October Plans for Second Grade

In October, we will continue to follow the lesson plans in our Waldorf Essentials curriculum. We also will have lots of fun celebrating Halloween and Dia de los Muertos. We actually prefer Dia de los Meurtos to Halloween these days. Remembering our ancestors and telling stories about them is such a nice change to the usual gore and scariness.

Circle Time

Gathering Verse
Pledge of Allegiance
Yankee Doodle (We're learning a new patriotic/American song each month.)
Five Little Pumpkins
 Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.
 The first one said, "Oh my it's getting late."
 The second one said, "There are witches in the air."
 The third one said, "But we don't care."
 The fourth one said, "Let's run and run and run."
 The fifth one said, "I'm ready for some fun."
 Ooooh, went the wind and out went the light
and the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

Pumpkin Pie (Found in Jodie Mesler's "Autumn Song")

Hallowe'en (Found in "A Journey Through Time in Verse and Rhyme." Just the first verse.)


Spanish

This month we will be focusing on Dia de los Muertos. It is a Mexican holiday. We've already talked a lot about Mexico, but you can probably never know too much about our neighbor to the south. :)

Ernesto the gnome is having a big fiesta with all his amigos in Mexico. Dia de los Muertos is coming and he is having a fiesta at his casa and must get ready. First, Ernesto wakes up and says hola to his animals. Then he opens the window (abre la ventana) and asks, “que tiempo hace hoy?” Have the children tell you the weather in Spanish.

Now Ernesto is getting ready.  “Que hace Ernesto?”

Me estoy bañando  (I am bathing.)

Me estoy secando  (I am drying myself.)

Me estoy poniendo los pantalones. (I’m putting on my pants.)

Me estoy poniendo la camisa…(los calcetines… los zapatos…) (I’m putting on my shirt, socks, shoes, etc.)

Play Mientras que Viene el Lobo.  http://www.mamalisa.com/?t=es&p=3370

Then Ernesto makes caleveras de azucar for his fiesta. Soon his amigos arrive. They are wearing skeleton face paint and big, decorated sombreros. Together they all sing, “esqueletos.”

Sing “Esqueletos.”  My kids love this song!!!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORsWE4ZyiFw

Our recipe this month will be making and decorating Calaveras de Azucar. Be sure to order your molds early! Have fun celebrating Dia de los Muertos. It is NOT Mexican Halloween, though we allow our celebrations to overlap week wise. Dia de los Muertos is remembering loved ones who have passed on. Displaying their pictures and things they loved. Leaving food offerings on their graves. It is not a fear of death but almost a celebration of it, which is why the skeleton faces are decorated, pretty and smiling. It's not about scary. We love it.

Handwork

We will be practicing mixing knitting and purling by knitting a washcloth that is two rows knit, two rows purled.

Music

Recorder lessons 3 and 4 from Jodie Mesler's "Living Music From the Hear, Vol. 2"

Main Lesson

This month we will focus on fables. Each week we will do a kind act to exemplify one of the lessons from a fable that week. Each story will be accompanied by an art lesson, either painting, drawing, or modeling and then Jane will retell and summarize it the next day in her Main Lesson Book. This month we will begin learning parts of speech too. So in her summaries she will have to write each noun in red and each verb in blue.

I'm not going to name each fable here, they're in the curriculum, but I'll list the act of kindness.

Week 1 - Send a note of encouragement to someone going through a hard time.

Week 2 - Send a thank you note

Week 3 - Send a card to a soldier https://www.operationgratitude.com/writeletters/

Week 4 - Clean out toys and clothes and donate to Good Will. Ask each child to give up something they still enjoy.

Math

Because of how the calendar is working out, there will be a week at the end of September/beginning of October without Main Lessons. We will have math lessons that week and continue to practice math through skip counting, verbal math, and board games.

Science
In honor of Halloween, let's learn about a scary ocean animal. Sharks! Books, maybe this kit. https://www.amazon.com/Discover-Dr-Cool-Shark-Science/dp/B00500EKU6

Spelling

k12reader.com spelling lists 6-9 for grade two

September Plans for Grade 2

I'm so excited about our upcoming school year. All my lesson plans are created using the curriculum found at waldorfessentials.com through the Thinking, Feeling, Willing program plus some other books and resources from around the internet that I'll make note of as we go along. If you have any questions or want to share, feel free!


Circle Time

Gathering Poem

Pledge of Allegiance

Thirty Days Hath September

We’ve ploughed our fields

We’ve sown our seed

We’ve made all neat and gay.

                Then take a bit, and leave a bit

                Away, birds, away.

-A Journey through Time in Verse and Rhyme

Michaelmas Song from Jodie Mesler's "Autumn Songs."

Class One Song from A Journey through Time in Verse and Rhyme

       This is a really fun poem with four or five stanzas about different animals getting ready for autumn. I plan on having the kids memorize it and then put it on as a short play. We'll rehearse it and take turns pretending to be the animals and finding costumes and everything during Circle Time.

Spanish

For Spanish this year we are going to focus on a different Spanish speaking country each month. We'll learn about a holiday there, a game, a song, and make a recipe from that country. This month's country is Puerto Rico. My kids take a weekly Spanish class and do some online Spanish work starting in second grade, but I design these lessons to introduce them to culture and try to build vocabulary even though I don't speak much Spanish myself.

