Second Grade

Week of May 15 Happy Mother's Day!

Important Announcements:

Carnival: May 18

Theme Week: May 22-25

Last day of school: May 25

Literacy: We are exploring the elements of myth and drama.

Essential question: What do myths help us understand?

Vocabulary: appeared, crops, develop, edge, golden, rustled, shining, stages

Spelling/phonics: /le/ (examples: bubble, mental)

Sight words: enough, sometimes, river, anymore, rough, stranger, terrible, complete, window, against

Grammar: adverbs and prepositions

Writing: writing about reading

Math:  writing and solving word problems

Science: preventing erosion

Week of May 8

Important Announcements:

Last days of tutoring: May 8 and 9 We're having a pizza party!

Carnival: May 18

Last day of school: May 25

Literacy: We are exploring the elements of myth and drama.

Essential question: What do myths help us understand?

Vocabulary: appeared, crops, develop, edge, golden, rustled, shining, stages

Spelling/phonics: bossy-e syllable type

Sight words: above, brother, follow, listen, month, soft, something, song, who's, wind

Grammar: adjectives that compare

Writing: researching an expository essay

Math:  3 digit addition

Science: erosion

Social Studies: Economics: saving and spending

Week of May 1

Important Announcements:

i-Ready testing: May 1 (reading) and 2 (math)

Last days of tutoring: May 8 and 9 We're having a pizza party!

Last day of school: May 25

Literacy: We are summarizing nonfiction texts by determining the central idea and supporting details.

Essential question: How do we use money?

Vocabulary: invented, money, prices, purchase, record, system, value, worth

Spelling/phonics: closed and open syllables

Sight words: words, woman, instead, everything, paper, person, whole, voice, children, everybody

Grammar: adjectives

Writing: researching an expository essay

Math:  3 digit addition

Science: erosion

Social Studies: Economics: how do we use money?

Week of Apr. 17

Important Announcements:

No School Apr. 24

Literacy: We are using text features to help us understand informational texts.

Essential question: What do good citizens do?

Vocabulary: champion, determine, issues, promises, responsibility, rights, volunteered, votes

Spelling/phonics: variant /u/ (examples: book, moon)

Sight words: city, father, mother, o'clock, own, questions, read, searching, sure, though

Grammar: quotations

Writing: Revising, editing, and publishing an opinion essay

Math:  Measurement 

Science: plants and seed dispersal

Week of Apr. 10

Important Announcements:

No School Apr. 24

Literacy: We are using text evidence to describe the character's perspective in a realistic fiction story.

Essential question: What do good citizens do?

Vocabulary: champion, determine, issues, promises, responsibility, rights, volunteered, votes

Spelling/phonics: variant /u/ (examples: book, moon)

Sight words: air, along, always, draw, during, ever, meant, nothing, story, strong

Grammar: quotations

Writing: drafting an opinion essay

Math:  Fractions

Science: plants and seed dispersal 

Week of Apr. 3

Important Announcements:

No School Apr. 3 and 24

Literacy: We are summarizing biographies to determine author's purpose. We are looking at character's perspective in fairy tales.

Essential question: What do heroes do?

Vocabulary: agree, challenging, discover, heroes, interest, perform study, succeed 

Spelling/phonics: oi, oy (examples: spoil, boy)

Sight words: laugh, several, please, busy, brought, love, else, happy, I'll, maybe

Grammar: commas in dates

Writing: researching and planning an opinion essay

Math:  Geometry Post Test, beginning fractions

Science: plants and seed dispersal 

Social Studies: using timelines to understand historical figures

Week of Mar. 27

Important Announcements:

No School Apr. 3 and 24

Literacy: We are summarizing biographies to determine author's purpose.

Essential question: What do heroes do?

Vocabulary: agree, challenging, discover, heroes, interest, perform study, succeed 

Spelling/phonics: ou, ow (examples: sound, how)

Sight words: answer, been, body, build, head, heard, minutes, myself, pretty, pushed

Grammar: pronouns

Writing: What is opinion writing?

Math:  Geometry: finding the area of various shapes

Science: plants and seed dispersal 

Social Studies: using timelines to understand historical figures

Week of Mar. 20

Important Announcements:

No School Mar. 20

Conferences for Read Plan students: Mar. 21 and 23 (you will have received an invite to sign up on Dojo if you need to come)

Literacy: We are taking the unit 4 assessment on compare and contrast essay writing and reading nonfiction.

Essential question: What excites us about nature?

Vocabulary: review all

Spelling/phonics: review all

Sight words: review all

Grammar: using transitions in essay writing

Writing: compare and contrast essay

Math:  Geometry

Science: plants and seed dispersal 

Week of Mar. 6

Important Announcements:

Spring Break: Mar. 10-20

Literacy: We are reading poetry and identifying the theme.

