Writing: Second grade writers have been working hard on making a plan before writing. We learned about several different strategies to plan such as drawing pictures first or telling the story across your fingers. Right now, we are working on writing as much as possible and there is no specific genre that we are writing. Just like reading, we are building our writing stamina. Our independent writing time has built up to 18 minutes.
Math: In math we have been focusing on building routines around math workshop. Math workshop includes a lesson, independent work time, followed by a math choice such as a game with a partner. As second graders continue to build independence with math workshop, I will soon be able to begin pulling small math groups. During this time, I’ll be able to provide more individualized math instruction to students in order to meet their needs whether that involves reviewing concepts or extending math thinking in a challenging way. We are continuing to review the most essential math skills from first grade. This includes adding and subtracting on the number line, adding and subtracting multiples of ten, and using base 10 blocks to show place value.
Fundations: We have finished up an assessment on our first grade trick words. These are commonly used words that cannot be sounded out and must be memorized. I will use this list of words as well as the second grade list of words to provide weekly practiced on trick words that is individualized to the words that your child needs to master. We have started to practice our trick words during morning work time each day.
Science: This whole year we will be thinking about ourselves as scientists. Scientists ask questions, make predictions, try new things, and work collaboratively. Our first science unit of the year will be trees which we kicked off with a study of the difference between living and nonliving things.
Second graders working together in a “getting to know you” activity:
How do you know if a book is “just right”?
What is 45 + 10? 67 + 10? 28 + 10? What is your strategy for adding 10? Can you add 30 to each of those numbers?
What story are you working on in writer’s workshop? What could you write about next week?
Dates to Remember:
Monday 9/30 No School
Wednesday 10/2 Curriculum Night 6:30 PM (Adults only please)