2nd Grade Update: Ask Your Child About…

Ask Your Child About…

Community Building
We’ve had so much fun coming together these past two weeks through fundraising, spirit days, and classroom activities! Along the way, we’ve also explored important character traits, curiosity, courage, teamwork, resilience, and humility. We spent extra time reflecting on resilience and humility, brainstorming ways we already show them and how we can continue to practice them.

Thank you for supporting our school community, whether through fundraising or helping your child prepare for our special days!

Our first week of after-school activities is underway, and Run Club was a hit! Everyone gave their best effort and completed at least one mile, earning their first charm. Please help your child find a safe place to keep their necklace. Next Thursday, I’ll be traveling to visit my son in his first year of college. I haven’t shared this yet with the runners (a note will go home separately), but if you’re able to track a mile for your child, whether they run, skip, walk, or hop, I’ll award them their charm on the 16th. We’ll also have a make-up Run Club on November 20th, just before Thanksgiving break.

Math
We’ve been strengthening our understanding of place value: identifying digits, adding and subtracting on a 1000 grid, and locating numbers on a number line (and explaining why they belong where they do). We’ve also been comparing and ordering numbers with interactive Cambridge activities. A highlight has been using an abacus, thank you for supporting your child with this new skill at home! Up next: rounding and estimating.

Science
We studied biodiversity by investigating frogs of North America. Students learned to recognize frogs by their unique calls and compared which environments had greater variety. To help us remember, we created “sound words” to match the frog calls.

We also carried out a colorful Fun Run science experiment with milk, food coloring, and dish soap! Students discovered how surface tension, fat and protein molecules, and soap interact to create swirling movement. Ask your child to explain it, and try it at home with this YouTube demo: Color Changing Milk – Cool Science Experiment.

Literacy
Reading groups are going strong! We’re practicing smooth reading voices, decoding tricky words (not guessing), and reading ahead to add expression. We’ve also been learning about and honoring Jane Goodall and her tireless efforts to protect the natural world. A favorite takeaway:

“Every individual matters. Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference. And we have a choice: what sort of difference do we want to make?”

Homework Reminder
Reading logs, reading logs, reading logs! Nightly reading is essential, not only for fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary but also to build reading stamina. We’re aiming for 15–20 minutes of sustained reading each night.

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Announcements

• Ms. Lambert will be off-island ½ day Oct 9, returning Oct 14
  
  

• No School: Oct 10 (Teacher Workshop) & Oct 13 (VI & PR Friendship Day)
  
  

• VI Junior Duathlon: Sun, Oct 19 at Altona Lagoon (ages 5–15)
  
  

• Conferences: Oct 24 (No school for students)
  
  

• Halloween Fun! Oct 31—Costume Parade during school + Boo Bash 4–7 pm (snack/treat sign-up via room parents)
  
  

Extras

• Meal Prep Program – Family Wellness Café offers healthy, ready-to-eat student meals ($10 each). Meals include an entrée (vegetarian or protein-packed) + juice. Order online at vimeals.goprep.com. Please send utensils from home - containers will be reused.
  
  

• Scholastic Book Orders – Shop anytime at orders.scholastic.com/LJT4R. Orders ship directly to our classroom.
  
  

Plastic Use Reminder – GHCDS encourages reusable utensils. No plastic forks or spoons are provided. Please send compostable or reusable utensils for lunch and school events.

2nd Grade Continued...

Ask Your Child About…

Community Building
2nd graders worked together to discuss how they want to feel at school—safe, included, and respected—and how we can support one another. From this, they created and signed the 2nd Grade Charter, promising to uphold these values. We continue to come together during morning meeting games and activities. Ask your child which one they like best so far and why.

✨ Welcome our Room Parents: Kanako (Hanako’s mom) & Tiia (Austin’s mom)! They’ll help keep 2nd grade families connected, share information, and provide support throughout the year.

Math
We’ve launched Cambridge Math, starting with identifying, naming, comparing, writing, and sorting numbers up to 1,000. It’s a big jump, but we’re taking it step by step. This week’s math homework reflects our class lessons.

Science
Students explored why a group of wild bighorn sheep would leave their usual desert habitat to visit a very different environment: a local playground. They recorded observations of the living and nonliving parts of each habitat and used their findings to understand how animals rely on their environment for food, shelter, and survival.

