Language Arts

The students completed there animal research paragraphs.  They answered questions about their animal of choice by researching it in books, and cross-referencing that information on some kid-friendly websites.  They then turned their notes into complete sentences within a paragraph.

Currently, the students are working with book buddies or within a small group to read just right books.  Independently, the students are recording comprehension responses to their reading and discussing the book with their partner.

In writing, the students are studying fairy tales and learning about classifying characteristics; such as “Once upon a time,” good vs. evil, element of 3, fantasy or make-believe, and “happily ever after.”  They are in the stage of generating ideas for their own stories.  Some have created original characters and an original story, and others are retelling a classic fairy tale in a new, exciting way.

Math

In Math, the students have been learning strategies for solving 2-digit addition and subtraction problems with and without regrouping, including the algorithm for recording addition and subtraction with regrouping.  To practice this skill at home, play the games, “Race to 100″ and “Race to 0.”  Click here to practice 2-digit addition and subtraction with regrouping.  And don’t forget to keep practicing those math facts!  Check out this site for online flash cards.

Social Studies

The students are completing an end-of-unit project in which they are creating a raised-relief salt-dough map to show the regions of the United States, including the Rocky Mountain and Appalachian Mountain Ranges, the Mississippi River, and the Great Lakes.  Our next unit will be “Using Our Resources.”  The students will learn about natural resources and how people use them, reasons people choose to live in a place, how people change their environment and how transportation and communication has changed over time.

Science

The students are currently learning about matter.  They will learn more about the three stages of matter and investigate their properties in a variety of hands on activities.  They will also learn about mixtures, and reversible and irreversible changes in matter.

Happy belated Thanksgiving!  I’m getting very excited for the upcoming holidays, including Winterfest!  We’re just a few weeks away from announcing the partridge!

Language Arts

In small guided reading groups the students have been continuing to work on using contextual clues to identify and determine the meaning of trickier words.  A comprehension focus was retelling and sequencing important events.  Most students have completed their stories and their first response project.  Some students have also been reading nonfiction books about government and answering questions in discussions and in their journals.

The students recently completed their second unit of study in writing–realistic fictional narratives.  The students created really interesting characters who faced problems, or had interesting experiences that caused them to grow and change towards the end of their stories.  Next, we will do some research on habitats and animals and write research paragraphs.

Math

After finishing our study of money; counting combinations of coins, showing different ways to show the same amount and making change, the second graders have been strengthening their number sense by learning ways to solve double digit addition and subtraction problems using mental math strategies.  Also, they have been focusing on the importance of showing their work and checking their own work by using different strategies to solve missing-part problems with a sum of 100.  Play “Get to 100″ and “Pinching Objects” at home to practice these skills. Next, we will learn how to regroup!

Social Studies

After finishing our unit on government, the students began studying concepts of geography in the unit, “The World Around Us.”  We have learned about natural features including landforms and bodies of water and labeled a map of North America.  We will practice reading a map grid and a regional map and learn more about climate and how and why the seasons change.

Science

We learned about how the body works, including how parts of our body such as our bones and muscles, and heart and lungs work together.  We also learned about the basic functions of the digestive system and measured and graphed our heart rate before and after exercise.  We learned about the importance of exercise and talked about simple ways to get exercise every day!

Currently we are studying animal habitats, and how animals have adaptations to survive in their habitats.  We learned about a fresh water habitat by visiting the Larsen Sanctuary at the Audubon Society in Fairfield.  We learned about a coral reef habitat by making a model of coral, and how animals and plants work together by making another model of a sea anemone and a clown fish.  Next, we will study different land environments.  We will collaborate with Mrs. D. to create some models of different land environments, such as the rainforest, the forest, the desert and the tundra.  We will also research some animals that live in the habitat we have created.

Wow!  I can’t believe it is November!

Reading

In small guided reading groups, each group has been reading different stories at their independent reading level.  Through facilitated discussion, the students have been practicing comprehension strategies such as retelling, asking questions and making predictions. They have been responding to comprehension questions in their journals, and some have been focusing on vocabulary expansion and using contextual clues to decode and determine the meaning of trickier words.

