Friday, April 17, 2026

 Reminders: 

• No school Monday, April 20 - Friday, April 24, 2026.

• If you would like to volunteer to lead a Pease Mountain hike, please check out the Pease Mountain sign up. We truly appreciate your time and support!

Math: Our second grade mathematicians have been working with money. Our focus has been on:

• Developing place value understanding within the context of money

• Skip counting forwards and backwards by 5s and 10s off the decade

• Solve addition and subtraction story problems with money

Word Study: We launched our work with spelling of double vowel syllables. In our current unit, students are focusing on the spelling of  /ā/ using the vowel teams ai and ay. 

Writers’ Workshop: We have been working to write with our audience in mind! Second graders are continuing to work with their information writing checklist and anchor charts to teach their audience about their topic. This week our squad traded drafts with a partner. While reading each other's pieces, students generated some questions about their partner’s topic and left sticky notes in the places they wanted to know more about. This strategy helped us push our thinking and writing to the next level.  

Readers’ Workshop: We wrapped up our unit focused on fluency, literary language, and keeping track of longer books!

Second Step: 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.

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

Science: Our second grade partnered with the middle school’s Project Leaders to plant vegetables! Thank you to Ms. Julia Beerworth and the project leaders for such a great project!

Quiet Time: Our students have ‘traveled’ far these past two weeks!

Check out these photos from our time together these past two weeks!

Friday, April 3, 2026

Reminders:

• No school Monday, April 20 - Friday, April 24, 2026.

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.

Math: Our second grade mathematicians have been working with place value and extending their knowledge to one thousand. During our first group of lessons, students:

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

Writers’ Workshop: We have moved into nonfiction writing. We began our work by reviewing the nonfiction work students engaged in during first grade. Second graders writers then began to study other nonfiction authors, noticing the interesting and cool things they do to teach in their books, and trying those moves on right away.

Readers’ Workshop: As we work with bigger books, we’ve learned that authors often use playful and inventive language. It is up to the reader to push themselves to make sure they understand what the language really means. We’ve had fun working with this special language!

Second Step: We have begun our fourth, and final, Second Step unit. In this unit, students are learning a process for solving problems with others in a positive and respectful way. Last week, we focused on the first step: saying the problem without blame, often by using “I want” or “I need” statements and thinking about the situation from another person’s perspective. This week, students continued the process by thinking of multiple solutions, considering whether those solutions are safe and respectful, and exploring what might happen next. These steps help students slow down, think carefully, and avoid reacting too quickly when problems arise. By practicing this process, students are building skills to handle conflicts in a thoughtful and respectful way with their peers.

Science: We wrapped up our Maple Sugaring unit with a wonderful trip to Shelburne Sugarworks! Check out some of the photos from our day!

Whole School Assembly: This Friday our Second Grade Squad hosted the whole-school morning meeting! We were so grateful to have such a fabulous audience. For those of you who were unable to make it, we hope you’ll enjoy this video of our reading of, “Pa, Me, and Our Sidewalk Pantry”.

Quiet Time: Our students have ‘traveled’ far these past two weeks!

Check out some photos from our very busy time together these past two weeks!