Second Graders Learning Time, Fractions and Money

Why is time important to learn? Try asking your child this question. Some of the responses students shared included:

• “Well, if I was the flower girl at a wedding, I would need to know what time to get there!”
• “What if I overslept until 9:00 – I’d be late to school!”
• “On the weekends when I go to my games, I sometimes get there late so I don’t get to start.”

 

Students are exposed to digital clocks more than analog clocks like the one to the right. Digital clocks are on our devices, in our cars, on our Fitbits/smart watches, microwaves on our stereo consoles… making telling time unusually difficult. Several concepts are involved. Students must be familiar with a clock face, number orientation, the function of clock hands, and possess the ability to add and subtract hours and minutes. It is common for students to confuse the hour and minute hand and really difficult to understand that as the minute hand moves, so does the hour hand.

It is common for a second grader to read 1:55 as 2:55 since the hour hand is almost directly on the two.

Students will need to read time periodically on an analog clock, so having your child continue practicing these skills when life situations present themselves will help telling time easier. Our objectives included: telling time to the 5 minutes, calculating elapsed time, such as if the minute hand moves from the 3 to the 7, how many minutes have gone by, the difference between midnight and noon and and its relationship to A.M. and P.M.

Having taught fractions before our time unit, helped children understand what quarter to the hour and quarter after the hour meant along with half past the hour.

Students are now moving into a study of money. Along with the difficulties of children not really having a lot of experience paying with coins (versus an adult’s credit card or online purchases), most of the class is initially challenged with telling coins apart – the face of the nickel and quarter look very similar and both are the largest coins out of the penny, dime, nickel and quarter. Our study began yesterday with a magnifying glass and the bag of coins your child brought from home. They analyzed all the details of each coin including the edges – some coins are ridged and some are smooth. Students became experts when identifying coins with their eyes closed!

Counting money involves counting on and skip counting by 5s, 10s and 25s. To count coins, children need to understand how to sort the coins to make counting easiest. They need to sort them by starting with the coin of highest value and then the coin of next-highest value, continuing until all coins have been sorted into groups. Once children have grouped the coins, they then can skip count to find the amounts. They quickly learn that starting with a penny when calculating a group of coins, makes counting much more difficult. Try pulling a handful of coins for your child to sort and count when opportunities arise in your life. While the digital world will make coins counting obsolete one day, it won’t be next week!

Fun Fact: Did you know that it costs 1.67 cents to make a penny? What? Really?

 

 

 

 

2nd Graders Learn With the Power of Apps!

In today’s wired world, 2nd graders have balanced learning experiences that include technology. While most children are hooked on interactive games, there are many apps which make learning more fun, enriched, current, communicative and paperless!

We are very fortunate to have access to a variety of learning apps that your children can access both in the classroom and at home. Learn about some of our favorites.

Why we love Spelling City:

 

• Each student has their own customized spelling list.
• Students can practice their weekly words through really fun games.
• Children can take as many Practice Quizzes that allow them to know which words to study.
• Final Spelling Tests are taken at school on the iPads – it is paperless and tailored to each student’s needs.
• Students are given instant quiz results.

 

Why we love Raz-Kids and Storia:

• These apps hav virtual bookshelves of leveled books in every genre.
• The books are engaging.
• Students can choose what they would like to read.
• Teachers use the resources and books for guided reading.
• Students have access to books anytime and anywhere.
• Each book contains a quiz that is matched with specific comprehension skills.
• Comprehensive skill reports allow teachers and students to know which skills are mastered or need review.

 

 

 

 

Why we love DreamBox:

• Math skills are adapted to each learner.
• It strategically increases or reviews learning for each student.
• It supports conceptual understanding, fluency, reasoning and problem solving skills.
• Allows teachers to create curriculum related skills for groups.

Why we love Xtra Math:

• This app is free and is tailored to each child’s needs.
• Fluency goals are set after a short placement exam.
• Parents can also monitor achievement.
• Weekly progress reports are provided.
• It only takes 5 to 10 minutes per day.
• It is paperless!

Why We Love Book Creator:

• Students love it because they are free to automatically start writing.
• It is uncomplicated and provides many opportunities for creativity.
• Teachers can create content on a shared topic which can be differentiated to each child’s reading stage.
• It allows for easy edits.
• Text, voice recordings, illustrations, photos and movies can all be incorporated into their book.
• Stories can be uploaded and printed into a hardcopy.

 

What have second graders been doing?

Second graders have been writing a narrative story focused on a memory with a special person. The process started with brainstorming ideas. Writers then told their stories across their fingers to make sure there were enough details to create an interesting narrative. After a few days of writing a first draft, many writers were surprised to find out that…

 

If your first draft is done, you as writers have just begun!

The revision process is where the real work begins. Stories become really “juicy” as we add details and other craft skills. Students were modeled good story writing by sharing many books including Stellaluna – a favorite of ours by Janell Cannon. As we were reading, writers were able to identify what the author did to make this such an amazing book. Our list included:

• painting a picture using words

• substituting boring words with snazzy synonyms

• including dialogue

• using word repetition

• adding a dash of humor

• exploring similes (the bat’s wings were as limp as wet paper)

• trying to include sound effects

• trying out different action words

  Before each writing period, each student choose one of the craft skills to polish up in their book. Writers will be completing the revision process this week and will spend a few days editing their stories next week. Students will be handwriting the first three pages of their books and we will print the other pages out for you to see during Parent Teacher Conferences starting next Friday!

  During our publishing party, second graders are able to share their final drafts with other grades. It is an earned celebration for the dedicated work second graders have devoted in creating a published story!

2nd Graders Are Spellers!

Mastering spelling is difficult for English speakers! We teach phonics rules and children quickly learn that there are many exceptions to the rule! Memorizing rules is a way to apply patterns when learning to spell new words.

This week, students used books to collect words that contained the /k/ sound. We worked as a class to sort the words into the categories: “c”, “k”, and “ck.”

The general rules we came up with include:

Use “c” before an: a, o, u, l or r.

Use “k” before an: “e” or “i”.

Use “ck” at the end of syllables or words – never at the beginning of a word.

When your child is writing at home, you can encourage them to use the phonics rules learned in class as one strategy for correct spelling of words. In addition to the “k” sound, 2nd graders have reviewed the spelling of digraphs (2 letters that make 1 sound): sh, ch, wh, th, and ph. We also reviewed the spelling of short vowel sounds: “a” as in apple, “e” as in Ed, “i” as in itch, “o” as in octopus and “u” as in up.

Students have also learned that many words are not spelled the way they sound. We call these Trick Words and have been practicing at least 3 new words a week. These are posted in the classroom because they are frequently spelled words in 2nd grade. We recommend that you and your child keep a list near their desk at home. We will continue to post the new Trick Words in each blog posting. You can access the list here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GUQbF2ZRubpO8Oxi8ancBvdsqcn-UctQf_xCnFG6lTU/edit

Happy spelling!