Mrs. Pelling's Second Grade Blog

Week of: December 6th

Upcoming Dates:

Dec. 10: Report cards go home today.

Dec. 19-Jan. 3: Winter Break (school resumes 1/4)

Jan. 17: Dr. Martin Luther King Holiday - No School

Jan. 31-Feb. 4: Parent/Teacher Conference Week - Thursday/Friday will have early dismissal at 11:00

Feb. 21: President's Day - No School

*Italics are repeated from last week's blog.

Reading: This week we will continue our reading unit: "Becoming Experts-Reading Nonfiction. In this unit the kids will be learning how learn from, and enjoy, a nonfiction text. This week each student will complete a final project showing what they have learned about their nonfiction reading topic. We will also do an end-of-unit assessment.

Writing: We will continue our writing unit this week: "The How-To Guide for Nonfiction Writing". The kids will learn to write informational books to teach their readers about something they know well. We will work on editing and revising our nonfiction writing. The kids will also be doing some goal-setting for their writing as well as adding special text features!

Math: This week we will be starting a new math module, Module 4: "Addition and Subtraction Within 200 with Word Problems to 100". This is a huge module that covers several different strategies for adding and subtracting larger numbers. We will start off the unit by learning about the "Arrow Way" for addition. We will then move into the "Arrow Way" for subtraction.

Social Studies/Science: We will continue our learning about having a growth mindset all year long. We are continuing with our science unit: The States of Matter: Solids, Liquids, and Gases. Last week we were able to apply our knowledge about the properties and materials of solid objects. The kids were challenged to build a tower out of a variety of solids objects. The tower needed to be 45cm tall and be able to withstand the "wind" (fan blowing). It was definitely a challenge, but the kids had lots of fun and it was a great learning experience. We have also continued to learn the locations of the 50 states. This past week we added two more states: Oregon (OR) and Nevada (NV). Ask your child about the "New Vat" of soup and the ore that is used to stir it!

Week of: November 22 and 29

Upcoming Dates:

Nov. 24-26: Thanksgiving Break - No School

Dec. 10: Report cards go home today.

Dec. 19-Jan. 3: Winter Break (school resumes 1/4)

*Italics are repeated from last week's blog.

Reading: This week we will continue our reading unit: "Becoming Experts-Reading Nonfiction. In this unit the kids will be learning how learn from, and enjoy, a nonfiction text. This week we will learn how to compare two, or more, books on the same topic. We will also work on retelling what we have about an entire topic, not just one book. We will wrap up our nonfiction unit with an assessment and celebration in the coming weeks!

Writing: We will continue our writing unit this week: "The How-To Guide for Nonfiction Writing". The kids will learn to write informational books to teach their readers about something they know well. We will work on our introductions for our nonfiction writing pieces. The kids will also be rereading what they have written and they will look for ways to make their writing more clear and easier to read.

Math: This week we will continue our work with Module 3: "Place Value, Counting, and Comparison of Numbers to 1,000". In this unit the kids will learn all about place value as well and composing and decomposing numbers. It will set the foundation for adding and subtracting larger numbers later on in the school year. This week we will learn how to order numbers in different forms. We will also learn how to find 1 more, 1 less, 100 more, and 100 less than a given number. Finally we will work on patterns and be able to continue complex number patterns. At the end of next week, we will have a final assessment to close out this math module.

Social Studies/Science: We will continue our learning about having a growth mindset all year long. We are continuing with our science unit: The States of Matter: Solids, Liquids, and Gases. Last week we focused on the materials that solids are made from and how the properties of those materials useful. We have also continued to learn the locations of the 50 states. This past week we added two more states: Idaho (ID) and Montana (MT). Ask your child about who does the dishes in Chef MIMAL's kitchen. It's "Ida" and "ManTAn"! (Idaho and Montana)

Week of: November 15th

Upcoming Dates:

Nov. 17: Picture Retake Day

Nov. 18: Virtual Family Reading Night

Nov. 24-26: Thanksgiving Break - No School

Dec. 10: Report cards go home today.

Dec. 19-Jan. 3: Winter Break (school resumes 1/4)

*Italics are repeated from last week's blog.

Reading: This week we will continue our reading unit: "Becoming Experts-Reading Nonfiction. In this unit the kids will be learning how learn from, and enjoy, a nonfiction text. This week we will start to work on learning about a topic across several books that on that topic. We will work on learning about subtopics within our main topic and how to compare them across multiple books and resources.

Writing: We will continue our writing unit this week: "The How-To Guide for Nonfiction Writing". The kids will learn to write informational books to teach their readers about something they know well. We will learn how to write in a way that helps our readers to picture the information that we are sharing. We will also work on our introductions for our nonfiction writing pieces.

