2nd Grade Mrs. Oines

Congratulation to our 2^nd graders for receiving their First Reconciliation!  God has blessed them with His love and forgiveness.  I’m so proud of them!  We will participate in reconciliation during the upcoming Advent season.

I enjoyed meeting with all of you at conferences.  Your children are wonderful and they love to learn!  Please contact me anytime during the year if you’d like to check in.

Our Learning

Math: Continue working on place value, skip counting and #s up to 1,000.  New skill: adding 2 digit numbers.  We are learning how to regroup (used to be called carrying) the ones to the tens place. 

Religion: We’re learning about different saints, the virtue of the month: generosity and celebrated World Kindness Day (11/13).

Zones of Regulation/Social Skills:

Ms. Shaw taught us the “Talk it Out” strategy.  We did role-playing to practice this strategy to solve small problems.

I feel _____ when you _____. Can you please __________?

Mrs. Dahlgren, our recess manager, taught two lessons about friendship and tolerance.

S.S.: We completed our Washington State landform book and took a test to show what we learned.

S.S. New Learning: This week we began learning about Thanksgiving today and Thanksgiving in 1621, so we can put together a Now and Then poster next week.

We started off by sharing what we do for Thanksgiving with our families. Then we looked back 400 years to when Pilgrims came and settled on Wampanoag land, near present day Massachusetts. These Native Americans had lived there for thousands of years before Europeans came.  We learned how the Pilgrims and Wampanoag had made an alliance and lived peacefully for a generation.   They had a thanksgiving meal together to show gratitude for the harvest.  It lasted three days and it included delicious foods that likely are not on your present-day Thanksgiving table such as waterfowl, venison, lobster, clams, berries, fruits, and squash.

After this generation of peace the Native Americans throughout our present-day country were forced from their land, enslaved and forced to give up their languages and traditions.  We spend time teaching this difficult history so that Native peoples are respected and honored and so we can fight racism and injustice.  One way we can be mindful of our nation’s past is land acknowledgement.  It goes like this:

“On behalf of Mrs. Oines’ 2nd Grade Class, I acknowledge the land on which we stand today as the traditional home of the Coast Salish people, the traditional home of all tribes and bands within the Duwamish, Suquamish, Tulalip and Muckleshoot nations.”

Today there are about 5,000 Wampanoag people living mostly in Massachusetts and there is a movement to restore their nearly lost language.  Parents are encouraged to learn along with us!  Follow this link for more information about Pilgrims and Native Americans: Havest Ceremony Beyond the Thanksgiving Myth

Go to these websites to see some of the amazing reenactment videos we watched of a Pilgrim village and Wampanoag village.

https://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/webcast.htm

Important Dates:

Help for the Homeless – Kit Making – Tuesday, November 19^th , 6:30-8 in Egan Hall.  All welcome to help. Thank you for all the donations!

Grandparent’s Day November 21^th – Grandparents come to the classrooms between 10:45-11:00 to see the classroom.  Then Grandparents will escort the 2^nd grader to Egan Hall.  No hot lunch on November 15^th.  Bring a lunch to share with Grandparents.

Saint Vincent de Paul Food bank is accepting donations for families in need.  Please send in non-perishable food, no glass.   Thank you for your support!

God bless you and your family!

Mrs. Oines

Hello Parents,

We’ve had another full week of fun, learning and peace-making.  I enjoyed talking with many families at conferences last Monday.  I’m really proud of the 2nd Graders and know we’re going to learn so much this year!  I had some computer problems, so was delayed in getting information to you.  Here’s what we’ve been working on the past two weeks.

Have a great time trick-or-treating tonight!!  All Saint’s mass is tomorrow at 9am.

Our Learning:

Science and Engineering:  We completed our engineering challenge.  We made two different tall towers from different materials.  First we made a tall tower from straws, sticks, rubber bands, cardboard and foil.  We measured the tower and draw a diagram of it.  The next week we tried to make taller towers in the Maker’s Space, using toothpicks and candies.  We reflected on the planning, building and success of our towers.  Ask you child which tower was taller and why?

