Second Grade Idea Sharing
NEW! Shauna Juarez, Literacy Coach at Alvin School (SMBSD) created these two-page banners for your focus wall. Each features the theme title, theme concept, and supporting pictures. Download them, print them, glue the two pages together, laminate them, and add them to your classroom focus wall. (The files are somewhat large so please be patient when downloading.)
Theme 1 Theme 2
Theme 3 Theme 4
Theme 5 Theme 6
NEW! Danielle Helmer, a Second Grade teacher at Juan Pacifico Ontiveros Elementary (SMBSD), has created sequencing activities for the stories The Art Lesson (Theme 6, Selection 1) and The School Mural (Theme 6, Selection 3).
The Art Lesson Sequencing Activity
The School Mural Sequencing Activity
Danielle has also put together a Task Book for the story Carousel (Theme 5, Selection 3). This multipage book features alphabet order, punctuation and spelling practice, as well as writing activities.
Carousel Task Book
The link below will take you to the Vocabulary page where you will find pictures for each key vocabulary word in the Houghton Mifflin anthology selections.
Vocabulary Page
The link below will take you to the Reading Writing Workshop page where you will find posters for all the second grade Reading Writing Workshop genres. In addition there are posters for the "Tips" found in each lesson within the RWW. Student self-check posters are also included.
Writing Page
The link below will give you a table that lists the comprehension strategy, comprehension skill, phonics and word structure elements, and the high frequency words for each week of the Second Grade Houghton Mifflin Reading program.
Second Grade Reading at a Glance
Danielle Helmer, Juan Pacifico Ontiveros Elementary School, has created high frequency word tests for each theme. Check them out on the High Frequency Word page.
The Florida Center for Reading Research (Reading First Eastern Technical Assistance Center) has developed a wealth of Student Center Activities. These activities might be used during Universal Access Time or during intervention lessons.
Each activity comes with complete directions as well as any materials that might be needed for the lesson. Activities are listed under various subheadings (Phonemic Awareness, Fluency, Comprehension, etc.) and each contains multiple pages. Downloading these materials may take a bit of time, but they are worth the wait. If you don't want to print everything, click on File, then Print, then click the circle in front of Pages and enter the page numbers you want to print (e.g., 36-42).
Student Center Activities
Support for Theme 1:
Build your students' background information on a Balanced Diet and the Food Pyramid with this on-line game. Students need to select the correct foods to fuel their rocket ship. Click here to check it out: http://www.mypyramid.gov/kids/kids_game.html
Support for Theme 2:
Ursa Major and Polaris
The Big Dipper in the Night Sky
Support for Theme 5:
Theme 5, Week 3, Spelling Lesson, Day 4, Page 221G: Add a Candle - On Day 4 of this week's spelling lesson, students are asked to design a cake and candles for the lesson. Since this is rather time-consuming, Shauna Juarez, Literacy Coach at Alvin, designed a cake and candles that help facilitate this activity.
Make your focus walls truly interactive! Have your students bring in pictures, articles, or realia to support the theme. These letters ask families to help their youngsters look for items to share with the class.
Theme 1 Focus Wall Letter
Theme 2 Focus Wall Letter
Theme 3 Focus Wall Letter
Theme 4 Focus Wall Letter
Theme 5 Focus Wall Letter
Theme 6 Focus Wall Letter
Click on the links below to access the high frequency words presented in the Houghton Mifflin reading program. They are printed in "cut apart" boxes in large print. They could be used as flashcards or displayed on focus walls.
Second Grade High Frequency Words
First Grade High Frequency Words
Kindergarten High Frequency Words
The links below will give you a student-friendly checklist for each of the Reading Writing Workshops in Second Grade. Use the poster maker in the IMC and create an eye-catching poster your students can refer to during their writing activities.
Theme 1: Story
Theme 2: Description
Theme 3: Friendly Letter
Theme 4: Research Report
Student Self-Check Rubric for Research Report
Theme 5: Personal Narrative
Theme 6: Writing Instructions
Student Self-Check Rubric for Writing Instructions
Mark Quig-Hartman (Glen Cove School, Vallejo City School District, Vallejo, California) has been very busy! Using some of the resources on this website, additional clip art, title pages from the anthology stories, and student-friendly print type, he has created packets featuring the key instructional elements for each story selection in the second grade Houghton Mifflin Reading program. Mark cuts the components apart and uses them on his focus wall. His focus wall is a portable pocket chart that he is able to move around the room to wherever he and his students are working. If your focus wall is more stationary, you might consider using the poster maker to enlarge each page for a more permanent focus wall. Just remember: The print on your focus wall needs to be large enough so that even the back row of students can see it!
Theme 1
Theme 2
Theme 3
Poster for Topic/Main Idea/Details created by Maria Mccullough, Literacy Coach, Payne Elementary, Mt. View School District
Theme 4
Theme 5
Theme 6
