Second grade . . . a magical year where reading, writing, math, science, social studies, and integrated transitions begin to merge.  There is a dynamic team of ladies who lead the charge:  Valree Milson, Jennifer Mabra, Michelle Spradley, Heather Cooper, Krista Bruton, and Lana Beckwith.  With a combined 80+ years of experience, these classroom leaders know how to problem solve!

As a second grade friend recently shared with me, “Mrs. Van, second grade is hard.  I get grades now, not just those letters and checks from first grade.”  Another friend added, “You should see our math work . . . ‘whew!’ Sometimes I have to re-do and I didn’t even know what that was the first week of school.”  Two additional friends chimed in, “We really talk about how things work and she’s always asking ‘why?’ when we give an answer . . . yeah, but she uses cool technology in our lessons everyday.”

Second grade leaders smile and observe the strides these young learners make as the year progresses.  There’s a natural transition beginning where learners take the foundational reading skills highly concentrated on in the younger years and begin to shift the skill of reading to learn new material;  instead of learning to read, they begin the process of reading to learn (the biggest shift, I think, occurs in third grade, but more on this thought in a later blog).

There are smiles, laughs, cute stories, smart work, and fun times in second grade.  It’s a magical time before the reality of state assessment begins to cloud the process.  After all, second grade learners and second grade leaders are really second to none . . . .