Mrs. Braun's 2nd Grade Classroom

April has already been packed with exciting events in our classroom! I am happy to report that everyone had a safe and blessed Easter break. We had many families that traveled over the break and we are grateful for a safe return home.

We took our field trip to The Mission of Nombre de Dios and the Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche in St. Augustine this past week. The perfect weather made for an excellent visit. The students enjoyed seeing the sites we talked about in class. Thank you to all the parent chaperones who were able to join us! If you would like to visit the Mission and Shrine here is the website for more information and directions. (http://www.missionandshrine.org/)

Today is First Holy Communion. I am so excited to see my students in their white Communion outfits. I am very proud of them for learning all that they have about their Catholic faith and the sacraments.

In the classroom, next week we will take our Theme 5 skills tests. The following week begins our final theme in reading. Progress reports go home next week as well. Please encourage your child to work hard as we finish out the school year so they will be prepared for third grade!

Thank you for all you do at home to assist your child with his or her education.

See you at Mass!

Mrs. Braun

March is here and we are gearing up for our schools biggest fundraiser of the year. Our carnival this year is Friday March 23-Sunday March 25. The theme for this year is "Irish Eyes are Smiling" so we will be decorating our booth with a "Luck of the Irish" theme. Mrs. Williams and I are planning the booth decorations and she has created a sign-up sheet that I plan on posting first thing this Friday morning (3/9/12). We agreed that the only fair way to give everyone equal time to sign up is to let you know when it will be posted and that way you can see what is available when you view the sheet. We appreciate your help in working the hours required and sending in a small donation of $5.00 to help purchase supplies for our booth.

As you know we are in the season of Lent. We have been learning about Lent and what it means to make a Lenten sacrifice. Your student decided upon a personal commitment (sacrifice) to do during Lent and we have a calendar they use to mark each day. These are private decisions and a good lesson in honoring our commitments (promises) to God and our loved ones. During Lent we will be going to the Church one day a week each week and learning about The Stations of the Cross. We share this experience with Kindergarten and first grade also. This makes the Lenten season more understandable for the children.

In the classroom we are currently taking the ITBS test. As I shared with the students, some of the questions will seem easy, some will seem difficult and some will be in between. The tests are designed to challenge all levels of learners. While these are not something your student can study for, making sure they are well rested and eat a healthy breakfast prepares them to do their best.

I have posted a few pictures of our Passport to the World project. Students worked in groups of 4 to research 6 different countries. We created our own passports and had them stamped as we "visited" each country. I am very proud of our students hard work in preparing for and presenting their countries.

February is here and we are busier than ever in 2B! We took our first field trip to see a play at The Florida Theater called "Ramona Quimby, Age 8" followed by a picnic lunch and play-time at Boone Park. Be sure to see the photo album from our field trip in the photo gallery.

We are currently taking our Theme Skills Tests for Theme 4 Amazing Animals. There will be no homework or book report for this week due to the testing. Please make sure your student is well rested and eats a healthy breakfast so they can focus and do well on the tests.

This week is Catholic Schools Week. Thank you to the parents who were able to visit our classroom on Tuesday. We did a science experiment and lesson on the digestive system using crackers and water in a clear bag to simulate how food is broken down beginning in our mouths.

We are collecting jelly or jam for the Catholic Charities this week. Thank you to those who have donated. Please consider sending in a donation that will help feed those in need in our area.

We are preparing for our Penance retreat coming up on February 8th and of course the Penanace service on Valentines day, February 14th.

Remember to check and sign your child's planner each night. This will keep you up to date on what is going on in the classroom and you and I can communicate about your child via the daily planner.

Thanks again for all you do for your student! Happy Valentines Day!

Mrs. Braun

I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas and was able to relax a bit during Christmas break. I enjoyed my break and the time with my family during Christmas.

We have many important events coming up including First Penance and First Holy Communion. All important dates have been added to the calendar on this website for the rest of the school year. Please take a moment to look these over and add them to your personal calendar. We will need many volunteers for our "retreat" days. These special days are held at SHS during normal school hours. Students spend the day in the Family Life Center doing interactive crafts, praying, playing and learning more about their faith. Please consider volunteering for one or both of these days. It is a special day for your student and they would love for you to be a part of it. Remember you must have taken Protecting Gods Children and been fingerprinted to volunteer.

I have many fun, engaging lessons planned for the upcoming months and look forward to welcoming your students back and getting started!

As always, I am available for any questions or concerns you may have.

Mrs. Braun

November is here and we are busier than ever! I have to give a huge Thank You to our hard working room Mom Mrs. Williams and everyone who helped make trunk or treat a huge success! The students had a great time and turn-out was wonderful! We hope to make this a yearly event at Sacred Heart. Thanks also to Mrs. Williams for her generous Halloween goodie bags for each student! What a nice surprise for them!

