Guest Experts
This week, Second grade had the opportunity to have more marsh guest experts in our class. Our goal with guest speakers is to have members of the community teach the class about their job and how it helps the marsh! To begin, TCS parent, artist, and founder of the MARSH project came into our class to teach the students about the importance of the marsh and how they can use art to teach the community. Blake led the students in a drawing exercise. Students were tasked with drawing their marsh animal using different materials and shapes. It was a great way for students to learn about awareness and showcase their creative side! Later in the week, we had local conservationist Casey Davidson, CEO of Toadfish create an oyster demonstration straight from the marsh. Casey collected oysters in the morning and brought them to our school to demonstrate how important oysters are for water filtration and keeping the marsh clean. To begin, the water was dirty and brown; after just a short amount of time, the water was clean and clear. We love having guest experts join us because it gives the opportunity for students to get hands-on experience from people in our community doing big things and making big changes.
Non-Fiction Readers
Students have begun their reading unit on all things non-fiction. Second graders learned that non-fiction books, also known as informational texts, are designed to help us learn about real-world topics. Our amazing readers have been reading different nonfiction books and focusing on what they noticed, what they wondered, and what they learned. Students have been growing their knowledge by practicing new skills while reading non-fiction books. Second graders know how important it is to pay attention to detail, put parts of the text together in their minds, ask questions, and think to themselves, “What is this book trying to teach me?” Ask your child what they have learned from the non-fiction books they have read this week!
Decomposing
Students have been subtracting one and two-digit numbers from two-digit numbers within 100. Second graders are using strategies based on place value to evaluate expressions that involve decomposing a ten. Decomposing a ten means that you are transforming one group of ten into ten ones. Decomposing helps us subtract bigger numbers from smaller ones. We are so proud of each Second grader for learning all the different ways to subtract using decomposition and practicing with their favorite strategy that makes the most sense to them.