Social Studies: We are learning about landforms and maps in 2nd grade.  We’ve been making a flip book about the landforms and bodies of water in Washington State.  Ask your child: How tall is Mt. Rainier?  How many islands are in WA state?  What is a plateau and gorge?

Math: Place value and comparing/ordering numbers.

• Ways to make numbers: Expanded form: 200+30+ 5= 235 , word form two hundred thirty-five, 2 hundreds, 3 tens, 5 ones.
• 128 > 109,  243 < 284  and  105 = 105
• least to greatest (12, 21, 102, 120, 201, 210).

Writing/Grammar:  We are writing complete sentences with capitals, complete thoughts and punctuation.  We are learning which words always get a capital and practicing every day.  Fall paragraph: We began the prewriting for The Best Things about Fall.

Zones of Regulation strategy: SIZE of the PROBLEM.   A person’s reaction should match the size of their problem.  We read many scenerios and decided if the problem was small, medium or big.  Check your child’s folder for the size of a problem puzzle we did.  I ask kids to try to solve their own small problems before asking me for help.

1. Small problems are solved best by talking it our calmly, ignoring it, choosing something else to do or taking deep breaths.

2. Medium problems are solved best by raising your hand for help, walking away, asking a friend for help or calming down before solving it.

3.  Big problems need adult help right away.

Religion: It’s peace month!  We’ve been noticing peaceful acts, reading books about peace and practicing peaceful breathing.

We are ready for 1st Reconciliation!  We have reviewed the steps for this sacrament and practiced the Act of Contrition every day.  The children have learned that God’s love means he forgives us of our sins and helps us do better next time.  God always loves us no matter what!  We can always go to God with our problems and get help.  The sacrament of Reconciliation helps heal our hearts and makes us feel light, happy, relaxed and forgiven.  The 2nd graders will then receive the sacrament of Reconciliation during Advent and Lent at school.

Coming Up:

November 1st – All Saint’s mass @ 9am – wear dress uniform (white shirt, blue sweatshirt with logo).

Friday, Nov. 8th – No School for Conferences

Monday, Nov. 11th – No School in honor of Veteran’s Day

Nov. 27-29 – No School for Thanksgiving Break

Tower Building and Halloween Carnival

Hello 2nd Grade Families,

It’s been another great week!  Here are the highlights and information to know…

Meet Ashley:  St. John School and Parish are very excited to announce a partnership with Unbound-a charity that allows us to directly help children in need.  The 2^nd Grade classes will be sponsoring, Ashley, a 7-year old girl from Costa Rica.  Her birthday is 5/11/12.  She has two brothers, a sister, mom and dad.  She walks to school and enjoys PE, singing, dancing and jumping rope.  She lives with her family is a house in poor condition.  In her community, there is a lot of social risk.  We will support her by praying, sending her letters and the children can donate $1 a month.  We will collect $1 every first Friday of the month.  Thank you for your support!

Orcas! Our orca certificates arrived!! We adopted a Southern Resident orca, named Eclipse, age 14.  The children’s donations support orca recovering and research.  You can help too!  Orca Recovery Day was Saturday, Oct. 19, Go to https://betterground.org/ord/ to see how your family can participate in many volunteer opportunities to help our orcas.

Math: We are learning about place value.  Numbers are organized into place values- ones, tens, hundreds, thousands.  We learned that numbers can be represented in standard form (153), expanded form (100+50+3) and word form (one hundred fifty-three).  Ask your child…how many tens are that number? What is ten more than 125?  Can you skip count by tens past 100?

Religion: This month’s kindness virtue is: PEACE.  We brainstormed ways to be peaceful, practice mindful breathing to feel peaceful and learned how Jesus can bring us peace through prayer.  We tried this simple, yet powerful prayer, “I am in Jesus. Jesus is me.  I am in peace.”  We also prayed a decade of the rosary in the church, using our class set of rosaries.  The Kindness mass was a highlight of the week – beautiful singing, prayers and reflecting on kindness!

Writing: It’s fall!  We did a prewriting activity to brainstorm fall topics and details to go with the topic.  Then we used the prewriting to write fall sentences.

