Week of: October 4th

 Upcoming Dates:

Oct. 5 - Colombian Dance Assembly (in school-through Zoom)
Oct. 6 - Walk to School Day!
Oct. 11 - Indigenous Peoples' Day - No School
Oct. 18-22 - Parent/Teacher Conference Week - Early Dismissal on Thursday and Friday (11:00)
Oct. 26 and 27 - Picture Day (I will let you know what day is for 2nd grade asap.)
Nov. 2 - Institute Day - No School for Students
Nov. 24-26 - Thanksgiving Break - No School

*Italics are repeated from last week's blog.
Reading: This week we will continue with the first unit in our reading curriculum, Lucy Calkins Reading Units of Study.  The first unit is called, "Second-Grade Reading Growth Spurt".  This week we will learn that readers pay attention to author's craft and intentions. We will also notice how all the parts of the story work together.  We will work on figuring out what the author may have wanted us to learn from the story (aka: the moral of the story). 

Writing: We will also be continuing our first unit in our writing curriculum, Lucy Calkins Writing Units of Study.  The first unit is called, "Lessons from the Masters: Improving Narrative Writing". This is a narrative writing unit where students will writing about small moments from their own lives. We will learn that writers get stronger by looking at their writing, making plans, and setting goals.  We will also learn that writers revise on the go and keep their audience in mind at all times.

Math:  This week we continue with our work in Module 2, "Addition and Subtraction of Length Units".  This is a measurement unit that focuses on centimeters and meters. This week we will use string to measure lines and items that are not straight.  We will also learn to use tape diagrams to compare the lengths of two objects. Finally, we will work on solving two-step word problems involving length. We will finish up this math module on measurement, ending the week with an end-of-the-unit assessment.

Social Studies:  Our first unit in social studies will focus on building classroom community and building a growth mindset.  Both of which will help us to have a successful year in second grade! This week we will continue to focus on one of the 5 habits that help with having a growth mindset and those are: Empathy, Flexibility, Persistence, Resilience, and Optimism. We will most likely focus on one or two words per week! This week our focus will be on "Resilience".  We have also continued to learn the locations of the 50 states.  This past week we reviewed these new states: IL, IN, and OH.  Ask your child what happened with Chef MIMAL got an upset stomach and how that can help us remember these new states (warning....it's gross!).
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Week of: September 27

 Upcoming Dates:

Oct. 11 - Indigenous Peoples' Day - No School
Oct. 18-22 - Parent/Teacher Conference Week - Early Dismissal on Thursday and Friday (11:00)
Oct. 26 and 27 - Picture Day (I will let you know what day is for 2nd grade asap.)
Nov. 2 - Institute Day - No School for Students
Nov. 24-26 - Thanksgiving Break - No School

*Italics are repeated from last week's blog.
Reading: This week we will continue with the first unit in our reading curriculum, Lucy Calkins Reading Units of Study.  The first unit is called, "Second-Grade Reading Growth Spurt".  This week we will work on word-solving strategies that will help us to solve tricky words when we encounter them in our reading. We will specifically focus on vowel teams and using context clues to figure out these more difficult words. 

Writing: We will also be continuing our first unit in our writing curriculum, Lucy Calkins Writing Units of Study.  The first unit is called, "Lessons from the Masters: Improving Narrative Writing". This is a narrative writing unit where students will writing about small moments from their own lives. We will work on our endings this week and learn to bring our stories to a satisfying conclusion. We will also review punctuation strategies and editing skills. 

Math:  This week we continue with our work in Module 2, "Addition and Subtraction of Length Units".  This is a measurement unit that focuses on centimeters and meters. This week we will learn to compare lengths using centimeters and meters. We will also learn to relate measurements to unit size. Finally, we will work on solving addition and subtraction word problems using the ruler as a number line. 

