Christmas Concert

For the past couple of months, the students of St. Sylvester School have been preparing for the annual Christmas concert. Every class in the school had a song to sing in both Spanish and English. Also, the students in grades three through four learned to use a musical instrument to accompany their Christmas tune. Throughout the hallways and in classrooms, the children could be heard working hard to memorize their own integral part of the concert. Their dedication finally paid off last Sunday, December 6th when the school community came together to hear their performance.
The Church pews were packed and the students were nervous, but as soon as the music started, their fears melted away. Each class happily performed their melody under the direction of their music teacher, Ms. Johanna Ortegon. Families took video and photos to capture all of the special moments. The children’s Christmas songs really seemed to usher in the winter season as our first big snowfall came the following day.
After the Christmas concert, the whole St. Sylvester community came back to the school to share in a family potluck. It was a great time for people to spend time together and get to know any new faces in the school. Everyone was kind enough to bring something to share, so that everyone had a meal. Thank you to everyone who joined us for another successful St. Sylvester Christmas Concert and family potluck!

Observing A Butterfly's Life Cycle

As I am sure you have heard, we have some classroom pets in room 109! One month ago today, we received five caterpillars in a jar. We watched them grow dramatically in size and eventually pupate into chrysalis. These chrysalides were then transferred into a larger netted cylinder where they eventually emerged as Painted Lady butterflies. Every child had a chance to sit with the caterpillars, chrysalides and finally butterflies to observe closely these amazing creatures. Every family should have received back their child's caterpillar diary which records some of their observations. We will keep the butterflies in our classroom through their life cycles as it is too cold to let them go outside. I really believe this project helped the students understand life cycles better and is ultimately an unforgettable experience. I have posted pictures here of the butterflies in their pupal stage as well as some students working on their clay models of a butterfly's life cycle.

Halloween!

Happy Halloween! We had a great Halloween in second grade this year. We began the day with the Fun Fair and several students winning goldfish and other exciting prizes. Afterwards, we met up with our buddies to watch Charlie Brown's Great Pumpkin movie. The students also did Halloween themed classwork such as predicting which ghost will spin and making a bar graph, finding all the words that can be spelled with the letters in pumpkin, and writing ghost stories. All of the students looked festive in their costumes and we had many treats to share in our classroom. Thanks for helping make it such a special day and I hope everyone has a happy and safe Halloween!

Red Ribbon Week!

Today we kicked off Red Ribbon Week with an all school prayer service. Not only did we talk about the negative effects of drugs, but we also focused on positive choices we can all make to keep ourselves healthy. Exercising, eating nutritious foods, and getting plenty of sleep were some of the things the students came up with in our discussion. Talk about other ways to stay healthy at home and then practice them!
Tomorrow is a free Wear Red dress down day! The ribbons that your child wore home today can be worn any or all days this week. On Wednesday, the winners of our "Drug Free is the Key" poster contest will be announced. Everyone was very creative with their drawings. We will wrap up our Red Ribbon Week with a visit from police officer Medina on Thursday. He will further discuss positive choices the students can make as they get older. Ask your child what they learned from his visit.

Grapefruit Tasting

This week the second grade read Poppleton and the Grapefruit by Cynthia Rylant. In this story, Poppleton eats grapefruit, even though he hates it, because he hears on the television that it makes you live longer. His "lips turn outside -in" and his face turns green upon eating the grapefruit. Ask your son or daughter how the story ends and what Poppleton learns.

In order to put ourselves in the character's shoes, each second grader did a taste test with grapefruit today. I did not see any outside-in lips or green faces, but I did see a few scrunched up from the sour taste.

As you can see, some students did in fact enjoy the grapefruit, but others said they felt just like Poppleton. Ask you son or daughter how they felt about their grapefruit taste test!

Welcome to Second Grade!

Welcome to the second grade blog! I have included some pictures of important things in our classroom. Ask your son or daughter to let you know more about these specific areas - they should know them well by now! Thank you to all of the parents who attended Back to School Night! I look forward to communicating with you often throughout the 2009-2010 school year!

Last Full Month of School!