STEM/Engineering: We enjoyed playing our 5^th grade buddies’ games in the Maker’s Space on Wednesday. They made the games from cardboard and found items.  We were inspired to do our own engineering.  On Thursday, the kids were challenged to build a tall tower using a straw, popsicle stick, rubber band, piece of foil and piece of cardboard – but no tape!  In small groups, the kids figured out how to connect the supplies and create a tall tower. After building, the kids measured their tower in inches and drew a diagram of their tower.  It was really fun too!  Next week, we will try to build an even taller tower out of different supplies.

Next Week:

Tuesday, Oct. 22: School Photos & Greenwood library @ 12:50, to check out books.

Wednesday, Oct. 23: 2^nd grade goes to the Maker’s Space for tower building

Monday, Oct. 28: No School – Conferences

I pray daily for your and your children.  Please pray for me too! God bless you!

Mrs. Oines

Hello 2nd Grade Families,

MAP testing is complete!  The kids did a great job persisting through the math, reading and language tests.  We will review the testing scores and other work at the upcoming conferences.  Sign up for conferences here: https://www.signupgenius.com/tabs/5317fd70fa2c3e95-studentparenttea

Flat Stanley– A 2^nd grader’s Flat Stanley has returned home!  Hooray!  Next step: Get the sharing form from me and choose a day to share.  If you haven’t mailed Flat Stanley, do so this week!  This is our most important school project in 2^nd Grade.

Homework– I assign homework Monday-Thursday to be completed each day.  It comes in the packet on Mondays with a cover sheet to explain each assignment.  Please check the box when the homework is completed.  If your child is unable to complete and needs more time, just write me a note on the homework cover sheet. 

Math– We worked on subtraction concepts – including fact families, writing subtraction equations to solve stories problems, vocabulary (difference) and setting up problems always using the big # first (10-4, not 4-10).  Next week, we’ll start place value concepts. Example: 235, expanded form 200+30+5, word form two hundred thirty-five, model using place value blocks.

Reading– In reading groups we are focusing on retelling the beginning, middle and end or stories aloud and written. We spend time reading good-fit books every day.

Religion– We are practicing different forms of prayer. Prayer circle in the morning is petition prayer.  Monday Messages led by 8^th graders is intercession prayer.  Adoration in the chapel every Thursday is praising & adoring God.  The Act of Contrition prayer is asking for forgiveness.  We will review and learn more about praying the rosary next week. 

Grammar – We do daily grammar so that your child will understand the uses and meaning for capitalization and punctuation in writing.  We learned to capitalize months, days of the week and to include a comma.  Ex: Today is Friday, October 11, 2019.  You can help by guiding your child to begin sentences with a capital letter and end with punctuation.

Zones of Regulation: We learned our first tool to manage our zones – mindful breathing.  We sit still, feet on the floor, breathe in, hold for moment, slowly exhale, repeat.  Next, we will practice mindful breathing to create peace inside and peace with others.  Peace is the virtue of the month.  We will also review how to pray the rosary and spend time practicing peacefulness in prayer.

Dates:

Reconciliation Class, 7pm

Kindness Mass, Wednesday, October 16th @ 9:00 – all are welcome! Dress uniform (white shirt, blue sweatshirt).

Hearing and Vision screening, October 17th

Jog-a-thon Celebration Day, FREE DRESS – We passed our goal – $82,000!!

God bless you!

Mrs. Oines

Hello 2nd Grade Families,

I hope you are enjoying a great fall weekend!  I get to hear all about your weekends every Monday when the kids write their Weekend News!  Every week, the kids are writing a little bit more.  I spent the weekend in my yard weeding and pruning to get ready for fall.  I also tried out a delicious vegetable-chicken soup recipe.  My daughters went with their grandma to see Black Beauty at the Seattle Children’s Theater.

The 2^nd graders will complete 3 days of MAP testing this Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  We will focus on putting forth great effort and using persistence when it gets hard.  We will review the MAP scores and discuss your child’s strengths and areas of growth at the upcoming conferences. A signup genius will be sent to you.