Essential question: What excites us about nature?

Vocabulary: drops, excite, outdoors, pale, word choice, antonyms, free verse, repetition

Spelling/phonics: r controlled vowels: air, are, ear, ere

Sight words: talk, once, upon, among, touch, bought, never, knew, soon, sorry

Grammar: compound sentences

Writing: free verse poetry

Math:  post test and starting the next unit: geometry

Science: Habitat research project presentations

Week of Feb. 27

Important Announcements:

Spring Break: Mar. 10-20

Literacy: We are reading nonfiction and using text clues to determine the author's purpose.

Essential question: How does the earth change?

Vocabulary: active, earth, explode, island, local, properties, solid, steep

Spelling/phonics: r controlled vowels: -eer, -ere, -ear

Sight words: again, behind, eyes, gone, happened, house, inside, neither, stood, young

Grammar: homographs and contractions

Writing: Typing essays comparing and contrasting two careers 

Social Studies: Goal setting

Math:  Money, place value up to 1,000, and skip counting by 10, 100, and 1,000

Science: Habitat research project

Week of Feb. 21

Important Announcements:

No School: Feb. 17 and 20

Career Day: Feb. 23

Literacy: We are reading nonfiction and using text clues to determine the author's purpose.

Essential question: How does the earth change?

Vocabulary: active, earth, explode, island, local, properties, solid, steep

Spelling/phonics: r controlled vowels: or, ore, oar, ar

Sight words: ago, carry, certain, everyone, heavy, outside, people, problem, together, warm

Grammar: irregular plural nouns

Writing: Essay comparing and contrasting two careers

Social Studies: Career week

Math: Money and place value up to 1,000

Science: Habitat research project

Week of Feb. 13

Important Announcements:

This week is Acts of Kindness Week! See HERE for details.

Valentine exchange: Feb. 14

No School: Feb. 17 and 20

Career Day: Feb. 23

Literacy: We are reading fiction and comparing and contrasting story elements (characters, setting, and plot).

Essential question: How are kids around the world different?

Vocabulary: common, costume, customs, favorite, parades, travels, surrounded, wonder

Spelling/phonics: r controlled vowels: er, ir, ur, or

Sight words: animal, away, building, found, from, Saturday, thought, today, toward, watch

Grammar: to be verbs, similes

Writing: Essay comparing and contrasting two careers

Social Studies: Community helpers

Math: Money, place value up to 1,000, and skip counting by 10, 100, and 1,000

Science: Habitat research project

Week of Feb. 6

Important Announcements:

Valentine exchange: Feb. 14

No School: Feb. 17 and 20

Career Day: Feb. 23

Literacy: We are reading fiction and comparing and contrasting story elements (characters, setting, and plot).

Essential question: How are kids around the world different?

Vocabulary: common, costume, customs, favorite, parades, travels, surrounded, wonder

Spelling/phonics: silent letters: wr, gn, mb, kn, sc

Sight words: below, colors, don't, down, eat, many, morning, sleep, through, very

Grammar: to be verbs: am, is, are, was, were

Writing: Response to reading: comparing and contrasting characters

Social Studies: Community helpers

Math: Adding and subtracting 2 and 3 digit numbers

Science: Habitat research project

Week of January 30

Important Announcements:

Auditions for the Sponge Bob Musical are Jan. 30 from 2:30-3:30

Unit 3 Assessment for literacy and Unit 4 in math is this week!

Literacy: We are being assessed on all of the standards that have been covered in this unit, including sequencing important events in a story and using text evidence to find the central message.

Vocabulary: compound words, synonyms, sequence words

Spelling/phonics: all long vowel sound spellings

Writing: Students will write a personal narrative as part of their unit assessment.

Math: Unit 4 assessment (measurement) and introduction to unit 5 ( Adding and subtracting 2 and 3 digit numbers)

Science: Habitat research project

Week of January 16

Important Announcements:

Jan. 16: MLK Day-No school

Literacy: We are reading nonfiction and using text evidence to find the central message and supporting details.

Essential question: How do you express yourself?

Vocabulary: cheered, concert, instrument, movements, music, rhythm, sounds, understand

Spelling/phonics: long u spelled u, u_e, ue, and ew

Sight words: didn't, beautiful, climbed, country, began, turned, live, come, America, give

Grammar: subject/verb agreement focusing on forms of "has" (has, have, had)

Week of January 9

Important Announcements:

Jan. 9-13: ACCESS testing for second language learners

Jan. 16: MLK Day-No school

Literacy: We are reading fiction and sequencing the events in the story.

Essential question: What can we see in the sky?

Vocabulary: adventure, delighted, dreamed, neighbor, nighttime, enjoyed, grumbled, moonlight

Spelling/phonics: long e spelled e, ee, ea, ie, y, ey

Sight words: after, before, every, few, first, hear, hurt, old, special, would

Grammar: abbreviations and commas

Writing: We are using feedback from our friends to revise our personal narratives.

