Friday, May 24, 2024

 Reminders:

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

• Second Grade End of Year Party - Tuesday, June 11, 2024 8:15 - 9:15 AM

   ***If you would like to sit during this event, please bring your own lawn chairs!

   *** If it rains, we will host an indoor party in our classrooms.

• Would you be able to bring a lawn game and/or a breakfast treat to share? If so, please use this sign up to let us know!

Math: Second grade mathematicians are revisiting place value and three-digit computation. 

Word Study: We are continuing to work with the D-syllable (vowel teams), focusing on the spelling of the long o sound /ō/. Second graders worked with when to use spelling different spelling options based on whether or not the sound exists in the beginning, middle, or end of a word or syllable. 

Writer’s Workshop: Second grade writers are ready to use their voices to make change! We began our final writing unit of the year: Using Words to Make a Change. In this unit, students will identify problems they see and try to make change by writing persuasively; identifying the problem, stating reasons why it is a problem, identifying solutions, and rallying their readers to make change. In our first bend of lessons, we began by focusing on problems we see in our school or at home and are now moving into problems within our community. Soon we will expand to tackle the problems we see in our world.

Reader’s Workshop: Second grade readers wrapped up their Series Books unit of study by focusing on studying the craft techniques authors use in order to read the text more closely. We are working to consider what the author is trying to show and the tone a scene creates. 

Science: Second graders had a blast on Pease Mountain! We participated in a Tree Scavenger Hunt and then hiked the mountain. Thank you so much to all of our Pease Mountain volunteers and supporters!

SEL/Theme: As we approach the end of the school year, it is a time to reflect on our learning as we look to the future. Second graders continue to focus on our second grade mantra, “We are all the same. We are all different. We are all unique.” as well as CCS’ expectations that ‘We take care of ourselves. We take care of others. We take care of this place.” 

Second graders have continued to celebrate Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month by listening to different read alouds and learning about, and being inspired by, Hawaiian artist Alisha Kahealani Mahone-Brooks. Want to see more of Alisah Kahealani Mahone Brooks’ work? Click here: Portfolio / Instagram

Check out some photos of our artists getting inspired by nature, much like this week's highlighted artist, Alisha Kahealani Mahone-Brooks.

Friday, May 10, 2024

 Reminders:

• Please support your child to have a water bottle for school daily. If your child needs a water bottle, please just let us know and we can help!

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

• If you are able, please sign up to bring a game and/or snack to our Lawn Party! 

Math: Our second grade mathematicians finished creating their toy store story problems and had the opportunity to solve their classmates’ creations. Some of these story problems involved 2-digit and 3-digit addition or subtraction, while others focused on total cost and calculating change. All problems reminded their solvers that to solve the story problem effectively students must create an equation that matches the problem, show all their work and thinking using one of the strategies, and answer the original question asked. 

Word Study: Last week our squad wrapped up Unit 11 with an end of unit assessment. This week we launched Unit 12. In this unit students will study the next row in our vowel teams poster, oi & oy. Just like in previous weeks, our second graders practiced identifying, reading, and using these spelling options to write one and two syllable words. Check out the slides we used in class to help know when to use oy and when to use oi. 

Writer’s Workshop: That’s a wrap! Our second grade squad was excited and proud to share their final writing pieces during Wednesday’s writing celebration. Families, caregivers, CCS Staff, and friends had the pleasure of seeing these writers’ nonfiction skills showcased during our early morning festivities. Thank you so much for coming and celebrating your writers’ growth!

Reader’s Workshop: Our second grade readers have been working with series books. We have learned that series readers become experts on characters and have moved into how series book readers become experts on author’s craft.

Science:  We also learned about the tradition of sugaring from the Dakota Tribe, The Abenaki Tribe, and a local Vermont family farm. Check out some of the videos from below!

Dakota Tribe Sugaring History

Abenaki Tribe Sugaring History (start at 31:00)

Vermont Farm Sugaring History

SEL/Theme: Did you know that May is Asian American Pacific Islander Month? This week, students learned about artist Pacita Abad who was born in the Philippines. Students were inspired by Pacita Abad’s ‘Painted Bridge’ and created a mural to celebrate Pacita Abad’s belief that art is for everyone.

“Pacita Abad's painting is characterized by color, constant change and experimentation from the 1970s right up to her passing in 2004. Pacita's most extensive body of work is her vibrantly, colorful, trapunto paintings, mixed media painted textile collages and abstract assemblages. Many are very large canvases incorporating hand-stitched textiles, ribbons, sequins, beads, buttons, tin, mirrors and many other found objects the artist collected during her travels throughout Africa, Middle East, Asia and Latin America. During her 32-year career Pacita also created works on a complete range of other materials including paper, prints, bark cloth, metal, ceramics and glass. Just a few months before she passed away, Pacita painted a 55-meter long bridge in Singapore and covered it with 2,350 multicolored circles.”

Excerpt taken directly from Pacita Abad’s website 

In Second Step second graders have been using STEP to think about how to solve problems respectfully, safely, and efficiently. When students are able to use the Problem-Solving STEPs from Second Step independently, then they are able to have stronger relationships with their peers. This week we explored the idea of playing fairly on the playground. Negotiating and deciding on rules for playground play can be a constructive and successful process for second graders when they use the STEPs to guide them when a disagreement arises.

Check out these photos from our last two weeks together!