Tales from 1st and 2nd Grades

Our 1st and 2nd graders at Good Shepherd Catholic School have stayed busy with various projects at home as assigned by their teachers. Ms. Sabrina Escaliera teaches 1st grade, and Mrs. Erin Durkin teaches 2nd grade. 

The common thread through each grade is lessons via Zoom. Ms. Escaliera also used Flip Grid, in which both students and their parents could participate in the lesson. Mrs. Durkin also used HMH Math and ELA materials via Think Central that provided students with further interactive demonstrations and games to help them better learn their math lessons. Think Central also allows students access to audiobooks of their textbooks, decodable readers and vocabulary books as additional resources. 

Both teachers found projects would be a great way to learn at home for their students. For those unfamiliar with the “Flat Stanley Project,” the concept features a paper cutout of the titular character from the book Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown. The idea promotes learning about different people and places. Our 1st graders were given a spin on this with a cutout of their teacher, Ms. Escaleira. 

Mrs. Durkin utilized at home projects across an array of topics to help students learn different concepts. While learning about ecosystems, students researched endangered animals and presented their findings. Students were given a budget of $100 to plan a budget to feed a family of four for a week to learn the value of a dollar and economics. Each student was asked to interview an adult in their lives to learn about changes in transportation, technology and clothing over time, and created a Venn diagram to compare their experiences with their interviewee. 

Our 1st and 2nd graders certainly stayed busy between March and June. We are excited to see new and returning students in September!