Welcome to 2nd Grade with Mrs. Macdonald!
I am a Florida native and received my BA in Psychology with a minor in Spanish from the University of South Florida. After graduation, I pursued my Masters of Education through the University of Notre Dame’s ACE Service through Teaching Program and have been an educator for the last fourteen years. Additionally, I earned my English as a New Language endorsement through the University of Notre Dame in 2012. I taught at a Catholic school in Kansas City, Kansas for two years, and I then moved to Chicago in 2010 where I spent eight years teaching second grade at a Catholic school in Pilsen. I am excited to be back for my seventh year of teaching in this beautiful school community. I am also looking forward to my second year of coaching the Cross Country teams.
In my free time, I enjoy running, reading, singing, traveling, and spending quality time with my family and friends. I could not imagine teaching anywhere else but a Catholic school, where I can share my faith with my students and watch them grow in their own relationships with God. I am especially looking forward to preparing my students for the sacraments of First Reconciliation and First Communion.
Class Order Due Date: Tuesday, November 26, 2024
Class Page: https://orders.scholastic.com/VY7QC
Class Order Due Date: Tuesday, November 26, 2024
Class Page: https://orders.scholastic.com/VY7QC
Class Order Due Date: Tuesday, November 26, 2024
Class Page: https://orders.scholastic.com/VY7QC
Week at a Glance
Week of November 18-22, 2024
Math: The students (as a whole) did a great job on their 2-digit subtraction assessment. This upcoming week we will switch back to addition with 3-digit addition. By building on our strong foundation of addition concepts, students will use place value to add with expanded form, add 10 and 100 mentally, and regroup ones to tens.
Phonics (FUNdations): We will continue working on VCE (magic e) words this upcoming week. Students will divide and mark up multisyllabic words that contain VCE syllables. They will read and spell trick words: right, place, together. They will also read and discuss decodable grade level texts.
Reading and Writing (Wit & Wisdom): We are wrapping up Module 1 of our Wit & Wisdom curriculum this upcoming week. Students will reflect on all of the things they learned about change and take an informal assessment reviewing vocabulary terms we learned. Students will also experiment with a variety of sentence lengths, sequence events in a text, and determine the central message of a text.
Science: As we continue learning about weathering and erosion, students will answer the question: Why is there sand at a beach? In this lesson, students investigate the effects of rocks tumbling in a river. Based on their observations, they construct an explanation for why there is sand at a beach. In the activity, Rocking the River, students pretend to be a river and tear up pieces of construction paper to model what happens to rocks as they travel along the river.
Social Studies: none - see Science
Religion: Students will focus on Session 8 of our Finding God textbooks: Jesus Calls Us to Love. In this session, we will focus on the jobs of church leaders and the names of church leader positions (e.g., pope, bishop, pastor, deacon). We will also explain how the pope is the leader of the Catholic church and how the line of popes traces all the way back to the first apostles. Additionally, students will define the following terms: bishop, crosier, parable.
Tests and Quizzes:
Additional Reminders:
Week at a Glance
Week of November 11-15, 2024
Math: We have finished all of the new lessons on our chapter about 2-digit subtraction. Your child brought home a review sheet on Wednesday with sample problems to help prepare for the assessment on Wednesday. We will spend Monday and Tuesday reviewing for the test. The following week we will start a chapter focused on 3-digit addition.
Phonics (FUNdations): Next week we will start a new unit on VCE (vowel consonant e or “magic e” words), where we will learn how the e can help a vowel say its long sound. New trick words will include: only, house, move. We will also compare short vowel and long vowel words.
Reading and Writing (Wit & Wisdom): We are nearing the end of our learning module about change. We will identify key details from Sky Tree and put them in the correct order. We will also identify and revise elements of a sample informative paragraph about Sky Tree.
Science and Social Studies: None - We will dedicate more time to Reading, Math, Religion, and other special activities (see “additional reminders” below).
Religion: We will focus our attention on session 7 in our Finding God textbooks entitled “God Loves You.” We will define the word miracle, and we will also discuss how spending time with God in prayer and at Mass can help us remember how much God cares for each and every one of us.
Tests and Quizzes:
Additional Reminders:
Week at a Glance
Week of November 4-8, 2024
Math: We will continue working through our chapter on 2-digit subtraction. Students will use the standard algorithm with regrouping to solve two-digit subtraction problems. They will also rewrite horizontal problems vertically to solve. Students will also use addition problems to check the answers to their subtraction problems. Finally, students will solve multi-step word problems.
Phonics (FUNdations): We will wrap up our unit learning about reading and spelling multisyllabic words. Students will also add suffixes to multisyllabic words (e.g., limited, athletic, etc.). New trick words include: always, often, once.
Reading and Writing (Wit & Wisdom): We will spend time making observations about and reading a new text related to the theme of the changing seasons called Sky Tree. Students will notice and wonder about artwork in a book, and they will review how to figure out the meaning of unfamiliar words. Finally, students will practice revising a piece of writing to decide if there is any missing information or if something needs further clarification.
Science: We will return to our next Science unit next week as we learn about water and erosion. More specifically, we will answer the question: If you floated down a river, where would you end up? Students will discuss patterns of how water and rivers flow as they make paper models of mountains and rivers.
Social Studies: None - see Science
Religion: Next week is Vocations Awareness Week, so we will learn about how God has a call for each of us in our lives. We will learn that we are all special in God’s eyes and we belong to Him through the sacrament of Baptism. Additionally, we will learn that our actions can bring peace to others.
Tests and Quizzes:
Additional Reminders:
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