Mrs. Pelling's Second Grade Blog

Week of: December 12th

Upcoming Dates:

Dec. 12 - MAP Test - Reading

Dec. 14 - MAP Test - Math

Dec. 22-Jan. 6 - Winter Break - School reopens on Jan. 9

Jan. 16 - Martin Luther King Day - No School

*Italics are repeated from last week's blog.

Reading: This week we will continue with our reading unit: "Becoming Experts-Reading Nonfiction. In this unit the kids will be working on how learn from, and enjoy, a nonfiction text. This week we will work on learning all about our chosen topics. We will take note and compare books using a venn diagram. We will also start to prepare for our "Expert Expo". This is a chance for the kids to present what they have learned about their topics to some first grade classes. The "Expert Expo" will be held the week before Winter Break!

Writing: We will continue with our 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. This week we will be starting to wind down this unit on nonfiction writing. The kids will be editing their best work and preparing for publication. Then we will share and celebrate our hard work the week before Winter Break.

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 finish up this math unit with an end-of-the-unit test on TUESDAY. We will then start our next math module, Module 4, on Thursday. Module 4 will be all about addition and subtraction strategies with larger numbers. Think: "carry the one" and "borrowing".

Social Studies/Science: We will continue our learning about having a growth mindset all year long. However, we are working on a science unit about the States of Matter: Solids, Liquids, and Gases. We focused on tower building and what solids have good properties to make a tall and strong tower. You can click here to see photos of our towers! We have also continued to learn the locations of the 50 states. This past week we added two more state: Idaho (ID) and Montana (MT). Ask your child who does the dishes in Chef MIMAL's kitchen!

Week of: December 5th

Upcoming Dates:

Dec. 12 - MAP Test - Reading

Dec. 14 - MAP Test - Math

Dec. 22-Jan. 6 - Winter Break - School reopens on Jan. 9

Jan. 16 - Martin Luther King Day - No School

*Italics are repeated from last week's blog.

Reading: This week we will continue with our reading unit: "Becoming Experts-Reading Nonfiction. In this unit the kids will be working on how learn from, and enjoy, a nonfiction text. This week we will learn how to read several books on the same topic! We will try to add information together to learn about a subtopic and a whole topic. Finally, the kids will learn how to connect information from more than one book into categories.

Writing: We will continue with our 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. This week we will learn to reread our writing and make changes to clarify information for our readers. We will also work on our writing goals and make sure our writing is easy to read. Finally, we will look at published books to get ideas about moves that we can use in our own writing.

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 order numbers in different forms. We will also work on identifying 1 more and 1 less as well as 10 more and 10 less and 100 more and 100 less. Finally, we will work on noticing number patterns that count up and down and skip count.

Social Studies/Science: We will continue our learning about having a growth mindset all year long. However, we are working on a science unit about the States of Matter: Solids, Liquids, and Gases. We focused on how to group 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 where Chef MIMAL does his dishes!

Week of: November 7th

Upcoming Dates:

Nov. 8 - No School - Election Day

Nov. 23-25 - Thanksgiving Break - No School

Dec. 22-Jan. 6 - Winter Break - School reopens on Jan. 9

*Italics are repeated from last week's blog.

Reading: This week we will continue with our reading unit: "Becoming Experts-Reading Nonfiction. In this unit the kids will be working on how learn from, and enjoy, a nonfiction text. This week we will learn to preview all the parts of a book and ask ourselves: "How does this book go?". We will also learn to pay special attention to new information. Finally, we will learn that using new vocabulary is an important part of growing knowledge from non-fiction texts.

Writing: We will continue with our 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. This week we will learn to write even more on each page by asking ourselves: "What else could I say?". We will also get stronger by looking at our writing, setting goals, and making plans.

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 count from $10 to $1,000 on a place value chart and an empty number line. We will also explore the idea of $1,000. How many $10 bills are in $1,000? Finally, we will do a review of all the different ways to write and say numbers that we have learned so far. Next week we will take a mid-module assessment as a way to check-in on our learning.

Social Studies/Science: We will continue our learning about having a growth mindset all year long. However, We have 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 two more states: Wisconsin (WI) and Michigan (MI). Ask about Chef MIMAL's wire whisk and kitchen "mitt".

Week of: October 24th

Upcoming Dates:

Oct. 24-28 - Parent/Teacher Conference Week - Early Dismissal on Thursday and Friday (11:00)

Oct. 25 - Field Trip - All Seasons Orchard - Pack a nut-free lunch!

Oct. 31 - Halloween Celebration - The parade will begin at 1:30 followed by our class party.

