WM 2nd Grade Curriculum Update
May 2018
Reading and Writing
Reading:
In Reader’s Workshop students will be starting a new unit: Reading and Role-Playing Fairy Tales, Folktales, Fables, and Fantasy. The first part of the unit immerses students into the world of folktales and fairytales. Together with a partner, they will read multiple texts in the genre looking for common elements and themes as they retell texts encompassing narrative elements. The second part of the unit students will be stepping into the character’s shoes, feeling, thinking, and acting in order to gain a deeper understanding of them. Students will be working on fluency and demonstrate comprehension by reading with expression and prosody. By the end of the unit students will work in book clubs working together to consider the lessons characters learn and to compare how different authors explore similar morals in very different ways. Students will learn to compare and contrast characters, storylines, morals and lessons in two or more versions of the same story by different authors.
Writing:
In Writer’s Workshop students will be starting a new unit : Writing Persuasive Reviews. Bend 1 is about rehearsal and developing many ideas in an attempt to explore several writing ideas. Students will be writing an opinion piece including reasons to back up that opinion. In Bend 2 students will make reviews more persuasive by adding details and more specific language by using their senses and studying artifacts and mentor texts. At the end of the unit students get ready to publish their reviews by using revision strategies and keeping in mind the intended audience for their piece.
Math
Math: Unit 7: Measurement, Fractions & Multi-Digit Computation with Hungry Ants
Estimate, measure, and compare the lengths of objects in centimeters and meters
Split whole shapes into 2, 3, 4, or 8 equal parts called halves, thirds, fourths/quarters or eighths
Solve, pose, and write addition, subtraction, and money story problems involving 2- and 3-digit numbers
Science
Plants is our next science unit. Students will be planting seeds and observing what happens has plants develop. Students will learn that plants not only grow bigger, but new structures develop-new kinds of leaves, buds, flowers, and seeds. Students will also become aware of the needs of plants and how to take care of them. As students plant seeds and watch them grow, they will observe plant structures and see developmental changes by recording their observations through drawings and writings.
Second Graders will rotate between the following Foss units:
Air and Weather
Solids and Liquids
New Plants
Social Studies
Students rotate with science units.
LMC - Library
We’ve learned a lot this year! We’ll experiment with a variety of apps to help us share our new knowledge with others.
Music
Mrs. Spahn’s classes will be working on: Learning folk dances from the U.S. and various other countries. We started this last week and the students are loving all the dancing!
Ms. Soltis’ classes will be working on: finishing the instrument families, ending with the Percussion Family! We will also be working on steps, skips, leaps, and repeats, which will prepare us for reading notes on the staff in 3rd grade.
Technology
Students will review different types of graphs and will make their own graphs using the computer and data they collect. Students will Use graphic organizers to brainstorm and organize ideas and concepts.
Art
How and why do artists collaborate? How does art make us smart? (Wolverine Way Banner)
PE
Our Jump Rope For Heart Event was a HUGE success. We broke the WM Record and raised $15,110 dollars this year! Thank you for all your hard work and support. The month of May will be filled with our track & field unit, disc golf, and frisbee. We are looking forward to being able to get outside as much as possible!
Guidance
We are wrapping up our Problem Solving Unit. This month we are focusing on how to solve problems on the playground such as exclusion and playing fairly. Negotiating and deciding on rules for playground play can cause conflicts among peers. We are learning how to use the Problem-Solving Steps to help negotiate game rules. This gives students a constructive process for working out differences and helps them avoid using aggression to solve playground problems.