3/8/13
Dear Families,
As part of our social studies curriculum we have been studying biographies and timelines. We are teaching students to understand and compare how people can make a difference in the world. One way to show the important events of these people is by using a timeline.
In class, we have examined biographies and timelines. For example, we have learned about Martin Luther King, Dr. Seuss, and Ruby Bridges. The students even saw a video of Ruby Bridges’ courage and bravery.
Now it is their turn!
Please help your child make a timeline of their life. You may have to help supply information about the early years of their life, but the child should draw the pictures, utilize magazine pictures, and even gather snapshots to depict each sentence. Students should show about one event a year for each year of their life. There should be a picture/drawing and a few sentences to match each year. We have provided students with paper that can be used to display the timeline if they choose. It is your child’s choice to decide how they want to display their timeline. Here is a sample of a very basic timeline:
We will be sharing and displaying these timelines. Have fun discussing what important events happened each year! Please return the completed timelines by Thursday, March 14th. Thank you for helping to make this project a success!
Sincerely,
The Grade 2 Teachers
Greetings from Grade Two! We can hardly believe how quickly the year is going by! Before we know it the students will be on their way to third grade! What a busy month February has been… 100th Day of School Celebration, Valentine’s Day, Read Across America and of course February vacation!
In math, the students have continued to work on place value and their overall number sense. They have really come a long way and we are pleased with their progress! A new topic introduced this month has been Partial Sums. We would like to thank the parents who attended the morning meeting with the 2nd grade team, which taught you how to solve addition problems using the special algorithm.
Language Arts has really created some “experts” in grade 2. The students worked on and presented their All About Books to demonstrate their knowledge of a particular topic. After completing this project, the students now are able to recognize the characteristics of informational/nonfiction writing.
The students are also beginning to take a closer look at characteristics of an author series as well as the characters in those series. This skill allows the students to think about a book in a series before, during and after their reading. As you know, this is what a good reader does to benefit his or her comprehension.
It’s hard to believe that Lexington is celebrating its 300th birthday this year. This celebration has helped bring our town’s history to life. We have shared where our families originated. We will also be looking at photos from the past while we compare and contrast life then and now.
What is matter… What is matter… you may have heard this song in your home recently. Matter has been the main topic of our science unit. We explored different states of matter, how matter changes from one state to another. The highlight of the unit was all of the hands-on experiments that the students participated in. The excitement from the experiments motivated many of the students to participate in the upcoming science fair.
March is going to be a very busy month. We will be going on a field trip to the Peabody Museum at Harvard. We will be learning about biographies and creating timelines of our own lives. Prepare yourself as the students perfect their powers of persuasion through opinion writing.
If you haven’t already please remember to respond to the upcoming spring conference schedules. We look forward to meeting with you to discuss your child’s progress in second grade!
Sincerely,
The Grade 2 Team