Grades 2 and 3
Grade 2 students’ reasoning and learning skills grow tremendously. Grade 2 students develop a better sense of their role in a School community. Through thematic units on friendship, kindness, and courage, students develop their character as they become allies and leaders in the Lower School community. Students gain confidence and develop their voices during assembly performances and at Poetry Night. They learn to speak up for themselves and others. Over the course of the year, Grade 2 students develop skills and strategies that help them to better understand themselves as learners, collaborators and leaders in their community.
Grade 3 students are full of ideas and excited for learning. This excitement translates to tackling curricular tasks of greater complexity, such as tracking and analyzing the growth rate of plants from terrestrial and stellar seeds, as well as in a hydroponic environment. They love to create and invent, putting deeper thought and application of skill into projects that demonstrate their understanding of their immediate community and broader world. By interviewing school community members from every role, third graders coalesce their notes into a descriptive narrative of what makes a leader and impactful contributor to the community. In addition to thinking about the qualities of a leader, Grade 3 students take on greater responsibilities, including being year-long older buddies to preschoolers, in which they foster reciprocal interests and shared learning experiences. The industrious, creative and inventive Grade 3 students at Nashoba Brooks are well poised for their next academic adventure, be it middle school or beyond.
Curriculum Highlights
Poetry Night
Poetry Night
A lot of work happens before Grade 2 students are prepared for their annual Poetry Night, where they perform original and recited poems for their families. Students begin by identifying and writing poetic forms including Haiku, shape, acrostic, diamante and cinquain. They also learn to identify similes and metaphors and how to apply these techniques to enrich their writing with descriptive language. Then, to rehearse the public speaking skills they will need for Poetry Night, students recite learned poems for classmates, peers, and teachers during April's Poem in Your Pocket Day.
Birds and Biomes Study
Bird Biomes
Grade 2 students get ready to take flight (metaphorically) in the springtime! Students gain an understanding of birds and of key scientific skills by studying the aerodynamics of flight and researching bird migration and navigation elements. Once they have a foundational understanding of these animals, students create individual biomes using habitat and geography knowledge. Then, they develop, print, and present a "travel brochure" for their biome. To end this unit, students engineer "nest" structures that will (hopefully) withstand impact and keep their eggs safe after being dropped from the School's balcony.
Native Peoples
Native Peoples
Grade 3 students explore the traditional and contemporary lives of Native Peoples, examining the unique customs and traditions of different Native American tribes. Collaborating with a partner, each group of students researches a particular tribe and prepares a presentation for their families and peers. These groups create three-dimensional representations of the dwellings their tribes resided in, as well as poster-board displays highlighting what they learned.
Everyday Heroes
Everyday Heroes
Grade 3 students create deeper connections to our Nashoba Brooks community through their Everyday Heroes project. The project requires students to conduct an interview with their hero (an adult at Nashoba Brooks), to be active and engaged listeners, to develop a five paragraph essay telling their hero’s story, and to use Google Drive to share their work. In art class, the students learn about the proportions of the human face and ways of representing skin color to create a collage portrait of their hero. An added bonus of this project is the opportunity it provides for students to practice gratitude and perspective-taking as they learn about the adults around them.
| Sample Schedule | |
|---|---|
|
8:00-8:25 |
Arrival and check-in activities |
|
8:25-8:45 |
Morning Meeting |
|
8:45-9:30 |
Drama/Music - musical rehearsal |
|
9:30-10:15 |
Math - analog time |
|
10:15-10:30 |
Snack in Dining Commons |
|
10:30-10:45 |
Recess |
|
10:45-11:45 |
Reading - decoding and phonics |
|
11:45-12:15 |
Open Circle (SEL) |
|
12:15-12:35 |
Lunch in Dining Commons |
|
12:35-1:00 |
Recess |
|
1:00-1:45 |
Library - research |
|
1:45-2:30 |
Social Studies - Steam Lab |
|
2:30-3:15 |
Art - Sumi-e |
|
3:20 |
Dismissal |
Sample focus questions:
- How do maps help us understand our community and the world around us?
- How can you tell time in different ways?
- What is the Earth's hydrosphere?
- Who is a part of our community? How is our community made up of diverse roles and responsibilities? How do people contribute to our community?
- How can we use features of the text to enhance comprehension?
- How do I recognize the feelings and perspectives of others?
- When do you use addition and subtraction in money?
- How is language connected to history and geography?
- How have engineers designed airplanes from the study of birds?
- How can I code my sphero through a mini golf hole, using proper angle, speed and distance?
- How do I compose rhythms in a variety of meters?
- What is the same and different between the sumi-e style and John James Audubon's painting style?