Week 31 — Printable Lesson Packet

Mathematics

Objective: Students will solve two-step addition word problems by drawing a model and writing an equation with a symbol for the unknown (2.OA.A.1, 2.NBT.B.5).

1. 10 min — Warm-Up: Last week ended with equal shares, so start with a quick bridge: fold one paper into halves and one into fourths, then ask which piece is bigger. Then write 38 + 25 and 62 + 19 on the board and have your child solve both mentally, saying the strategy out loud (make a ten, add tens then ones).
2. 15 min — Mini-Lesson: Introduce Unit 6: 'For the next six weeks we are visiting every big idea from the year, and at the end you will plan a class picnic using all of it.' Review two-step addition problems (first taught Week 13): 'Maya had 27 stickers. She got 15 more on Monday and 8 more on Tuesday. How many now?' Model a bar model with three parts, write 27 + 15 + 8 = ?, and solve by adding 27 + 15 = 42, then 42 + 8 = 50.
3. 15 min — Practice: Your child solves three problems with a bar model and an equation for each: 'A jar has 46 beans. Dad adds 23, then Grandma adds 9. How many beans?' (78). 'Leo read 18 pages, then 24 pages, then 12 pages. How many pages?' (54). 'A bus had 35 riders. 17 got on at the park and 6 got on at the library. How many riders?' (58). Check that the model matches the story before checking the answer.
4. 5 min — Wrap-Up: Start the Unit 6 math portfolio: label a folder 'My Grade 2 Math' and put today's best bar model inside. Ask: 'Which step did you do first, and how did you know?'

Materials: two sheets of paper, whiteboard or paper, pencil, dried beans, folder

English Language Arts

Objective: Students will ask and answer who, what, where, when, why, and how questions about a story (RL.2.1, first taught in Week 1) and review long vowel teams while planning a narrative.

1. 15 min — Read-Aloud: Read 'A List' from Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel. Before reading, say: 'Way back in Week 1 we learned that good readers ask questions. Keep one who, one what, and one why question in your head.' Stop after Toad's list blows away and have your child ask you one of the three questions out loud.
2. 10 min — Mini-Lesson: Write the six question words (who, what, where, when, why, how) on index cards and lay them in a row. Model answering 'Why can't Toad do anything after the list blows away?' by pointing to the exact page and reading the line that proves it. Say: 'An answer from the book beats an answer from my head.'
3. 15 min — Guided Reading: Your child rereads 'A List' aloud, then draws one question card at a time and answers each with a finger on the page. Record answers on a 'Question and Answer' page in the reading notebook, in complete sentences.
4. 15 min — Writing Workshop: Genre review, day one: narrative (first taught in Week 3 and Week 25). Your child makes a list, just like Toad, of five things that happened yesterday, then circles the most interesting one to become this week's small-moment story. Have them write the first two sentences today, telling who was there and where it happened.
5. 10 min — Phonics: Vowel team review from Week 2 (ai, ay, ee, ea). Dictate: rain, stay, sleep, meal, wait, play, green, dream. Your child writes each, underlines the team, and reads the list back at speed.

Materials: Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel, index cards, marker, reading notebook, pencil, whiteboard or paper

Science

Objective: Students will describe the stages of a plant life cycle and begin a sprouting investigation to observe the first stage firsthand (2-LS4-1, review of 2-LS2-1).

1. 5 min — Science Question of the Week: Ask: 'Last week we learned how animals are adapted to survive. What does a living thing need to do to keep its kind going?' Write the word 'life cycle' on an index card and say: every living thing is born, grows, makes new living things, and dies, and the circle starts again.
2. 20 min — Investigation: Fold a damp paper towel, tuck 4 dried beans (pinto or kidney from the pantry) inside, and slide it into a zip bag taped to a sunny window. Have your child draw the bag and beans on day 1 of a 'Bean Diary' page and write the date. Then lay out 4 index cards labeled seed, sprout, plant with flowers, plant with seed pods and have your child arrange them in a circle with arrows, explaining what happens at each arrow.
3. 5 min — Wrap-Up: Ask: 'Why do I draw the arrows in a circle instead of a straight line?' Listen for the idea that the last stage makes new seeds and the cycle repeats. Support: give the sentence frame 'The seed pods make new ____.' Stretch: ask what would happen to the cycle if bees never visited the flowers, linking back to pollination from Week 11.

