Classroom Teachers

Mrs. Gregoire – Room 8

Mrs. Trifone – Room 10

Mrs. Edelstein – Room 12

It’s going to be an exciting year in second grade!  The main focus is on literacy and numeracy, integrating science and social studies throughout the year.  The Language Arts program consists of the Harcourt program, which includes our spelling, grammar, and some of the reading skills that are part of our second grade Language Arts curriculum.  In addition, guided reading provides students the opportunity to work in small groups with the teacher on reading books at their own levels.  Students also are learning how to write in complete sentences, and they are learning to write narrative stories that include all of the story parts (characters, setting, problem/kickoff, events, and solution).  It is important for your child to be reading every day; whether you’re reading to them, they’re reading to you, or they’re reading on their own!

We are currently in our second year using the new math curriculum.  It is both challenging and exciting!  A recurring skill throughout the year is place value – looking at a 3-digit number, your child should be able to tell the digit in the hundreds place, the digit in the tens place, and the digit in the ones place.  Students will also be expected to be able to tell the value of each digit (ex., the value of the “4” in the number 345 is 40).  Your child will also be learning one more/less, 10 more/less, and 100 more/less.  A good way to practice this at home is using money: pennies for one more/less, dimes for 10 more/less, and dollars for 100 more/less (for example, have your child make 34 cents with dimes and pennies, then have them add a dime and tell you how much they have now.  You can do the same thing with a penny or a dollar, or take one away and have them tell how much money they have).  Your child should also be practicing counting to 100 and beyond – have your child see how high he/she can count!  J  Another important skill to practice is identifying and counting mixed groups of coins with quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies up to $1.00.  In addition, we also practice telling time to the hour, half hour, and quarter hour, as well as elapsed time (Examples: If we started watching TV at 8:00 and we watched for one hour, what time did we stop?  Or: if we left for the movies at 3:00 and came home at 6:00, how long were we at the movies?); counting by twos, fives, tens, and hundreds; and 2-digit addition and subtraction with regrouping.  Another important component of our math program is the “Facts in a Flash” math facts practice.  Please continue to help your child practice his/her math facts nightly.

Our social studies themes are: cultural & international holidays, rules & routines, citizenship, Constitution Day, community, and map skills.  Our science themes are: matter; weather, clouds, and the water cycle; and dinosaurs.

IMPORTANT EVENTS:

·        “My Favorite Holiday” projects – December (more information to come)

·        Field Trip – May/June

·        Author Night – June