Social Studies: Our rights and responsibilities within our communities. 

Week of December 12

Important Announcements:

Winter Break Dec. 16- Jan. 3

Literacy: We are reading fiction and sequencing the events in the story.

Essential question: What can we see in the sky?

Vocabulary: adventure, delighted, dreamed, neighbor, nighttime, enjoyed, grumbled, moonlight

Spelling/phonics: long o spelled o, oa, ow, oe

Sight words: better, group, long. more, only, our, started, three, only, who, won'tBIRD, FAR, FIELD, 

Grammar: sequence words, verb tenses

Writing: We are revising, editing, and publishing a personal narrative about a time we helped someone in our community.

Week of December 5th

Important Announcements:

Winter Break Dec. 16- Jan. 3

Literacy: We are reading narrative nonfiction and sequencing the events in the story.

Essential question: How can people help their community?

Vocabulary: across, borrow, countryside, idea, insists, lonely, solution, villages

Spelling/phonics: long i spelled i, ie, igh, _y

Sight words: also, apart, begin, either, hundred, over, places, those, which, without BIRD, FAR, FIELD, 

Grammar: sequence words

Writing: We are planning and drafting a personal narrative about a time we helped someone in our community.

Week of November 28th

Important Announcements:

Thanksgiving Break Nov. 23-28

Literacy: We are reading narrative nonfiction and looking for clues in the text to discover the author's purpose.

Essential question: How can people help their community?

Vocabulary: across, borrow, countryside, idea, insists, lonely, solution, villages

Spelling/phonics: long a spelled ai, ay, ea, ei, ey, eigh

Sight words: about, around, good, great, idea, often, part, second, two, world BIRD, FAR, FIELD, 

Grammar: verbs and capital letters in titles

Writing: We are responding to questions using the RACE response.

Week of Nov. 21

Important Announcements:

Thanksgiving Break Nov. 23-28

Literacy: We are planning and writing paragraphs about what we are thankful for.

Social Studies: We are learning how to use maps, labeling a map of the world with continents and oceans, and making a "Map of Me" pinpointing our own continent, country, state and city.

vocabulary: scale, compass rose, key, oceans, continents, continent, country, state, city 

Week of November 14th

Important Announcements:

Thanksgiving Break Nov. 23-28

Literacy: We are taking our end of unit assessment. Students will be expected to write a short essay after reading a nonfiction article about how dogs help people (similar to the one we wrote about how animals help make soil). They will also read a fable and a poem and answer comprehension questions including two short written responses.

Week of November 7th

Important Announcements:

Thanksgiving Break Nov. 23-28

Literacy: We are studying the elements of poetry, including alliteration, rhyme, rhythm, and shape. We are looking for key details in the poems to discover the theme.

Essential question: What do we love about animals?

Vocabulary: behave, express, feathers, flapping, alliteration, poem, rhyme, rhythm

Spelling/phonics: 3 letter blends: spr, str, thr, spl, shr, compound words

Sight words: bird, far, field, flower, grow, leaves, light, orange, ready, untilBIRD, FAR, FIELD, FLOWER, GROW, 

Grammar: possessive nouns

Writing: We are finishing our animal helper essays and writing shape poems.

Math:  This week students are going to take the Unit  2 Post-Assessment as well as the screener for Unit 3. Unit 3  covers multi-digit addition and subtracting using number line models, skip jumps, and base 10 structures.

Week of October 24th

Important Announcements: 

Parent Teacher Conferences: Oct. 25th and 27th

Literacy: We are reading fables about animals and discussing what the moral of the story can teach us. We are focusing on making predictions to aid with comprehension and sequencing the events in the plot. 

Essential question: What can animal characters teach us?

Vocabulary: believe, delicious, feast, fond, remarkable, snatch, lessons, stories

Spelling/phonics: soft c and g and prefixes

Sight words: almost, buy, food, out, pull, saw, straight, under, wash, sky

Grammar: common and proper nouns, adjectives

Writing: We are writing a descriptive paragraph about a pumpkin using our 5 senses. 

Week of October 10th

Important Announcements: 

There is no school for students on Oct. 12-14 due to the moving of classrooms into the mobile. All 2nd grade classrooms will remain the same.

Fall Break: No School Monday October 17th -Friday October 21st

Parent Teacher Conferences: Oct. 25th and 27th

Literacy: We are reading fables about animals and discussing what the moral of the story can teach us. We are focusing on making predictions to aid with comprehension and sequencing the events in the plot. 

Essential question: What can animal characters teach us?

Vocabulary: believe, delicious, feast, fond, remarkable, snatch, lessons, stories

Spelling/phonics: soft c and g and prefixes

Sight words: almost, buy, food, out, pull, saw, straight, under, wash, sky

Grammar: common and proper nouns

Writing: Research and write a nonfiction book about an animal.