Materials: 4 dried beans, paper towel, zip-top bag, tape, index cards, crayons, notebook

Mathematics

Objective: Students will solve two-step subtraction and comparison word problems using bar models and equations (2.OA.A.1, 2.NBT.B.5).

1. 10 min — Warm-Up: Say a number and have your child say 10 less and 100 less: 356, 720, 405, 190, 1000. Then ask: 'Yesterday we added in two steps. What might a two-step problem look like if something is taken away?'
2. 15 min — Mini-Lesson: Revisit subtraction and comparison problems (first taught Week 14). Pose: 'Ava has 52 marbles. She gives 14 to her brother and loses 8 in the yard. How many are left?' Draw a bar of 52, cut off 14, then cut off 8, and write 52 - 14 - 8 = 30. Then a comparison: 'Sam has 36 cards. Jo has 19 fewer. How many do they have together?' Show two bars (36 and 17) and the two steps: 36 - 19 = 17, then 36 + 17 = 53.
3. 15 min — Practice: Explore with counters: your child builds each story with beans before writing an equation. 'A baker made 60 muffins, sold 28 in the morning and 17 in the afternoon. How many left?' (15). 'Nina is 43 inches tall. Her sister is 9 inches shorter. What is their total height in inches?' (77). 'A book has 85 pages. Ben read 39 on Monday and 26 on Tuesday. How many pages remain?' (20). Support: give the bar model outline pre-drawn and let your child fill in the numbers. Stretch: write your own two-step story about the picnic table setup for a grown-up to solve.
4. 5 min — Wrap-Up: Ask: 'What word in a problem tells you to subtract? What word tells you to compare?' List the words (left, fewer, shorter, remain, how many more) on an index card and clip it in the portfolio folder.

Materials: hundreds chart, paper, pencil, markers, dried beans, index card, folder

English Language Arts

Objective: Students will describe how a character responds to major events and challenges (RL.2.3, first taught in Week 2) and write an opinion with a reason.

1. 15 min — Read-Aloud: Read 'The Garden' from Frog and Toad Together. Say: 'In Week 2 we learned to watch how a character acts when something goes wrong. Watch what Toad does when the seeds do not come up.' Pause each time Toad tries something new (shouting, candles, songs, poems) and have your child say what Toad is feeling.
2. 10 min — Mini-Lesson: Draw a three-column chart: Event, What Toad Does, What Toad Feels. Fill in the first row together (the seeds do not grow; Toad shouts at them; Toad is worried and impatient). Say: 'A character's actions are clues to their feelings, and feelings change as the story goes on.'
3. 15 min — Independent Reading: Your child rereads 'The Garden' and fills in two more rows of the chart on their own, then reads a book of their choice for the remaining time. Ask at the end: 'How did Toad feel at the very end, and how do you know?'
4. 15 min — Writing Workshop: Genre review, day two: opinion (first taught in Week 4 and Week 13). Your child writes 'Frog is a good friend because...' and gives two reasons from 'The Garden' or 'A List', using the linking words because and also. Then they add one more sentence to yesterday's small-moment story.
5. 10 min — Phonics: Silent e and r-controlled vowel review from Week 4. Sort these word cards into two piles: cake, bird, hope, farm, mule, corn, time, hurt. Your child reads each pile aloud and tells which rule it follows. Support: read each word together first, then let your child sort. Stretch: add a third pile for words with both patterns (care, fire, store).

Materials: Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel, paper, marker, library book of choice, index cards, pencil, writing notebook

Social Studies

Objective: Students will review needs, wants, goods, and services and explain how a family saves money for something they need (D2.Eco.1.K-2, D2.Eco.3.K-2, D2.Eco.10.K-2).

1. 10 min — Read-Aloud and Discussion: Read A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams. Pause at the big jar and ask: 'Is the chair a need or a want? Where does the money in the jar come from? Why does it take so long to fill?' Point out that the waitress job is a service and the chair is a good.
2. 15 min — Hands-On Activity: Write these 12 items on index cards: apples, a bicycle, a coat, a haircut, a doctor visit, a video game, water, a bus ride, a birthday cake, a bed, a dog walker, a toy robot. Your child sorts them twice: first into need or want, then into good or service, and explains any card that was hard to place (a haircut is a service and a want; a doctor visit is a service and a need).
3. 5 min — Quick Write: Your child writes 2 sentences: 'One thing my family saves for is ____. We could save faster by ____.' Read it aloud together.