Writing

The second graders just had their first author’s celebration—celebrating the best of their collections of small moment stories (personal narratives.) Throughout the unit, the students cycled their way through the writing process; first by using strategies to generate ideas. Then, students learned about bold beginnings—leads about the time of day/ year and weather, or someone or something saying or doing something. When learning about mighty middles, students incorporated sensory details and character dialogue, but with the most emphasis being placed on “storytelling” rather than summarizing (step-by-step details or “show, don’t tell.”) Next, the students learned about excellent endings, which are endings that tie together the big idea or feeling of the story and leave the reader with that thought or feeling. The students worked with writing partners to edit and revise and focused on basic conventions—such as capitals, end punctuation and appropriate spelling. Lastly, the students “published” their stories, by designing a cover and a dedication page.

Currently we are studying realistic fiction.  We will build on the foundation established in our first unit with a focus on interesting characters.

Math

In chapter three, the students have been working with numbers on the 100s chart, strengthening their math sense by skip count forwards and backwards from any number by 2s, 5s, and 10s. Other objectives included reading and writing number words and ordinal numbers, comparing numbers, even and odd numbers, and estimating and rounding to the closest ten. Problem solving skills included using data from a chart and making an organized list.

Currently, the students are practicing counting change and showing different combinations that show the same amount.  To reinforce these skills at home practice identifying coins with your child and discuss identifying characteristics.

Also, to practice some other skills, click here to visit EZschool.com and play “Compare Me” and “Order! Order!”

“Capture 5″ is another great game that really strengthens number sense, creating number sentences that include addition and subtraction to move a marker on the 100s chart.

Social Studies

The students learned about government leaders and made campaign posters promoting themselves or a friend as a leader of a community.  Currently we are learning about how our country’s government works.  We will learn more about the legislative, executive and judicial branch.  We practiced voting in an election and voted on a class nickname.  We are now nicknamed the “Secret Spies” class!

Science

The students learned some classifying characteristics of some animals including body coverings and life cycles.  To investigate this idea, they first practiced sorting and classifying animals into groups that they decided upon with a partner.  We also compared insects and spiders and learned how to tell the difference.  Currently we are observing the life cycle of a meal worm/ beetle.  In observation journals the students are drawing, labeling and writing their observations and recording predictions about what they think will happen next.  “I think my pupa is developing wings!” was one amazing observation that a second grade scientist discovered!

Next we will learn more about how people grow and change.  We will learn how different parts of our body work together and what we can do to keep our bodies healthy.

Language Arts

The students enjoyed reading the same book, Flat Stanley.  As a whole class the students took turns reading aloud and reading with a “book buddy.”  The students answered comprehension questions in their journals and practiced being “word detectives,” using context clues from the story to determine the meaning of some new or interesting words.  There are many sequels in the series and the students had so much fun creating an original idea for a sequel and designing the book jacket, including a summary on the back with a headline to capture a reader’s attention. For example: Flat Arthur: This time it’s Arthur’s turn! Visit www.theflatstanelyproject.com to learn more about the flat second grade and our traveling adventures!

In literacy centers, students are practicing decoding and comprehension strategies of “just right” books independently and in small guided reading groups, working on their small moment stories, and practicing handwriting.

In Writer’s Workshop we are studying small moment stories. So far the students have learned and practiced some strategies for generating ideas.  We have learned about bold beginnings, sensory details and including step-by-step details to provide a clear image for our reader.  We will continue to learn about mighty middles that include thoughtful word choice and characters that talk.  We will also learn that excellent endings leave the reader with a thought or a feeling.  In a few weeks we will select one of our stories to “fancy up” and publish and have our first author’s celebration!

Math

We have finished up chapter 2 - Fact Strategies for Addition and Subtraction, and are beginning our next study of Place Value to 100 and Money.  Visit the Bulletin Board for activities that your child can engage in at home to support and extend on the objectives taught in class.

Social Studies

The students have been learning more about communities, learning the differences between urban, suburban and rural communities.  We also identified places in a community in an atlas and on a map and classified them into groups, such as places to play, places to learn, places to work, etc.  We will learn more about the history of the community of Fairfield when we visit the Fairfield History Museum on October 25th.  Permission forms to follow.  Our next unit of study will be all about government!

