M r s . G a e rt n e r & M r s . C a r ro l l
A l l s a i n t s c at h o l i c s c h o o l
Second grade News
December adventures
As we entered the Christmas season, our focus at All Saints Catholic School was Advent, and
preparing our hearts for Jesus. All classrooms had an Advent wreath. Each Monday at
announcements, an Advent prayer was said as we lit the appropriate candles. The second
graders made their own advent wreath picture from colored paper. Each Monday of advent, the
students added the paper flame to another candle until all were lit.
The second graders along with the entire school spent weeks preparing for our beautiful
Christmas concert. The concert was held in the sanctuary of St. Mary Church. On the Monday
before the concert, all 3 campuses got together at South campus for a school-wide rehearsal. It
is always fun getting together with our buddies from the other campuses. We were so proud of
our second graders, and all the students, who did a great job performing their songs on the night
of the performance!
In the first week of December we attended a science program at the Golden Rondelle called
Close Encounters of a Chemical Kind, and on December 18th we went to the Marriot
Lincolnshire Theater to see the musical Seussical. Both field trips were very entertaining and
educational. December was a short, but busy month. We hope you have a relaxing Christmas
vacation with your families. We look forward to seeing all of you in the new year!
DECEMBER issue
In this issue:
December Adventures
1
Reading and Language Skills
1
GO MATH!
2
Science, Social Studies and Religion
2
Second grade is Meeting Standards!

READING SKILLS
LANGUAGE SKILLS
Targeted Skills for the month included:
Targeted Skills for the month include:
Phonics skills: Vowel Patterns; e, ee, ea, y, o, oa,
ow, compound words; Review Vowel Patterns; a,
ai, ay; R-controlled ar, or, ore, oar; Consonant
Blends.

Oral language: Making introductions, solving problems, summarizing information

Writing: animal fantasy, friendly letter, narrative poem

Comprehension: Skill; Author’s Purpose, Drawing
Conclusions, Comparing and Contrasting.
Strategy; Questioning, Visualizing, Summarizing.

Subject/verb agreement; choosing correct verbs; verb
tenses

The writing process: Draft, edit, revise, and publish

Vocabulary: antonyms, prefixes
All Saints catholic school
SECOND GRADE IS MEETING STANDARDS
Christmas concert rehearsal
G0 MATH! TARGET MATH SKILLS FOR DECEMBER INCLUDED:
Making Snowflakes

Continue Chapter 4: 2-Digit Addition: Using place value understanding and properties of
operations to add; number and operations in base ten.

Algebra: Breaking apart numbers to add.

Model regrouping for addition.

Modeling and recording 2-digit addition; Writing equations to represent addition;
Solving multistep problems.
SCIENCE SKILLS AND CONCEPTS
Lighting our AdventWreaths
Golden Rondelle Program
SOCIAL STUDIES SKILLS AND CONCEPTS

We have been studying food chains and
food webs

Students learned that living things need
each other to survive.

Students:

Describe how to find a word in a
dictionary and why people use
them
Students learned that a food chain shows
the order in which animals eat plants and
other animals.

Define culture, beliefs, and
language

Food chains start with sunlight and plants.
Plants use sunlight to make its food.

Identify Canada and Mexico and
describe life there

In one food chain, a grasshopper eats the
grass, a frog eats the grasshopper, a snake
eats the frog, and a hawk eats the snake.

Compare the features of a world
map to a globe

Connected food chains are called food
webs. Most animals eat more than one
kind of food.

Contrast shapes of land and water
on globes and maps

Students inferred what would happen in a
food chain if one link in the chain
becomes scarce.
RELIGION
Eating Cousin’s Subs
Concert Rehearsal Day

We have prepared for the Sacrament of Reconciliation and will begin preparing for First Eucharist.

Students whose families are members of Saint Mary, Saint Anne, Mount Carmel, and Holy Rosary celebrated
the Sacrament in December. St. Peter Parish will celebrate it soon. St. Peter will contact parishioners with
the date. Please contact your parish office if you are a member of one of the other parishes for the dates of
First Reconciliation.

We have been blessed to have Deacon Jim of Saint Mary Parish helping prepare the second graders for Reconciliation. The students were brought to the church and were shown how the chairs are set up for the penitents
and the priest during the service. They were also shown the Reconciliation room in Saint Mary Church. The
students watched a role-played confession with Deacon Jim playing the part of the priest and a student playing the part of the penitent.