Quarter 3 · Detailed day-by-day lesson plans · Days 96–100
0 of 15 lessons done this week
Week 20 measures the same object in two units (inches and centimeters) and compares results. Readers learn to ask questions to deepen comprehension and self-correct while reading.
Measure your child's shoe in both inches and centimeters and chat about the difference.
Dual-unit ruler, household objects, reading journal
Measuring with Different Units; Estimating
Measurement & Data · 2.MD.A.1
Assessment: Estimate and measure the same object in inches and centimeters; compare
Asking Questions to Deepen Understanding
Phonics: Self-correct using context
Writing: Use digital tools to produce and publish writing
Earth's Systems: Water, Wind & Land
2-ESS1-1, 2-ESS2-1, 2-ESS2-2, 2-ESS2-3
Students will estimate lengths in inches using benchmarks (a paper clip, a thumb, a hand span) before measuring (2.MD.A.3).
3 quick questions from earlier weeks · about 3 minutes
Warm-Up
Ask your child to measure a fork with the ruler (about 7 inches) as a quick check of last week. Then hide the ruler and ask: 'Without measuring, about how long is this spoon?' Write their guess down; this is an estimate.
Mini-Lesson: Body Benchmarks
Measure together and record three personal benchmarks: the width of your child's thumb (about 1 inch), the length of their hand from wrist to fingertip (about 5 inches), and the length of a large paper clip (about 2 inches). Show how to estimate a book by laying thumbs along it: 'About 9 thumbs, so about 9 inches.' Then measure to check and talk about how close the estimate was.
Practice: Estimate, Then Measure
Make a chart with columns Object, Estimate, Actual, Difference. Your child estimates and then measures 5 items in inches: a pencil, a cereal box, a placemat, a shoe, a remote control. For each, they subtract to find how far off the estimate was (for example, estimate 10, actual 12, difference 2). Support: let them lay paper clips along the object before estimating. Stretch: estimate in centimeters too.
Wrap-Up
Ask: 'Which estimate was closest? Did your estimates get better as you went?' Your child writes 'An estimate is a careful guess' in their journal.
Students will generate questions before, during, and after reading and use them to understand a text more deeply (RI.2.1, RI.2.10).
3 quick questions from earlier weeks · about 3 minutes
Read-Aloud
Introduce 'The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth' by Joanna Cole. Before you open it, remind your child that last week they learned three fix-it moves for hard books, and today you add a fourth: ask a question. Look at the cover and list three questions your child has (for example, 'How can a bus go inside the Earth?'), then read the first ten pages and stop when any question gets answered.
Mini-Lesson: Thick and Thin Questions
Explain that a thin question has a one-word answer in the book ('What color is the bus?') and a thick question makes you think ('Why did Ms. Frizzle want the class to see rocks up close?'). Sort your child's three cover questions into thin and thick. Say: 'Thick questions are the ones that help you understand.'
Guided Reading
Your child reads a leveled book for 12 minutes with three sticky notes, placing one at the beginning (a question before reading), one in the middle, and one at the end. Read the three questions together and mark each T for thick or t for thin.
Writing Workshop: Getting Ready to Publish Digitally
Tell your child that this week they will type last week's finished piece on a computer or tablet and add a photo. Today, open a blank document together, show where the keys for Shift and Space are, and let them type their name and the title. Save the file with the title as the filename and show them where it lives.
Word Study: Words That Change with the Sentence
Write 'read, lead, wind, live, close, tear, bow, wound.' Read each word both ways, then write pairs of sentences ('I read a book today. I read a book yesterday.' 'The wind blew. Wind the string.') and have your child read them, rereading when the word sounds wrong. Say: 'If the sentence does not make sense, go back and try the other sound.'
Students will observe that some Earth changes happen quickly and others slowly, and model weathering by breaking rock into smaller pieces (2-ESS1-1, 2-ESS2-1).
Science Question of the Week
Hold up a smooth pebble and a jagged rock. Ask: 'Last week we saw water flow downhill on our pan mountain. Could water make a rock smooth like this one? How long would that take?' Write their guess in the notebook.
Investigation: Sugar Cube Shake
Put 5 sugar cubes in a jar with a lid, draw what they look like, then shake for 30 seconds and draw again. Repeat two more times, then pour out the crumbs and compare. Explain that bumping and rubbing that breaks rock into smaller pieces is called weathering, and real rocks take thousands of years to wear down.
