Second Grade Update

We are working so hard in second grade and excited for our five day week next week!

Gratitude Journals

Today, the students began our Friday ritual of reflecting in their gratitude journal. In this journal the students record their high point and low point for the week, share something they are grateful for, and note something they had to work hard on. They also have a spot where they can share anything with me that they might not have had a chance to tell me yet. This journal gives the students a weekly chance to think about how they are doing, communicate their feelings, and practice having gratitude and a growth mindset!

Reading and Vocabulary

The students are practicing how to visualize, or make mental movies in their minds as they read. They have learned that good readers are always trying to picture what the author is describing. Next week, there will be many chances to practice this skill with our read aloud chapter book Roxie and the Hooligans and while reading during our literacy centers. The students read about cable cars in their vocabulary curriculum this week. Our vocabulary words for next week are: Bench, bridge, cross, crowd, deep, fresh, frown, signal, travel, and worry.

Spelling

This week our word pattern was “short and long i sounds”. All of next week’s words will contain the short or long “o” sounds, like in the words crop and vote. The new words will come home on Monday and the test will be on Friday, 10/12.

Writing

The students continued learning about writing in complete sentences that start with a capital letter, end with punctuation, and contain a noun and a verb. Next week, the students will brainstorm, plan, and draft new stories!

Math

We moved into unit two and are working on writing addition stories. Addition stories give the reader information and then ask a question like a word problem. The students are learning how to create number models to go with their stories. For example, Alex had 5 apples and Kyle gave him 12 more. How many apples does Alex have now? The number model to represent this problem would be 5 + 12 = 17. The students are also learning how to find the distance between two numbers using a number grid or hundreds chart (a chart like this is in the middle of your child’s red folder.) For example, if you want to find the distance between 25 and 58, you can count all the way from 25 to 58 or you can jump down thirty squares on the number grid to 55 and then count over three more squares to get to 58, making the distance between the numbers 33. The students will have many chances to practice this skill next week! 

Social Studies

Today, almost all of the students recorded their final reflections on the urban, suburban, and rural communities they have been building. I was very impressed with their deep thinking about the differences between these communities and the what makes each one special. Next week, Morah Donna is visiting our class to share an amazing story about the Jewish community in Ethiopia and their overnight move to Israel!