Last week’s learning:

Social Studies: We’re learning about the parts of a map: compass rose, key, scale and title, using student atlases.  We made beautiful compass roses and they are posted in the classroom.  We’ll be making our own maps this week.

Where in the world is FLAT STANLEY? I hope Stanley and Flat-self are off on their adventure!

***When Flat Stanley returns to you, please email me.***   I will send you a sharing paper for your child to complete.  After that, your child will present where Stanley went to the class and they will mark where Stanley went on our class maps.  I will keep all project materials until the end of the school year.  We will display all class’ Flat Stanley projects at our Open House in June.

Math: We continued to work on math fact strategies like fact families, doubles and make a ten.  We also worked on skip counting by 5s and 10s.  We know many games to play by with someone or by ourselves.  Ms. Gudaitis, our math specialist, leads a problem solving lesson every Friday.  Students can use xtramath.org to practice math facts at school and home.  I sent a signup form home.  Let me know if you need help signing up.

Religion: We practiced praying the Act of Contrition (the I’m sorry prayer).  God’s love and forgiveness are bigger than anything we can imagine.  We talked about how each day is a new start and that we can talk to God when we make poor choices.  We spend time praying every Thursday in the chapel for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

Reading: We are reading and then retelling the beginning, middle and end of stories.

Phonics: reviewing short vowels and using our phonics book for the first time.  Spelling homework begins this week.

Handwriting: We started reviewing correct letter formation.  You can help!  All letters, tall: b, d, h, k, l, t, and small: a, c, i, n, m, x, v, w, z are written top to bottom.  No letters strokes should be written bottom to top.  If you see your child writing letters bottom to top, show them the correct formation.

Zones of Regulation: We are making a zones of regulation book to help us manage our feelings.  We will start learning strategies to use when we are upset, frustrated or anxious.

Dates:

Vision and Hearing Screening: October 17^th

School Pictures: October 22nd

Greenwood Library Field Trip: October 22nd, 12:50

Thank you for all you do to help our school!  You are very appreciated!

Blessings,

Mrs. Oines

Hello wonderful parents!

JOG-A-THON!  Thank you so much for the donations made so far.  We will continue to collect pledges through the end of the month so it’s not too late to donate or get your corporate matching dollars in.

Where is Flat Stanley and Flat Self?  Many of the Flat Stanleys are traveling the globe and enjoying fun adventures with family and friends.  If you haven’t mailed the envelope, do so right away.  When the envelope returns to you, contact me.  I will give your child the sharing form to complete and choose a day to share with the class.

Xtramath.org: Your child will use this website or app to practice math fact fluency at school.  They are welcome to practice math facts at home too.  I sent home a flier this week for you to sign you up.  Let me know if you need any help with signing up.

Volunteers – If you volunteer, you must take the Safe Environment Training.   Next training is October 1, 6:30-9 in Egan Hall.
https://st-johnschool.org/2019/09/26/safe-environment-training-october-1-2/

First Reconciliation and Communion: If you are interested in registering for the St John Parish First Communion program this year, there is still time. Opening Prayer Service is this coming Monday, September 30^th, at 7pm in the Church! Link to the registration form:

http://stjohnsea.org/About/Sacraments/FirstReconciliationandFirstCommunion/tabid/307/Default.aspx

Homework:  Next week we will practice spelling in class, but not for homework.  Spelling lists will go home with the homework on Mondays and students will have a test on Fridays.

Zones of Regulation-  We are continuing to learn about the different zones we are in through the day.  We can often tell what zone other people are in based on their facial expressions.  Reading facial cues is an important skill for children to learn.  We are guessing a character’s zone during story time to practice reading facial cues.

Blue – Moving and thinking slowly (tired, sick, sad, lonely)

Green- Good to go! I’m calm and ready to learn. (focused, calm, happy, ready to learn)

Yellow- Caution, I’m starting to lose control. (frustrated, silly, anxious, worried, upset)

Red- STOP, I’ve lost control. (angry, terrified, elated, yelling)

Religion:

• Memorizing Act of Contrition
• Adoration on Thursday
• Morning, lunch, snack and closing prayer

Reading:

• Practicing choosing a good-fit book
• Began reading groups
• Phonics workbook practice
• Retelling the 5 W’s to retell a story – Who, What, Where, When and Why.