Social Studies:  Our first unit in social studies will focus on building classroom community and building a growth mindset.  Both of which will help us to have a successful year in second grade! This week we will continue to focus on one of the 5 habits that help with having a growth mindset and those are: Empathy, Flexibility, Persistence, Resilience, and Optimism. We will most likely focus on one or two words per week! This week our focus will be on "Persistence".  We have also started to learn the locations of the 50 states.  This past week we reviewed these states: MN, IA, MO, AR, and LA.  Ask your child to tell you about "Chef MIMAL"!
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Week of: September 20

 Upcoming Dates:

Oct. 11 - Indigenous Peoples' Day - No School
Oct. 18-22 - Parent/Teacher Conference Week - Early Dismissal on Thursday and Friday (11:00)
Nov. 2 - Institute Day - No School for Students
Nov. 24-26 - Thanksgiving Break - No School

*Italics are repeated from last week's blog.
Reading: This week we will continue with the first unit in our reading curriculum, Lucy Calkins Reading Units of Study.  The first unit is called, "Second-Grade Reading Growth Spurt".  This week we will learn strategies to help us think about what we are reading and check our comprehension. We will also learn to take notes as we read and to have discussions with partners about our reading.

Writing: We will also be continuing our first unit in our writing curriculum, Lucy Calkins Writing Units of Study.  The first unit is called, "Lessons from the Masters: Improving Narrative Writing". We will learn how to stretch out the story of a tiny moment by using and adding details to our writing.  The kids will learn to zoom in on the small moments in their stories in order to add details that involve the senses!

Math:  This week we will start a new math module, "Addition and Subtraction of Length Units".  This is a measurement unit that focuses on centimeters and meters. This week we will learn about concepts of a ruler as well as estimating lengths using different measurement tools. 

Social Studies:  Our first unit in social studies will focus on building classroom community and building a growth mindset.  Both of which will help us to have a successful year in second grade! This week we will continue to focus on one of the 5 habits that help with having a growth mindset and those are: Empathy, Flexibility, Persistence, Resilience, and Optimism. We will most likely focus on one or two words per week! This week our focus will be on "Flexibility and Persistence".  We have also started to learn the locations of the 50 states.  This past week we learned about these states: MN, IA, MO, AR, and LA.  Ask your child to tell you about "Chef MIMAL"!
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Week of: September 13th

 Upcoming Dates:

Sept. 14 - Author/Illustrator School Visit (via Zoom) - Beth Perry/Tom Lichtenheld
Sept. 17 - MAP Math Assessment (A.M.)
Oct. 11 - Indigenous Peoples' Day - No School
Oct. 18-22 - Parent/Teacher Conference Week - Early Dismissal on Thursday and Friday (11:00)
Nov. 2 - Institute Day - No School for Students
Nov. 24-26 - Thanksgiving Break - No School

*Italics are repeated from last week's blog.
Reading: This week we will continue with the first unit in our reading curriculum, Lucy Calkins Reading Units of Study.  The first unit is called, "Second-Grade Reading Growth Spurt". This week we will learn how to preview the book before reading to take a sneak peek. Finally, the kids will learn that second grade is a year where they can really take off as readers. And to do that, volume is key! We have to read lots and lots! We will also learn that readers can read longer phrases by scooping up snap words that they already know.

Writing: We will also be continuing our first unit in our writing curriculum, Lucy Calkins Writing Units of Study.  The first unit is called, "Lessons from the Masters: Improving Narrative Writing". This week we will learn to capture everyday moments in our "Tiny Topics" notebooks and save them as possible story ideas. We will also learn how to stretch out the story of a tiny moment by using and adding details to our writing.

Math:  We will continue with our first math module called: "Sums and Differences to 100".  Much of the first unit (only 8 lessons) will be a review of first grade material.  This week we will subtract single-digit numbers from multiples of 10 within 100. We will also learn the "take from ten" strategy. This will complete out first second grade math module.  I am hoping to start our next module, on measurement, this week as well. 

Social Studies:  Our first unit in social studies will focus on building classroom community and building a growth mindset.  Both of which will help us to have a successful year in second grade! This week we will start to focus on one of the 5 habits to help with having a growth mindset and those are: Empathy, Flexibility, Persistence, Resilience, and Optimism. We will most likely focus on one word per week! This week our focus will be on "Empathy".
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Week of: September 7th

 Upcoming Dates:

Sept. 6 - Labor Day - No School
Sept. 14 - Author/Illustrator School Visit (via Zoom) - Beth Perry/Tom Lichtenheld
Oct. 18-22 - Parent/Teacher Conference Week - Early Dismissal on Thursday and Friday (11:00)


*Italics are repeated from last week's blog.
Reading: This week we will officially begin the first unit in our reading curriculum, Lucy Calkins Reading Units of Study.  The first unit is called, "Second-Grade Reading Growth Spurt". This week we will learn that you can choose not only what you read, but HOW you are going to read.  We will also learn how to preview the book before reading to take a sneak peek. Finally, the kids will learn that second grade is a year where they can really take off as readers. And to do that, volume is key! We have to read lots and lots!

