2nd Grade News
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Fractions in Action

4/29/2015

 
Second graders kicked off a new math unit about fractions this week.  Students began learning that fractions are names for parts of a whole.  Children used pattern block manipulatives to determine fractional parts of a whole.  For example, if a yellow hexagon is "one," and two trapezoids fit inside it, then each trapezoid is one half.  There were lots of interesting discoveries and "Aha!" moments as children puzzled out fractional parts of a whole using pattern blocks and pattern block templates.  Children also began to build their math vocabulary by beginning to use the terms numerator and denominator.  In the coming weeks, students will learn to play Everyday Math fraction games, such as the Equivalent Fractions Game and Fraction Top-It, to further develop their understanding of fractions.  

Our second grade Maypole Dance was another highlight this week!  Click the F&PA link in this week's bulletin to learn more about it.

Making Observations In and Around Montclair!

4/23/2015

 
Second grade classes took turns heading out into Montclair to make observations and record data about resources they see in and around parts of Montclair. These three field trips were the research component of our Towns unit of study in Social Studies. 2S, 2B and 2N traveled to Church Street, Watchung Plaza, and Upper Montclair Plaza area to make observations, jot notes and zero in on modes of transportation, housing, places to work and open spaces / places to gather in town. Students were focused as they walked through Montclair as field researchers. They stopped to jot notes and exchange ideas that they would ultimately share with the other classes on Thursday. The three classes pooled their collective observations and create Word Clouds to highlight town resources that stood out in Montclair. This valuable field work and jigsaw sharing of ideas between classes will help kick off culminating projects planned for students. Their mission will be to design towns of their own that include key resources they noted in their town study.   

2S Productions Presents "Rainstorm!"

4/17/2015

 
On Friday morning, students in 2S were excited to present Rainstorm, a wordless play inspired by the picture book of the same name by Barbara Lehman. Friday’s performance was the culmination of what has truly been a child-centered process in which children were given as much ownership as possible for the planning, creation, and performance of the play. Children started by responded to the prompt: “If you discovered a magical chest that led to a secret place, where would you go? What would you do?” Children let their imaginations run completely free, and their ideas formed the basis of our story line, in which small groups of children discover a magical chest leading to a magical jungle. Children created their characters, and working in their small groups, planned out individual scenes in the play. Children practiced the skills of being flexible, compromising, and perhaps most challenging, managing and dealing with the disappointment that can come when things do not go exactly as we had planned. Our inspiration for a wordless play came from Mrs. Noble, who created the wordless play Wave with her students in 2N several years ago. The children in 2S thought about how a play without words has the potential to include members of an audience who might otherwise not have been able to fully understand and enjoy a performance in which the story is communicated primarily through the spoken word, including audience members who might be deaf or hard of hearing, people who speak a language other than English, younger children who might not understand “big words,” and people who do not understand any spoken language. In preparing for Friday’s performance, children worked incredibly hard to develop the ability to tell a story without using their voices. In a play without words, we rely heavily on using our bodies and our facial expressions to communicate ideas and feelings. We also need to be really connected to each other, and have the ability to focus on what each person is doing in order to know how to respond. In the absence of a verbal cue or prompt, we need to notice something as subtle as someone raising a finger to indicate a scene change. This year, students in 2S have been learning about and practicing mindfulness. The skills that they have developed in learning to “turn off their voices” and deliberately direct their attention to a given focal point provided the foundation for the work that they did in this play. We call this “playing attention.” Our entire play process, and Friday’s performance, would not have been possible without the tremendous help and support of our Art teacher Ms. DuRant, who helped us design and paint our incredible backdrop and props, the guidance and expertise of our musical director Greg Paradis who helped us develop and fine tune our movements and sequences, and the talents and good humor of our “surprise” guest actor, Mr. Pyke, who played the part of our "jungle friend." 2S would also like to thank Mr. Brown for setting up our auditorium, and our parents, families, and friends for their love and support. Our performance of Rainstorm is a celebration of childhood – of imagination, free movement, dancing, friendship, laughter, and play. It is about curiosity, discovery, facing our fears and learning what happens when we do. We hope that you enjoyed our performance!
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Stepping Back in Time: 2nd Grade Visits the Israel Crane House

4/7/2015

 
Second graders traveled back in time this week during our class field trips to the Israel Crane House.  Second graders are beginning to study towns in social studies, so exploring a special historical place in our town of Montclair helped us to kick off this town unit.  Children began the trip by making a living timeline.  They learned what transportation, communication, and daily life were like hundreds of years ago.  Next, they explored the historic Crane House.  Highlights included visiting a working kitchen, where they tried their hands at a butter churn and made an imaginary "bucket brigade" to put out an imaginary fire.  Lastly, children enjoyed experiencing life in a schoolhouse, practicing "reading, writing, and 'rithmetic" under strict rules.  A visit with the chickens capped off our trip back in time.  Special thanks to all of our parent chaperones for making our field trips possible!

Reading Poetry to Help us Write Poetry

4/2/2015

 
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Second grade students are independently and partner reading an array of poetry in class during writing workshop to help them get familiar with the many, different ways poetry can look and sound. Poetry center-based, exploratory reading time produces opportunities for students to partner read poems together. Partner reading poems helps to boost students confidence as poetry readers and supports them in fluently reading challenging vocabulary and rhyme schemes often present in poetry. Taking time to read an array of poems about different feelings, people, places and things early in our Poetry unit also supports our writers in zeroing in on craft techniques that poets use to help relay the messages of their poems. Students are also learning that poems do not have to rhyme and very often, poets use one, two or even three of their five senses to help them add details to their poems. 2nd grade students have already started generating poems as a class and are eager to write list poems independently to try their hand applying craft techniques introduced during writing workshop mini-lessons.

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