Quarter 4 · Detailed day-by-day lesson plans · Days 141–145
0 of 15 lessons done this week
Week 29 partitions circles and rectangles into halves, thirds, and fourths, using the language of equal shares. Readers integrate illustrations with text and write complete sentences.
Cut a tortilla into thirds and fourths and compare the slice sizes.
Paper plates, scissors, picture book with rich art
Partitioning Circles and Rectangles into Equal Shares
Data & Geometry · 2.MD.D.9
Assessment: Partition into halves, thirds, fourths; describe using vocabulary
Illustrations and Text Integration
Phonics: Fluency assessment and practice
Writing: Produce complete sentences; expand and rearrange
Biodiversity & Interdependence
2-LS2-1, 2-LS2-2, 2-LS4-1
Students will partition circles and rectangles into two equal shares and describe them as halves (2.G.A.3).
3 quick questions from earlier weeks · about 3 minutes
Warm-Up
Spiral from Week 28: draw a rectangle with 2 rows of 3 squares and ask for the total and the repeated addition sentence. Then ask, 'If two people shared this cracker fairly, how much would each get?'
Mini-Lesson
Fold a paper circle in half and a paper rectangle in half, showing that the two parts match exactly. Say, 'Two equal shares are called halves. Each part is one half of the whole.' Then fold a rectangle unevenly and ask why those are not halves.
Practice
Your child cuts a slice of bread, a paper plate, and a paper rectangle into halves, checking each by stacking the two pieces. Then they draw three rectangles and show halves three different ways: a vertical line, a horizontal line, and a diagonal line.
Wrap-Up
Ask, 'Can halves of the same shape look different?' Show the vertical and diagonal halves and confirm that both are two equal shares.
Students will explain how the words and pictures in 'Over and Under the Pond' work together and expand simple sentences with where, when, and how (RL.2.7, L.2.1f).
3 quick questions from earlier weeks · about 3 minutes
Read-Aloud: Over and Under the Pond
Say: 'Last week you asked why an author wrote a book. This week we ask what the pictures do that the words cannot.' Read 'Over and Under the Pond' by Kate Messner, illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal, and on each spread ask, 'What does the picture show that the words did not say?' Tie to science: this pond is an ecosystem with a food web.
Mini-Lesson: Words Tell, Pictures Show
Make a two-column chart, 'The words tell me' and 'The picture shows me,' and fill it for the beaver spread (the words tell what the beaver does; the picture shows the lodge, the size, the light under the water). Point out that a reader needs both columns to get the whole story.
Guided Reading: Three Spreads
Your child chooses three spreads and fills a row of the chart for each, talking through each choice with a stem ('I want to add on, the picture also shows ...'). Stop and reread any spread where the two columns say the same thing.
Writing Workshop: Expanding Sentences
Write 'The turtle sat.' and show how to expand it with where, when, and how: 'The turtle sat on a warm log in the morning sun.' Your child expands four pond sentences the same way: The loon called. The beaver swam. Minnows darted. A dragonfly hovered.
Fluency: High-Frequency Words, List 1
Word cards: again, always, around, because, before, been, both, could, does, every. Your child reads the list three times, timing each pass, then reads two phrase cards: 'around the pond' and 'because it was quiet.' Record the best time.
Students will build a simple food chain (sun, plant, animal, animal) from a real habitat and explain that energy passes from one living thing to the next (2-LS4-1, 2-LS2-2).
Science Question of the Week
Hold up the habitat sign from last week. Ask: 'The frog on your sign, what does it eat? What eats the frog?' Write the week's question: 'How does food move through a habitat?' Introduce the words food chain and ecosystem (all the living and non-living things in a place, working together).
Investigation: Backyard Food Chain Cards
Make 8 index cards with drawings: sun, grass, grasshopper, frog, snake, hawk, clover, rabbit. Your child arranges them in chains with arrows drawn on strips of paper pointing from the eaten to the eater: sun to grass to grasshopper to frog to snake to hawk. Build a second chain: sun to clover to rabbit to hawk. Ask at every arrow, 'Who is getting energy from whom?' Then go outside for 5 minutes and find one real link (an insect on a leaf, a bird on the lawn) and add a card for it.