Writing: We will also be starting our first unit in our writing curriculum, Lucy Calkins Writing Units of Study.  The first unit is called, "Lessons from the Masters: Improving Narrative Writing". This week we will talk about how you can learn craft moves from mentor authors. We will also learn to capture everyday moments in our "Tiny Topics" notebooks and save them as possible story ideas.

Math:  We will continue with our first math module called: "Sums and Differences to 100".  Much of the first unit (only 8 lessons) will be a review of first grade material.  This week we will add and subtract like units, make 10 to add numbers up to 20, and mand 10 to add numbers up to 100.  We will also learn about subtracting single-digit numbers from multiples of 10 (up to 100).

Social Studies:  Our first unit in social studies will focus on building classroom community and building a growth mindset.  Both of which will help us to have a successful year in second grade! This week we will start to focus on one of the 5 habits to help with having a growth mindset and those are: Empathy, Flexibility, Persistence, Resilience, and Optimism. We will most likely focus on two words per week!
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Week of: August 30th

 Upcoming Dates:

Sept. 2 - 7:00 p.m. - Curriculum Night (Virtual/Zoom)
Sept. 6 - Labor Day - No School
Oct. 18-22 - Parent/Teacher Conference Week - Early Dismissal on Thursday and Friday (11:00)

Reading: This week we will be working on building our independent reading stamina.  We will also learn about how to choose a "Just Right Book". Finally, we will work on getting comfortable with a couple of the reading applications on the iPads. Next week we will officially start our first reading unit: "Second Grade Reading Growth Spurt". 

Writing: We will be starting our first unit in our writing curriculum, Lucy Calkins Writing Units of Study.  The first unit is called, "Lessons from the Masters: Improving Narrative Writing". We will start the unit with a writing sample that will help me know more about your child as a writer. We will also talk about how you can learn craft moves from mentor authors.

Math:  We will start our first module in math this week.  We are using the Eureka math series.  The first module is called, "Sums and Differences to 100".  Much of the first unit (only 8 lessons) will be a review of first grade material.  This week we will work on adding and subtracting like units, making ten to add within 100, and subtracting single-digit numbers from multiples of 10 (within 100).

Social Studies:  Our first unit in social studies will focus on building classroom community and building a growth mindset.  Both of which will help us to have a successful year in second grade!
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Welcome back to school!

    Second grade is such an exciting year! It is so rewarding to see how much second graders will grow, both academically and socially.  There are many things I love about teaching, but one of my favorites is the relationship that I get to build with my students AND their families!

    This will be my 19th year teaching in Oak Park. I started my career here and could not imagine being anywhere else.  I have two kids of my own, so I know how important it is to teach with the whole child in mind. Social skills are just as important as academic skills and we will be working hard at both this year. My daughter, Emmy, will be a freshman at Lyons Township High School. My son, Charlie, will be in seventh grade at a middle school near our home in Western Springs. 

    As we start the year, please know that I am always available through email and am happy to answer any questions you might have. My email address is: lpelling@op97.org. I'm eager to get started and meet all of you very soon!  



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Week of: June 1st

 Upcoming Dates:

June 10 - Last Day of School 
Reading/Writing: Research - For the last few weeks of school we will be combining our reading and writing time to work on a multi media research project.  The kids will all choose a topic and use multiple resources to learn as much as possible about their topics.  Some of these resources include: Britannica Online, Epic! (non-fiction), encyclopedias, and books from our Irving School library. They will use graphic organizers and "note-catchers" to organize their learning.  Finally, the kids will take what they have learned and create a presentation on an app called: "Explain Everything". They will cite their sources and also use copyright-free images.  This is such an engaging and immersive project!

