Hello 2nd grade families! The last two weeks have come and gone and second grade has been spending a lot of our time outside welcoming the warmer weather! LSA’s have also started back up, so all the kiddos who joined them look forward to them everyday. For our art activities some highlights we have done are pastel galaxy art, handprint cacti, and colorful flowers art.  The days that we are inside, the kiddos have been enjoying free gym and Doctor dodge. They look forward to gym time whenever we are able to on our early days. Some of our friends who enjoy basketball have been playing with a mini hoop in our LEDP room. On the days we aren’t able to get into the gym- this is definitely their go to! They set the hoop basket up, grab the beanbags and pretend they are on the court. This has been a great addition to our group for those who share the love of basketball!

We have also had two half days, which calls for movies! Our first movie was Sing, which was a favorite for our second graders! The second movie, third grade joined us for and we enjoyed Paddington! Although it’s not often, whenever we join with third grade the kiddos love seeing their friends and enjoy the activities we collaboratively do. 

Now that we have been spending more time outside, the kiddos were thrilled when the field finally opened up again! They were extremely patient and respectful of the field rules and are able to finally enjoy it once again. It has been an amazing start to April and we are thrilled for the warmer weather to allow us to spend more time outside!

Hello 2nd grade families! These past two weeks the kiddos have been fully embracing the warmer weather! With much more time spent outside, they have been doing an amazing job on informing us about where they are going to be playing around the playground. Nowadays it is more likely that we will be finishing our LEDP days outside- taking full advantage of Mother Natures warmer weather!

Our new Monday activity has recently been charades, where friends could either describe the word or act it out in one minute. We then made jellyfish crafts with pulled string art! We also made necklaces and bracelets with pony beads! These projects were all thoroughly enjoyed and brought the spring colors into the LEDP room. We also welcomed the Mentors in for a directed drawing of a llama. The mentors did a great job demonstrating and the kiddos had so much fun following each directed step to create very cute LEDP llamas!

We celebrated March madness in LEDP by ranking our favorite second grade books! Our contenders were Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Bad Guys, Captain Underpants, Big Nate, Dog Man, Eerie Elementary, Guinness World Records, and Wings of Fire. They had a blast voting on their favorites and the book that ranked first place was Dog Man!

 A friendly reminder that second grade will most likely be outside around 4:15. Since it is getting nicer out, if you would like to pick your second grader up before 4:15, please feel free to reach out to Mary or Janet.  

We appreciate your donations from the Amazon Wishlist, they have all been a great addition to our groups. The link is posted on the front page of our website if you would like to donate! 

Second grade has had a great past two weeks in LEDP. They are thrilled to welcome the warmer weather! The kiddos have shown more responsibility during LEDP, earning them the basketball court, circle soccer, small playground, and the Gaga pits. They have been doing an amazing job informing Pia and I where they will be spending their outside time and when they switch spaces- they let us know. This has made Pia and I so happy to be able to give them more independence, while understanding the outdoor boundaries.

The projects have had an increase of friends joining in, with one of the top projects being rainbow rain. This project only had three ingredients, including shaving cream, water and food coloring. They thoroughly enjoyed watching the color slowly drip into the water and create the “rainbow” appearance. We also made tissue paper flowers, squeegee painting and scribble art. The kiddos really enjoyed squeegee paintings using their very own canvas. They put a couple dots of their preferred colors on the canvas, then squeegeed the remain  paint off. This created amazing pieces, with many different colors; all being unique. Our most successful project of 2025 so far was our scribble art.  Pia and I were thrilled that majority of the class participated in this project. Each of their creations were unique, and colorful. They scribbled on the paper to create different shapes, and when they were done it became abstract. As the week ended we created shamrocks for Saint Patrick’s Day. The made adorable shamrocks that have hands and feet, that line the halls of LEDP!

We want to thank those who have donated through LEDPs Amazon wish list! The kiddos love all of the supplies and are extremely grateful for the new surprises we have been gifted!

Second grade has had an amazing two weeks of LEDP.  Our group made a new bulletin board about ways to build our friends up and they came up with many wonderful ways to do so. We are also starting a new reward board for the group to earn a party with all of their helpful good deeds. We welcomed Mother Natures snowstorm and had our first snow day of the year! They were all so excited to play in the snow with all the other groups building igloos, snowmen and many other structures. 

They all loved showing off their Valentines from their classes and joining in on our group minute-to-win it games. Their goal was to see how many times they can build a pyramid with cups, and take them down within the minute. They also were able to stack heart candies and see how high they could make it! Their sportsmanship for their partner was unmatched and showed how supportive they could be to their friends.  We also made amazing boards for our hallway, with second grade signing their love. They traced out their hands doing the sign for "I love you." It was wonderful to see our many participants in that activity. 

Second grade was able to have the mentors join our group and play fun gym games. During gym time, the mentors had such a good time leading, "Head, Shoulders, Knee, Dodgeball." In this game each 2nd grader were partnered up and lined up with a dodgeball between them. The mentors took turns heading the group, with commands, "head, shoulders knees," trying to trick out friends! When they hear the command. "dodgeball," they must try and grab the ball first! Whoever gets the ball first gets a point, but if they grab the ball on the wrong command, they lose a point! We also played "Tic-Tac-Toe Relay," which is always a fan favorite! 

Second grade has had a fun and eventful second half of January! We are happy to announce that second grade has filled up their reward board and earned a party! We have also started individual reward charts for all of them to earn prizes for themselves. We have all of their names on a board that is displayed on our cart- and for each individual act of them showing kindness, listening, cleaning up, etc. we put a sticker to work towards earning their prize. This has just been recently been implemented, but we've  already seen amazing progress!

