Every year in the spring second grade students take a trip to Tyler, TX to visit the Caldwell Zoo. Students are always so excited to see so many types of animals and habitats. This year, the much anticipated Amazon River Front exhibits were completed and students were able to see many more animals. Thank you to all the parents that were able to transport students to and from the zoo!

The Little Mermaid Jr. was a fantastic show with many talented students! Second grade students performed a solo as seagulls and sang “Human Stuff” and were also sea creatures in many other ensembles. The Spring Musical is always a major production with many moving parts and these students were ready for the challenge! They knew all their lines and were ready to perform at all the right times. Congratulations to the second grade students on their amazing performance!

Second has been hard at work learning the foundations of multiplication! We began learning all we could about equal groups and built upon our knowledge with columns and rows that make up arrays. We created an interactive bulletin board called “Array City”. Students can “drive” around the city and use repeated addition and multiplication sentences to describe the each building that was created.

Lower School students also participated in a community service project in which they provided a popcorn snack and drink for our local police officers to enjoy. It was a fantastic was to say thank to all those heroes that keep our school and community safe.

We also practiced how to write a friendly letter with proper punctuation. Students learned the parts of a letter: heading, greeting, body, closing and signature! We put our skills to work and wrote letters to our friend Wesley that recently moved and to our parents. We even got stamps and envelopes from Mrs. Charlene in the office and put them in the mailbox on campus.

Second graders recently read The Stranger and the Soup. This story was about a stranger passing through a village that was suffering through a famine. The stranger asked each villager for something to eat, and they all told him no. The stranger taught the villagers that when they take a moment to think of others and contribute something small, they ended up having a feast. Students learned what behaviors make a community strong and were able to demonstrate these behaviors by bringing one small contribution to class on Friday to make a pot of stone soup. Second graders were able to feast and fellowship together on a pot of soup and bread all made from their small contributions.

Second grade had the chance to celebrate grandparents the week before Winter Break with a special chapel service followed by performances from all SJDS students. First and second graders teamed up to perform “Celebration” by Kool & The Gang. We definitely celebrated good times!

How lucky we are to have someone that makes saying goodbye so hard. This week we said goodbye and good luck to Wesley, a valued part of our second grade classroom. We celebrated friendships with extra recess and said a SWEET goodbye in the afternoon with Wesley’s favorite treat: Ice Cream Floats!

Second grade began a new literacy unit this week all about communities and different groups of people that make up communities. Students were asked to think of jobs they considered to be “gross” and learned the purpose and importance these jobs provide. They began their learning with an informational article called “Gross Jobs” where they learned about four different jobs that keep our community clean and safe. Students learned how plumbers keep our pipes clean and help bring clean water into our home and school. They also learned about the importance of garbage collectors and where garbage trucks take waste when their trucks are full. As they continue to learn, they will begin to understand the idea of community and working toward a common goal. STEM FRIDAY was a perfect opportunity to introduce this idea. Students were challenged to work together in a group competition to build the tallest and sturdiest structure using gummy candies and uncooked spaghetti noodles. Check out their creations below!