Math:    We will continue our mini-unit on Geometry.  This week we will learn about splitting shapes into equal parts.  We will learn about halves, thirds, and fourths. We will also spend a couple of days taking an end-of-the-year cumulative math assessment. This math assessment will cover many of the topics we have learned in 2nd grade.  The scores will be shared with our third grade teachers in order to prepare for instruction in the fall. 

Social Studies/Science:  We will review our United States map. We will continue our science unit: "Plants and Insects".  We will study the life cycle of mealworms as well as Brassica (broccoli) plants.  Each student will have their own worm and seed to study and plant in class!  We have been learning about the different parts of a plant and their functions.  We have also been making formal and informal observations of both our mealworms and our plants. 
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Week of: May 24

  Upcoming Dates:

May 31 - Memorial Day - No School
June 10 - Last Day of School 
Reading/Writing:Research - For the last few weeks of school we will be combining our reading and writing time to work on a multi media research project.  The kids will all choose a topic and use multiple resources to learn as much as possible about their topics.  Some of these resources include: Britannica Online, Epic! (non-fiction), encyclopedias, and books from our Irving School library. They will use graphic organizers and "note-catchers" to organize their learning.  Finally, the kids will take what they have learned and create a presentation on an app called: "Explain Everything". They will cite their sources and also use copyright-free images.  This is such an engaging and immersive project. I can't wait for us to get started this week! 

Math:    We will be starting our mini-unit on Geometry this week!  The kids will learn how to build and identify two-dimensional shapes based on their attributes. They will also learn to draw these shapes, including: triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, and hexagons. Finally, we will learn about halves and equal parts.  This will lead us into our study of fractions for the following week.

Social Studies/Science:  We will review our United States map. We will continue our science unit: "Plants and Insects".  We will study the life cycle of mealworms as well as Brassica (broccoli) plants.  Each student will have their own worm and seed to study and plant in class!  We have been learning about our meal worms molting as well as the "conditions" that a seed needs in order to "germinate". Everyone's broccoli plants have already sprouted, which is very exciting!
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Week of: May 10th

  Upcoming Dates:

May 13 - Virtual Author's Visit at 2:00 - Pete Oswald
May 31 - Memorial Day - No School
June 10 - Last Day of School 
Reading: We will continue our current reading unit: "Series Book Clubs". In this unit, students will work together in small groups to read books in a series.  The students have been assigned books at their appropriate reading levels. They will work on comprehension strategies together with their groups. This week the kids will learn to pay close attention to the ending of a book what lesson the author might be trying to teach. We will also learn to share what we have read with others!

Writing: This week we will continue our work with our current writing unit: "Writing About Reading".  In this unit the children will learn to write about their opinions.  They will share their opinions about their favorite books. This week the kids will learn to write "nominations" for books that we love! These nominations will include text evidence to prove our opinions to others.  Finally, we will learn to add quotes from our books to further support our opinions. 

Math:    We will finish working on module: Module 6 "Foundations of Multiplication and Division". In this unit we will primarily be focusing on drawing arrays, repeated addition, and even/odd numbers. This week we will learn to pair objects and skip-count to relate to even numbers.  We will also investigate patterns of even numbers.  Finally, we will use rectangular arrays to investigate odd and even numbers.  

Social Studies/Science:  We will review our United States map. Next week we will begin our last science unit: "Plants and Insects".  We will study the life cycle of mealworms as well as Brassica plants.  Each student will have their own worm and seed to study and plant in class!  It will be very exciting!
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Week of: May 3rd

 Upcoming Dates:

May 7 - Remote Learning Planning Day - No School for Students
May 13 - Virtual Author's Visit at 2:00 - Pete Oswald
May 31 - Memorial Day - No School
June 10 - Last Day of School 

*Italics are repeated from last week.
Reading: We will continue our current reading unit: "Series Book Clubs". In this unit, students will work together in small groups to read books in a series.  The students have been assigned books at their appropriate reading levels. They will work on comprehension strategies together with their groups. This week the kids will learn that they can figure out how a whole series will go once they notice how all of the books in a series go together.  We will also learn to notice "author's craft" in order to help us read our books more fluently. 

