Teaching Time and History in 2nd Grade Social Studies
Most second graders struggle to distinguish between a Saturday two weeks ago and the time before they were born. They often group every memory that is not today into the same bucket labeled long ago. This habit creates a shaky foundation when they start tackling real... read more
Teaching Scientific Vocabulary in 2nd Grade English Language Arts
You know the moment in a second grade classroom when a student hits a word they have never seen before while reading about nature. They stop, they look at you, and they wait for the definition. This happens constantly in our science units, and it can disrupt the flow... read more
Teaching Patterns in Data for 2nd Grade Computer Science
When a student stares at a bar graph, they often get stuck on the individual bars rather than the story the bars tell together. They might see a bar that is higher than the rest and shout out the tallest one, ignoring the trend altogether. It is a common moment in 2nd... read more
Teaching second graders to answer story questions from the page
…which is why I keep coming back to the same point about second graders and story questions. The problem is almost never that they can’t answer. They answer fast. Ask a room of seven-year-olds who is in the story and every hand goes up, and a good share of... read more