Math:

• Continue reviewing math fact strategies and vocabulary
  • Counting on (8 + 3 is 8, 9, 10, 11)
  • Counting back (12 – 3 is 12, 11, 10, 9)
  • Make a ten (7 + 5 is 5 + 5 = 10, 10 + 2 = 12)
  • Doubles and Near Doubles (8 + 9 is 8 + 8 = 16, 16 + 1 = 17)
  • Sum and Addend
  • Difference
• Math games: Guess my Number, Addition Bump and Connect Four
• Math Centers every Thursday

Social Studies– We are learning how to read a map. We located and labeled our continent, country, state and city by making a Me on Map book.

Read Aloud Book: Lulu and the Brontosaurus

 Dates:

MAP Testing (Measures of Academic Progress): October 8-10, 12-1pm.

2^nd Graders will take the math, reading and language skills test.  Each test is taken on the ipad and takes 30-60 minutes each.

Book orders due by October 1^st.  Thank you to Amy G. for organizing the book orders!

God bless you!

Mrs. Oines

Hello Parents,

The Jog-a-thon was a blast today!  We were blessed with pleasant weather and many cheering fans.   Your kids ran and ran for Saint John!  We are so thankful for your support and appreciate all the donations you collected.  God bless you!

Flat Stanley has started his travels around the globe.  If you still have the envelope, now is the time to mail Flat Stanley so his adventure can begin.  Reminders: When Flat Stanley returns to you, contact me.  I will send home a  sharing page for your child to complete.  Then your child will chose a date to present the sharing page,  pictures or things that they got back.  Finally, they will make the place that Stanley traveled on our US or world map.

STAR Reading Test – check your child’s folder for the reading test results.  You keep this copy.  The report will show you what reading level your child is currently reading.  This can help you select good-fit books.  If you need help choosing books for your child, let me know.

Library cards – Students will get their library cards on our first field trip.  Our first trip to Greenwood is this Tuesday @ 12:50 – return permission slips now. . On Greenwood library days, students can bring their own card or get it from me.  I keep a box of cards in the classroom.  Decide if you would rather I keep a card in the classroom or your child keeps in at home or in their backpack.

Adopt an orca – Our class adopted a Southern Resident orca named Eclipse.  You can read about her here: https://whalemuseum.org/collections/meet-the-whales The donations your children gave go to orca conservation and education.  In a few weeks our certificates will arrive.

Safety Lesson about Gifts and Secrets:  We had our safety lesson this week.  They learned: It is wrong for an adult or another child to ask a child to keep a gift a secret from his or her parents.  It is okay to say “no” when they feel uncomfortable or confused by how an older person is acting—even if the older person is someone they love and trust. You can speak up and tell a trusted adult when someone’s behavior makes them feel uncomfortable or uneasy.

Zones of Regulation– The Zones of Regulation is a conceptual framework used to teach students self regulation and self control. This curriculum teaches students to use strategies or tools to help them move between zones. The Zones of Regulation categorizes states of alertness and emotions into four colored zones.

We started learning about each zone this week by name emotions/feelings, sorting emotions into the four zones and starting our Zone folder of feelings.

After we learn to recognize what zone we are in, we’ll practice “tools” to manage each of our zones.  You can help by asking “what zone are you in now?”

To learn more, read this parent information powerpoint: Zones of Regulation Parent Presentation

Math facts and strategies: We’re learning games to play by ourselves and with a partner.  We started doing some practice pages from our workbook.

Grammar skills – Most days we do a short grammar lesson that includes capitals, punctuation, parts of speech and sentence combining.

Reading groups- Next week we will begin reading groups.  I meet with each group 2-3 times a week to work on a reading strategy.  The children who are not reading with me do silent reading or a reading assignment independently.

Dates:

Tuesday, September 24th – Greenwood library field trip – bring library cards.

Wednesday, September 25th – All School Mass – DRESS UNIFORM means wear the blue logo sweatshirt and white shirt.

