A Day in the Life of an Elementary Student (2nd Grade)

This formal greeting is one of the many ways the traditions of grace and respect are practiced and preserved at CMS.

a daily recording of all of the things he does each day. Then he makes his first work choice which he writes in his journal along with the starting time. Today he has chosen a material that allows him to work through the process of long division, eventually allowing him to discover how to figure long division problems on paper.

and is ready to move on to something else. Again he records in his journal: first the ending time of his work along with the starting time of his next work choice. John has decided next to continue a work from the day before. He has been studying the culture of Native American tribes and is now creating a representation of his new acquired knowledge with clay, paints, and other materials. John stays actively engaged in this work for then next 80 minutes. Again he records in his journal.

In the midst of this work, John is asked to attend a lesson with his teacher on how to research, beginning with reading, then note taking, outlining, first drafts, editing, and final drafts. When he finishes he returns to his geometry work.

John goes to the book shelf to get the chapter book he has been reading each day. He chose this book several days earlier from a selection of novels with a range of difficulty at his instructional level. For the first ten minutes John works with a younger child as a reading tutor listening to his young friend read aloud and offering help when needed. For the final ten minutes John reads his own book while sitting at a table with a group of his classmates.

in the hot lunch program. Each day a nutritious hot meal is prepared on the school premises. Today's menu offers Sloppy Joes, salad, and grapes. John serves himself from the buffet and then chooses a place with friends to eat his lunch and chat. Lunch is served on real dishes with glasses and silverware. When John is finished, he cleans his own place and helps to tidy the table and floor.

skills on the computer. Using a computer typing program he will learn correct the placement of for his fingers on the keyboard and progressively increase his typing speed.

in the classroom. In this lesson Senor Cruz has hidden twenty labels with Spanish vocabulary words such as table, book, desk, etc..around the classroom, and John rushes from place to place with his friends anxious to discover the location of the labels. When they have found all twenty, Senor Cruz explains that these labels will be left on the Spanish shelves available for the children to repeat the game on their own.

They work to learn as many as fifteen songs. In preparation for the performance piano teacher, Joe Francavilla, will stop into class at the end of the day tomorrow to play the songs on the piano and work with the children to perfect their pitch and timing. John works diligently to learn the lyrics in order to be ready for practice.

John is anxious to share what he has learned about foreshadowing because he found two examples in his reading the night before. The group gathers and when teacher, Mrs. Cubon, asks if the children noticed any examples of foreshadowing in Stone Fox, John is first to answer guiding the group to the passages in which he found them. Discussion continues and each of the four children in the book group has the chance to share their thoughts.

Working with a wooden map and flags with country names, John refers to an atlas to identify each country. He selects ten countries to focus on and after some practice asks his classmate across the table to test him. He remembers all but one.

tennis: backhand – forehand. Class starts with warm-ups lead by one of the children. Following warm-ups the children form five lines and practice hitting balls thrown to them by physical education instructor, Guy Calise. His focus with these young children is on the fundamental skills necessary for success in all sports.

This month John's jobs are to look after the class cockatiel, Sunny, and to dust and straighten the math shelves. When he is finished, he gathers his outdoor clothes and heads out to the playground where he and several others organize a pick up game of soccer.

This month John's jobs are to look after the class cockatiel, Sunny, and to dust and straighten the math shelves. When he is finished, he gathers his outdoor clothes and heads out to the playground where he and several others organize a pick up game of soccer.