In the classroom we are working on our writing skills, learning about verbs, reading fluency, spelling and phonics skills and identifying main ideas and details within our stories. In math we will be working on graphs, charts and tables and eventually move into geometry. This past week in Science/Social Studies we have been learning about climate and weather as we keep a weather log that we add to each day. We have a wind-sock and thermometer that we check each day as well as observe and sketch how the sky looks and what kind of clouds are present (or not). We will be learning the different cloud types and how to identify them. In Religion we are learning about mortal and venial sins and making good choices to avoid sin. This is leading up to preparing students for their first Penance. Father Kirin will be coming to visit next week to speak to us about examination of conscience.

Be sure to check the calendar for important dates.

Please do your best to have your student in bed at a decent hour (8:30 at the latest is my recommendation). When they are tired the next day it shows and keeps them from doing their best work. We have so much to learn that every day and even hour is important to their success. Lack of sleep can also lead to behavior problems that disrupt the class and learning of others so I appreciate your help with this.

As always, feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns!

Have a great November!

Mrs. Braun

October is here and we are enjoying the cooler weather during recess! We just completed our second Theme Skills Tests this past week and are moving on to our new reading theme on Monday Oct. 17th.

I am pleased with my students progress and I want to thank all my parents for coming out to pick up your students report cards this past Thursday. It is hard to believe we have completed the first quarter of our school year!

Coming up this week we will have a visit from Father Kirin who will talk to us about the 10 commandments. His visit will reinforce and give additional information about this topic that we will begin studying on Monday. We enjoy Father Kirins visits and thank him for taking the time to come to our classroom.

Also this week, we will be making a craft and will take a walk over to the All Saints Nursing Home to visit the residents and staff. They truly enjoy and look forward to Sacred Heart student visits and it gives our students great life lessons about respect, compassion and kindness.

I want to thank our Room Mom, Alicia Williams for volunteering her time and talent to assist our class this year. As you read in her letter sent home last week, we have many events planned for the year and want to thank you in advance for your assistance with these. The first event is the Trunk or Treat night coming up on Friday Oct. 28th from 6 - 9 pm at Sacred Heart. This is a safe and fun trick or treating event for our students and I encourage you to bring your child to enjoy trick or treating with their classmates and school. Candy donations are needed and if you can assist Mrs. Williams at this event please let me know and I will pass on that information.

Here are some important dates that have been finalized that you may add to your calendars:

Jan. 10th - Parent meeting for First Penance and First Holy Communion 6:30pm in Parish Hall (Cafeteria)

Feb. 8th - Students will participate in a First Penance Retreat held on SHS campus during school hours. *All students participate in these events.

Feb. 14th - First Penance Service 6:00pm at Sacred Heart Church.

April 3rd - Students will participate in a First Holy Communion Retreat held on SHS campus during school hours. *For all students.

April 21st - First Holy Communion at 5pm Mass at Sacred Heart Church.

I am looking forward to facilitating and participating in these special events in your child's life.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me.

It is hard to believe we are well into September already. We have been so busy in our classroom. A few things we have done are:

1. Working hard on our addition and subtraction facts including word problems

2. Learning about different types of communities such as Rural, Urban and Suburban. We created collages of each and they are currently hanging outside our classroom for all to see.

3. We have finished our first theme in reading (consisting of 3 stories) and will finish up our theme skills tests tomorrow (Friday). We have focused on writing complete sentences, using correct capitalization and punctuation as well as learning about cause and effect relationships and fantasy versus reality.

4. In religion we have learned about the seasons of the church and what they mean, the wonderful mystery of the blessed trinity, the holy family and the works of Jesus here on earth.

5. We are very excited about our science lessons. We are currently learning about how seeds grow into plants and the function of a plants parts. Each child is growing a sunflower plant in our classroom window and we are observing and recording the changes in growth. We even learned a new and very big word for 2nd graders this week. Phototropism (the act of a plant growing toward it's light source.) We saw this in action in our classroom and did a little experiment by turning the leaning plants around as we left for Art class. Upon our return the plants had leaned the other way back toward the light. A great learning moment!

Finally, progress reports will be going home tomorrow (Friday). Please review, sign and return on Monday. As always, I am available if you have any questions or concerns about your child.

We enjoyed making a surprise puzzle for the parents who attended Tuesday nights orientation! Thank you so much to the parents who were able to make it! Your students really felt special when they discovered the notes you left in their desks! I've noticed many of them are using them as book marks.

We are off to a great start in 2nd grade! Even though we had a short day today, we got a lot accomplished. We went over our classroom rules and consequences and talked about why they are important. We also learned what to do first thing in the morning like where to put our backpacks and lunchboxes, turn in papers and lunch/milk money etc. We also practiced lining up and pushing in our chairs when we leave our seats as well as our attention signals when Mrs. Braun is giving instructions.We did two "getting to know you" activities that were a lot of fun.  We talked a great deal about the word "Respect" and what it means to respect each other and the teacher. It will take a few weeks of practice and repitition for these classroom rules and procedures to become habit but we will get there.

Thank you parents in advance for your help and cooperation this year! With your help we will have an exciting year of learning!

Mrs. Braun

I have been very busy cleaning, organizing, arranging and decorating our classroom for the new year. The desks have been arranged, supply caddies are ready and the room is ready to welcome all of my "Busy Bees" to 2nd grade! It's going to be a fun environment to learn so many new things this year!