Materials: A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams, 12 index cards, marker, notebook, pencil

Mathematics

Objective: Students will solve two-step word problems that mix addition and subtraction and check the answer with the opposite operation (2.OA.A.1, 2.NBT.B.5, 2.NBT.B.9).

1. 10 min — Warm-Up: Fact ladder: call out ten facts within 20 (8 + 7, 15 - 6, 9 + 9, 13 - 8, 6 + 7, 17 - 9, 4 + 8, 12 - 5, 7 + 9, 16 - 7) and have your child answer within three seconds each. Circle any that were slow for Friday practice.
2. 15 min — Mini-Lesson: Review mixed-operation problems (first taught Week 16). 'A lemonade stand had 45 cups. They sold 28 cups, then a neighbor brought 20 more cups. How many cups now?' Think aloud: 'First something leaves, then something comes.' Write 45 - 28 = 17, then 17 + 20 = 37. Show how to check the first step backward: 17 + 28 = 45, yes.
3. 15 min — Practice: Your child solves four problems and writes a check for each: 'A library had 72 picture books, lent 35, and got 18 back. How many on the shelf?' (55). 'Kai saved 56 cents, spent 29 cents, then earned 40 cents. How much now?' (67 cents). 'A parking lot had 38 cars; 16 left and 27 arrived. How many cars?' (49). 'Tom had 90 blocks, used 47 for a tower, and then found 15 more. How many not in the tower?' (58).
4. 5 min — Wrap-Up: Ask your child to name the two operations used today and to say one sentence about why checking with the opposite operation works. Add the neatest problem to the portfolio.

Materials: fact list, timer, paper, pencil, coins, folder

English Language Arts

Objective: Students will use illustrations and words to understand characters, setting, and plot (RL.2.7, first taught in Week 5) using two picture-rich texts, and write an informational paragraph.

1. 15 min — Shared Reading: Read 'Cookies' from Frog and Toad Together, then read A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead. For the second book, cover the words with a sticky note on three pages and ask your child to tell what is happening from the picture alone, then uncover and check.
2. 10 min — Mini-Lesson: Say: 'In Week 5 we learned that pictures tell things the words leave out.' Look at the page in Amos McGee where the animals ride the bus. Ask: 'What do the words say? What does the picture add?' List two picture-only details (the red balloon, the animals' faces) on the whiteboard.
3. 15 min — Guided Reading: Your child chooses one page from each book and completes a two-box page in the reading notebook: 'The words tell me' and 'The picture tells me'. Then ask: 'How do the pictures in Cookies show that Frog and Toad have no will power?'
4. 15 min — Writing Workshop: Genre review, day three: informational (first taught in Week 7). Your child writes a four-sentence 'All About Friendship' paragraph with a topic sentence, two facts about what friends do (use examples from Amos and the animals), and a closing sentence.
5. 10 min — Word Study: Prefix and suffix review from Weeks 5 and 7. Build words with cards: un + kind, re + read, pre + heat, care + ful, help + less, quick + ly. Your child reads each whole word and gives a one-sentence meaning ('unkind means not kind').

Materials: Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel, A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead, sticky notes, whiteboard or paper, reading notebook, pencil, index cards, writing notebook

Science

Objective: Students will compare the life cycles of a frog, a butterfly, and a bean plant and identify what the three have in common (2-LS4-1).

1. 5 min — Review: Check the bean bag together. Your child draws what the beans look like today in the Bean Diary (usually a swollen seed coat, sometimes a tiny white root tip by day 3). Ask: 'Which stage of the cycle is this?'
2. 20 min — Deeper Investigation: Draw three big circles on one sheet. In circle 1 your child draws and labels the frog cycle (egg, tadpole, tadpole with legs, frog), in circle 2 the butterfly cycle (egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, butterfly), and in circle 3 the bean cycle from Monday. Use a library book such as From Tadpole to Frog by Wendy Pfeffer or a Let's-Read-and-Find-Out title for reference. Then ask your child to circle the stage in each cycle where the living thing looks most different from the adult.
3. 5 min — Data Discussion: Ask: 'What do all three cycles have in common?' Guide toward: every one starts with an egg or seed, every one grows and changes, and every adult makes new eggs or seeds. Write the shared pattern as one sentence at the bottom of the page.

Materials: bean bag from Monday, Bean Diary, large paper, crayons, library book on frogs or butterflies

Mathematics

Objective: Students will apply two-step problem solving to measurement, money, and time contexts (2.OA.A.1, 2.MD.B.5, 2.MD.C.8).

