Grade 2 News
Newsletter #2: How the World Works
UOI 1: How the world Works
An inquiry into the natural world and its laws; the interaction between the natural world (physical and biological) and human societies; how humans use their understanding of scientific principles; the impact of scientific and technological advances on society and on the environment.
Central idea: Living things go through a process of change
Key concepts: Change, Connection , Causation
Related concepts: Life Cycles, Adaptation, Basic Needs, Habitats, Researching, Observation, Collecting Data, Shape, Color,
Lines of inquiry
- Life cycles and how they change over time (Change)
- Similarities and differences in the way that living things grow and change (Connection)
- Factors that can influence life cycles (Causation)
What Have We Learned This Unit?
Math
- Students have been identifying a shape’s attributes to recognize and draw categories of polygons like triangles quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons and more.
- We have begun to understand parallel lines and how to draw them and identify them within a shape.
- Students have used a set of shapes to create a new shape and combine shapes and build composite shapes.
- Students have also observed shapes in nature and of living things through science and art connection to math, we have also read the book "Bug Shapes ".
- Next students will start to identify the number of edges, faces, and corners, build and partition shapes by combining two or more smaller shapes and relating the parts to the whole and begin working with fractions and telling time.
English Language Arts
In English Language Arts
- We started to explore story structure connecting it to the life cycle as it has a beginning middle and end. Students are listening to our class read aloud 'James and the Giant Peach' and discussing what happens if a story just stopped (It doesn't give closure) and much like a life cycle it is incomplete.
- We have begun our first drafts of our individual published books- each student is writing their own nonfiction book about the research they are doing on their assigned insect- I am amazed at how well they are doing! Students are already using a variety of digital tools to research produce and publish writing, in collaboration with peers and teachers. We have even started working to record our sources onto a bibliography for our books so that we can credit our research and have learned about plagiarism and academic honesty!
- We worked with adjectives to describe nouns through creating an acrostic poem of any living thing of our choice and finding words through dictionaries and glossaries that accurately describe those creatures.
Science & Social Studies
Our study into the life of insects and plants is well on its way. We have been caring for and investigating meal worms, seeds, and don't forget about Smore and Peanut Butter. And we will be adding even more members to our class very soon......! We have explored many different life cycles not just of insects but also animals, and humans. Students have compared our human, plant, and animal life cycle to those existing thousands of years ago. We learned that many things were a lot larger (including Adam A.S.) and science has shown that this is due to the amount of oxygen that was available at that time. Students also recalled that Adam and Huwa had a different life cycle than the rest of mankind (as they were created as a grown adult- they were not born). Students are continuing to wait for the meal worms to make their transformation, our seeds have sprouted and our caterpillar eggs are on the way!
Social Studies:
- In Social Studies students have been studying the life cycle, diet, and behaviors of their assigned Maryland local insects including the Tiger beetle, Blue Dasher Dragonfly, Buckeye Butterfly, and the Mason Bee. All of which can be found right here in our region so see if you are able to find them out an about (especially near the Chesapeake bay area) Feel free to take pictures of any interesting creatures that you may find and email them so I can show them in class.
Check us out being Explorers in our own back yard!
Check out the inquires that we made Outside!
Bug, Wings, and Crawling Things!
"What is this?"
"Can you find the Camouflage Bug?"
"Is it a Larvae?"
"What lives in this hole?"
"Look at this slug" - "Maybe its a snail!"
"I found a boy butterfly because it is blue"
Plants, Seeds, and Growing things....
"What plant is growing out of our soil bag?"
"I wonder what my braissica sprout will grow into?"
These came from my dandelion- I think they are seeds!
Stem Week
A HUGE Shout Out
Upcoming Events
Here are some things to look forward to!
- May 12th, 2017- Six Flags Field Trip (School Wide!)
- May 16th, 2017- Staff PD Day
- May 21st, 2017- Fun Run
- May 22-23, 2017- IB Authorization Visit
- May 29th- Ramadan Schedule in effect (no later than this date)
- May 30th-June 23, 2017- (MAP Testing)
- June 23, 2017- Last Day of School for Students
Grade 2 Homeroom
- Ms. Walcott - cwalcott@tarbiyahacademy.org (Hmrm)
Email: info@tarbiyahacademy.org
Website: http://www.tarbiyahacademy.com
Location: 6785 Business Parkway, Elkridge, MD, United States
Phone: 844-827-2492
Facebook: facebook.com/tarbiyahacademy