LSA’s have also just begun and the kiddos look forward to it everyday! They do an amazing job getting to their location, being polite and meeting the group at their designated location. They all love informing us about what they did or made during their time upstairs. 

This past two weeks second grade did fuse beads- which is always a group favorite and Doctor Dodge. Doctor Dodge is always an LEDP favorite and one of our go to gym games. We split the group into two teams and they are able to work together and pick a person to secretly be their doctor. The doctor's job is to save their friends who have gotten out and they take this job extremely seriously.  

It has been nice for all to be able to get outside more and they love being able to play in the snow! Most kiddos have the appropriate clothing, but it has been pretty chilly while we are outside; if you would like to send more warmth with them, it will be very much appreciated! 

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2nd Grade Families!

We were excited to welcome the kiddos back after the holiday break and it's been wonderful to hear all their amazing stories of how they celebrated their holidays with lots of family and friends!

We welcomed the kiddos back with many new activities. Still welcoming the winter weather, we had many winter themed activities such as, painting polar bears on canvases, making snowmen with a quilted background, making paper marshmallows with our favorite activities and "If We Lived in a Snow Globe," activity. 

Unfortunately we had a week being stuck inside, so second grade spent a lot of their time in the gym. Although they were missing being outside, they thoroughly enjoyed having the extra time in the gym. 

We are happy to have the kiddos back in this new year and we hope to fill our reward board soon!

Just a reminder, that as long as it is safe to do so, we will do our best to make it outside, even it it's for a brief time. So please send your kiddos with the proper winter attire. Thank you in advance :-)  

During our short two weeks before December break the kiddos in second graders were able to get in the last moments of 2024. We had the mentors join our group with thrilling Minute-to-Win it games, which were a big hit in the group. They truly enjoyed having the mentors guide and cheer them on during this activity. 

We then did many winter activities such as, salt painting snowflakes, making a snowstorm in a jar and a fun gym activity that allowed all the students to work together, along with beaded snowflakes. 

The second graders have been working towards earning a party for their amazing behavior and we have been building our snowman in the LEDP room. 

These past four weeks second grade ended the October fun with having their first mentoring session. They were all thrilled to be joined by the older kids to make Halloween plushies and were so excited to show their creations to their friends. Some of the kiddos were here for professional development day and they were able to interact with the older students and other staff members. During this day, the second graders that attended were ecstatic to be able to participate in the reptile show and had so many questions about the reptiles that were shown.

Starting the month of November, Pia and I were thrilled to be able to host parent’s night and we were extremely happy with the turnout. We loved having you all be able to see where your kiddos spend most of their time while in LEDP and loved seeing you all participate in the activities.

The second graders have found the love for group Mad Libs, being able to create funny little stories. Because of this we have started Mad Lib Mondays and the kiddos love participating. They have even started doing Mad Libs in their own little groups and they thoroughly enjoy sharing their creations with Pia and I.

Second grade also earned a pajama and stuffy day, with two fun surprises! They earned a movie and Shirley temples for their wonderful behavior for the months of September and October. They all loved showing Pia and I their special stuffies, and their comfy jammies. They had a great long and comfy day in LEDP and we hope to have another celebration soon!

A friendly reminder, since it is getting dark earlier, second grade will most likely be inside by 5:00. If you need any time changes for pick up, please email Mary and Janet so we can have your kiddo out at your desired time. We also would love to remind, that as it is getting colder out, to provide your child with the appropriate apparel.

These past two weeks second grade has welcomed the fall weather with many activities. Second graders have earned five pumpkins so far, to earn our way to a fun fall party. They all have been motivated to earn more pumpkins along with more field time which is a big hit in our group. The group started off by making pumpkins with oil pastels, slime, spooky cats, drawings of halloween costumes, and the biggest hit of them all the invisible handprints.

The invisible handprints that second graders created was our most popular project to date! They loved being able to become little scientists and show Pia and I how their creations turned out. 

All of the second graders are loving the more freedom they have outside, being able to freely go from the playground to the field. Pia and I are thrilled to say that the second graders are doing amazing with letting us know where they will be and when they return to the playground. We have come a long way since the start of the year, and we are thrilled to see where the rest of the year takes us.  

They have also all started LSA’s and are eager to go join them when they enter the LEDP room. They've done a great job  at letting us know when they are leaving and when they return to the LEDP room. It is great to hear about their time during the LSA and all of the creations that they made that day. 

We are excited to invite you all to our first Open House of the Year! We hope you can join us, Wednesday November 6th from 5:00- 5:45, in the Big LEDP Room!  Please be on the lookout for more information via email! We hope to see you all there : ) 

Second grade has had a wonderful and exciting start to the new year at LEDP and I’m so happy to be reunited with this group of kiddos again! They’ve grown a lot since kindergarten and they’ve welcomed Pia with open arms right from the very start!  One of the coolest parts of being in second grade in LEDP is that the group spends the first half of the day in the big room! With that space comes more responsibilities and opportunities, such as foosball and the loft castle, which the children have been doing a great job adjusting to. 

We start off our days by taking attendance, then jumping right into reading and homework time. The next part of our day is everyone's favorite part- free choice and activity time! We have had a couple eager friends jump right into our art and science projects. Some highlights include “Leaf Crystals”, painting fall trees, and watercolor spiderwebs. The biggest hit of all the projects so far has been the fuse beads, which fills the room with joy when we occasionally bring them out. After free choice, the second graders eat snack. Following snack, we either will go outside, to the gym, or transition into another room. We have been taking advantage of being outside before the colder weather arrives.

Pia and I are thrilled to be the second-grade teachers this year and we are super excited to further build our relationships with the kiddos and make more memories as the year continues!