Literacy
Reading groups are underway! Recent read-alouds include The Bad Seed (Jory John), Say Something, Be You, and The Dot (Peter H. Reynolds), plus Owl Moon (Jane Yolen), which is inspiring our narrative writing unit. Students are learning to bring small moments alive through sensory details, sound words, and dialogue.

On September 15th, we celebrated International Dot Day with a virtual visit from Peter H. Reynolds, dot-inspired artwork, and The Dot Song, reminding us to be proud of who we are and encourage others too.

Homework Reminder
Please help your child with:

• Nightly FUNdations dictations
  
  

• Nightly reading log
  
  

• A portion of their math practice sheets
  
  

Do not move ahead with dictations or have your child complete all their math in one evening. Homework reflects lessons taught in class, so your child may encounter concepts not explicitly introduced yet (especially in FUNdations).

Announcements

• STAR Testing: Math—Sept 23, 9:30am | Reading—Sept 24, 9:30am
  
  

• Lower School Parent Afternoon: Thurs, Sept 25, 4–5pm
  
  

• Fun Run Pep Rally (students/teachers only): Mon, Sept 22
  
  

• Picture Week: Sept 29–Oct 3 (class day TBD)
  
  

• Lower School Fun Run: Thurs, Oct 2 (details coming)
  
  

• No School: Oct 10 (Teacher Workshop) & Oct 13 (VI & PR Friendship Day)
  
  

• VI Junior Duathlon: Sun, Oct 19 at Altona Lagoon (ages 5–15; flyer coming)
  
  

• Halloween Fun! Oct 31—Costume Parade (school day) + Boo Bash 4–7pm (optional snack/treat sign-up via room parents).
  
  

Extras

• Meal Prep Program: Family Wellness Cafe is offering healthy, ready-to-eat meals designed for students. Each meal is $10 and includes an entree (vegetarian or protein-packed options) plus a choice of apple or orange juice. Parents can order meals for specific days online, and meals will be delivered directly to school—making lunchtime easy, nutritious, and stress-free. Menu & ordering: vimeals.goprep.com
  
  

• Scholastic Book Orders: Families can shop anytime through our 2nd grade classroom page at orders.scholastic.com/LJT4R. Orders ship directly to the classroom and arrive within a week. This is a great way to build your child’s home library with books tailored to their reading level and interests. I’ll receive an email confirmation for each order so we can track it.

*Plastic Use Reminder: GHCDS encourages reducing one-use plastic. No plastic forks or spoons are provided. You may send compostable or recycled utensils as a backup if/when your child forgets theirs. Our goal is for students to use reusable utensils when needed - not plastic. This applies to daily use as well as classroom and school-wide celebrations.*

   

First Two Weeks in 2nd Grade:-)

Ask Your Child About…

Community Building
Morning Meeting has been filled with games and activities to 

help us get to know each other. We’ve rolled dice to 

share likes, dislikes, and summer memories, played Simon Says and 

name games, and shared Brown Bag Biographies. 

At Friday Gathering, we welcomed new GHCDS students and celebrated summer birthdays on stage!

Math
This week we reviewed:

• Number identification on a number line
  
  

• Adding and subtracting with number lines
  
  

• Counting on by ones into double- and triple-digit numbers (like 95 and 103)
  
  

• Basic fractions (½ and ¼)
  
  

Science
Second grade scientists studied how animals are 

grouped by their characteristics. Next week, we’ll look 

more closely at animal traits, sort them into 

categories (mammals, birds, reptiles, invertebrates), and 

tackle some “tricky” animals that don’t fit neatly into one group.

Literacy
We enjoyed read-alouds of First Day Jitters, 

Stand Tall, Molly Lou Mellon, Bats at the Beach, 

Spoon, and If I Built a School. Students are 

showing their love of books by listening closely

and sharing thoughtful ideas.

In FUNdations, our phonics program, we began reviewing:

• Single-syllable words
  
  

• Short vowel sounds
  
  

• Digraphs
  
  

👉 Dictation homework begins Tuesday 

(sent home Monday so you can review your role in nightly dictations).

During independent and guided reading, I am meeting

one-on-one with students before formal assessments. 

This will help me create small reading groups for the weeks ahead.

Announcements

• 🎉 Great job with Color Week! Our school spirit is strong. Monday is Green Day!
  
  

• Lower School Parent Night: Thursday, September 25 · 4–5 PM
  
  

• LS Fun Run Pep Rally (students/teachers only): Monday, September 22
  
  

• Picture Week: September 29–October 3 (exact class date TBD)
  
  

• LS Fun Run: Thursday, October 2 (details coming soon)