Writing Workshop: 

     In writing workshop, students will be writing realistic fiction this month.  Their writing will include the story elements of realistic fiction stories.  

     They will develop believable characters, create settings, and develop plot. They will look to their everyday experiences and world around them to generate ideas. We will study mentor authors to learn craft moves that will add volume and depth to their stories.

Helpful Tips for Parents:

• Share made up stories that could really happen with your child.  Be sure to add the elements (character, setting, problem and solution)
• As they read point out the parts of the story that make it realistic and believable.  Ask your child “Could this story happen to you?"
• If there is a sight word in your child’s piece that they have learned, it should be spelled correctly.
• Remind your child to check their writing for capital letters at the beginning of their sentences, as well as punctuation at the end.

Social Studies:

     After we finish our Native American diorama, second graders will be learning about the Dutch and English influence on early New York.

Math Workshop:

        In math workshop, students will continue working on fluency in addition and subtraction within 100.  The focus of this unit is on 3-digit numbers.   Students will understand that the three digits of a three-digit number represent amounts of hundreds, tens, and ones. 

     Second graders will continue practicing telling time on both analog and digital clocks to the nearest five minutes.  Several games will be played where students will be able to combine amounts to get to 100 or $1.00. 

Helpful Tips for Parents:

     At home, have your child count by 5’s and 10’s to 500, one way to do this is by counting nickels and dimes.  Talk to your child about place value, ones, tens and hundreds. 

     Practice telling time throughout the day (dinner time, when they begin/finish homework, when they wake up) as well as writing it down. Students should constantly practice their addition and subtraction fact to build fluency.

Science:

      Second graders will be continuing their investigation with Balance and Motion.  Students will balance various shapes on their fingertips and on the end of a craft stick.  Students will be able to identify the balance points and use clothespins as counterweights. They will try to find as many ways as possible to establish stable positions, so that a push on the object will make it wobble but not fall.  Students will also be able to balance a pencil on its point using a piece of soft wire and counterweights. 

      At home, practice balancing an object on another object that is already balanced.  You can also set up a mobile center using different materials around your house- yarn, bamboo skewers, cardboard, solid objects, etc. The sky is the limit!