Second grade loves a hands-on science experiment especially when it involves cookies! Students experimented with density and buoyancy of 4 different cookies types. They made hypothesis about each cookie’s ability to float when dropped in milk. Students wrote down their observations and checked their hypothesis. Lastly, after much hard work, students were able to enjoy a cookie or two and a cold glass of milk.

Students have also been busy learning to sew. This year, for the St. James Gala auction item, second graders designed and created hand sewn felt flowers. Each flower was personalized with a leaf and the students name and then attached to a pillow. The class worked hard on learning to sew and they were so proud of their finished product.

In social studies, students have been studying Westward Expansion. We learned about steamboat, flat boat, and railroad transportation. We also learned about the negative effects westward expansion had on the Native American population. Students learned about hardships of traveling on the Oregon Trail and were challenged to create wagons and flat boats using recycled milk cartons.

The 2022-2023 school year is quickly coming to an end, but there is still much to learn and lots of fun to be had here in second grade at St. James Day School!

We are marching right along here in second grade! Winter break gave us the perfect amount of rest and we are back in the swing of learning all we can. Math and reading groups are a daily time period where students have the opportunity to work independently on skills previously taught and also work in small groups with the two teachers in the room. Recently, we have covered topics in plant and animal life cycles, parts of speech including singular and possessive nouns and pronouns and contractions. We have also been working hard and perfecting adding and subtracting to 1,000 and even learned about the War of 1812! Ask your child to recount the history of Francis Scott Key and the Star Spangled Banner.

Second grade had the opportunity to tour the third grade biography projects. We learned about Rachel Carson, the marine biologist, and her effort to ban DDT and other pesticides, and Alexander Graham Bell’s first phone call consisted of the words “ Mister Watson…come here…I want to see you.” We also learned about Queen Victoria, Cleopatra, Fred Rogers and many more. Way to go third grade!

Students brought one insect to school for a collaborative, class bug collection. Our approach to beginner entomology included researching the insects’ common and scientific names, habitats, diets and if they were predator, prey, or both. We learned the mosquito hawk is actually the Crane Fly and does not commonly eat as an adult! This insect spends its adult life reproducing. The Short Winged Grasshopper can be both green and brown to blend into its habitat. We also learned that insects have three body parts: head, thorax, and abdomen and also a pair of antennae.

Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do. Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children. — Alex Haley

We celebrated Grandparent’s Day with a chapel service and performances from each grade level and from various student groups. Grandparents were treated to breakfast and coffee, then we gifted them pieces of art we created. We even grew marigold sprouts to give to grandparents to show our love to them. Second grade worked hard on creating crayon and water color marigold blooms and also created photograph holders.

As February is the month of love, we could not leave for winter break without having a Valentine exchange. Students brought valentines to exchange with classmates and we had a sweet treat together as a class.

The Scholastic Book Fair was also on campus recently and students had a great time visiting, making wish lists, and shopping with their parents and grandparents. Teachers were able to make a wish list as well, and I would like to say thank you to parents and students that bought books for our classroom. We have a lot of reading ahead of us!

January has already been full of learning! We start math lessons with a math warm-up call Sprint! Sprints are 90 second math equations that teach students to look for patterns. Students race themselves to answer as many equations as possible.

January is a special month for students because it is the month they get to bring a Show & Tell item of their choice to school. Items can be from the Christmas holiday or anything they want to share with the class. Show & Tell might seem like it is just for fun, but this activity requires a speaking voice, eye contact, and the ability to process and answer questions. Students truly enjoyed sharing and listening to their peers.

The first Chapel in January was also exciting. Second grade students received awards for work they completed in art class with Mrs. McCarly. Their work was entered in the DAR art and essay competition.

Second graders read The Stranger and the Soup and learned the valuable lesson of sharing what you have with others can be very fulfilling. Our story taught the students that even small contributions can lead to large and meaningful events. We each brought what we could and ended the morning with a feast of delicious soup and butter bread.

Almost every student tried the soup, most of them liked the soup and some even had seconds! Second grade is so fun at St. James Day School!

Second grade ended the 2022 year with lots of learning, projects, and fun! Students studied Ancient Greek civilizations throughout November and December. As a culmination to their learning, each student completed a research project covering one famous philosopher, one Greek invention, one of the 12 Olympian gods, and a Greek structure. They all did an amazing job and worked so hard on their presentations. We invited parents and the SJDS community to our presentations and each student gave their presentation to various audiences. Project based learning is rich in problem solving, team work, public speaking, collaboration and so much more.

Our next December adventure was Candlelight. This service marks the beginning of the Christmas season and is a beautiful celebratory performance given by the Lower School students. The Lower School body begins practicing for this night at the beginning of the school year and their hard word always pays off. Candlelight is such a special treat to attend. Lesson Readers are chosen from each grade level and everyone read beautifully. Second grade is very proud of our readers this year!

To end this first half of the school year, we had a pancake and pajama party on the last day before Christmas break. Students wore their pajamas to school and I cooked them a pancake breakfast. It was the perfect way to start our Christmas party festivities.

We ended our Christmas PJ Party with an ornament exchange. The class sat in a circle and we rolled dice with special instructions to exchange the ornaments. When everyone had a turn, we opened our ornaments! This was very fun for the kids and they were all so happy!