Writing: This week we will continue our work with our current writing unit: "Writing About Reading".  In this unit the children will learn to write about their opinions.  They will share their opinions about their favorite books. This week the kids will learn that writers must look for multiple pieces of evidence to support their opinions about a text. We will also study how and why authors use capital letters in different ways. Finally, we will learn to add fun little extras in order to "fancy up" our writing before sharing it with others. 

Math:    We will continue working on our new module: Module 6 "Foundations of Multiplication and Division". In this unit we will primarily be focusing on drawing arrays, repeated addition, and even/odd numbers. This week we will draw arrays with rows and columns. We will learn to relate those arrays to repeated addition. We will also partition rectangles into rows and columns and relate those to repeated addition.  Finally, we will begin to learn about even and odd numbers. 

Social Studies/Science:  We will review our United States map. This past week we started a new social studies unit: "Ways of Life" (Culture/Citizenship). Our first lesson taught the children about cultures, traditions, customs, and cultural diffusion. 
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Week of: April 19th

 Upcoming Dates:

May 7 - Remote Learning Planning Day - No School for Students
May 13 - Virtual Author's Visit at 2:00 - Pete Oswald
May 31 - Memorial Day - No School
June 10 - Last Day of School 

*Italics are repeated from last week.
Reading: We will continue our current reading unit: "Series Book Clubs". In this unit, students will work together in small groups to read books in a series.  The students have been assigned books at their appropriate reading levels. They will work on comprehension strategies together with their groups. This week the kids will learn that once they come to know the main character in a series, they can draw on their knowledge of the character's behavior to predict their character's next steps. They will also learn that readers get to know the different people in a character's life and compare them to their own relationships. 

Writing: This week we will continue our work with our current writing unit: "Writing About Reading".  In this unit the children will learn to write about their opinions.  They will share their opinions about their favorite books. This week the kids will learn that writers who write about books often need to retell part of the story in order to help their readers better understand their opinion. We will also learn that writers write with a specific audience in mind. Finally, we will learn to use a checklist to set goals for ourselves as writers. 

Math:    We will finish up our work with Module 7: "Problem Solving with Length, Money, and Data". This week we will learn to draw line plots to represent measurement data. We will also learn to answer questions based off of a line plot.  At the end of the week, we will take a math test covering all that was learned in Module 7. 

Social Studies/Science:  We will review our United States map. This past week we started a new social studies unit: "The World of Work" (Economics). Our first lesson taught the children the difference between "needs" and "wants".  This coming week we will learn about "goods" and "services" as well as "producers" and "consumers". 
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Week of: April 12th

 Upcoming Dates:

April 12 - Opera for the Young at 1:00 - Zoom link to come soon!
April 13 - Spelling Bee at 7:00 p.m. - via Zoom
May 7 - Remote Learning Planning Day - No School for Students
May 13 - Virtual Author's Visit at 2:00 - Pete Oswald
May 31 - Memorial Day - No School
June 10 - Last Day of School 

*Italics are repeated from last week.
Reading: We have started a new reading unit: "Series Book Clubs". In this unit, students will work together in small groups to read books in a series.  The students have been assigned books at their appropriate reading levels. They will work on comprehension strategies together with their groups. This week the kids will learn that readers think about how their characters respond to problems. They will also learn to look closely at their characters to determine how they "usually" feel and what they "always" do. We will learn to understand our characters even better, like experts!

Writing: This week we will also start a new writing unit: "Writing About Reading".  In this unit the children will learn to write about their opinions.  They will share their opinions about their favorite books. This week the kids will learn that writers are often inspired by their reading and reach out to others to share their ideas about characters. They will also learn to look closely at the the pictures in their books to help them develop opinions. 

Math:    We will continue our work with Module 7: "Problem Solving with Length, Money, and Data". This week we will learn to measure using rulers and yardsticks. We will learn to measure the same object using different units and to relate our measurements to unit size (for example: centimeters vs. inches). We will learn about the difference between inches, feet, and yards. Finally, we will work on solving measurement word problems.

Social Studies/Science:  We will review or add new states to our United States map. For science, we will continue work with our science unit: "Pebbles, Sand and Silt".  This week will be our last week for this particular science unit.  We will learn about rocks as "earth materials" and study other earth materials (also known as "natural resources"). 
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