Welcome to Second Grade!

Week of April 20, 2026

• Our spring field trip to the Butterfly Pavilion is coming up on 4/23
• Pay for your students field trip fee of $52 and sign the permission slip HERE
• Dress of choice, Friday, April 24th - Please wear your fun run or an AVA spirit wear shirt and free dress bottoms for our field trip
• NO SCHOOL, Friday, April 24th

Important Information: 

Art is our rotation for STEAM this week! We have NO SCHOOL on Friday for our specials rotation.

• Please send your student with a water bottle and a nut free snack daily.
• To avoid lost or broken student items please leave toys and personal items at home.
• Please label all student items with your student’s name & grade level.
• Dress for the weather!

UPCOMING EVENTS/DATES:

Weekly Curriculum:

Reading (CKLA): 

Mrs. Huffman's reading group: Skills Unit 6:

• Lesson 6 Reading: Informational Text
  Reread “Trouble with the British”
  Lesson 7 Reading and Grammar: Informational Text and Adverbs
  Read-Aloud “America in 1812, Part II”
  Lesson 8 Reading and Spelling Alternatives: Informational Text and Introduce /er/ > ‘ar’, ‘or’
  Read “The War Hawks”
  Lesson 9 Grammar: Adverbs
  Reread “The War Hawks”
  
• Novel Study - Charlotte's Web
• Homework and Spelling Test - NONE THIS WEEK

Math (Saxon) 

Mrs. Huffman's math group:

Writing: 

Current Writing Topic: Fictional Narrative Writing

• Write a familiar story that includes setting(s), character(s), dialogue, and, if appropriate, several events, using temporal words and phrases to indicate the chronology of events. 
•  Write a fictional narrative. 
•  Create a title and an ending that are relevant to the narrative.

Core Knowledge: Short Stories/Poetry

• Talk Iktomi Stories
• Beauty and the Beast
• Peter Pan
• Bed in Summer
• Tall Tales 
• Buffalo Dusk 
• Windy Nights

What students need to know:

• Plant Needs 

• Plants have body parts (roots, stems, leaves) to survive and grow. 
• Plants are living organisms and typically grow in fixed locations.
• Though there are many different types of plants, they have common needs (air, water, minerals, light).

• Plant Diversity

• Plants are diverse in size, structure, and ecological needs. 
• Plants live in environments to which they are suited; those environments also differ: 
• Deciduous forests (oak trees) 
• Tropical forests (vines, epiphytes) 
• Meadows and prairies (grasses) 
• Deserts (cacti) 
• Tundra (plants of small size) 
• Ponds, lakes, rivers, and streams 
• Oceans are home to less than a dozen known species of plants.
• Many plant habitats change in cycles over time—seasons—and plants are adapted to survive during those changes.

• Animal Needs

• Adult plants and animals reproduce. 
• Many kinds of animal parents take care of their offspring until the offspring become mature enough to care for themselves.

• Animal Diversity

• Animals are diverse in size, shape, and ecological needs.
• Animals vary in their structure.
• Invertebrates: without backbones (snails, insects, coral) 
• Vertebrates: with backbones (mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians)
• Animals live in environments to which they are suited; those environments differ:
• Deciduous forests (squirrels, raccoons) 
• Tropical forests (moles, worms) 
• Meadows and prairies (prairie dogs) 
• Deserts (lizards, scorpions) 
• Tundra (arctic fox, polar bears) 
• Ponds, lakes, rivers, and streams (fish, oysters) 
• Oceans (There are numerous species of animals in the world’s oceans, such as sea stars and whales.)

• Ecosystems: Plant and Animal Relationships

• Many plants and animals live in a specific habitat. 
• Organisms that share a given space affect each other.
• Animals depend on plants for food and shelter. 
• Plants depend on animals (for example, pollination, seed dispersal).
• There are also groups of living things that are neither plants nor animals (fungi, algae, bacteria).

STEAM SCHEDULE 10:00-10:45am

*WEEKLY ROTATION*

SPECIALS SCHEDULE: 1:30-2:15pm

*DAILY ROTATION*

Parent Resources:

Reading every night you can is so important! Look at the statistic below:

 

 

DIBELS Reading Assessment: is administered three times a year and also continuously monitored through out.  You will be receiving the results in Thursday folders after each benchmark.

• Want to know more about DIBELS click here: Parents Guide to Dibels

 

NWEA (MAPS) Assessment: is also administered three times a year. You will recieve these results as well in Thursday folders.

• Want to know more about NWEA click here: Family Guide To NWEA  & Family Tool Kit for NWEA

GROWTH MINDSET:

Growth mindset is the idea that, with effort, it's possible to increase intelligence levels, talents, and abilities. Students who demonstrate a growth mindset believe their abilities develop over time, tend to seek out opportunities to gain new knowledge and broaden their skills, and do not typically shy away from challenges (Kazakoff & Mitchell, 2017).

Students with a growth mindset believe that intelligence can be developed. These students focus on learning over just looking smart, see effort as the key to success, and thrive in the face of a challenge.

Students with a fixed mindset believe that people are born with a certain amount of intelligence, and they can’t do much to change that. These students focus on looking smart over learning, see effort as a sign of low ability, and wilt in the face of a challenge.​