Science

The students learned more about the parts of a plant and what each part does for the plant.  After sprouting a seed, we were able to observe, draw and label the parts of a seed.  Currently we are investigating how light helps a plant grow and change.  We are observing and comparing the growth and change of plants growing in the grow lab with plants growing in the classroom.  We made hypotheses and recorded them in an investigation log. We will visit Sport Hill Farm on Oct. 21st as a part of our “Farm to Fork” program.  We will tour the farm, learn about what grows in the fall, and harvest a seasonal vegetable.  In our next unit we will learn about classifying characteristics of different animals including how different animals grow and change.

We’ve been up to A LOT, and although the year is winding down, our learning is NOT!  (Hey, that’s a poem!)

And speaking of… April was National Poetry Month and in Writing, we just finished our unit of study on poetry.  The students learned many strategies for generating ideas to write poems about.  For example, a poet looks at the world with a poet’s eyes and finds meaning in ordinary objects by imagining not just what they are, but what they could be.  For example, “a toothpick is like a sword that fights the meat in your mouth.”  Also, a poet might start with a big feeling, like the love that one has for a family member, and searches for a small moment that captures that big feeling, like a shared moment in the morning like in the poem, “Good Morning, George.”  The students also learned that poems have music and that we can make our poems sound musical by experimenting with line breaks, searching for precise, honest words and sometimes repeating important lines.  And of course, “show, don’t tell” is a critical component of any excellent writing, including poetry.  The students compiled a class collection of poems and celebrated them with their grandparents and special friends visitors.  Their work is glorious and their process was inspiring.  “I can’t stop writing!” exclaimed Ella as she continued to write as we were walking back inside one morning after spending our writer’s workshop writing poems by the Horse Tavern Brook.

In reading, we have been continuing to read stories from our anthologies, answering comprehension questions in response to the thematic stories, and reading “just right books” with book buddies and small groups.

Next, we will do some research and write research paragraphs about some dinosaurs that we will be studying.

In Math, we have cruised through several chapters, studying geometry, including concepts of plane shapes and solid figures, orientation, congruence and symmetry, and fractions.  When studying time, we learned different ways to tell time before and after the hour and practiced telling elapsed time.  We practiced collecting data using surveys, recording our data in tables, and showing our data within different graphs and venn diagrams.  Currently, we are learning about measurement, using various measuring tools to measure length and height, capacity, volume, weight and temperature in standard and metric units.

Next, we will apply our number sense to three-digit numbers and practice our regrouping skills, adding and subtraction three-digit numbers with and without regrouping.

After learning about “People Long Ago,” including important people, and events in our country’s history, we began our study of world cultures in our unit, “A World of Many People.”  We have learned about what culture is, and different ways that people express their culture.  We learned about customs and traditions and learned about tooth traditions from around the world.  We learned about ways that people celebrate their heritage and culture by writing about cultural holidays and traditions that we celebrate and practice with our families.  We have discussed how the United States is a nation of many cultures and how and why many people from other countries have immigrated to this land over the years. The students loved learning a song and game called “Sansaw Akroma,” in the language of Twi, from the Akan people of Ghana in Africa.

Our next unit will be “People and the Marketplace.”  The students will learn all about economic systems, including goods and services, producers and consumers, ways people make money and what people can do with their money.  You’d be surprised how philanthropic the students’ ideas can be!

In Science, the students completed our study of “Forces and Motion.”  After that we learned about sound, including what sound is, how it varies and how it can travel.  We had fun making musical instruments out of boxes and rubber bands and making culturally traditional Mexican maracas!

Next, we learned about using our Earth’s resources, including rocks, soil and plants and water.  We planted in the Unquowa garden, observed the parts of soil by making a “mudshake,” and reused an empty tennis ball canister by turning it into a mini composter after learning about the parts of compost and how it works.  In celebration of Earth Day, we made culturally traditional South American rainsticks and made recycled paper out of left over construction scraps in the classroom.

Currently, we are learning about the “Earth Long Ago,” with a focus on dinosaurs!  So far the students have learned about what a fossil is and how they are formed.  They have learned that the dinosaurs are from the Mesozoic Era, including the three different periods; the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous.  Do you know how a paleontologist can tell how old a fossil is?  Ask your second grader for the scoop!

In Language Arts, the students finished up the third theme in our anthologies–Family Time. The students read several stories with the shared theme and learned new vocabulary, practiced comprehension strategies and used examples from the text to answer comprehension questions.  The next theme in our anthologies is “Amazing Animals.”  We will also continue to read many, many just right books!