The way I do this is by telling a story every day about Ernesto the gnome. Every day, he wakes up and says 'hola' to his perro, gato, and pez. (Have the kids say hola perro. hola gato. hola pez, along with you.) Then Ernesto opens the window (abre la ventana) and looks outside and says, "Que tiempo hace hoy?" (what is the weather?) Have the children tell you in Spanish what the weather is like outside. (We learned weather terms last year.) Ernesto decides to go visit his friend Gabriela. I won't give you a line by line layout of how this will go. But Gabriela is from Puerto Rico and she has dos hermanitos (two little brothers) who need to go to sleep (dormir). So Gabriela teaches Ernesto a game outside.

Game - Cheki Morena  http://www.mamalisa.com/?t=es&p=3760

Then Gabriela tells Ernesto all about a holiday coming up Grito de Lares. (There's lots of info about this online, do some research and decide how much to tell your kids. But it's basically Puerto Rican independence day.)

Then they sing a fun song.  "Brinca la Tablita." http://www.mamalisa.com/?t=es&p=3217

Have the children learn the following words in Spanish by giving reasons why Gabiela and Ernesto have to sing this song all these different ways and have the kids sing the song these ways.

Yell = grito

Whisper = susurro

Talk = hablar

Sing = canta

Whistle = silbar

Hum = tararear

Recipe: tortilla de gueneitos.  http://www.elboricua.com/Tortilla_de_guineitos.html

Handwork

Learning to purl. Make a dishcloth with just purl stitch.

Music

Lessons 1 and 2 on recorder from Jodie Mesler's "Living Music From the Heart vol. 2"

Main Lesson

This month our Main Lessons will be focusing on Saints Stories.

St. Francis

St. Jerome

St. Christopher

St. George

St. Michael

We are going to try to do a weekly act of service based on the stories of these saints.

Week 1 - St. Francis - make a hummingbird feeder

Week 2 - St. Christopher - clean up a stretch of the local creek

Week 3 - St. George - donate to the women's shelter

Week 4 - St. Michael - make cookies for firefighters

All lessons are accompanied by painting, drawing, or modeling from the story and summarizing in a Main Lesson Book.

Math

We will keep up on our math facts by practicing addition and subtraction on our walks and playing the several math games I purchased this summer.

Science

This year we will focus on marine biology. This month will be fish. I'd like to go to the aquarium, buy a goldfish and observe it, and read books about fish (both fiction and non fiction.)

Spelling

We will again be using the weekly spelling lists from k12reader.com http://www.k12reader.com/second-grade-spelling-words/

Thai Coconut Chicken Soup

2 lemongrass stems, white parts only, or 1 tsp lemon zest
8 small button mushrooms, stems trimmed and quartered
2 chicken breast fillets
4 cups chicken stock
1 inch piece ginger, peeled, cut into matchsticks
2 tsp sugar
1 can coconut milk
1 TBS fish sauce or soy sauce
2 TBS lime juice, plus wedges to serve
2 TBS coarsely chopped mint leaves
2 TBS coarsely chopped basil leaves

Bruise the lemongrass stems with the back of a knife and cut each one in half. Cut the chicken breast into bite size pieces. In a saucepan, bring the chicken stock, lemon grass, ginger, and sugar to a gentle boil over medium high heat. Add the chicken, mushrooms and coconut milk. Simmer without boiling for five minutes, until chicken is cooked. Add fish sauce and lime, mint and basil leaves, serve right away.

Oven baked Squash Sticks

2 TBS bread crumbs
2 TBS parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon granulated onion
1/2 tsp dred herbs, like oregano and thyme
2 large squash cut into thick sticks
1 egg white

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Ina small bowl, combine breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, salt, pepper garlic, onion and dried herbs, then pour out onto a large dinner plate or you could use a baking dish. In a large blow, toss the squash sticks with the egg white to coat. Roll each stick in the breadcrumb mix to coat and lay on a sheet pan in a single layer, without them touching. Bake for 15 minutes, until golden brown.

Cherry Frozen Yogurt

3 cups pitted fresh cherries
2 TBS lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup whole milk
1 1/2 cups full fat yogurt

Place the pitted cherries, lemon juice, and sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved. When all of the sugar has dissolved, remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes. Place contents in a blender and pulse until smooth. Combine the cherry puree, milk, and yogurt together in a bowl. Chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour and overnight if needed. Process the mixture in your ice cream maker for 25 minutes. Eat it right away or let it freeze in the freezer until hardened.

Strawberry Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

1 TBS balsamic vinegar
2 TBS olive oil
1 tsp honey
1 TBS minced spring onion
1/4 tsp salt
1 bunch arugula, washed and chopped
1 head lettuce, washed and chopped
1 cup sliced strawberries
1/4 cup crumbled bleu/feta/goat cheese
1/4 cup chopped toasted sliced almonds
1 avocado sliced
Salt and pepper

Combine the vinegar, honey, minced onion, salt and olive oil, whisking together in a large bowl. Add in the remaining ingredients and toss to coat everything with the dressing. Adjust the seasoning with salt and fresh ground pepper if needed. Eat right away.

December Chalkboard Drawings