Second Grade in Room 108: Friday, March 14, 2025

Reminders:

Please email your child’s teacher AND Cindy LaWare (claware@cvsdvt.org) with ALL dismissal changes/updates.
No school, Monday, March 31, 2025 in observance of Eid-al-Fitr.
Mud season is here! Please make sure your child has a pair of indoor shoes and outdoor shoes.
Now is a great time to check your child’s backpack for extra clothing. Please be sure they have an extra set of clothes (including socks) in their correct size. Thank you!

Supply Request: Does your family love Talenti? If so, we’d love to collect your empty Talenti containers. Please send in your clean Talenti container(s) to your child’s teacher. Thank you!

Art Contest! This week our second graders created entries for the 2025 “My Favorite Tree in Charlotte” Art Contest! This contest is designed for our sweet town of Charlotte, Vermont. Students were welcomed to create and submit a piece of artwork with an accompanying written piece to the contest hosted by the Charlotte Grange. We worked on these pieces in class. For students who wanted to participate in the contest, your teachers have dropped their entries off at the public library! All entries will be displayed on Saturday, April 12 at 4PM at the Charlotte Grange Hall. Winners will also be announced and celebrated at this time. To learn more about this event check out the full information packet here.

Math: Over the last two weeks, second grade mathematicians have focused on:

Counting to One Thousand

Imagining, visualizing, and counting the number 1000
Building place value understanding up to 1000
Adding and subtracting by 10 within 200

Word Study: In word study these past two weeks our focus has been on r-controlled combinations and syllable types. With /ar/ and /or/ under our belts, second graders began their work with /er/. We practiced the spelling options procedure to determine if a word with the /er/ sound was spelled with er, ir, or ur. This work takes time and practice and students get stronger and more fluid with their spelling when they have the opportunity to read these words. Our suggestion is to enjoy a book at bedtime and notice which words have er, ir, or ur.

Writers’ Workshop: We have moved into nonfiction writing. During this week’s writers’ workshop we began our unit by reviewing the nonfiction work students engaged in during first grade.

Readers’ Workshop: Second grade readers are continuing to focus on nonfiction text. In the past two weeks our work has been in support of growing our knowledge about a topic across texts.

SEL/Theme: This week in Second Step our second grade squad continued its unit on Emotional Management. Monday’s lesson focused on managing anxious feelings. The concepts we focused on included the impact of negative self-talk, the power of using the calming down steps when you’re feeling worried or anxious, and how positive self-talk can help you calm down. As a class we generated phrases and mantras that we can use to calm down in response to scenarios. Through role play and class discussions we put these phrases to practice. The power of positive self-talk is such an important tool!

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 what sugar maples are, where they grow, and why they grow there. We’ve learned that Vermont and the surrounding regions have the ideal climate for sugar maples. We also have discussed what resources sugar maples provide. The sweetest being…maple syrup! Sugaring season is here and it is so exciting to have our second graders working on becoming experts on the sugar maple!