Wrap-Up
Sort these on a fast/slow chart: a river carving a canyon (slow), a landslide (fast), a rock getting smooth (slow), a flood washing away a road (fast). Say together: 'Some Earth changes are fast and some are very slow.'
Read it aloud first while your child follows along. Then read it together, and let your child read the parts they can. Talk about the words in the word box.
Many people have helped make our country better. Here are three of them.
Benjamin Franklin lived more than 250 years ago. He was a printer, a writer and an inventor. He did experiments with electricity. He invented the lightning rod, which helps keep buildings safe from lightning. He also helped write the Declaration of Independence.
Harriet Tubman was born into slavery. Enslaved people were not free, and they were forced to work without pay. Harriet Tubman escaped to freedom. Then she went back many times to lead other enslaved people to freedom. She was very brave.
Sally Ride was a scientist. In 1983, she became the first American woman to travel into space. Later, she helped young people learn about science.
Good readers ask questions. What did each person do? Why was it hard? If you could ask one of these people a question, what would you ask?
Math
Second Grade · Week 20 · Friday · secondgrade.com
Math
| If your child got… | Then… |
|---|---|
| All or almost all right | Move on to Week 21. Keep the daily Remember? boxes going. |
| About half right | Measure a book in inches and then in centimeters, and talk about why there are more centimeters. Estimate 3 lengths before measuring each one. Then redo the missed items. |
| Only a few right | Do the catch-up activity "Same Thing, Two Units" for 3 days. During Week 21, keep a 1-inch paper strip and a 1-centimeter mark handy to help with estimates. |
ELA
Hail is ice that falls from a storm cloud. Wind pushes tiny drops up high in the cloud, where it is very cold. The drops freeze. They fall, get pushed up again, and grow a new layer of ice each time. When they are too heavy, they fall to the ground as hail.
Second Grade · Week 20 · Friday · secondgrade.com
ELA
| If your child got… | Then… |
|---|---|
| All or almost all right | Move on to Week 21. Keep the daily Remember? boxes going. |
| About half right | Before reading, your child asks one question; during reading, one more; after reading, one more. Write each on a sticky note. When a misread word doesn't make sense, ask, "Does that make sense?" and let your child fix it. |
| Only a few right | Read aloud together every day and pause once a page to ask, "What are you wondering?" Practice the "Does that make sense?" check with 3 sentences a day. |
Science
Second Grade · Week 20 · Friday · secondgrade.com
Science
| If your child got… | Then… |
|---|---|
| All or almost all right | Move on to Week 21. Keep the daily Remember? boxes going. |
| About half right | Build a sand hill in a pan and pour water on it slowly. Watch where the sand goes. Talk about which changes to land happen fast and which happen slowly. |
| Only a few right | Look at pictures of a canyon and a landslide together and sort changes into fast and slow. Redo the sand hill with one cup of water. |
Clara Barton lived long ago. She was a nurse who cared for hurt soldiers during the Civil War. In 1881, she started the American Red Cross. Today, the Red Cross still helps people after storms and fires.
Second Grade · Week 20 · Friday · secondgrade.com
Social Studies
| If your child got… | Then… |
|---|---|
| All or almost all right | Move on to Week 21. Keep the daily Remember? boxes going. |
| About half right | Your child picks one person from "Americans Who Made a Difference," tells you 3 facts and asks one question they still have. Look up the answer together. |
| Only a few right | Reread the passage together, one person a day, and draw what that person did. |
Health · Safety at Home and Outdoors · All Specials
Health · Week 20
I can plan how to get out safely if there is a fire.
Second Grade · Week 20 · secondgrade.com
Math
Smaller units give bigger numbers when measuring
ELA
Good readers ask questions and fix mistakes
Science
Wind and water slowly change the land
Try it (10 min): Estimate the length of a spoon, a book and a shoe. Measure each in inches and in centimeters and write both numbers.
Talk about it: Why is the centimeter number bigger?
Try it (10 min): Before you read a book together, each person asks one question about the cover. Stop in the middle and at the end to see if it was answered.
Talk about it: Which question was a thick question?
Try it (10 min): Walk outside and look for places where water or wind moved dirt or sand, like under a gutter or along a curb.
Talk about it: What could we do to keep that soil from moving?
Try it (10 min): Choose a person from history your family admires. Draw them and write one sentence about how they helped others.
Talk about it: What question would you ask this person?
We did blank of 4 activities.
Second Grade · Week 20 · secondgrade.com
