1. 4th Grading Period Looking Ahead
2nd Grade
4th Grading Period Looking Ahead
Welcome to the 2nd Grade 4th grading period Looking ahead. We’re going to be exploring the curriculum of this grading period, and pointing out some important resources and strategies to help your students learn the content. You can see by these pictures, the many different things your students will be discovering. Let’s take a look.

2. TEK 2. 9: Organisms and environments
TEK 2.9: Organisms and environments. The student knows that living organisms have basic needs that must be met for them to survive within their environment.
2.9A: Identify the basic needs of plants and animals
2.9B: Identify factors in the environment, including temperature and precipitation, that affect growth and behavior such as migration, hibernation, and dormancy of living things.
2.9C: Compare and give examples of the ways living organisms depend on each other and on their environments such as food chains within a garden park, beach, lake, and wooded area.

3. 2. 10: Organisms and environments
2.10: Organisms and environments. The student knows that organisms resemble their parents and have structures and processes that help them survive within their environments
2.10a: Observe, record, and compare how the physical characteristics and behaviors of animals help them meet their basic needs such as fins help fish move and balance in the water.
2.10B: Observe, record, and compare how the physical characteristics of plants help them meet their basic needs such as stems carry water throughout the plant
2.10C: Investigate and record some of the unique stages that insects undergo during their life cycle.

4. Classroom and Field Investigation
Process Standards
Remember that 60% of your time should be spent in classroom or field investigations. Your students learn best when it’s hands on.
Also, please remember to integrate process standards into every content objective that you teach. The TEK is the what, the process is the how.
Other things to remember while planning lessons are the TATEKS, CCRS’, and ELPS. These standards also help show what to teach and how to do it.

5. GREAT INSTRUCTIONAL RESOURCE
Commissioner of Education Mike Morath recently announced the launch of the Texas Gateway ( a free online resource library for educators and parents provided by the Texas Education Agency (TEA).The Texas Gateway not only builds upon the success of TEA’s online learning community Project Share but also expands access to resources—such as videos, interactives, formative assessments, professional development courses, and other classroom support materials—designed to strengthen classroom instruction to help every student succeed.

6. STEMSCOPES HMH
We have two fantastic resources in Klein for you and your students to use. Both of these are full of ideas for you to do with your students in your classroom. We are really lucky to have these to help our students.

7. HMH chapters
Chapters 8, 9, and 10 cover the content of the 4 grading period in the HMH book. These activities and labs are already aligned to the TEKS that we are teaching. Just like Stemscopes, you and students can access them from your computer. You will find a diverse amount of activities to help your students.

8. Response to Intervention
Don’t forget about the Response to Intervention section in the HMH book. There are many great ideas of how you can help students fill in gaps that they are still missing. There is a page that outlines these interventions at the beginning of every unit. (Give some examples)

9. What we might see in your classroom
A few ideas for things that relate to the content of this grading period: Students can actually help care for a plant or animal as you teach them to identify basic needs. Remember to get permission from your principal if you have an animal in the building. If you were to have your students collect data on the temperature and rainfall, make sure to relate it back to how things are growing. This will be taught during the Spring so it is a great time to make that connection. Students could draw posters of different animals or plants. They could identify how the different parts of the body that they drew meets the needs of that animal or plant.

10. Student handbook states that there should be Science instruction 24 minutes per day in grades K-3.
Science is important in every grade. The foundation that you build each day will have a lasting impact in future grades. (Read slide)

11. Have a great 4th grading period
May you have much success as you work with your students during this fourth grading period.