Week of October 3rd

Important Announcements: 

Field Day is Oct. 3 from 8:30-10:00

The Fun Run is Oct. 4 from 11:45-12:15

Our Field Trip to Delaney Farms is Oct. 7.

There is no school for students on Oct. 12-14 due to the moving of classrooms into the mobile. All 2nd grade classrooms will remain the same.

Fall Break: No School Monday October 17th -Friday October 21st

** Thursday October 6th: We will be administering the cogAT (cognitive abilities test) to all 2nd graders during their science block. This assesses students academic aptitude and gifted abilities. 

Social Studies: We are studying the history of Aurora on our visit to Delaney Farms, specifically looking at how life has changed from the early days of settlement to now.

Literacy: We are continuing with Unit 2 this week. We are reading nonfiction texts about animals and their offspring. We are focusing on using text evidence to find the main idea or central message of the texts. We are looking at text features (such as headings, captions, diagrams, photographs, labels, etc.) to help us understand the main idea.

Essential question: How are offspring like their parents?

Vocabulary: adult, alive, covered, fur, giant, groom, mammal, offspring

Spelling/phonics: long u spelled u_e

Sight words: sight, won, should, yes, change, their, fall, look, open, five, cheer

Grammar: review plural nouns

Writing: Research and write a nonfiction book about an animal.

Math: This week we will be working on developing place value skills using hundreds, tens, and ones.

Science: We will be assessing the skills that we have learned so far in science. We will be assessing the students' knowledge of landforms, quick and slow erosion, and using models to accurately represent photographs. 

Week of September 26th

Important Announcements: 

Tutoring starts today!

Picture retakes will be on Sept. 29.

We have a field trip to Delaney Farms schedules for Oct. 7. Watch for more details and permission slips coming home.

There is no school for students on Oct. 12-14 due to the moving of classrooms into the mobile. All 2nd grade classrooms will remain the same.

Wonders workbooks for unit 1 will be coming home this week. Feel free to practice reading the stories and look through your student's hard work!

Literacy: We are beginning Unit 2 this week. We are reading nonfiction texts about animals and their offspring. We are focusing on using text evidence to find the main idea or central message of the texts. 

Essential question: How are offspring like their parents?

Vocabulary: adult, alive, covered, fur, giant, groom, mammal, offspring

Spelling/phonics: long o spelled o_e

Sight words: because, friends, have, picture, school, off, know, cold, family, took

Grammar: review nouns, serial commas

Writing: answering questions using evidence from the text

Math: This week students  will continue to estimate, count, and compare quantities of beans/counters in order to develop place value counting skills.

Science: This week students will be practicing how to use the RACER strategy to respond to science related questions.

Social Emotional Learning:  This week students will be able to apply what they've learned to give advice to someone having a hard time acquiring a new skill.

Week of September 19th

Literacy: This week is our assessment for Unit 1. Students will be assessed on the long and short a and i sounds, synonyms, base words, central message of a nonfiction text, and writing a compare/contrast essay.

Math: This week we will start working on Unit 2.  Unit 2 moves students through counting and grouping discrete objects by place value, to measuring length with trains of Unifix cubes, to creating their own measuring tapes marked in intervals of 5 and 10 cubes, and finally to adding double-digit numbers on an open number line. Jack and the Beanstalk, with a few twists and turns, serves as a springboard for this mathematical journey.

Science: This week students will be learning about models and how they are used to represent where land and water are located.

Social Emotional Learning:  This week students will be able to apply what they've learned to give advice to someone having a hard time acquiring a new skill.

Week of August 22nd

Important announcements : 

There is no school for students on the 1st, 2nd, or 5th of September.

Homework for Literacy:
Students are expected to read at least 20 minutes each night in a book of their choosing. Students may also work on their i-Ready reading assignments.

Literacy: This week, we wrapped up our work on realistic fiction and began reading fantasy fiction. Our focus is on using evidence from the text to find the theme of the story. We began work on  2 letter blends in phonics, and in grammar, we are working on identifying the subject of a sentence.

Math: This week will continue to highlight the number rack as a tool to develop fluency with number facts to 20. New strategies and number relationships introduced include Doubles and Halves, Doubles Plus or Minus One, and even and odd numbers. The number rack is instrumental in modeling these strategies and number relationships. Students apply their understanding of these relationships in a series of story problems that emphasize number combinations up to 20. 

Science: This week students will be learning about dunes in Michigan and Colorado. They will be able to ask questions about how the dunes have changed over time. In addition, students will be learning how to obtain information about dunes as a landform and habitat. 

Social Emotional Learning:  Students learn how to develop a growth mindset and use helpful thoughts to persevere through challenges.