1. 10 min — Warm-Up: Set out a quarter, two dimes, a nickel, and three pennies. Ask for the total (53 cents). Remove the quarter and add two more dimes; ask again (48 cents). Then say: 'Today our two-step problems will use rulers, coins, and clocks.'
2. 15 min — Mini-Lesson: Connect word problems to length (first taught Week 21) and money (Week 24). 'A ribbon is 60 cm long. Priya cuts off 24 cm for a bow and 18 cm for a tag. How long is the leftover piece?' Draw a length bar, write 60 - 24 - 18 = 18 cm, and check with a real ribbon or string against a ruler. Then: 'Picnic plates cost 35 cents and napkins cost 20 cents. You pay with 3 quarters. How much change?' (75 - 55 = 20 cents).
3. 15 min — Practice: Apply with three problems: 'A table is 48 inches long. Two tablecloths are 30 inches and 25 inches. How much longer than the table are the two cloths together?' (7 inches). 'Sara has 2 quarters and 3 dimes. She buys a juice for 45 cents and a cookie for 25 cents. How much is left?' (10 cents). 'Soccer starts at 3:00 and lasts 45 minutes, then snack takes 15 minutes. What time does snack end?' (4:00; show it on the clock). Your child draws each model and writes each equation.
4. 5 min — Wrap-Up: Preview the Week 36 picnic task: 'Today you already solved a plate and napkin problem. In five weeks you will plan the whole picnic.' Have your child list two things a picnic needs that math could help with.

Materials: coins, string or ribbon, ruler, play clock or paper clock, paper, pencil, index card

English Language Arts

Objective: Students will describe the beginning, middle, and end of a story (RL.2.5, first taught in Week 3) and state its central message (RL.2.2, first taught in Week 4).

1. 15 min — Read-Aloud: Read 'Dragons and Giants' from Frog and Toad Together. Say: 'In Week 3 we learned that every story has a beginning that introduces the problem, a middle where things happen, and an ending that wraps up.' Stop three times (mirror, mountain, hiding at home) and have your child hold up one, two, or three fingers for beginning, middle, end.
2. 10 min — Mini-Lesson: Fold a paper into thirds labeled Beginning, Middle, End. Fill in the beginning together: Frog and Toad wonder if they are brave. Then ask the Week 4 question: 'What lesson does the author want us to learn?' Guide toward the idea that being brave means doing something even when you are scared.
3. 15 min — Guided Reading: Your child completes the middle and end boxes with one sentence and a quick sketch each, then rereads the last page aloud with a shaky, scared voice and then a brave voice. Ask which voice fits the words better and why.
4. 15 min — Writing Workshop: Return to the small-moment story from Monday. Your child checks it against the folded paper: does it have a beginning, a middle, and an end? They add whatever is missing and write one closing sentence that tells how they felt at the end (Week 27 closure review).
5. 10 min — Phonics: Multisyllabic decoding review from Week 9. Write these words from this week's stories and have your child clap syllables, draw a line between them, and read: garden, cookies, dragons, giants, mountain, avalanche, shadow, window.

Materials: Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel, paper, pencil, whiteboard or paper, writing notebook

Social Studies

Objective: Students will review producers and consumers by running a pretend market and making a spending choice with a limited budget (D2.Eco.2.K-2, D2.Eco.3.K-2, D2.Eco.10.K-2).

1. 10 min — Review and Extend: Ask your child to name a producer and a consumer from A Chair for My Mother (the diner cooks produce meals; the family consumes the chair). Then look at one item in your kitchen and trace it backward: 'Who produced this cereal? Who grew the grain? Who drove the truck?' Draw the chain as 3 boxes with arrows.
2. 15 min — Project Work: Set up a home market with 6 items and price tags: a banana 2 coins, a pencil 3 coins, a sticker 1 coin, a small toy 6 coins, a juice box 4 coins, a book 8 coins. Give your child 10 pennies as the budget and one rule: you must buy at least one need. Your child shops, pays, then records what was bought, what it cost, and what was left over.
3. 5 min — Share Progress: Your child explains the choice: 'I chose ____ instead of ____ because ____.' Point out that the thing given up is the cost of the choice, the idea from Week 29.

Materials: 6 household items, sticky notes, 10 pennies, notebook, pencil

Mathematics

Objective: Students will independently solve six two-step word problems using bar models, equations, and a written check (2.OA.A.1, 2.NBT.B.5).

