Dear Parents and Caregivers,
Please join Murray Language Academy for the Black History Fair on the evening of Thursday, February 29 from 5 to 8 p.m. Please refer to the school flyers for information about the fair.
During the fair, our second graders will recite their poems written to honor our African American trailblazers in room 106. We will send a flyer home this Monday with indication of a specific time.
Thank you for your support.
Keniesha Charleston and Anh Tuan Hoang
Balanced Literacy
Day 1
Reading Parts of a Story
Introduction
Objectives:
– Learn that a story has three different parts, including a beginning, middle, and end.
– Describe how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action.
Read the Learning Target: Purpose of a Text – Knowing how the beginning, middle, and end of a story work together will help you understand what you read.
Think: Students complete the activity chart with partners.
Talk: Think about what you see in the cartoon. What will the boy next?
Independent reading and centers
Writing
Interactive Read Aloud: One Step Further by Katherine Johnson (pages 1-10)
Why did Katherine like math?
How did the stars spark Katherine’s imagination? Give an example.
What did Katherine’s father mean when he said, “Count on me”?
How was Katherine treated differently and why?
What was her contribution to NASA? Why was it important?
Students discuss and share information they learned about Katherine Johnson.
Teachers circulate, guide, and/or pose questions to support students, noting which students are ready for independent writing and those who may need additional support.
Students discuss with a partner how they might write their poems about Katherine Johnson.
Students compose their poems.
Day 2
Reading Modeled and Guided Instruction
Read: Jasper the Farm Cat by Henry Adamson
Objectives:
– Learn that a story has three different parts, including a beginning, middle , and end.
– Describe how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action.
First read (Students read; teacher asks questions.)
Second read (independent, small group and guided group)
Think: Teacher explicitly models how to fill the graphic organizer.
Talk: Take turns with your partner describing what happened in the beginning, middle, and end.
Independent reading and centers
Phonics Lesson:
LSR22 p 166 – 168 Recognize and Use Vowel Sounds with r
Teach: Teacher teaches the concept
Apply: Students apply the concept learned by making words.
Share: Students share words they made.
Writing
Interactive Read Aloud: One Step Further by Katherine Johnson (pages 11 -20)
How was Katherine a star student? What is your evidence?
How did her professor, Clayton, influence her?
Students discuss and share information they learned about Katherine Johnson.
Teachers circulate, guide, and/or pose questions to support students, noting which students are ready for independent writing and those who may need additional support.
Students discuss with a partner how they might write their poems about Katherine Johnson.
Students compose their poems.
Day 3
Reading Modeled and Guided Instruction
Read: The Case of the Missing Mutt by John Hansen
Objectives:
– Learn that a story has three different parts, including a beginning, middle , and end.
– Describe how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action.
First read (Students read; teacher asks questions.)
Second read (independent, small group and guided group)
Think: Students work in partners to complete questions 1 and 4.
Talk: Talk with a partner about why Mrs. Brown thinks Snippets was stolen. Be sure to use details from the story.
Writing
Interactive Read Aloud: One Step Further by Katherine Johnson (pages 20 – 32)
Why did Katherine quit teaching to join the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics? (NACA)
Katherine asked a lot of questions when she worked. Why was this important?
Students discuss and share information they learned about Katherine Johnson.
Teachers circulate, guide, and/or pose questions to support students, noting which students are ready for independent writing and those who may need additional support.
Students discuss with a partner how they might write their poems about Katherine Johnson.
Students compose their poems.
Day 4
Reading Independent Practice
Read: The Shade Seller by Marilyn Helmer
Objectives:
– Learn that a story has three different parts, including a beginning, middle, and end.
– Describe how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action.
Read: Students read the story independently and answer questions 5-6.
Independent reading and centers
Writing
Interactive Read Aloud: One Step Further by Katherine Johnson (pages 32 -36)
How was Katherine honored?
According to Katherine, what is one important skill that made her successful?
Students compose and edit their poems.
Day 5
Independent Practice
Read: The Shade Seller by Marilyn Helmer
Objectives:
– Learn that a story has three different parts, including a beginning, middle , and end.
– Describe how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action.
Read: Students read the story independently and answer comprehension questions on the quiz.
Independent reading and centers
Word Study
Spelling Words: (The following words will be tested on Friday, March 8.)
graph, laugh, paragraph, tough, rough, enough, triumph, dough, though, cough, force, feather, wide, store, gravity, model
Teacher displays the 16 Fry words, pointing out patterns and strategies from Fountas and Pinnell such as read, copy, cover, write, and check.
Writing
Students compose and edit their poems.
Math
Lesson 8-5 Problem Solving: Reasoning
Lesson Overview:
Students focus on the thinking habits good problem solvers use when they reason about quantities. Students show such reasoning by being able to contextualize a situation involving money within a story. They decontextualize the story by using tally marks and making an organized list in order to find different ways to show the same amount of money.
Mathematics Objective
Reason about values of coins, and find different ways to make the same total value.
