Writing

Science experiments and Lab Reports never fail to excite! This week students worked on creating their own catapults to test our class question. Which will go farther off a catapult, a marshmallow or a cotton ball? Each partnership worked with the same materials (a spoon, ruler, rubber band, and tape) to create their own catapult to test the distance that the objects would fly. Students recorded their results and conducted several trials. The idea of flinging objects through the classroom was irresistible for students and the learning and experimenting was priceless to see! Just like real scientists, students compared and analyzed their results with each other. Curiosity consumed the class, as they pondered what could have caused different results among peers using the same materials. While working in partnerships, each student wrote an individual lab report, reflecting on their hypothesis and recording what happened. Ask your child about their results and how it compared to their hypothesis.

Reading

Second graders are studying character traits in their Reading and Retelling Unit. The students learned that readers keep track of the main character in the story by paying attention to what they do, say, and think. After choosing a new book to read each day, students would demonstrate their understanding by citing evidence from the story to support their thinking. Students then shared with the class what they had learned about the character.

Gratitude

Second graders continued discussing gratitude this week with a focus on school and friends. Each student secretly chose a name of another student in class during Morning Meeting. They watched the student and took note of various things their buddy did throughout the day. Finally during “Close of the Day”, each student made their secret friend a bracelet and wrote them a little note expressing reasons they are grateful for them.