I cannot believe it is already May 1st! This is our last full month of school and we have many fun activities planned from this Sunday's Open House to Health and Fitness Week May 11th through the 15th. I hope your son or daughter has already informed you of the most exciting event during May - the performance of A Froggy Day in Lindentown by our very own first and second grade classes. The dress rehearsal will be at 1:00 on Thursday May 28th and the actual performance will be that evening at 7:00! Write it down on your calendar because every single child will have a speaking part in this year's play along with many songs to memorize. Some of you may have already seen speaking parts go home to be practiced. Please help your son or daughter at home with their lines because they will need to be memorized. If you have not seen your son or daughter's part, ask them about it. We have already had two practices and everyone knows their character! We will continue to work hard over the next month. Look for letters in a couple of weeks asking for volunteers to help with costume and set making. And don't forget to mark your calendars for Thursday May 28th at 7:00!

Science Discovery Fair 2009

Today was a busy day for the second grade class here at St. Sylvester School. We began the morning by leading the 8:30 Mass. The second graders have become much better at participating by singing and responding as well as listening during Mass. Please remember that this Sunday is Palm Sunday, so go get your palm branches to honor the last Sunday of Lent and the beginning of Holy Week.

Soon after returning from Mass, we headed down stairs with the rest of grades one through eight to present our discovery fair projects. Every second grade student contributed to both the "Our Solar System" and "Weather Watching" projects in some way. Then, the class was split into two groups to present to the other grades walking around. They were also visited by Mr. Bennett and the science fair judge. Ask your son or daughter which part of the project they were the expert on. Later, we were able to walk around and see the rest of the school's awesome projects. Thanks to the second grade for all of their hard work!


Third quarter report cards went home today. Be sure to look them over and discuss them with your child. Please sign them and send them back next week. Once I note that you have seen them, I will send the copy back home with your child.

St. Patrick's Day Prayer Service

Happy St. Patrick's Day! The second grade did an awesome job today together with the first grade presenting a St. Patrick's Day prayer service to the school. We learned so many interesting things about Saint Patrick this past week including that his birth name was Maewyn, he was kidnapped as a boy, and that he used the shamrock to explain the Blessed Trinity to people in Ireland. Ask your son or daughter about which fact they shared today with the student body. And congratulate them on a job well done!

Terra Nova Testing

The first through eighth grade students at St. Sylvester began Terra Nova testing today. The second grade students did a great job concentrating on their work and trying their best. Please remember that testing will last all week. Your son or daughter should get to bed early, eat a good breakfast, and come to school with three sharpened number two pencils (with usable erasers)! There will be no homework this week, but we will be preparing for April's science fair and beginning our study of cursive in the afternoons after finishing testing. Thanks for your help at home in readying your child for this important week!

Reconciliation: Tuesday, February 24th

Please remember that the celebration of first Reconciliation will be this Tuesday, February 24th at 7:00 PM. Please bring your son or daughter to the church at 6:45 so that the service can start on time. Also, make sure that your child is dressed appropriately for such an important sacramental event (this means no jeans please!). Here are a few key concepts that you should review with your son or daughter:

contrition: being sorry for your sins and promising to not sin again
confession: telling your sins to the priest
penance: a kind act or prayer we do to make up for our sins
absolution: the priest's forgiveness of your sins in God's name

Lastly, practice, practice, practice the Act of Contrition! Each second grader has done a stupendous job readying themselves for this special occasion. I am already so proud of all their hard work! See you on Tuesday night!

Geometry

Here are the winners of our shape making contest! Each group was given seven figure outlines to fill in precisely with pattern blocks. This group of boys won after a lot of teamwork and patience. Everyone did a great job of working together and fitting together these many shapes to make new shapes.

The second grade has also been studying space shapes. These are geometric shapes that basically take up space. It took us three days, lots of glue and patience, but everyone was able to make their own set of space shapes. I hope that they are useful in our continued study of geometry.

