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, 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 fifth year of teaching in this beautiful school community.
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.
Week at a Glance
Week of November 12-16, 2018
Math: This week we are continuing with our timed fact quizzes. We will focus on x 4 facts. The students can think of x 4 as doubling the double facts. They might also try skip counting by 4’s. (All x 4 facts should result in even products!) The Go Math lessons will continue working with problem solving strategies for multiplication facts and word problems. We will finish up Chapter 4 and have a test the following week (right before Thanksgiving break).
Science: Please visit Ms. Papagianis’s page for Science information
Language Arts: We will continue our daily Simple Solution reviews. We are working on identifying proper and common nouns, adding commas, finding adjectives, labeling verbs as action verbs or verbs of being, and forming plurals of words.
Reading: We finished Unit 2 of our Reading textbook this past week. We will have our unit review this upcoming week. The spelling list (see Spelling tab) is a review week with words selected from the past five weeks of spelling lists. The reading portion of the review week includes the skills we have practiced of identifying main idea and details, naming story elements, determining author’s purpose, and drawing conclusions. We will review these skills in class and then test these skills starting midweek.
Social Studies: We will start a new chapter next week (Chapter 3) with information about the early explorers. We will discover why people from Europe came to America. We will also discuss the effects that the settlements had on the native people and the land, and ultimately we will work our way up to the American Revolution. We will watch videos, role play, and read books about these topics, in addition to working with vocabulary and reading passages from our textbook.
Religion: We will compare the sacrament of the Eucharist to the holiday of Thanksgiving. The word “Eucharist” means “Thanksgiving” and at each we gather around a table to offer thanks to God and to celebrate with the community. We will also reflect on who and what we are thankful for in our lives.
Tests and Quizzes:
Additional Reminders:
Week at a Glance
Week of November 5 - 9, 2018
Math: As we begin the fourth chapter in our math book, we will continue practicing different strategies to assist with our multiplication. We will also use the “distributive property of multiplication” to start to multiply multi-digit numbers. Our daily “timed quizzes” next week will be x 3 facts. Your child should have a paper to bring home in his/her Friday folder to start practicing. Please also see the “Math Resources” tab on the website for online practice opportunities.
Science: Please visit Ms. Papagianis’s page for Science information
Language Arts: We are forming the plural possessive nouns during grammar time this week. This will build on last week’s skill of forming singular possessive nouns. Spelling words will feature digraphs ch, th, sh, and others this week. Please be sure to click on the “Spelling” tab on the website and start practicing over the weekend. During Writing, we will continue our work on editing our personal narratives. Then we will put all of our steps together to write personal narratives using the entire writing process!
Reading: We are working with nonfiction texts to identify the main idea and details. In addition to the story in our basal (Amazing Bird Nests), we will use additional texts and graphic organizers. The students should continue reading each night and recording the book information on their November Reading Log.
Social Studies: We are finishing up the chapter on the environment. We will have a test this upcoming week on the information from Chapter 2, which includes the 7 continents, the regions of the United States, ecosystems (desert, arctic, tropical, temperate, etc.), natural resources, and ways to modify and take care of the environment. We will review in class on Monday and Tuesday and take the test Wednesday.
Religion: We are discussing our community of the Catholic church, most specifically the leaders of our church. We will review terms including pope, bishop, pastor, parish, and community. Additionally, we will describe the four marks of the church (one, holy, catholic, apostolic).
Tests and Quizzes:
Halloween Dress Code:
Students are permitted to wear Halloween costumes to school on Wednesday, October 31. Parents, please be sure that the costumes meet the following guidelines:
Students who choose not to wear a costume may wear a Halloween themed shirt and pants/shorts or follow uniform dress code.