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Oines

Hello Parents,

It was great to meet you on Curriculum Night!  We are off to a fantastic start in 2nd Grade.  Thank you to all of you who expressed interest in helping with projects and volunteering.  Here is a review of the most important information shared that night.

• Flat Stanley and Flat Self came home today!  Mail the manila envelope to a friend or family member as soon as possible.  Choose someone who is out of state or out of the U.S.  When Flat Stanley returns home tell Mrs. Oines.  Then, your child will get a form to fill out and a date to share with the class.
• Greenwood Library– complete library card application and permission slip by September 20.
• We are PEANUT FREE classroom.
• Student Work sent home in Take Home Folder
• Homework: Monday-Thursdays with occasional projects.
• Keep up the Jog-a-thon fundraising!  We’ll be running 9/20 at 2:00.  Come join the fun!

This Week:

• Orca Conservation:  We made posters to share ways to help orcas.  Help your child choose a place to display the poster at a coffee shop, house window, grocery store, telephone pole, dance studio, bus stop etc.  We will be adopting an orca next week through the whalemuseum.org.  Students can bring in $1 next week or do a small job to earn a $1.  We can make a difference for the Puget Sound and our orcas.
• Good-fit Books: We reviewed how to choose a good-fit book and spent time reading each day.  Each child has a book box to keep school-library, Greenwood library and classroom books.
• Magnifikid weekly magazine– Your child gets a subscription to MagnifiKid from the Saint John Parish.  It comes home every Friday.  Take the MagnifiKid with you to mass to help your child follow along.  It includes:
  • All the readings and the prayers of the Sunday Mass with explanations of the difficult words and the meaning of the rituals;
  • A suggested prayer for Morning and Evening;
  • Many suggestions on how to live the entire week with the Lord;
  • Various games, a comic, and activities to help children learn about Christ

Have a wonderful weekend!

Mrs. Oines

Welcome back to school!  It’s been a busy, fun first week of 2nd Grade.  I’m looking forward to meeting you at Curriculum Night.  Be sure to come so you can hear all about 2nd grade, our projects, field trips and volunteer opportunities.

Curriculum Night – Please join us on Thursday, September 12, 7pm, in Egan Hall.

After school pick-up location change

Starting Monday, pick up your child at the morning drop off spot. We need adults to come to our line for pick up as we are still getting to know parents.  Do not have your child run to you, instead meet us along the fence so we are sure your child has been picked up.

Playpit after school

Only supervised children are allowed in the playpit after school from 3-3:15.  No teachers are supervising the playpit after school.  When the whistle blows, exit the playpit so the daycare can use the space.  Thank you!

Jog-a-thon fundraising starts now!  Thank you for supporting our school.

Specialist Schedule – Starting Monday, your child will have the following specialist schedule:

Art – Thursday, 2:10-2:50

Have a wonderful weekend!

Mrs. Oines

Welcome to the new school year!  My amazing teacher assistant, Mrs. Morris, and I have been busy getting the classroom set up for our new 2nd Graders.  We are very excited to welcome the students on the first day.  We will meet in our line spot along the Quigley fence each morning and will enter the building at 8:15.  Please bring a water bottle, a snack and school supplies on the first day.  School is dismissed at noon on the first day.  You will pick up your child on the playground between the portables and the alley entering the playground.

Our class is known as the Outstanding Orcas.  We begin the year learning about our local orca, the Southern Resident pods J, K and L.  You may have been reading about our orcas’ struggles in the news.  Do you know about the orca named Granny?  Do you know what our orcas eat?  Do you know where these orcas travel?  Your child will be able to wow you with orca facts and learn to appreciate our beautiful Puget Sound.

Here are a few our our local orcas…

J-35 Tahlequah 21 years old – She was in the news last summer because her calf died at birth.  She pushed her calf for 17 days.  People around the world heard this story.

J-16 Slick 47 years old

J-46 Star 10 years old

J-45 Se-Yi’-Chn 10 years old

J-51 Nova 4 years old

Welcome back to school!  I’m excited to meet you and get started on a terrific year!

Mrs. Oines