Rocking and Rolling in Second Grade

 

With the 11th day of school coming to a close, the second-grade pods are hitting their stride. While school may look different, the experience of community and joy the children share while learning together continues to shine through. Each pod is having fun, working together, and eager to learn. Please read below for highlights from each subject area.

 

General Studies – Jacob

 

It’s hard to believe it has only been 11 days. The second grade readers and writers have done so much! We dived into our first writing mini-unit, sharing a special object and then writing how and why it is important to us. It was an excellent opportunity for the pods to learn more about each other, strengthen community, and write in response to guiding questions. Did you know that the pods love to read? Well, they sure do! The pods have been eager to comb through our classroom libraries and picking out books to read each week. We have been working hard strengthening our reading muscles, growing our stamina for independent reading. Can you believe the pods can easily be content reading for 20 minutes! No small feat for the beginning of second grade. While reading, students are practicing their word decoding skills, fluency, and getting ready to take on the challenge of more sophisticated texts. To support our reading and writing skills, we’ve been freshening up our short vowel sounds. Ask your child to demonstrate each vowel sound and the movement associated with it. 

 

Math and Science – Rebecca and Atalya

 

In Math we’ve continued our study of numbers to 1000 by learning about place value, and comparing triple digit numbers. Second graders represented numbers on a place value chart, and used math language to break the numbers apart. For example, in the number 459, the digit 5 has a value of 50. We practiced recognizing and writing numbers in word form, standard form, and expanded form. 

 

We used our science classes to learn about our new technology: chromebooks! Second graders talked about how to take care of their chromebooks, practiced logging in to their chromebooks, and refreshed their seesaw skills by completing a math activity in the platform. 

 

From now on, we will be sending the chromebooks back and forth every day. Please help your child charge them overnight and then bring them back to school each day. 

Hebrew and Judaic Studies – Ariana

 

It’s been a busy but rewarding past few days. Our second graders learned all about Rosh Hashanah, the zimanim or different foods that we have at the table as well as the meaning and reasons why we consume the different types of food in Rosh Hashanah.

To offer some examples, we discussed that we Dip the apples in honey for a sweet year, we eat pomegranate (rimon)  to inspire ourselves to have a year filled with good deeds.

We also discussed that different Jews celebrate Rosh Hashanah with different foods too.

For example Ashkenazi jews place a fish head on the table while sepharadic Jews place a head of a lamb. The reason for both is that we wish to be “the head” and not the”tail” because when it comes to our own lives we want to be intentional and be in charge of our decisions and our direction. Our 2nd graders created beautiful Rosh Hashanah cards that we hope you enjoyed.

We are also learning about the different types of shofarot around the world.

We saw pictures of shofarot from Yemen and from Morocco.

 

Now, we are shifting our focus to Yom Kippur and learning all about the important concept of “Slicha”, saying sorry and engaging in Teshuva (which means repenting).

We embrace the concept that life gives us second chances to redirect ourselves and become better. We have the unique chance to rethink bad decisions and learn to better care for those around us. Because Yom Kippur’s essence is about repairing relationships and engaging in continuous spiritual growth. We read the story “The hardest word” by Jaqueline Jules. The children wrote their thoughts about the importance of saying sorry and why sometimes it can be a hard thing to apologize. This week we also did Tashlich in a symbolic way. We wrote our mistakes or actions we did that we regretted and threw them papers to a bucket filled with water. We recited the blessing and whole heartedly hoped for a clean slate. 

 

In Hebrew, we are engaging in conversational Hebrew and reviewing vocabulary as well.

We are practicing introducing ourselves stating our age and greeting friends in the morning.

Likewise, our morning routines include discussing the day of the week and the weather in Hebrew as well. We are currently reviewing the hebrew letters and vowels in print.

We will continue to review the hebrew aleph bet with the help of worksheets, our dry erase boards and games. We look forward to our next step:learning the hebrew letters in script.

 

We are so excited and can’t wait to continue learning together!