Essential Understanding
Good math thinkers know how to think about words and numbers to solve problems.
Application
Rigorous mathematics instruction calls for the selection, use, and management of multiple problem-solving methods. Use the Thinking Habits shown in the Solve & Share task to help focus thinking in the lesson.
Lesson 8-6 Tell and Write Time to Five Minutes
Lesson Overview:
Students learn how to tell and write time to the nearest five minutes on analog and digital clocks. Review the basics of telling and writing time, as needed.
Mathematics Objective
Tell and write time to the nearest five minutes.
Essential Understanding
Time can be told and written to the nearest 5 minutes. Time can be expressed using different units that are related to each other.
Conceptual Understanding
Students learn how to read, tell, and write time on analog and digital clocks.
Procedural Skill
Students develop skills in skip counting to show, tell, and write the time to the nearest five minutes.
Lesson 8-7 Tell Time Before and After the Hour
Lesson Overview:
Students draw on their understanding of parts of a whole (halves and fourths) to tell time using half hours and quarter hours. Students visualize parts of the whole using analog clock faces.
Mathematics Objective
Say the time in different ways.
Essential Understanding
Time can be described before and after the hour in different ways.
Conceptual Understanding
Students learn how to describe the time of day in different ways, using phrases such as quarter to , quarter past , and half past .
Procedural Skill
Students continue to recognize how to tell time by the position of the hands on an analog clock, or the numbers on a digital clock.
Vocabulary
Quarter past, half past, quarter to
Lesson 8-8 A.M. and P.M. (2 days)
Lesson Overview:
Students learn the meaning of the abbreviations a.m. and p.m. They use those abbreviations when writing and describing different times of the day.
Mathematics Objective
Tell time and use reasoning to state if the event is happening in the a.m. or p.m.
Essential Understanding
Certain time periods can be described using the abbreviations a.m. or p.m.
Conceptual Understanding
Students learn the meaning of the abbreviations a.m. and p.m.
Procedural Skill
Students learn how to use the abbreviations a.m. and p.m. to describe the time of day.
Vocabulary
a.m., p.m.
Science
2-2 Modeling Landform Changes
Overview: In this lesson, students explore whether water can change landforms. Using an Anticipatory Chart, the class brainstorms ideas about what water can do to a landform. Students then investigate a model; they observe what happens to chalk (which represents a landform) when it is sprayed with water. They record observations in their Investigation Notebooks before and after they spray the chalk. Students’ observations provide evidence that supports the idea that water can change landforms. The hands-on activity serves as a starting point for thinking about how erosion works. The purpose of this lesson is for students to learn that water can change landforms.
Students learn:
- Observations of models can provide evidence of processes that occur in the real world.
- Water can change landforms.
- Lesson at a Glance
1: Considering How Water Changes Landforms
Students discuss ideas about what water can do to a landform—in order to access prior knowledge and generate ideas—before constructing new knowledge through using models.
2: Modeling Landform Changes
Students spray water at chalk in order to explore whether water can change a landform. Students record observations of the Chalk Model in their notebooks. They are not expected to reach solid conclusions about the process of erosion, but they should begin to generate ideas about how water can change landforms.
3: Discussing Evidence
Students share evidence from the Chalk Model to support the idea that water can change landforms. This activity includes an On-the-Fly Assessment to assess students’ understanding that water can change landforms.
2-3 What’s Stronger?
Overview: Students build upon their understanding that water can change landforms, by reading about how this process occurs. Students are introduced to a new Investigation Question: How could water change a landform even though landforms are made of hard rock?, and they read the book What’s Stronger? How Water Causes Erosion to gather evidence about this question. At the beginning of the lesson, students preview the book and visualize how water might change the land in each of the examples in the book. Partners read the book and consider the ways in which liquid and solid water can erode landforms. At the end of the lesson, the class discusses different examples of landforms and how water can change them. The purpose of this lesson is for students to get explicit exposure to the idea that water breaks tiny pieces of rock off landforms.
Students learn:
- Visualizing is a useful strategy for making sense of things you cannot observe firsthand.
- Water can be solid or liquid in form.
- Liquid water and solid water can cause landforms to change shape.
Lesson at a Glance
1: Previewing What’s Stronger?
Previewing What’s Stronger? prepares students to read and gives them an opportunity to visualize how water can change landforms.
2: Partner Reading
Students gather evidence about how water can change the shape of a landform, and they get more practice visualizing. This activity includes an On-the-Fly Assessment to assess students’ developing facility with the sense-making strategy of visualizing.
Generation Genius
Maps of Landforms
Students learn:
– Maps show us where things are located on Earth.
– Physical maps can show us landforms.
Social Studies
African American History Month Unit of study (Integrated with Language Arts)
Scholastic News
Read and discuss “Lollipop, Lollipop.” As we read, think about how the lollipop is made.
Video: How Dum Dums are Made and What Happens in a Factory.
Game: Carnival Hearts
Activity: Sequencing
Second Grade Blog 