We had a blast studying fairy tales and wrote many of our own fairy tales, including original, adaptations and fractured.  We saw a play adaptation of Rumplestiltskin and performed a fractured fairy tale play back in the classroom.  We also learned about fables and read a play adaptation of the fable, “Belling the Cat.”  Currently, we are writing persuasive letters and reviews and after the March break we will study poetry.  April is national poetry month!

In Math, the focus has been to develop strategies for adding and subtracting two digit numbers, including recording addition and subtraction with and without regrouping.  We applied our understanding to story problems and critical thinking problems and practiced reading information from a table and using it to solve problems.  Keep practicing those math facts!  At this point, in order to compute many math problems accurately, one must know those facts!  A good website to go to to play math fact games and print worksheets and flash cards by clicking here.  We will revisit regrouping again in chapters 10 and 11 after we study geometry and fractions, time, data and graphs, and measurement and probability.

In our latest unit, “Using Our Resources,” the students learned what countries, landforms and bodies of water make up North America, identified the parts of a globe, learned what causes the seasons, compared weather and climate, and compared the climate of different regions around the world. We reviewed parts of a map, including the compass rose, map key and map grid, and applied our understanding to reading landform maps, product maps, and route maps to identify the location of places and to tell how to get from one location to another. We identified natural resources, and discussed how people use them and can conserve them. We discussed reasons people choose to live in an environment, how people change that environment to meet their needs and compared urban, suburban and rural communities. We discussed how transportation and communication have changed over time and identified ways technology makes our lives better and easier.  Currently, we are studying history in “People from Long Ago,” and how people and places change over time.  We are learning about Native Americans and colonists, the American Revolution, and ways to honor our heritage and people and events in our country’s history.

In Science, we recently finished up our unit on learning “All About Matter!”  We practiced observing and measuring matter and changes in matter.  We learned that matter has observable properties, such as color, size, texture, and shape, and usually exists as a solid, liquid or gas. Matter can change from one form to another in reversible and irreversible ways. Also, matter can be mixed, but the individual properties that make up the matter do not change. The students worked cooperatively to complete some hands-on, investigative activities and were able to classify matter, identify and compare some properties of matter in each state and measure the length, weight and volume of some solids and liquids.  We enjoyed applying our understanding and measuring skills to some “kitchen chemistry” activities, which included making rock candy, “oobleck,” and play dough.  Currently, we are studying forces and motion.  The students are learning about pushes and pulls, and other kinds of forces.  They are learning about magnetism, properties of magnets, how magnets are used and ways to measure motion.

In Reading, the students recently finished the third theme in our anthologies-”Around Town.”  The stories, including Chinatown, A Trip to the Firehouse, Big, Bushy Mustache and Jamaica Louise James, all shared a family/ community connection.  The students continued to strengthen their decoding skills by applying them to some tricky words as the texts get more challenging, and develop their vocabulary and comprehension strategies.  We enjoyed reading My Father’s Dragon as a whole class and discussed why the main character, Elmer Elevator, was so interesting.  The students have enjoyed listening to many fairy tales including classical, and adaptations.  Also, ask your child what a fractured fairy tale is…  Next, we will study fables.  Do you know about Aesop?

In Writing, the students are writing their own fairy tales.  After reading several classic fairy tales, and discussing some classifying elements, such as “Once upon a time,” unknown setting, good vs. bad, element of three and a happy ending where the good, unlikely characters prevail, we also read some adaptations and discussed why an author might choose to adapt and retell a fairy tale.  My favorite example is The Paper Bag Princess, in which it is the princess who must rescue the prince!  The students have been planning and writing their own original fairy tales and adaptations.  What is your favorite fairy tale?  Mine is Rumplestiltskin and we are excited to see the play adaptation soon at the Downtown Cabaret Theater!

In Math, we have been learning and practicing how to add and subtract 2-digit numbers with and without regrouping.  To add 46 and 29, first, add the ones, then regroup, then add the tens.  To subtract 29 from 46, first regroup, then subtract the ones, then subtract the tens.  To practice at home and reinforce these concepts and skills, play Race to 100 and Race to Zero, and Sock Addition and What’s the Difference. Have your child practice recording the number sentence for each move/ turn.  In order for your child to master these sills, it is VERY VERY important that your child continues to practice his/ her math facts!!  Keep talking about those strategies for remembering!  Also, have them recall not just facts, but fact families.

