April 2026
Reading
In Module 9 children will be learning about the different habitats where animals live. Hot deserts, warm rainforests, and cool, underwater habitats all provide food and shelter for the animals that live there. Through reading a variety of texts and collaborative work, children will explore how the conditions in different habitats help different animals to survive. At home read outside. Notice the living things around you where they live, and how they depend on other living things. Review our vocabulary words: ecosystem, habitat, and species, and try to incorporate these words into everyday conversations.
Writing
In Module 9 children will learn how living things in a habitat depend on each other. They will learn that animals form relationships with other living things in order to meet each other’s needs. Students will choose an animal to study, develop a research plan, research and write about the animal in an informational research report.
Math
In Unit 7 of Illustrative Mathematics, students use place-value understanding, the relationship between addition and subtraction, and the properties of operations to add and subtract within 1,000. Students will learn to compose and decompose numbers to add and subtract three-digit numbers. They will compare the steps they use when they decompose, as well as the different ways they can represent and record the units they add or subtract.
Near the end of the unit, ask your second grader to do these problems:
- 361 + 294
- 421 − 203
Phonics
Unit 12 in this unit we will practice two more sounds: oi and oy. Diphthong (vowel team) oi is found in the beginning or middle of a words. Diphthong oy is used at the end of a word. We will also review six types of syllables previously learned. In Unit 13 we will practice three more vowel teams oa, oe, and ow. Vowel team, ow we will study this unit has the ow sound such as in snow or flow. We will also review base words and suffixes. Suffixes are letters added to the end of a base word to change its conjugation, word type, or other grammar properties like plurality. Additionally, we will differentiate between a vowel suffix (start with a vowel) and a consonant suffix (starts with a consonant).
Science
We will continue exploring different plant and animal relationships. We will be planning and carrying out investigations and constructing explanations. Students will engage in science practice for exploration of how plants grow and to study habitats. You can support your child at home by taking a neighborhood walk and observing how plant and animals change and grow in the changing seasons.