What is Happening Now...

There is never a dull moment here in second grade! We wanted to give you an update on the important highlights of what has been going on inside and outside of our classroom as we come to the end our first trimester.

Inside of the Classroom

We have just completed our second unit in math which focused on geometry and fractions. We  looked at 2-D and 3-D shapes and learned how to determine the number of faces, edges and vertices of a shape. We have introduced the concept of congruent shapes which are two shapes that are same shape and size. The children learned how build arrays as a way of understanding doubles and laying the foundation for repeated addition.  An array is a rectangular arrangement of square tiles comprised of rows and columns.  We finished the unit by learning that fractions are equal parts of a whole. The children learned about halves, thirds and fourths. The next unit will focus on developing students' ideas about counting and quantity, place value and the structure of the base-10 number system, and computational fluency. This will include a return to working with coins and thinking about their value. We will continue to work with adding and subtracting coin values as well.

In Writer's Workshop, we have just completed our first persuasive letter. The children came up with some very clever ideas about what they would like to see improved at Trinity. They thought up solid reasons and examples to back up their ideas. Then they crafted their letters which are ready to be delivered this week. One idea was to have Trinity continue through high school!  We will continue to work on persuasive letters as we get further into our work in understanding the gifts of the the rain forest.

In Reader's Workshop we have just completed our study of looking at characters to deepen our thoughts about not only what is going on in a story, but why things are happening. We have just started our new unit which will take us into the world of reading nonfiction. We will focus on text features, finding main idea and separating interesting facts from key facts. We will apply this work first to our research about the rain forest and later to our study of coral reef animals.

In science, we have finished our study of soil where the children learned about how soil is created. They built bins with shredded newspaper, lettuce and lots of wiggly earthworms. With lots of misting and continuous light, your children were able to see that the earthworms turn the newspaper  and lettuce into soil. Our study of soil included a trip to Reedy Creek where they were able to explore the world of decomposers and much more!

In social studies we have just completed our examination of communities, citizen influence and how leaders get elected.  We talked about who is eligible to vote. On election day, we held an "election" in our classroom. The children learned about how every candidate has a platform and then voted accordingly. In our case the platform was about which playground equipment they would provide if elected. They had actual ballots which they cast and then we counted. It was a surprise to some that the sidewalk chalk won the election by a landslide!

We have launched our first Storypath unit which is about the rain forests around the world. In this unit we will look at the unique ecosystem found in the rain forest. Science will be an important part of this study. We will explore the process of photosynthesis and why it is important to our world.  We will learn about the water cycle which so important in the rain forest.

 Our service learning with InReach continues to go well. When we go to InReach we split our time  between working in a greenhouse and singing. When the InReach customers come to Trinity we read and do art projects. This Thursday we will join in singing with our InReach friends during their annual luncheon to raise awareness and support for the organization.

If you haven't heard about book buddies, ask your child. We meet every other Friday with Ms. York's class and they all really enjoy this time spent with their fifth grade friends as seen in the photo below.




Finally, as we approach Thanksgiving, we want to thank you for sharing your children with us. It is an incredible privilege to work with such eager minds and huge hearts. They are like sponges who soak up all that we provide and  then give back it back to us in some many ways. We are blessed indeed. Be on the lookout for more photos in coming days. Safe travels and enjoy this time with your families.