WELCOME TO SECOND GRADE! We are very excited about many things here in second grade this year. We make salt dough maps to demonstrate our knowledge of landforms and cook egg drop soup to enhance our study of solids, liquids and gases.

Our students always enjoy our Fine Arts Field Trip to see the " Frog Prince", a performance performed with puppets. Of course a year would not be complete without a trip to the Outdoor Learning Center, which emphasizes our Integrated unit on evidence in our world.

Every day is exciting here!

OUR SECOND GRADE TEACHERS Planning Time 1:50pm - 2:40pm Belinda Gardner - Team Leader I have been teaching at Forman Elementary for thirteen years. I have seen first hand the high quality of education that Plano ISD provides, not only from the viewpoint of a teacher but also from the perspective of a parent. The teachers at all levels endeavor daily to provide the best education they can. I believe that these teachers, along with myself, truly enjoy working with the students and watching them realize their full potential starting with kindergarten and going all the way to senior high. I am married and I have three children that all attended Plano schools. email:Belinda.Gardner@pisd.edu Ext 21257 Joice Gomes I graduated from the University of North Texas in the spring of 2006 with a Bachelor's degree  in early childhood-4th grade. Teaching Kindergarten at Forman Elementary was my first year teaching and I loved it! I now teach second grade and am loving it as well.  My students are very important to me.   I love the energy and enthusiasm the kids display! I was born in Brazil and moved to the U.S. when I was seven years old. I have wanted to be a teacher because of the awesome teacher I had in first grade. When I am not teaching, I like to go to church, play with my nephews, or hang out with my friends. My favorite thing to do is travel. I have been to Brazil, France,Italy and all over the United States. email:Joice.Gomes@pisd.edu Ext 21223 Daniela Goicoechea This is my sixth year to teach at Forman and my sixth year in Texas! I was born and raised in Northern Nevada on a cattle ranch, which my family still owns and operates. I relocated to Texas specifically to have an opportunity to teach in the most well known school system in the United States.  I graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno in 2001 with a Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education. I am currently attending the University of North Texas in pursuit of a Masters Degree in Curriculum and Instruction with a specialization in Gifted and Talented. Teaching has been a passion of mine for a long time now and to live out that passion has been amazing. Each year, each child teaches me something new. I also enjoy spending time with the kids, getting to know each of them and loving on them everyday. Just imagine starting and ending each day with a hug and a smile, I am blessed! email:Daniela.Goicoechea@pisd.edu Ext 21256 Sharon Hyatt I am from Mexico City and just recently moved from San Diego, California. I am a Bilingual Second Grade teacher. I love to jog, play racquetball, and travel. My favorite trip was to Europe because I was able to see the beautiful countryside of Austria. I am getting married in the Spring of 2007 to the most wonderful man, David Hyatt. I will soon be a step-mother to two of the most beautiful doggies, a miniature Schnauzer and a hmm, can't remember what she is, Ann and Blackie. Ann thinks she can run and jump, she is wrong. She runs in slow motion. email: Sharon.Hyatt@pisd.edu Ext 21232 Sharon Williams I have been teaching second grade at Forman Elementary for nine years. I attended Plano schools from kindergarten through high school. I graduated from the University of North Texas with a Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education. I am married and have two children. I love children and truly enjoy teaching second grade! My goal each year is to teach every child that their learning has no limits... that they can achieve anything they want to do in life. email: Sharon.A.Williams@pisd.edu Ext 21254 Carolina Moreno I am originally from Venezuela. I received a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Dallas. I decided to become a teacher because I love children and I like their creative imagination. This is my sixth year at Forman and I am currently teaching Second Grade Bilingual. I'm having a wonderful time! I am married to a wonderful man, Rey, and have "two" children. My daughter Nicole and my little bird Carla. I enjoy cooking and spending time with my family. email:Carolina.Moreno@pisd.edu Ext 21255

SECOND GRADE CURRICULUM  

1ST NINE WEEKS
Language Arts: We will focus on spelling, reading comprehension (story elements), vocabulary, and higher order thinking skills. Students will begin to develop a sense for writing personal narratives as they focus on forming a main idea including details with correct capitals and punctuation.

Math
We will be investigating number patterns, putting numbers together and taking them apart (addition and subtraction), graphing our everyday activities, and exploring strategies to solve problems.

Integrated
We will focus on learning about Systems and how they help us connect in our world. We will discuss the classroom as a system, its parts and what keeps it working effectively. The students will also study and locate landforms and bodies of water on maps/globes. They will explore the different states of matter and observe how matter is affected by heat and ice.

2ND NINE WEEKS
Language Arts: Second graders will continue to focus on vocabulary, spelling, oral retelling of a story, reading fluency, and comprehension strategies. We will begin persuasive letter writing and explanatory narratives. For an explanatory narrative, they will write instructions that follow a sequence of events to explain how to do or make something. They will continue to develop main ideas and details with complete sentences, capital letters, and punctuation.

Math
We will be counting coins to $1.00, telling time, finding place value in numbers, and applying logical reasoning to solve problems accurately.

Integrated
Our students will learn about "Balance and Stability" as they begin to explore the various habitats of our world and the living things that inhabit them. We identify the need to preserve these habitats as a means to protect endangered animals. To enhance their learning, second graders will be going to the Dallas Zoo for a field trip in October. We will also explore "Diversity" as students learn about other countries, their cultures, languages and how they are similar and different from us.

3RD NINE WEEKS
Language Arts: Second graders will continue to work on vocabulary, spelling, reading fluency and comprehension strategies, and grammar (nouns, verbs, synonyms, etc). We start expository writing (research paper) using various resources, such as the encyclopedia, internet, books, etc., to gather information as we focus on writing multiple paragraphs with main ideas and details.

Math
We will learn how to use place value to add or subtract 2-digit numbers with or without regrouping. Students will identify and describe attributes of different geometric shapes and solids. They will use data to describe events as more likely or less likely (probability), analyze and interpret graphs and word problems.

Integrated
We start the third nine weeks looking at "Communication." In this unit, second graders investigate the qualities of a leader and their impact on the world in which we live. Students will search for these leadership qualities in themselves and brainstorm ways they can impact their world. Following Communication, second graders begin a unit on "Interdependence." They discover the interdependent roles of consumers and producers.

4TH NINE WEEKS
Language Arts: Second graders will continue to work on vocabulary, spelling, reading fluency and comprehension strategies, and grammar (adjectives, adverbs, suffixes, contractions, antonyms, etc). Story narratives become the emphasis of writing for the last nine weeks. Students develop the setting, characters, problems, events, and solutions for their own creative compositions.

Math
The students will learn to name fractional parts of a whole, identify and use varied forms of measurement, develop a foundation for multiplication and division, analyze and apply problem solving strategies, as well as re-examining previous math concepts.

Integrated
Second graders continue the unit on "Interdependence" focusing on raw materials and the processes they undergo to become the products that consumers use. In March, we explore the terms rural, suburban, and urban. Second graders will journey along the DART light rail to Union Station as they search for evidence of these things. This leads us right into our last unit, "Evidence." We will investigate evidence from the past, such as fossils, and examine what these tell us of the past. The highlight of this unit will be a visit to Plano's Outdoor Learning Center to gather evidence of time, people, weather, and animals in nature.