WM 2nd Grade Curriculum Update
March 2019
Reading and Writing
Reading
In Reader’s Workshop students continue their work in reading non-fiction books and meeting with their book clubs. They are working on for hanging on to the information the author is aiming to teacher, but are also learning to develop their own ideas about the texts. Students are working hard on developing ideas and opinions about the information they are reading, but also learning that referring back to the text to support their ideas is just as important.
Writing
In Writer’s Workshop students are learning how to write lab reports and science books. The aim of the unit is to teach students more information writing and, specifically, about the kinds of information writing that scientists are apt to do. To teach this, science instruction is folded into the writing workshop. The first bend of the unit, students write like scientists - they come up with a question, make a hypothesis, write observations and results. The second bend, students will write to teach others about their discoveries. The final bend, students will write informational books.
Math
We will be moving into Unit 6: Geometry
In this unit your child will be working on the following skills:
Identify and describe, draw and create 2-D shapes based on their defining features.
Explore the area of shapes, especially rectangles
Split whole shapes into 2,3, or 4 equal parts called halves, thirds or fourth/quarters
Recognize that equal parts of identical wholes do not need to be the same shape
Science
Second Graders will rotate between the following Foss units:
Air and Weather
Solids and Liquids
New Plants
Social Studies
Our next unit will be studying marketplace and local production in social studies. The big ideas of this unit are: producers and consumers depend on each other, people make money in different ways to pay for goods and services, raw materials become a product, products come from a producer, wants vs. needs, and families have to budget their money.
LMC - Library
Second graders are becoming familiar with the parts of the library, which helps them to locate particular types of books, authors, series, and more. Students may even discover a new favorite area of the library this month!
Music
Mrs. Spahn’s classes will be working on: Rondo Form (ABACADAE...etc) and beginning Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev
Ms. Soltis’ classes will be working on: Maori stick games and Maori culture. Students will be learning about the customs and culture of the native people in New Zealand, the Maori. We will also learn a class Maori stick game, as well as students creating their own.
Technology
Students are using the computer as a writing tool. Students will be selecting an animal to research on the website PebbleGO. They will be creating an informational web about their animal.
Art
Why are museums important? Why do we need to protect art? (Mini-Galleries)
PE
We just finished up with our basketball unit and students enjoyed participating in our Hoops for Heart event days, that took place on Feb. 28 and March 1. Thank you to all who helped fundraise for this event and for supporting The American Heart Association! All donations must be made online or turned into Mrs. Johnson by Fri. March 15, thank you!
The month of March is filled with some awesome units. We will be training for the Ninja Warrior! Students will explore different fitness activities through fitness stations and games. By the end of the month, they will be ready to compete in our WM Ninja Warrior course.