WEEKLY
UPDATE
Greenwood
Elementary School
Brookeville, MD
9/25/15
Second Grade
Reading
The Junior Great Book series provides
classic stories filled with rich vocabulary
and opportunities for answering
questions that require higher level
thinking. Last week using The Red
Balloon, and this week using How
Coyote Stole the Sun students are
discovering that open ended questions
do not only have one correct response.
Students are participating in shared
inquiry discussion groups which require
them to listen to others’ ideas and
comment on the remarks of their peers.
In addition, students have been
learning to use text specific details to
support their thinking and use
sentence-level context as a clue to build
vocabulary and determine the meaning
of phrases.
Math
Students continue to use mental math
strategies (fact families, tens-frames,
and fact triangles) to add and subtract
within 20. We have also been skipcounting by 10’s and 100’s. One of
our 2nd grade objectives is to be able
to mentally add or subtract ten and
add or subtract one hundred, up to
1,000. We are continuing to express
the value of numbers in various forms
(standard form, word form, expanded
notation, and models using base tens
blocks). As a challenge we are
reading, writing, modeling, and
expanding 4-digit numbers!
Writing
Students are continuing to take their
personal narratives through the writing
process. During the revision stage,
students have been adding adjectives and
details to strengthen their writing. They
have also been expanding and
rearranging sentences to help improve
clarity. In addition, we have been sharing
examples to help students write a strong
conclusion to their piece.
Science
What do you know about water on
Earth’s surface? Students will begin
examining this question by generating
ideas and asking questions. Students will
then use digital resources to identify
different bodies of water on Earth’s surface.
Finally, students must be to identify and
describe the three phases of matter (solid,
liquid, and gas) and their locations on Earth
using a map or globe.
Upcoming Events
9/30 Super Reader #2 due
10/2 Early Dismissal
10/7 Spelling Test #2
10/12 Open House
10/16- No School - Teacher Convention
10/29 Field Trip C&O Canal
10/30 Halloween parade and party