Mrs. Trela

Scroll down to view some of the things your A2 second grader learned in the first quarter of school.

Thinking Maps
Kahalu'u Elementary is a Thinking Maps school. Thinking Maps were developed by Dr. David Hyerle to help students remember and organize new information, and students in all Kahalu'u School classes use the various maps to help in their learning.

Here are the eight Thinking Maps used at our school:

In the first week of school, A-2 students created Circle Maps to present information about themselves. We will continue to use Thinking Maps during this school year. Here are a few of the second graders' personal Circle Maps.

(pictures coming)

The Art of Henri Matisse
We worked on art benchmark FA2.1.1 "Use the element of space and the principles of repetition and variety, with a variety of art media". The second graders examined Matisse's paintings to find many, many examples of repetition. In fact this artist was famous for his repeated patterns. Take a look at Matisse's painting of a "Woman in a Purple Coat". Can you see examples of repetition?

The students had fun creating their own variety of repeating patterns.

In the next lesson, we looked at Matisse's famous "Goldfish"painting.

As a culminating assessment, the students created their own "Goldfish" art piece showing their mastery of "use of space" and "variety of repeating patterns". In addition to "repetition" and "variety", other art vocabulary words we learned were "background" and "foreground". Grading was done by "teacher grading" and "self-assessment". Here are examples of our "Goldfish" art projects:

Plant Life Cycle

One of the big units in quarter 1 is our study of life cycles to help us meet science benchmark SC2.4.1 "Explain how plants and animals go through life cycles". By the end of the unit, A2 students will be able to state and describe five plant life cycle stages: seed, germination, adult plant, pollination, and death. Each day, the students observe their seeds and record their observations. They also predict changes that might be observable the next day.

We observed the "germination" stage of the plant life cycle.

Some of the vocabulary words associated with this unit are: diagram, cycle, stages, observe, predict, germination, nutrients, and pollination. When our bean seedlings are bigger, we'll transplant them into our raised bed garden box along with other vegetable starter plants purchased from the home improvement store. Then we'll wait and observe the adult plant as it goes through the pollination stage. Very interesting! As the plants in our garden box mature, and vegetables are big enough to harvest, we'll extend our science lesson with a look at the food pyramid to meet benchmark HE K-2 2.1.3 "Explain the benefits associated with a healthy diet."

Timelines
The second graders will create personal timelines to show proficiency on social studies benchmark SS2.1.1 "Construct timelines to sequence events."

Dr. Seuss's personal timeline.

Mrs. Trela's personal timeline.

We even have a timeline to show what will happen in each month of this school year. It cannot be shown here because it is much too long, but if you click on the "Photo Gallery" link to the left, you can see a year-long timeline from a previous class. With help from their parents, the A2 students created their own personal timelines!

Reading - "The Magic Finger", by Roald Dahl
The Harcourt reading series, "Trophies" forms the backbone of reading instruction here at Kahalu'u School, and, in A2, "Phonics for Reading" is used as a supplemental program for firm up students' ability to use phonics in reading and writing. But the students most love

when we take a "break" from our textbooks to work on our comprehension and response benchmarks using wonderful children's literature such as Roald Dahl's quirky, "The Magic Finger", illustrated by Quentin Blake.

The author, and the illustrator.

Using "The Magic Finger", students worked on comprehension benchmarks LA2.2.2 "Make, confirm, and modify predictions about a text" and LA2.2.3 "Use previous experience and prior knowledge to make connections with subjects and ideas encountered in texts", as well as literary response benchmark LA2.3.2 "Identify the story elements of character, plot, and setting." You can capitalize on the students' enjoyment of "The Magic Finger" by suggesting more Roald Dahl/Quentin Blake books that are appropriate for proficient and advanced readers, such as "The Twits" and "Esio Trot". More advanced Roald Dahl books are appropriate for shared reading with a parent. Happy reading!

Drawing of "Matilda", by Quentin Blake
Another Chapter Book - "Dinosaurs Before Dark"
This book is the first in Mary Pope Osborne's series of "Magic Tree House" stories and tells about Jack and Annie's magical adventures as they travel through time. As we read the story, the second graders worked on the following reading standards:
LA2.1.5 "Use new grade-appropriate vocabulary introduced in stories"
LA2.2.2 "Make, confirm, and modify predictions"
LA2.3.4 "State a personal opinion about a fictional selection"
LA2.2.3 "Use previous experience to make connections with ideas encountered in texts."
Author, Mary Pope Osborne    and    "friend"

Mrs. Osborne's stories interest students because, on each adventure in the magic tree house, the character Jack keeps refering to his non-fictional books. Many of the author's fictional "Magic Tree House" stories are accompanied by a non-fiction partner book. The students loved using the informational book to look up dinosaur facts.
"Before" picture         "After" picture

Parents can extend the learning by encouraging their child to read other "Magic Tree House" books in Mary Pope Osborne's series. These books may be challenging for struggling and even proficient readers, so they are ideal for shared adult/child reading and discussion.

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Mrs. Trela

Quarter 1 - Working!