Wrap-Up
Ask: 'What is at the start of every chain?' (The sun, then a plant.) Say: 'Plants are producers because they make their own food. Animals are consumers because they eat.' Connect to the social studies words your child already knows.
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.
Every living thing needs food for energy. Plants make their own food. They use sunlight, water and air. Animals get energy by eating.
Animals cannot make their own food. They eat plants or other animals. In a meadow, a grasshopper eats grass. A frog eats the grasshopper. A snake eats the frog. A hawk eats the snake. This is a food chain. It shows who eats what.
Most animals eat more than one kind of food. A hawk eats mice, too. When we draw all the food chains in one place together, they make a food web. A food web shows how living things in a place depend on each other.
When plants and animals die, worms, mushrooms and tiny living things break them down. This puts nutrients back into the soil. Then new plants can grow, and the chain starts again.
Picture caption: The arrows show which way the food energy goes: grass → grasshopper → frog → snake → hawk.
Math
Second Grade · Week 29 · Friday · secondgrade.com
Math
| If your child got… | Then… |
|---|---|
| All or almost all right | Move on to Week 30. Keep the daily Remember? boxes going. |
| About half right | Fold paper squares into halves, then fourths, and fold a paper strip into thirds. Label each part, then redo the missed items. |
| Only a few right | Do the catch-up activity "Fold and Share" daily this week. At meals, cut a sandwich or tortilla into equal shares and name them. |
ELA
A beaver cuts sticks with its sharp teeth. It uses the sticks to build a home in the pond.
Second Grade · Week 29 · Friday · secondgrade.com
ELA
| If your child got… | Then… |
|---|---|
| All or almost all right | Move on to Week 30. Keep the daily Remember? boxes going. |
| About half right | Look at 3 pictures or diagrams in a nonfiction book and say what each one adds. Expand 3 short sentences by adding where, when or how. |
| Only a few right | Talk about one picture a day before reading the words. Practice one sentence a day: start with 2 words ("Birds fly.") and add details together. |
Science
Second Grade · Week 29 · Friday · secondgrade.com
Science
| If your child got… | Then… |
|---|---|
| All or almost all right | Move on to Week 30. Keep the daily Remember? boxes going. |
| About half right | Make food chain cards (sun, grass, grasshopper, frog, snake, hawk) and put them in order with arrows. Add a mouse to make a web. |
| Only a few right | Reread "Who Eats What?" together and draw one 3-step food chain: a plant, an animal that eats it, and an animal that eats that one. |
Second Grade · Week 29 · Friday · secondgrade.com
Social Studies
| If your child got… | Then… |
|---|---|
| All or almost all right | Move on to Week 30. Keep the daily Remember? boxes going. |
| About half right | At the store or at home, offer two choices and talk about what your child gives up by choosing one. |
| Only a few right | Talk about one everyday choice each day (what to play, what to eat) and name what was given up. |
Art · Art from Around the World · All Specials
Art · Week 29
I can fold paper to make a shape.
You need: a square of paper (cut a sheet of printer paper to a square), glue stick, a marker
Second Grade · Week 29 · secondgrade.com
Math
Cutting shapes into halves, thirds and fourths fairly
ELA
Pictures and words work together in books
Science
Food chains show who eats whom
Try it (10 min): At a meal, cut a sandwich, tortilla or pancake so everyone gets a fair share. Name the shares: halves, thirds or fourths.
Talk about it: Would you rather have one half or one fourth of the same sandwich? Why?
Try it (10 min): Pick a picture book. Cover the words on one page and tell the story from the picture alone. Then uncover and read the words.
Talk about it: What did the picture show that the words did not say?
Try it (10 min): Look at your dinner plate. For each food, trace it back: did it come from a plant or an animal? What did that animal eat?
Talk about it: Why does every food chain start with the sun?
Try it (10 min): Give your child 10 pennies and set out 4 small items with prices. Your child picks what to buy without going over 10 cents.
Talk about it: What did you give up to get what you chose?
We did blank of 4 activities.
Second Grade · Week 29 · secondgrade.com
