take risks in their learning.

We worked hard this week, but we also made plenty of time for laughter, connection, and fun! I especially love seeing students encourage one another, celebrate each other’s successes, and step up to help a classmate. Those little moments are what make our classroom such a special place to be. ❤️

🌟 Virtues in 2A

One area I would love to continue growing in 2A is giving students more age-appropriate opportunities to learn about and discuss our Catholic virtues through stories and literature. I recently discovered a series called The 7 Deadly Dragons, which uses engaging stories to help children explore virtues, choices, and character in a way that is accessible and meaningful to them as well as open meaningful discussion 

I would love to begin this series with 2A this year as one of our classroom read-alouds! 📚🐉 My hope is that these stories will spark some wonderful conversations about the virtues we are working to live out each day—both in our classroom and beyond. I’ll be adding the series to our 2A Classroom List as I continue building our collection of books and resources that support our students academically, socially, and spiritually. 💛

🧠 Friday STEM Fun!
One of our favorite additions this year has been our Friday STEM Bags! Students have absolutely loved having time to explore, build, create, problem-solve, and work together. It has quickly become something they look forward to each Friday!

I am currently working on revamping some of our STEM Bags and adding new challenges and materials to keep them fresh and exciting. I’m also hoping to add a couple more 3D printing pens to our classroom collection, as they have quickly become a 2A favorite! It has been so much fun watching students explore, create, problem-solve, and bring their ideas to life. 💡

As I refresh our STEM activities, I’ll be adding a few new materials to our 2A Classroom List. I am always incredibly grateful for the many ways our families support our classroom and help make these extra hands-on learning opportunities possible. Your support, in all its forms, means so much to our little 2A community! 💛

🥤 Thursday Root Beer Floats! 🍦

To celebrate our States of Matter unit, 2A will enjoy root beer floats on Thursday afternoon! Students will get a delicious, hands-on opportunity to connect what we’ve been learning about solids, liquids, and gases to a fun (and tasty!) science experience. Please let me know as soon as possible if your child is not able to participate in this activity by emailing awiley@utmcs.org 

We can’t wait to put our science learning into action—and enjoy a sweet treat along the way! 🧪✨

Thank you, as always, for the incredible support you give your children and our classroom. The partnership between home and school makes such a difference, and I feel very fortunate to have such a wonderful group of families alongside us this year.

I hope everyone has a relaxing and fun weekend! Please give your 2nd grader a big high five from me for another fantastic week. 🌟

Warmly,
Mrs. Wiley 💛

• Mass- Students will celebrate 12:00 mass on Monday, September 14th. Please make sure your child comes to school in full formal dress uniform including shoes. Sweaters are optional for 1st quarter. 

• Parent-Teacher Conferences: Conferences are coming up in a few weeks! The Sign Up is live now, but meetings will held be the week of September 14th. Please sign up at your earliest convenience using the SignUp Genius link. If there is not a time that will work for your family, please let me know and I will do my best to schedule a better time that meets your family's needs. 

• Scholastic Book Order: Scholastic book orders will be sent Wednesday, September 30th.  Shop our class page: https://orders.scholastic.com/XLD8X.  Shop the flyers: https://clubs.scholastic.com/all-flyers/

🏡 Home Connection: Apologizing When We Hurt Others

This week, our social-emotional focus is on how to apologize when our words or actions hurt someone. Mistakes and conflicts are a normal part of growing up! Our goal is to help children understand that a genuine apology isn't just about saying “I'm sorry”—it's about recognizing how our choices affected someone else, taking responsibility, and doing our best to make things right.

💛 The 4 Steps of a Meaningful Apology

At school, we can practice using these simple steps:

1. Say what happened.
“I’m sorry that I __________.”

2. Recognize how it affected the other person.
“I understand that made you feel __________.”

3. Take responsibility.
“I should have __________ instead.”

4. Make it right.
“What can I do to help make things better?”

We are also learning that an apology doesn't always mean everything feels better immediately. Sometimes the other person needs a little time—and part of apologizing is respecting that, too.

📚 Read Together

A few wonderful books that can help start conversations at home:

• Sorry (Really Sorry) by Joanna Cotler — A great story about how our actions and attitudes can spread to others—and how kindness can spread, too.

• The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld — A beautiful story about empathy, listening, and what someone may need when they are hurting.

• How to Apologize by David LaRochelle — A funny and child-friendly look at what makes an apology sincere and meaningful.

• The Circles All Around Us by Brad Montague — A wonderful conversation starter about kindness, relationships, and caring for the people around us.

🎥 Watch & Talk Together

Sesame Street: What Is an Apology?
Ann Curry and the Sesame Street characters explain what an apology means in a simple, kid-friendly way.

Shalom Sesame: Saying Sorry
A short example of children recognizing a mistake and apologizing after accidentally breaking something.

💬 Try It at Home!

Role-play a few everyday situations together: accidentally knocking over someone's LEGO creation, saying something unkind when you're frustrated, grabbing something without asking, or getting too rough while playing.

Ask your child:

“What could you say?”
“How do you think the other person might feel?”
“What could you do to make it right?”

Most importantly, remind your child that making a mistake doesn't make someone a bad person. What matters is what we do next. Learning to apologize, repair relationships, forgive, and make a different choice next time are important skills that help us grow into kind, compassionate, and responsible people. ❤️

Our 2A reminder:
🌟 We all make mistakes. We take responsibility, make it right, and try again.

Here’s to another wonderful week in 2A! 🌈📚✏️

Warmly,
Mrs. Wiley ❤️💛

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