Second Grade Newsletter

As we wrap up the first marking period of the 2024 -2025 school year, let’s take a look back at some of the things we’ve learned so far. In reading, we have completed our first two knowledge domains of CKLA which were Fairy Tales and Tall Tales and Early Asian Civilizations. We will continue Domain 3 called Early Greek Civilzations into the second marking period. In Math, we focused on Place Value. We practiced representing numbers in different forms, drawing bundles and comparing 3-digit numbers. We sure have been busy!

Nov. 4 - Grading And Planning For The End Of Term; No School For Students

Nov. 5 - General Election Day - Schools and Offices Closed

Nov. 11 - Open House

Nov. 21- Field Trip to the Music Center at Strathmore

Nov. 25 - Early Release Day For Students

Nov. 26 - Early Release Day For Students

Nov. 27 - Systemwide Closure—Schools and offices closed

Nov. 28 - Thanksgiving—Schools and offices closed

Nov. 29 - Thanksgiving—Schools and offices closed

*Parent/Teacher Conferences will start Wednesday, November 13th until Monday, November 25th. Please be on the lookout for information from your child's teacher regarding sign-up dates and times.*

Mr. Abbinanti

Mrs. Currie

Mrs. Mitchell

Ms. Tran

Mrs. Langone (Reading Initiative)

Mrs. Lowe (Math)

Domain 3 - The Ancient Greek Civilization

Students will finish their learn about the gods and goddesses of the ancient Greeks, the city-states of Sparta and Athens, and the philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. They will learn about the first Olympic Games held in honor of Zeus, the significance of the battles of Marathon and Thermopylae, and the conquests of Alexander the Great. Students will also learn about the Greek contribution of democracy and how its ideals are used today in many governments, including our own.

In the middle of the month of November we will be switching to a new, but related domain. This domain builds on The Ancient Greek Civilizations domain and will introduce students to several well-known Greek myths and many well-known mythical characters. Students will learn that the ancient Greeks worshipped many gods and goddesses, and that the twelve they believed lived on Mount Olympus, the home of the gods, were the most powerful. Students will learn the definition of a myth: a fictional story, once thought to be true that tried to explain mysteries of nature and humankind. They will also learn about myths that include supernatural beings or events, and that myths give insight into the ancient Greek culture. Students will hear about Prometheus and Pandora, Demeter and Persephone, Arachne the Weaver, the Sphinx, and Hercules, among others.

We will have an End of Module 3 Assessment on November 1. In Module 3, students were immersed in the base ten system as they built a strong foundation of place value understanding through a concrete to pictorial to abstract approach. They bundled groups of 10 and saw that 10 like units could be bundled to produce a new unit that is ten times as large. They progressed from seeing 10 ones as 1 ten (1.NBT.2a) to understanding 10 tens as 1 hundred (2.NBT.A.2). Module 4 builds on that place value understanding, which enables students to compose and decompose place value units to add and subtract within 200.

Unit 4 Math Topics:

A: Sums and Differences Within 100

B: Strategies for Composing a Ten

C: Strategies for Decomposing a Ten

D: Strategies for Composing Tens and Hundreds

E: Strategies for Decomposing Tens and Hundreds

F: Student Explanations of Written Methods

During the month of November, we will be switching back to Social Studies. Students will learn how people develop, share, borrow, and take customs and traditions to meet wants or needs. Also, students will identify how physical and human characteristics are used to locate, describe, and classify places and regions to gather information and make decisions. Finally, we will be focusing on how people protect, change, and adapt to their environment to meet wants or needs.