In Social Studies, the students are currently studying the unit “Caring for Resources.”  The students have learned about what natural resources are, how they are used, and which are renewable, nonrenewable and inexhaustible.  We had a very meaningful discussion about clean energy and I was impressed with the students’ understanding of solar paneling!  We have practiced reading and creating our own product map, and have discussed rural vs. urban communities, reasons why people choose a land to live in, and how people work with the land and change it over time by creating and utilizing technology.  Do you know what hydroponics is?  We do!  Next time your are in the grocery store, look for signs!

In Science, the students are learning about matter!  Did you know that everything in the world is made up of matter?!  We learned about the three forms of matter by investigating some of the properties of each form.  Did you know that all matter takes up space and has mass?  Matter that holds its own shape is a solid, water will take the shape of its container, and air will take the shape of its container and fill the whole space.  Do you know why a bubble is always shaped like a sphere? (Hint: it has to do with surface tension-a property of liquids.)  Also, what do you think would happen if you turned a cup of water covered by only an index card upside down?  Try it at home!  In the coming weeks we will continue to study ways to change matter and we will learn a little bit about chemistry in the kitchen!

After reading many stories in our anthologies about animals, habitats and nature, the second graders did some research on some habitats and animals. The students worked in small groups to read through some nonfiction texts and answer some research questions on a habitat. Then, each student selected an animal from the habitat they studied to do some more research on. After answering additional research questions, the students worked to make their answered questions into a research paragraph. With the help of Mrs. L., the Lower School librarian and computer teacher, Mrs. D., the Lower School art teacher, and some Upper School technology students, the second graders completed a power point presentation which included their paragraphs, drawings of their animals and photos of their habitats. Stay tuned for the final product!
In writing, the students studied realistic fiction.  They learned some strategies to help them generate ideas and practiced some pre-writing strategies, such as writing “storylines,” designing a “road map” and drawing and writing a “character sketch,” to help them produce a piece that was well developed and organized.  Once again, after a month long study, each student chose a favorite piece to “publish” and celebrate.  Well done!

The students recently finished up a unit of study in math, which included studying place value to one hundred and number concepts such as rounding to the closest ten, identifying even and odd numbers, comparing numbers and skip counting. They also practiced counting change, making different combinations of coins to show the same amount and making change. Our next chapter is on using strategies such as mental math to solve double digit addition problems. This will get us more prepared to learn more about double-digit addition and subtraction with and without regrouping. Practice at home of skip counting by tens starting with different numbers such as 53, 62, 21, etc. would be helpful to students.  Also, play “Race to 100” and “Race to Zero” and keep practicing those math facts!

In Social Studies, the students have been studying “The World Around Us,” learning about countries, landforms, and bodies of water that make up North America.  They are also learning about U.S. regions as well as world regions, climate and weather, including what causes the change in seasons.  Our next unit of study, after winter break, will be “Caring for Resources.”

In addition to working in groups to study some habitats and animals, the students learned about a coral reef habitat. We learned that a coral reef is a colony of coral polyps, which looks like a rock, but is actually a type of underwater animal! Then, after learning about some different kinds of coral, we made “stag horn” coral. Also, the students learned about how many animals that live in the coral reef work together. This relationship is called symbiosis. After observing Mrs. Shannon’s salt water tank and actually seeing how a clown fish and sea anemone work together, we made our own sea anemones and clown fish to add to our coral reef display. Through to the winter holiday, the students will be working with Mrs. Curran to learn more about birds. Using their own identification card, the students learned about what to look for when identifying birds, such as size, color and beak shape, and practiced identifying some birds outside using binoculars borrowed from the Audubon Society. The students will also work with Mrs. L. and Mrs. D. again to create their own field guide to birds found around the Unquowa School. Great job, second grade ornithologists!

Language Arts

Reading

The second graders finished the first theme in our anthology—Silly Stories - and enjoyed reading some silly stories in small guided reading books, such as Rats on the Roof, Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa and Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile. As a response project, the students chose from a list of options to present the story they read to the rest of the class. Many students chose to pretend the book was being turned into a movie and designed a movie poster depicting an exciting part!