1. 10 min — Warm-Up: Re-run Wednesday's circled facts plus five new ones (14 - 9, 8 + 6, 11 - 4, 7 + 7, 15 - 8). Then have your child explain to you, as if you were a first grader, what 'two-step' means.
2. 15 min — Mini-Lesson: Build a problem-solving checklist together on an index card: 1. Read twice. 2. Draw the bar. 3. Find step one. 4. Find step two. 5. Check. Solve one model problem with the checklist: 'A farmer picked 64 apples, gave away 27, then picked 19 more. How many apples?' (56).
3. 15 min — Weekly Assessment: Give six two-step problems: 'A shop had 48 kites, sold 19, then got 25 more' (54). 'Mia has 33 shells, Dan has 15 fewer; how many together?' (51). 'A rope 75 cm long loses 28 cm and 17 cm' (30 cm). 'Ben has 3 dimes and 2 nickels; he spends 15 cents then finds a quarter' (50 cents). 'A class of 28 got 14 visitors and then 9 students left for band' (33). 'Ana read 36 pages, then 27, then 18' (81). Score for correct model, equation, and answer.
4. 5 min — Wrap-Up: Portfolio routine: your child chooses the problem they are proudest of, writes one sentence on a sticky note about why, and files it. Preview next week: place value and adding and subtracting within 1000.

Materials: fact list, index card, paper, pencil, dried beans, coins, folder, sticky note

Assessment: Solve 6 two-step word problems using multiple strategies

English Language Arts

Objective: Students will identify differences in characters' points of view and read dialogue in different voices (RL.2.6, first taught in Week 6), and show mastery of the week's literature skills in a written retelling.

1. 10 min — Reading Celebration: Read 'The Dream' from Frog and Toad Together, taking turns: you read Frog's lines, your child reads Toad's. Afterward ask the Week 6 question: 'How does Toad see himself in the dream? How does Frog see Toad? Are those the same?'
2. 15 min — Reading Response or Assessment: Weekly assessment. Your child picks any one story from Frog and Toad Together, retells it in writing with a beginning, middle, and end, and finishes with 'The lesson of this story is...'. Look for the events in order and a message that fits the story.
3. 15 min — Publishing and Author's Chair: Your child reads this week's small-moment story aloud from a chair while the family listens. Listeners each ask one who, what, or why question, and the author answers in a complete sentence. Then the story goes in the 'Finished Pieces' folder for the Author's Celebration in Week 33.
4. 10 min — Phonics Check: Mixed decoding check covering Weeks 2 through 9. Your child reads this list cold: rain, sleep, boat, snow, cake, bird, unhappy, reread, careful, slowly, garden, mountain. Note any pattern missed twice for a quick review next week.
5. 15 min — Independent Reading: Free choice reading. Offer Frog and Toad All Year or Owl at Home by Arnold Lobel if your child wants more of the same author, and ask afterward which character reminded them most of Toad.

Materials: Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel, writing notebook, pencil, index cards, library book of choice, Finished Pieces folder

Assessment: Written retelling of one Frog and Toad story with beginning, middle, end, and a central message; decoding check of 12 mixed-pattern words; oral answers to who, what, and why questions about the student's own story.

Science

Objective: Students will draw conclusions about how living things grow and change and create a life cycle wheel that shows the cycle repeating (2-LS4-1).

1. 10 min — Drawing Conclusions: Open the bean bag and look closely with a magnifying glass if you have one. Your child draws the day 5 sprout in the Bean Diary and measures the root with a ruler in centimeters. Ask: 'What did the seed need to start growing? Did it need soil?' Guide toward: water and warmth were enough to begin, but it will need soil and light to keep going.
2. 15 min — Extension or Art Connection: Make a life cycle wheel: cut two paper plates, draw the four stages of one cycle (child's choice) in the four quarters of the bottom plate, cut a pie-slice window in the top plate, and join the centers with a brass fastener or a twist of pipe cleaner. Your child spins the wheel and narrates each stage. Plant the strongest sprout in a cup of soil to watch over the coming weeks.
3. 5 min — Week Reflection: Ask: 'Last week we studied adaptations. Which stage of a butterfly's life cycle has an adaptation that helps it survive?' Accept the chrysalis camouflage or the caterpillar's colors. Add the Bean Diary and wheel to the science portfolio folder.

Materials: bean bag, Bean Diary, ruler, magnifying glass (optional), 2 paper plates, scissors, brass fastener or pipe cleaner, crayons, cup, potting soil, portfolio folder