Nov. 8 - No School - Election Day

Nov. 23-25 - Thanksgiving Break - No School

Dec. 22-Jan. 6 - Winter Break - School reopens on Jan. 9

*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 working on how learn from, and enjoy, a nonfiction text. This week we will learn that nonfiction readers pay attention to 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 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 work on editing and fixing-up our best work for publication. At the end of the week we will be sharing our "published" writing pieces with each other as a way to celebrate all of our hard work from this first writing unit. We will start a new writing unit next week: Nonfiction Writing!

Math: This week we will continue with our 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 write three-digit numbers in unit form; showing the value of each digit. We will also spend some time making our very own "math offices" with a folder and some special charts.

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! We will continue to practice and learn the first 8 states on our map: MN, IA, MO, AR, LA, Il, IN, and OH. As your child fills out their states homework page, have them tell you "Chef MIMAL's" story and how that can help them memorize the location of the states that we have learned so far!

Week of: October 11th

Upcoming Dates:

Oct. 14 - Fun Run - Our time slot is 9:00-9:15.
Oct. 24-28 - Parent/Teacher Conference Week - Early Dismissal on Thursday and Friday (11:00)

Nov. 8 - No School - Election Day

Nov. 23-25 - Thanksgiving Break - No School

*Italics are repeated from last week's blog.

Reading: This week we will finish up 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 review for our reading assessment. We will also take an assessment to wrap up this first unit. Finally, we will spend some time celebrating all that we have learned so far!

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 continue to find and use "craft moves" that we have noticed in our mentor texts. We will also spend time in small groups to focus on our individual writing goals.

Math: We will complete 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 review for our end-of-module assessment on measurement and length units. We will take the assessment and then start our next module on place value. We will start the next module with the first lesson on making tens, hundreds, and thousands.

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 focus on another one of the 5 habits to help with having a growth mindset and those are: Empathy, Flexibility, Persistence, Resilience, and Optimism. We will also continue to practice and learn the first 5 states on our map: MN, IA, MO, AR, and LA. Ask your child about "Chef MIMAL" and how he can help them remember the first 5 states that we've learned!

Week of: October 3rd

Upcoming Dates:

Oct. 3-7 - Hispanic Heritage Week - We will do activities to celebrate each day this week!

Oct. 4 - "Walk to School Day" - Walk to school and earn a paper shoe to color and hang in the gym. If you aren't able to walk to school, then you can earn your shoe by walking with Mr. Hancock at recess.

Oct. 5 - District Closed - No School

Oct. 10 - Indigenous Peoples' Day - No School

Oct. 14 - Fun Run - Our time slot is 9:00-9:15.
Oct. 24-28 - Parent/Teacher Conference Week - Early Dismissal on Thursday and Friday (11:00)

Nov. 8 - No School - Election Day

Nov. 23-25 - Thanksgiving Break - No School

*Italics are repeated from last week's blog.

Reading: This week we will finish up 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 once readers have finished reading a book and know how the parts fit together, they can retell it to think about what lessons the author wants to teach.

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 use mentor texts as resources and learn to ask ourselves: "Could I write like this?". We will also learn to try out some of the craft moves that we have found in our mentor texts.

Math: We will complete 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 solve addition and subtraction word problems using the ruler as a number line. We will also work on using measurement to solve two-step word problems.

Week of: September 27

Upcoming Dates:

Sept. 26 - District Closed - No School

Oct. 5 - District Closed - No School

Oct. 10 - Indigenous Peoples' Day - No School

Oct. 14 - Fun Run - Our time slot is 9:00-9:15.
Oct. 24-28 - Parent/Teacher Conference Week - Early Dismissal on Thursday and Friday (11:00)

Nov. 8 - No School - Election Day

Nov. 23-25 - Thanksgiving Break - No School

*Italics are repeated from last week's blog.

Reading: This week we will continue 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 some strategies to help us fix our mistakes as we read. The kids will also learn about author's craft and how to notice what authors do and why they are doing it. Finally, we will notice how an entire story goes together: from beginning to end!

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 do the very important job of goal setting! We will also learn to revise as we go and to keep our audience in our minds.

Math: We will 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 measure and compare lengths using standard metric length units and non-standard units (paper clips). We will relate measurement to unit size. We will also solve addition and subtraction word problems using a ruler and a number line.

