May is in full bloom in Second Grade. Students have been very busy listening to poems by Jack Pretlusky and choosing one to recite for our Spring Poetry Celebration. The students have also been busy writing wonderful poems about their moms for Mother’s Day. In reading we are learning about fossils and dinosaurs by reading both fiction and non-ficiton stories. We celebrated Cinco de Mayo with a fun Fiesta with delicious food and treats donated by our wonderful parents. We are looking forward to our end of year events at CHP!

February is an exciting month for second grade with many fun topics to explore. We will be working on a Reader’s Theater project to celebrate Black History Month as well as some fun 100th Day and Valentine’s Day activities. We are looking forward to our trip to the Assisted Living Center where we will visit and share poems and Valentine cards with the seniors. Looking forward we will be reviewing for our March tests and getting ready for Dr. Seuss and Read Across America!

Happy New Year and welcome back Second Grade students and families. We welcome Mrs. Bhalla joining us in second grade at CHP and we wish Mrs. Parker all the best and hope she will visit us often. We will be off and running again after our relaxing holiday break. Please contiunue to check your child’s folder and daily planner for any important news and updates as well as the homework blogs for weekly assigments. We are looking forward to a fun and exciting rest of the year !

On Friday 10/28, Second Grade had a wonderful time visiting the Turtleback Zoo in West Orange. The weather was fall perfect – a bit chilly, but crisp and invigorating. With the cooler weather, the animals were active and put on quite a show for us. The students were so excited to use their observation skills to really study the many animals at the zoo. Some favorites included the pair of bald eagles, the small animals in the reptile house (which also houses amphibians), the gibbons, the wolves, and the animals of Asia. Many students also took home a pumpkin donated by farmers in Essex County. Special thanks to our chaperones – Brandon’s mom, Rachel’s dad, Vishnu’s mom, Alfonso and Avery’s mom, and Salma’s mom.

Second Graders enjoying the beautiful fall weather at Turtleback Zoo

With academics firmly underway, Second Grade is looking forward to some special events in the near future. On Monday 10/24 each classroom in the school will take a few minutes to honor the United Nations as part of UN Day. In Second Grade we will briefly talk about the mission of the UN, which is to promote social understanding and provide humanitarian assistance to people all over the world. We will watch a short video about UNICEF. Children are encouraged to “dress down” and donate $1 to UNICEF. On Friday October 28, we are going to the Turtle Back Zoo to supplement our science program, studying plants and animals. Monday October 31 is our annual Trunk or Treat Day, as well as class parties.

A word about Math! Now is the time that all families should be working daily with their children memorizing the basic addition and subtraction facts to 20. Counting on our fingers is too slow to keep up with the pace of math in second grade. Old fashioned flash cards work, as do many computer generated flash card programs. Practice at dinner, in the car, before bed – whenever you can!

Enjoy the beautiful fall weather (add and subtract leaves as you rake them)!

The Second Grade team enjoyed meeting all of those parents who came to Back-to-School Night. We hope you share our enthusiasm that this promises to be a great year! At this time, preassessments have been completed in most subject areas. These tests will be used to guide instruction and will not be returned to the students. Moving beyond the preassessment, Second Grade is now firmly into our curriculum. In Math we are starting our second unit – Place Value. In Science we are beginning our unit on plants. In LA, students are becoming familiar with our Spellwell and Wordly Wise programs, as well as completing our first reading unit on variations of Little Red Riding Hood. In class students are writing their own version of the fairy tale. Our Social Studies unit on Community is serving as a solid foundation for our own classroom communities.

With Gym now on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, Second Grade is going to wear gym uniforms on Monday and Wednesday, and school uniform on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.

Welcome to second grade at CHP. We are looking forward to Thursday September 8th when we have the opportunity to meet all of our second grade students. This year will be an exciting one filled with many learning discoveries, fun activities, and social development. We are confident that this will be a terrific year for you and your child. This year we will be switching classes for some subjects. Mrs. Parker will be teaching Math, Science and Social Studies and Mrs. Sheridan will be teaching Language Arts, Writing and Handwriting.

Our expectations will be high and we will work hard as a team to make sure that our expectations and goals are met for each of our students. We encourage a strong home school connection and we feel communication between the parents and teachers is imperative to make for a smooth and successful school year.

We look forward to working with all of you !