Second grade students were very excited to share their realistic fiction stories with their guests at our last writing celebration of the year.  As guests gathered in classrooms, teachers shared background information about the writing process, including creating realistic fiction characters, brainstorming problems and solutions, planning five parts of a story on a story mountain, and drafting.  Teachers also shared three types of goals throughout the unit: content goals, revision and editing goals, and publication goals.  Students were proud to use technology tools to share the digital stories they published with their guests.  Afterward, what fun it was to enjoy pizza and ice cream treats at our picnic!  It has been wonderful to notice the growth our second grader writers have shown over the course of the year.

​This week, second graders also learned about the required reading summary assignment that they will complete over the summer in preparation for third grade.  To access this assignment, please click the Summer Resources 2017 tab at the top of this page.  Happy summer reading!

Second graders are now diving into their Book Series unit and learning to identify common elements often found in books written as a series. Readers continue to make personal connections to texts and are now also beginning to make connections to characters, settings and themes in series books their classmates recommend or to series they have read at other times. This book series work helps boost comprehension skills and helps all readers, both developing and seasoned, think more critically about their books as they read. It encourages them to ask questions and make predictions based on patterns they are noticing in their series books and get them talking more about their books in general. It is an exciting time as readers round out their reading skills to apply more comprehension strategies during read aloud and independent reading times. Some of the strategies students have been trying in class include: jotting written reading responses, sketching ideas, tracking story elements in their reader's notebooks and partner/small group book talk work. All of these strategies help to support them in noticing and sharing patterns and similarities they come across as they read. Second grade students are more excited than ever to read than these days. 

2B actors and actresses shined on the Brookside stage this Friday as they performed their class play, Don't Yuck My Yum.   With a message about taking risks and trying new foods, 2B's play celebrated trying new things and respecting our individual tastes.  The play was based on the picture book Yoko by Rosemary Wells.​

Students collaborated throughout every phase of the play process, from imagining the characters and foods who would be in the play, to brainstorming ideas for what they'd like their play to include (such as a guest appearance by Mr. Pyke and a dance party ending), to imagining what problems might arise in the plot, to designing the scenery, posters, and programs.  Throughout the past month, 2B students were very busy learning lines, cues, song lyrics, and movements to bring their play to life, as well as learning acting skills that helped them convey their message to the audience.  2B students also strengthened their bravery muscles by trying new foods outside of school and sharing photos of their experiences.  The stars of the 2B play encouraged us all to try new foods and take risks, and we are so proud of them. 

2B would like to thank their families and all of the faculty and staff who helped them to make their play process a successful and joyful learning experience.  Special thanks go to Mr. Ely, who worked with students creatively on building their acting skills, projection, and blocking, Mrs. Arcilla and Mrs. Robertson, who provided special creative expertise with costumes, Mr. Pyke, who made a guest appearance, Mr. Odell, who loaned costumes, Mr. Brown, for setting up the chairs, Ms. DuRant, for her help with the backdrop and posters, Mrs. Smith, for all of her expertise and help with songs and music, and Mrs. Weaver, for blocking and choreography.  

This morning, 2N culminated their class play process with their final performance of The Royal Pandas Help a Friend. 2N worked through the play process to share a fictional story about a community of pandas who try to help a discouraged panda friend find his special talent. Students worked to help draft a script that sent the message that friends help each other and others. 2N friends worked to add dialogue, movements and artwork that would help them share the story about a group of friendly pandas. Actors also worked to meet the goals of the play performance and convince the audience that they were actually the characters they were portraying on stage. 2N demonstrated strong teamwork and confidence in learning new songs, dances, and many stage movements through scene transitions. To culminate the play process students reflected on what they enjoyed most in preparing for a stage performance. Many thanks to all the teachers and parents who helped us prepare for this special day...Ms. Weaver, Mrs. Smith, Ms. DuRant, Mr. Brown, Ms. Jones and Ms. Gonzales for helping 2N actors prepare for their performance. The biggest thank you goes to all the 2N actors, who rose to the challenge to work together and produce a terrific class play about friendship and helping others!

Also this week, 2N and 2B braved unpredictable weather to visit areas in Montclair to collect data. 2M needed to postpone their walking trip due to rain. Armed with clipboards, data collection sheets and a few iPads, second graders took a field trip within the town of Montclair this week. Students were on a mission to find examples of the four major elements of a town: places to live, places to work, transportation, and open spaces.  Each class visited a different section of Montclair for their exploration and data collection. 2N visited Upper Montclair area and 2B visited Watchung Plaza. 2M will visit Montclair Center/Church Street area in the coming weeks to round out the students' data exchange. Students were excited to notice various buildings, ways to get around, open spaces, people, animals, and “street furniture” (like parking meters and recycling bins). The information they gathered will be shared in a variety of formats in the coming weeks.  All the data will be a useful reference as they progress through our Town unit in social studies. Thanks to Mr. Pyke for accompanying us on our data gathering field trips!