Mr. Levendusky's Classroom

Welcome to our classroom! Our classroom is dedicated to growing in our 21st century skills and developing as life-long learners. We also have goals set in student achievement and collaboration.

Trimester One Learning

Reading:

Our reading focus this trimester is to be able to describe the beginning, middle, and end of a fiction book. The beginning is focusing on main characters and the setting. In the middle of the story, we are looking for the problem that arises with the characters and the main events that the characters involved with. Students will also be making connections this trimester. We will be making text to self, text to text, and text to world connections. Our fluency FAST assessment benchmark is 58 correct words per minute.

Language Arts:

Currently, we are learning about nouns (person, place, things). Collective nouns are names for groups of people and things. Some examples are a flock of geese, a troop of scouts, and a pride of lions.

Math:

Through collaboration, in math we are learning all about the penny, nickle, dime, and quarter. Along with money identification, we are learning about time on the hour. It is important to read the time on both the analog clocks as well as the digital clock. The Iowa Core Standards for trimester one include: Representing and solving problems involving multiplication, adding and subtracting within 20, and working with equal groups of objects to gain foundation for multiplication (Operations and Algebraic Thinking). Understanding place value and using place value understanding with properties of operations to perform multi-digit arithmetic (Number and Observation in Base Ten). Reasoning with shapes and their attributes (Geometry).

Writing:

Second grade students generally have a lot of room to grow as writers this year. I look forward to the development of their writing voice as they focus on small moments in time when writing their personal narratives. We will be learning to create a hook sentence at the beginning of our narratives, how to edit our work through the writing process, and how to publish with the use of technology. We will also begin writing lab reports and starting our informational writing piece.

Science:

Our unit of study is Earth's Systems. In this unit students will learn that Earth events can occur quickly or slowly. Students will also have the opportunity to develop solutions to slow or prevent wind or water from changing the shape of the land. In addition, we will be developing a model to represent the shapes and kinds of land and bodies of water in an area. Finally, students will identify where water is found on Earth and that it can be solid or liquid.

Trimester Two Learning

Reading:

In trimester two, students will be learning about asking and answering questions as they read. Questions beginning with who, what, where, when, why, and how. Students will also be able to find answers in the text, infer answers, and when the author doesn't answer the questions we will look at other resources. Non-fiction text features will be identified and explain how those text features help readers. To finish the second trimester students will describe the main idea of a multi-paragraph text and to make inferences from pictures and text. Our fluency FAST Assessment benchmark is 87 correct words per minute.

Language Arts:

This fall and winter second grade students will be working on the Language Standard L.2.1 - Demonstrate command of the conventions of Standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. This standard is broken down into the following sections: Using collective nouns, forming and using frequently occurring irregular plural nouns, using reflexive pronouns, forming and using past tense of occurring irregular verbs, using adjectives and adverbs, and producing complete simple and compound sentences.

Math:

There will be a focus on data collection and data interpretation (graphs) before and after the winter break. We will also be learning about patterns in tables and in extrapolated strings. In addition, students will learn additional strategies for solving 2-digit addition and subtraction word problems.

Writing:

Students are still improving their writing skills through practice and purpose. Our main writing pieces this trimester will be an to finish our informative piece and starting our opinion piece. We will also be using the writing process to improve our writing through creating different forms and drafts.

Science:

The science standards are focused on the Structures and Properties of Matter. We will plan and conduct investigations to describe and classify different kinds of material by their observable properties. Students will also analyze data obtained from testing different materials to determine which materials have the properties that are best suited for an intended purpose.

Trimester Three Learning

Reading:

Students will continue to make inferences to help them understand and comprehend the text better. After learning how to make inferences while reading, students will be learning about comparing and contrasting text. A big focus will also take place on our fluency. Our goal for the fluency FAST Assessment benchmark is 106 correct words per minute.

Language Arts: