Friday, April 19, 2024

 Reminders:

• Save the date! Please join us Wednesday, May 8 for our Information Writing Open House Celebration! Our doors will be open from 7:30 - 8:15 AM and all are welcome!

• No school Monday, May 27, 2024 in observance of Memorial Day.

Math: Our mathematicians have been busy solving, and writing, story problems! Second graders are using ants as characters in these story problems. Our squad spent the last part of this week noticing common strategies that they can use to solve these addition and subtraction problems. Take a look at the strategies below!

Word Study: This week students continued their investigation of double vowel (d) syllables. We have worked on the vowel combinations that make the long a and the long e sound. Our class learned when to use these combinations and practiced reading and writing words that had mixed syllable types. Check out the vowel team anchor chart below!

 

Writer’s Workshop: Second grade writers are continuing to write to inform. We are getting ready for our next Open House!

Reader’s Workshop: We have begun meeting in book clubs! As clubs we are reading the same book and diving into series books. During this first group of lessons we have focused on becoming experts on the characters in our series. 

Science: Did you know that the sugar maple only grows in the northeast & north central United States and the eastern and central parts of Canada? In science, we are exploring the sugar maple and its impact on Vermont. We have explored the questions: What is a sugar maple? and How can we identify a sugar maple? While the sugaring season has ended as both days and nights have gotten warmer, our second graders are becoming experts on the sugar maple!

SEL/Theme: During our Second Step lesson this week, second graders continued to learn how to solve problems using ‘S’ - say the problem without blame ‘T’ - think of solutions that are safe and respectful, ‘E’ - explore consequences, and ‘P’ - pick the best solution. Students will continue to practice their calm down strategies and problem solving strategies.This week, we worked to problem solve after we hurt someone’s feelings. Second graders worked to use the STEP method to take responsibility for their actions and make amends.

In celebration of Arab American Heritage month we were introduced to Etel Adnan and created landscape artwork inspired by her artwork. We also learned that she was a poet, novelist, spoke five languages and wrote in three languages! 

Friday, April 12, 2024

 Math: Our mathematicians have been busy! We began a new unit in math last week. Throughout this unit we will be working to measure using the metric system, solving multi-digit addition and subtraction problems and beginning to introduce the terms fourths, thirds, and halves. While working with these concepts we have also been learning about army ants! Did you know an army ant is about one centimeter long? Did you also know that army ant swarms may be as wide as 14 meters! WOW! Your second grader is learning about army ants as a platform to work with centimeters and meters, thinking about the metric system. Second graders are also having fun using ants as characters in story problems. We are exploring the concept of division as we think about ants and treats! If you would like to learn more about our current unit, please click this link to read the Family Unit Overview. 

Word Study: Unit 10 wrapped up the Friday before our long weekend. In this unit second graders practiced using the spelling option procedure when a word has the long a sound. Knowing when to use ai, ay, a-e, or a takes practice and effort. When we returned to school on Tuesday our second graders began unit 11. Unit 11 continues the use of the spelling options procedure but with the long e sound. Our squad learned that there are 3 vowel teams that can make the long e sound, ee, ea, and ey. Similar to unit 10, our focus will be when to learn the rules so that we can use the correct spelling option when we come across a word with the long e sound. Check out the vowel team anchor chart below!

 

Writer’s Workshop: Our nonfiction writers are teaching a lot! We have been working to consider our audience as we write our information books. Second graders are learning to decide who their audience is, what their audience would want to learn, how to help their audience picture the information using details and/or comparisons, hooking their audience right from the start with a strong lead, wrapping up our chapters/books with endings, clearing up potential confusion by answering questions and checking for language conventions, and finally, we worked to set goals and work toward them in our writing. As you can see, we’ve been busy!

Reader’s Workshop: Our second grade readers wrapped up their Bigger Books unit and we’ve just started a unit devoted to reading series books. It’s amazing how much they have grown this year!

Science: Last week, our second graders wrapped up their mini unit on the solar eclipse. During our whole school morning meeting last Friday, our squad did a fantastic job educating our school community on the solar eclipse! Second graders taught the CCS students and staff about the sun, moon, earth and safety guidelines to stay safe during the eclipse. They did a great job and we are so proud of them!

SEL/Theme: Second graders are continuing to learn how to solve problems using ‘S’ - say the problem without blame ‘T’ - think of solutions that are safe and respectful, ‘E’ - explore consequences, and ‘P’ - pick the best solution. Students will continue to practice their calm down strategies and problem solving strategies.This week, we worked to problem solve after we hurt someone’s feelings. Second graders worked to use the STEP method to take responsibility for their actions and make amends.