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- Our Family
2nd Grade
LANGUAGE ARTS – Mrs. Ewert
Thanks for coming to open house. I hope you enjoyed visiting our classroom.
March is National Reading month, please return yellow slips on Monday mornings logging the weekly reading minutes. Please continue listening to your child read. Your children should read at least fifteen minutes per evening. The more a child reads the more confident and fluent they become.
As spring approaches we tend to get spring fever, the quality of the children’s work decreases, please encourage your child to their best every day.
We have begun writing friendly letters, poetry, and an autobiography. Please return blue sheet as soon as it is completed, so we may begin our first draft of our writing process. The autobiography poster can be about 12x17 in size. Ideas: time line, growing process, important events, family tree, and other ideas are welcomed.
In the month of May the children will be taking the Gates MacGinite test for vocabulary and comprehension. I will send a note home before testing to let you know the exact date. The results will be sent home with your child’s final report card.
MATH – Mrs. Knape
Carrying and borrowing skills will be introduced to the students, as well as beginning multiplication. Geometry, fractions, measurement, time, money, and problem solving skills continue to be practiced.
A review of skills will “sum” up the year. What a “difference” a year makes. Thank you for the continued support you have shown me, SJA, and most importantly, your child. Two thumbs up!!!
Please provide experiences over the summer for your child to continue building essential academic skills. Summer Enrichment and/or Summer Learning Kits are excellent opportunities for your child to increase his/her learning rather than lose up to 25% of their previous year's learning as research as shown.
SCIENCE – Mrs. Knape
After completing an investigation of heat, light and sound energy sources, we will explore features and changes in the earth's surface. Earth Day is April 22 and a special celebration has been scheduled from 3-5pm. More information will be coming.
Hands-on exploration plus book shares will provide a look at magnets, weather, and other areas of science. What a great way to end the year.
SOCIAL STUDIES – Mrs. Machniak
The second grade students will be learning about resources and recreation. We will look at general businesses in our community, consumer use of resources, local resources, and protection and care of resources. Following resources we will look at the past and present through the development of inventions, how they have changed our community and how technology is shaping our community and future. We will finish the year with an economics unit. We will look at jobs in our community, want and need, supply and demand, and resources (natural, human and capital).
COMPUTER – Mrs. Still
Throughout the year, the students are shown how to open and close folders and programs from the Desktop. They have learned how to name and save their files and how to log in and out of the computer. By the 4th quarter, the 2nd Graders should be able to complete these procedures independently.
The Second Grade students will review inserting clip art and Word Art in a document and learn how to format fonts and lines from the Drawing toolbar. They will also learn how to insert text boxes into a document. Much of the emphasis will be to teach the students the function of important toolbar icons.
Use of a digital camera will be one of the topics covered this quarter. Students will take pictures of their classmates and use the memory card to download them to Paint. They will use their photographs to create a Mother’s Day card that demonstrates proficiency in both Paint and Word.
SPANISH – Mrs. Machniak
The second grade will be finishing people in March. They will continue to learn and practice phrases. They will finish the year with a study of Spain. This will include a general study of location, vocabulary, culture and literature.
RELIGION – Mrs. Wisniewski
Our religious education learning will continue to concentrate on the Faith Concepts of Christianity. We have been studying the Stations of the Cross. With Easter rapidly approaching, the students will learn more about the 40 day long Easter Celebration. As a community outreach project, students have created bookmarks to give to the Senior Sisters. Second Graders are continually working on the “I Care” rules.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION – Mrs. Knape
Strength building, movement, aerobic exercise, and games make PE a healthy half hour. Listening and following directions continue to be important components of our time together. Warm days will soon allow take us outside for our workouts.
ART – Mrs. Machniak
It was wonderful to see everyone at the open house with their families. The second grade continues with the element of form. They are working on mobiles and dioramas as a way to unify the forms they have created with paper-folding origami. The artist of focus is Alexander Calder.
The second grade will be working with pattern in April. They will begin with weaving on a loom, and stained glass patterns. Art history will include an introduction to European cathedrals. We will be finishing the year with the principle of repetition and movement. They will explore animals in action and look at animals in artwork.
MUSIC – Mrs. Wisniewski
Second graders are continuing to learn rhythm, melody, harmony and qualities of music through singing and creative play. Also being presented is information about the music staff and basic notes to introduce students to reading music. Students are being introduced to John Towner Williams as part of this upcoming quarter’s “Composer of the Month.”
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