Math: This week we will continue our work with Module 3: "Place Value, Counting, and Comparison of Numbers to 1,000". In this unit the kids will learn all about place value as well and composing and decomposing numbers. It will set the foundation for adding and subtracting larger numbers later on in the school year. This week we will learn to model numbers with more than 9 ones or 9 tens; writing them in expanded, unit, standard, and word forms. We will also start to use the > < and = symbols to compare numbers and order them in different forms.

Social Studies/Science: We will continue our learning about having a growth mindset all year long. However, this week we will be learning about the three different types of communities: urban, suburban, and rural. We We started a new science unit last week on the states of matter: Solids, Liquids, and Gases. We focused on how to describe solid objects by their properties. We have also continued to learn the locations of the 50 states. This past week we added one more state: Washington (WA). Ask your child about Chef MIMAL's "Washing Machine".

Week of: November 1st

Upcoming Dates:

Nov. 2: Institute Day - No School for Students

Nov. 24-26: Thanksgiving Break - No School

Dec. 10: Report cards go home today.

Dec. 19-Jan. 3 - Winter Break (school resumes 1/4)

*Italics are repeated from last week's blog.

Reading: This week we will continue our reading unit: "Becoming Experts-Reading Nonfiction. In this unit the kids will be learning how learn from, and enjoy, a nonfiction text. This week we will learn that using vocabulary is an important part of growing knowledge from a nonfiction book. We will also learn to use text features and keywords.

Writing: We will continue our writing unit this week: "The How-To Guide for Nonfiction Writing". The kids will learn to write informational books to teach their readers about something they know well. We will learn that nonfiction writers add more by asking themselves: "What else could I say?". We will also talk about goal-setting and planning.

Math: This week we will continue our work with Module 3: "Place Value, Counting, and Comparison of Numbers to 1,000". In this unit the kids will learn all about place value as well and composing and decomposing numbers. It will set the foundation for adding and subtracting larger numbers later on in the school year. This week we will learn to count the total value of $1, $10, $100 bills up to $1,000. We will also learn to use a hundred's chart and an empty number line to skip count using different units.

Social Studies: We will continue our learning about having a growth mindset all year long. However, this week we will be learning about the three different types of communities: urban, suburban, and rural. We focused on "urban" and "suburban" communities last week and this week we will learn about "rural" communities. We have also continued to learn the locations of the 50 states. This past week we added three more states: TX, ME, and FL (the "three corners" of Chef MIMAL's kitchen).

Week of: October 25th

Upcoming Dates:

Oct. 26: Picture Day

Oct. 29: Halloween Parade at 1:30
Nov. 2: Institute Day - No School for Students

Nov. 24-26: Thanksgiving Break - No School

Dec. 10: Report cards go home today.

Dec. 19-Jan. 3 - Winter Break (school resumes 1/4)

*Italics are repeated from last week's blog.

Reading: This week we will start a new reading unit: "Becoming Experts-Reading Nonfiction. In this unit the kids will be learning how learn from, and enjoy, a nonfiction text. This week we will learn that nonfiction readers pay attention to the details and put those details together to really understand a topic. We will also learn that sometimes readers have to ask questions to learn more, two of those questions being: "What is this book teaching me?" and "How does this book go?".

Writing: We will also be starting a new writing unit this week: "The How-To Guide for Nonfiction Writing". The kids will learn to write informational books to teach their readers about something they know well. We will start the unit by showing what we already know about nonfiction writing from kindergarten and first grade. Then we will lean that nonfiction writers pay attention to published writers and notice what they have done in their books. Then we think, "I can try this, too!".

Math: This week we will continue our work with Module 3: "Place Value, Counting, and Comparison of Numbers to 1,000". In this unit the kids will learn all about place value as well and composing and decomposing numbers. It will set the foundation for adding and subtracting larger numbers later on in the school year. This week we will learn to write numbers in three different ways: unit form, expanded form, and word form. We will also do a special pumpkin-carving lesson and use our place value skills to count and bundle the seeds! :)

Social Studies: We will continue our learning about having a growth mindset all year long. However, this week we will be learning about the three different types of communities: urban, suburban, and rural. We have also continued to learn the locations of the 50 states. This past week we reviewed all of the states that we have learned so far.

Week of: October 12th

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 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. This week will will learn to craft powerful introductions for our stories. We will also work on editing not only for conventions, but for using more precise and descriptive language.

Math: This week we continue will start a new math module, Module 3: "Place Value, Counting, and Comparison of Numbers to 1,000". In this unit the kids will learn all about place value as well and composing and decomposing numbers. It will set the foundation for adding and subtracting larger numbers later on in the school year. This week we will bundle and count ones, tens, and hundreds to 1,000. We will also count up and down between 90 and 1,000 by ones, tens, and hundreds.

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 "Optimism". We have also continued to learn the locations of the 50 states. This past week we reviewed these new states: MI and WI. Ask your child about the "mitten and the scarf" as well as the "wire whisk".

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.

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!).

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"!

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"!

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".

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!

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!

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!