Apple Tasting

We celebrated Valentine's Day in many ways today from decorating cookies with our seventh grade buddies to making valentines mailboxes out of old tissue boxes. But one of the most interesting activities we partook in was an apple tasting. Susan Taylor from the Good Food Project came in with several apples for the whole class to try. Ask your son or daughter about the steps to apple tasting: first smell it, then lick it, and finally chew and savor it. Each student chose their favorite variety of apple and wrote it in on the letter sent home. After the tasting, each student was called forward to make an "apple slinky" with a special crank that Susan brought. We all learned a lot about apples and how great they are for us! Look in your son or daughter's folder to find coupons for $3.00 off apples at a local grocery store.

Windsocks!

Today we took advantage of the sixty degree weather by constructing our windsocks and testing them outside. Each student labeled the four cardinal directions on their cardboard pieces and then affixed them to their wooden dowel. Before venturing outside, we checked the weather page in the newspaper to see their prediction. Then, we were ready to test the weatherman's prediction of southwest blowing wind. Overall, most students concluded that the weatherman was partially correct. We recorded mainly south blowing winds - which meant the windsocks were coming right into our faces! Try using your son or daughter's windsock at home with them. Make sure the corner labeled north is facing north and then watch which way the windsock blows!

We will continue to study the weather and seasons over the next couple of weeks. Try to discuss the daily weather at home with your son or daughter. And also ask about any activities or experiments we are doing in school!

Fr. Jose Maria's Classroom Visit

Fr. Jose Maria visited our classroom at the end of the day on Friday. Father took questions from the students about their upcoming celebration of the sacrament of Reconciliation on the evening of February 24th.

Award Winners

There are two awards given in each grade level at the halfway point in the school year and then again at the end of the year. This year our second grade winners are two students who are a great example for their classmates everyday. Congratulations to Nathalia Espinoza and B. J. Antolin! Nathalia was the winner of the Effort Award and B.J. won the Peacemaker Award. Everyone should keep in mind working hard in these important areas of classroom behavior.

P.J. Day!

The students (and even some teachers) were comfortable today! The majority of the students wore pajamas and brought blankets, pillows, and their favorite stuffed animals. We had two periods of D.E.A.R (Drop Everything and Read) during the day. Our first silent reading time was in our classroom after snack time as usual. Then, later in the afternoon, we joined the first grade in their classroom to buddy up for reading all different kinds of books.

Bake Sale for Ms. Perez's Family

Wednesday was a student appreciation day, but we all also spent time at the bake sale which was put together by the kindergarten and first grade classes to help out Ms. Perez's family. Everyone enjoyed themselves and was happy to help out someone from our St. Sylvester community!

School-Wide Olympics

At the end of the day on Tuesday, the entire school community got together for some fun and games! Our school-wide Olympics took place in Schwinn Hall. Every class from Pre-K three year olds through eighth graders communed to partake in some friendly competition. Each team had at least one student from each grade level on it. We had so much fun getting to spend time with other students that we do not usually get to spend time with. Many of the junior high students helped the preschool children through the relay races. In some of the pictures you will see races in which the students had to run with marshmallows on a spoon, jump with a bean bag between their knees, or roll a ball between everyone on the team's legs! Those were just a few of the many things we did together - ask your son or daughter to give you more details of all the fun we had at the all-school Olympics!

The Past Few Days of Catholic Schools Week:

The past few days of Catholic Schools Week have been full of many exciting events and activities. Here is a glimpse at just some of the fun things we have been up to...

The Start of the Second Half of the Year and a New Way to Communicate!

Dear Families and Friends of the Second Grade Class at St. Sylvester,

Our classroom is starting a new blog that you can log onto at anytime to check in on the happenings of our second grade classroom. Look here to find out about any new topics of discussion, field trips pictures, or buddy projects. This week we will be adding many new items as we are celebrating Catholic Schools Week. All throughout the week we have many fun activities planned to help us remember how lucky we are to be in a Catholic School. We started off yesterday with parent teacher conferences. Thank you to all those parents who attended. This morning our class joined the rest of the school in a prayer service centered on thanking God for our many talents and abilities. After the prayer service we recognized the girls and boys basketball teams at St. Sylvester. Many of the second graders commented on their desire to join when they are old enough!

Check back for new information and updates throughout the week!