Weekly Update 10/26/18

We had a very busy short week!

2nd grade was privileged to have a guest speaker from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency present to the students about maps. Students learned about types of maps, parts of maps, and how they are used to help with everything from protecting our troops to helping with natural disasters. This was a wonderful way to wrap up our study of maps and geography in social studies.

The children are also finishing up their maps assessment project. Most students have completed their playground models and maps or island maps and writing. Now, students are taking pictures of their work and explaining their creations on Seesaw. Students and parents are encouraged to check out the projects on Seesaw. Completed projects will come home next week.

Another Flat Stanley arrived back from Pittsburgh, PA! Stanley wrote a book about his adventures, and sent many beautiful pictures of the city.

In math, we are continuing to move through Chapter 5 on place value. Students learned how to read and write numbers in word form. They also practiced skip counting larger numbers by 5, 10, and 100. Next week, we will finish the lessons in the chapter and have a test at the end of the week.

The children practiced their visualizing skills in reading this week by listening to the story The Gruffalo without seeing the pictures. They were able to take notes about how they heard the author describe the creature called the gruffalo while listening, and then they each made a drawing of what they imagined in their mind. Next, they were able to hear the story again with the pictures and compare how their drawings looked to the illustrations in the book.

Visualization skills are matching up nicely with writing, as students are working on a quick write piece to practice their descriptive writing skills. Inspired by Halloween and the book, I Need My Monster, each student created a monster of their own from construction paper. Now, they are writing a description of their monster. We reviewed what adjectives are, and also learned how to write comparisons. The children have started their drafts. Next week, they will revise, edit, and publish their writing. Look for pictures next week of their completed work.

In science, the students are learning about sound. 2nd graders need to understand that sound travels in waves and is caused by changes in vibrations. They watched demonstrations of how this works with different instruments. Then, the children made kazoos from straws so they could feel the vibration on their lips. They cut the straws to different lengths to see how it changed the pitch.