Week of: September 19th

Upcoming Dates:

Sept. 20 - Picture Day

Sept. 26 - District Closed - No School

Oct. 5 - District Closed - No School

Oct. 10 - Indigenous Peoples' Day - No School

Oct. 14 - Fun Run - Our time slot is 9:00-9:15.
Oct. 24-28 - 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 continue 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 to use multiple strategies at the same time when tackling tricky words. We will also work on identifying vowel teams in the middle of words. Finally, we will learn that new words can be very tricky and it helps to think about what the word means in 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". 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: We will 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 measure lengths using rulers and meter sticks. We will also learn to compare lengths using centimeters and meters.

Week of: September 12th

Upcoming Dates:

Sept. 20 or 21 - Picture Day (I don't know what day will be for 2nd grade yet.)

Sept. 26 - District Closed - No School

Oct. 5 - District Closed - No School

Oct. 10 - Indigenous Peoples' Day - No School
Oct. 24-28 - 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 continue 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 look for words that you already know in order to scoop up more words at a time. We will work on comprehension and retelling our stories. The kids will start to take notes on post-its while reading and they will also work on using strategies to tackle challenging 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 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 finish 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. Our main focus will really be to work on routines. This week we will work on more subtraction strategies such as taking from 10 within 20 and 100. We will also start our new math module that is all about measurement with the metric system.

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 focus on another one of the 5 habits to help with having a growth mindset and those are: Empathy, Flexibility, Persistence, Resilience, and Optimism.

Week of: September 6th

Upcoming Dates:

Sept. 5 - Labor Day - No School

Sept. 7 - AIMS Reading Assessment (similar to MAP)

Sept. 8 - AIMS Math Assessment (similar to MAP)

Sept. 20 or 21 - Picture Day (I don't know what day will be for 2nd grade yet.)

Sept. 26 - District Closed - No School

Oct. 5 - District Closed - No School

Oct. 10 - Indigenous Peoples' Day - No School
Oct. 24-28 - Parent/Teacher Conference Week - Early Dismissal on Thursday and Friday (11:00)

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. Our main focus will really be to work on routines. This week we will add and subtract like units, make 10 to add numbers up to 20, and make 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 focus on another 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 29th

Upcoming Dates:

Aug. 31 - Reading MAP Assessment

Aug. 31 - 6:25 p.m. - Curriculum Night (in-person) - Masks Required

Sept. 1 - Math MAP Assessment

Sept. 5 - Labor Day - No School

Sept. 26 - District Closed - No School

Oct. 5 - District Closed - No School

Oct. 10 - Indigenous Peoples' Day - No School
Oct. 24-28 - 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 take a spelling inventory so we can begin to differentiate our phonics lessons. 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.

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 as well as making ten to add 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 21st 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 sophomore at Lyons Township High School. My son, Charlie, will be in eighth 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!

Week of: May 16th

Upcoming Dates:

May 19: Field Trip to Chicago Children's Theater

May 30: Memorial Day - No School

May 31: Walking Field Trip - Oak Park Conservatory (permission slip coming soon!)

June 2: 2nd Grade Picnic - Rehm Park - 11:30-2:00 (Families welcome!)

June 7: Last Day of School

*Italics are repeated from last week's blog.

Reading: We will continue with our reading unit: "Series Book Clubs". In this unit, students will work together in small groups to read books in a series. The students will be assigned books at their appropriate reading levels. They will work on comprehension strategies together with their groups. This week we will that readers notice when an author uses literary language and they try to figure out what the author REALLY means. We will also work on noticing patterns in our series books and using those patterns to figure out how other books in the series might go.

Writing: We will be continuing our writing unit: "Poetry: Big Thoughts in Small Packages". This unit is all about writing poetry and focusing on line breaks, rhythm, and meaningful phrases. Making sure our words rhyme is completely optional (poetry is so much more than that!).This week we will learn that poets consider the mood they want to convey in a poem, making sure that this mood matches the poem's meaning. We will also choose our favorite poems and fix them up for publication.

Math: We will finish our work with Module 8: "Time, Shapes, and Fractions". We will work on telling time to the minute as well as relating time to A.M. and P.M. The kids will learn to solve elapsed time problems involving whole hours and half hours. Finally, we will take the end-of-module assessment at the end of the week.

Social Studies/Science: We will continue our learning about having a growth mindset all year long. This week we will continue our science unit: "Plants and Insects". We will study the life cycle of mealworms as well as plants. Each student will have their own worm and seed to study and plant in class! This week we will be continue studying the life cycles of a plant and mealworm. We will make observations and record what we notice in our journals. We have also reviewed our US maps. We now know all 50 states! Yay! We will have a quiz on all 50 states on Friday, May 20th.