As a class, we enjoyed listening to Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown. There are many sequels to Flat Stanley and the students had fun creating an original idea for a sequel and designing the book jacket, including a summary on the back with a headline to capture a reader’s attention. For example: Flexible Stanley: This time Stanley “stretches” it a bit too far!

Currently, we are into our second anthology theme: Nature Walk. The students are enjoying reading stories about nature, plants and animals.

Writing

The second graders just had their first author’s celebration—celebrating the best of their collections of small moment stories (personal narratives.) Throughout the unit, the students cycled their way through the writing process; first by using strategies to generate ideas. Then, students learned about bold beginnings—leads about the time of day/ year and weather, or someone or something saying or doing something. When learning about mighty middles, students incorporated sensory details and character dialogue, but with the most emphasis being placed on “storytelling” rather than summarizing. Next, the students learned about excellent endings, which are endings that tie together the big idea or feeling of the story and leave the reader with that thought or feeling. The students worked with writing partners to edit and revise and focused on basic conventions—such as capitals, end punctuation and appropriate spelling. Lastly, the students “published” their stories, by designing a cover, a title and a dedication page. Our next unit of study, realistic fiction, will build on the foundation established in our first unit.

Math

Currently the students are studying place value to 100, strengthening their ability to skip count up, or down, from any number by 2s, 5s, and 10s. Other objectives included using groups of tens and ones to count large quantities of objects, reading and writing number words and ordinal numbers, comparing numbers, even and odd numbers, and estimating and rounding to the closest ten. Problem solving skills included using data from a chart and making an organized list. To reinforce these skills at home, play Color to 100 and Capture 5.

Other activities:

• With your child, count the number of fingers and toes of 3 to 5 people at home, first by ones and then by tens.
• Create secret number riddles for your child to solve. For example: It is greater than 47. It has 4 in the tens place. It is an even number. What is the secret number?
• Order 20 objects and ask your child to name the sixth, the 18th, etc.
• Visit the website http://resources.oswego.org/games/ for some excellent interactive math games that reinforce basic skills and extend and enrich. (My favorite is Power Lines…)

To get your child ready for the second part of the chapter; in a set of coins, have your child identify the name and value of a penny, nickel, dime and quarter. Students will learn to:

• count sets of coins, starting with the coins with the greatest value through to the coins with the least value
• show the same amount of money using different sets of coins
• Compare values and count on from the price of an object up to the greater amount paid in order to make change.

Reinforce these complicated skills at home by letting your child count and make change as often as possible. I’m sure you won’t have to convince them to play with money!

In Socials Studies we have been learning about different kinds of communities, including urban, suburban and rural. We learned how communities, states and our country all have their own governments with government leaders whose job is to help citizens. We exercised our right to vote as citizens of the classroom community by voting on a classroom nickname. It was a close election, but “The Bulldog Class” received the majority!!

We were lucky to have Ken Flatto visit with us and talk about his job as the first selectman of Fairfield. Then, we focused on learning about the branches of United States government, including the names of the branches, their leaders and their jobs. The students learned about the Constitution and the Preamble and wrote and signed a “Class Constitution.” As a culminating project, the students created a “branches of government bouquet,” went on a virtual tour of the White House and designed a post card from our “field experience” to Washington, D.C!

We enjoyed watching some School House Rock videos about “How a Bill Becomes a Law,” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEJL2Uuv-oQ, and another about the Preamble http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMyfGo-Pv58&feature=related. Another great site for kids to learn more about government is “Ben’s Guide to U.S. Government for Kids,” http://bensguide.gpo.gov/.

Don’t forget to vote on Tuesday, Nov. 2nd—Election Day!

Our next unit is “The World around US”. We will learn about landforms and bodies of water, US holidays and other cultural holidays and traditions.

Science

In Science, we learned some characteristics to sort and classify animals as mammal, reptile, amphibian, fish, bird, insect or spider. Do you know the difference between a reptile and an amphibian? How about an insect and a spider? Also, what do you call a mammal that can fly? (A bat) What do you call a bird that cannot fly? (A penguin) What do you call a fish out of water? (A dead one! Haha! Thank you, Lisi, for that clever joke!) We also compared and contrasted the life cycle of a mammal and a bird. Currently, we are investigating the life cycle of a beetle; observing mealworms (larvae) as they go through metamorphosis and change into a pupa and then an adult beetle. As a sub-unit, the students enjoyed learning about the life cycle of some marsupials from Australia, including kangaroos, koala bears, wombats and possums. And boy! Is that platypus a conundrum..!

