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?

 

 

 

“Be somebody who makes everybody feel like a somebody.” -Kid President

Service Learning is an important part of the character development at our school. Spending time thinking about others, indirectly helps students think about themselves. This year, the second grade class has developed a reoccurring partnership with San Jose Family Supportive Housing (SJ Family Shelter).

In the fall the students worked with their 8th grade buddies to make blankets for the residents. We had the opportunity to take a trip and tour the facility, while also delivering the blankets the students made. It helped the students connect their blanket making to real people. It has brought about many discussions.

While we were there in October, we met with the Volunteer Coordinator, Sara Tran, who expressed the need for travel toiletries for the residents. The second grade students took this need seriously and have collected many toiletries! The students were inspired to sort and graph their collection and this furthered interest in graphing. (More on that in a future post!) Both classes collected over 500 items! They were so proud of their collection and how many people they could help.

At the end of January the second graders met with an 8th grade advisory to make more than seventy

Valentine’s Day cards for the residents at the shelter. Ms. Tran told us that she plans to slip them under the doors of residents on Valentine’s Day. On February 1st, the second grade students and the 8th grade advisory returned to the shelter to deliver the bags and bags of toiletries they collected, the many cards they made, and to decorate the dining room for Valentine’s Day.

We are currently working with Ms. Tran to figure out a project our second grade students can help with in the spring. Open to suggestions!

Thank you to everyone who donated toiletries!

2nd graders have opinions! And lots of them! This is perfect as we move into our newest writing unit: opinion writing!

The Process: 

We started our unit by first identifying the difference between a fact and an opinion. Students sorted different statements they read into two categories: facts and opinions. We also use this language through the day as different facts and opinions come up in order to help students solidify this understanding.

Next students were introduced to the idea of writing an opinion paragraph. We then read a few example second grade level opinion pieces and students noticed some similarities between them. Some of their comments included that they all stated an opinion about something, and they all used the word “because.”

We then discussed the general structure of opinion writing. They have an introduction that hooks the reader and states the opinion. After this, you will find the reasons and examples that support the opinion, complete with transition words. Finally, the conclusion, where the opinion is restated and wrapped up.

Students generated a list of topics they felt they could write their opinion about. These ranged from favorite dessert or movie, to whether they should wear uniforms and reasons their parents should get them a pet!

In opinion writing there are some words or phrases that are used frequently to make a stronger point. Students learned about some of these common sentence starters and transitions.

Here are a few of the sentence starters: 

I think…

I believe….

In my opinion….

____ is better than ___

In my opinion…

Some transitions: 

For example…

Another reason …

In particular…

Next Steps:

For the next phase of the writing unit, we will study each of the different parts of the structure in more detail all while giving the students opportunities to write more opinion pieces about topics of their choosing. We will also have conversations about which reasons are more convincing than others and how to support them.

Further down the road… 

In second grade students are expected to write an opinion paragraph that states their opinion, clearly provides reasons and examples to support it and then wraps it up by restating the opinion. In third grade and beyond, students will be expected to write an opinion essay: an introductory paragraph followed by three supporting paragraphs, one for each reason, and a concluding paragraph.

How can you help out at home? 

If you hear some strong opinions and convincing (or not) arguments supporting them, point these out to your second grader. This might sound like, “Wow! It sounds like you really would like to stay up 15 minutes later tonight. Give me a strong reason and example to support your opinion, and you may get 15 more minutes tonight.” Or maybe at dinner you hear, “I love ice cream!” Gently press your second grader to tell you why, more than just, “it’s yummy.”

Warning: Don’t be surprised if they ask you to support your opinions with strong reasons, too!

 

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.