Currently we are learning about how people grow and change. We are learning about how muscles and bones work together, how our heart and lungs work together and ways we can take care of our bodies and stay healthy.

Our next unit will be homes for living things and will include a focus on animal adaptations.

Language Arts

We have reading stories from our Basal Anthologies. The theme is silly stories, and some comprehension strategies and skills taught have been summarize, monitor to clarify, story structure and telling the difference between fantasy and realism. The students have enjoyed hearing the silly story Flat Stanley. We have also been learning about parts of a sentence and practicing writing in complete sentences. In writer’s workshop the students have been studying and writing small moment stories. We have learned some strategies for generating ideas for small moments, such as think of an event, a person or a thing and try to find a small moment that holds a big feeling, or think of a big feeling and think of a moment that shows it. We learned how to select “Just Right” books by practicing the five-finger rule. After selecting a book that looks interesting, read the first page and keep track of the number of times you get stuck on a word or idea. If it is less that 5, make sure the book isn’t too easy—we don’t learn to be better readers unless we challenge ourselves! But if it is more than 5, it is too difficult. A just right book is one that we can read most of the words and understand most of the ideas.

Math

The second graders began studying chapter 2.  We have been learning addition and subtraction strategies to help us solve basic facts quickly and easily. Recognizing facts that make ten, doubles, and doubles plus one are some examples. Students have learned that counting on is only a good strategy for adding 1, 2, or 3! Any number bigger, and it is not quick and it is not easy! We will continue to learn and practice strategies for subtraction. For practice at home, play “Make Ten,” “Turn Over Ten,” and “Beat the Calculator” for practice. Also, play “Doubles” with 18 pennies. Count out 7 pennies and say, “double it!” your child then counts out an additional 7 pennies, and together you say, “7 plus 7 equals 14 in all. 7 cents plus 7 cents equals 14 cents.” Take turns, using other numbers . In chapter 3 we will study place value to 100 and money.

Social Studies

We have been learning about what a citizen and community is. We have learned that a community is a place where people work and play together. We have learned that we are citizens of many communities, and as citizens of a community, we have responsibilities. We also discussed how in addition to being a citizen, we play many roles, such as student, family member, etc. And that with each role comes different responsibilities. We have discussed the importance of rules and laws, how they keep us safe and help us get a long, and that not following rules or laws has consequences. Discuss the rules in your house and talk about the importance of these rules and consequences for breaking them. Throughout Unit 1- Governing the People, we will learn about functions of and parts of government, government services and taxes, on the community, state and national level. We will also learn about leaders, ways we choose leaders and identify local, state and national leaders. We will also learn about the Constitution! On Oct. 13th we will visit the Fairfield Museum and History Center to learn about the history of Fairfield. Students will tour the museum collection and walk the old town green, visiting the old school house, burying ground and tavern/ inn. Do you know the name of the Native American tribe from which Roger Ludlowe bought the land which was developed into the town of Fairfield? Also,that George Washington once spent the night at the old Fairfield Inn?!

Science

We have begun our unit on how living things grow and change. We have learned about the parts of a plant and their different functions. For example, the leaf makes and stores the food and the flower makes the seed. Also, a flower can grow into fruit! Do you know the difference between a fruit and a vegetable? We do! The next time you visit the vegetable section of the grocery store, bring along your second grader and have them identify the part of the plant which is the vegetable that we eat. We are also conducting our first experiment, by testing how light changes the way a seed grows and changes. We set up a fair test, giving 2 beans food, air and water. We gave one bean light by putting it in the window. We did not give the other seed light by keeping it in the closet. We made a hypothesis to tell which one we think will change more, and we are in the process of observing the results. We learned how to classify, by collecting leaves and sorting them into groups to show how they are the same. What kinds of plants and trees grow near your house?  Next we will learn about how animals grow and change, and discuss classification characteristics. We will also learn about homes for animals, and animal adaptations. We will visit the Audubon Society in the start of November.