2

Steps
Forward
FREE SAMPLER!
A Celebration of All Things  for the
 Day of  Grade
nd nd

Enjoy this free sampler of activities

from our 2nd Day of 2nd Grade
bundle. These activities are perfect
any time in the first week of school in
2nd grade!
Second Story Window
 Two Steps
Name_____________________________________________________________________________ Forward
Welcome to 2nd grade!
opinion writing
Write your opinion about the question and explain your reasons.

Would you rather...

have 2 balloons that never pop or a 2 minute balloon ride?

Helpful Words:
because think better wouldn’t reason want
c 2014 Second Story Window
 Two Steps
Name_____________________________________________________________________________ Forward
Welcome to 2nd grade!
adding & subtracting
Cut out the numbers at the boom of the page. Glue one number into each
box. Solve the problems. The number line can help you.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Circle the largest answer. Cross out the smallest answer.

4 = ____ 12 = ____
7 = ____ 2 = ____
10 = ____ 15 = ____
16 = ____ 8 = ____
9 = ____ 11 = ____
+2 +2 +2 +2 +2
–2 –2 –2 –2 –2
c 2014 Second Story Window
 games

The Two of Us --- a get-to-know-you game

Ahead of time, print enough of the game cards to have

enough for each student. Each picture is cut in half.
There are 40 pictures, so choose the ones that are most If you don’t want to
suitable for your students. print and cut the pictures
die-cut shapes work, too.
Put the picture halves in a large box or bin. Have each
student choose 1 card (a half of a picture). Discuss how
to move around the room safely (no running, no pushing
past people, no going OVER desks, no swinging on chairs
or desks, etc.) Play some music and have students walk
around and try to find their picture pair.

Once everyone has found his/her match, pause the

music. Direct the partners to share 2 things. For
example, “Tell your 2 favorite colors.” Other ideas might
be 2 favorite foods, 2 favorite places to visit, 2 favorite
movies, 2 favorite books, 2 least favorite foods, 2 favorite
toys, etc.

Have students return their cards to the box and draw a

new one. Repeat the process.

Possible song suggestions (please preview any song

choice for appropriateness for your class):

* So Happy Together by The Turtles (my personal fave!)

* Just the Two of Us by Bill Withers

* A Couple of Swells by Irving Berlin

c 2014 Second Story Window 10

STOP
Max Found Two Sticks by Jerry Pinkney
Well, the title prey much sums it up. Max finds two
sticks. He uses them as drumsticks to match the rhythm
of things around him by drumming on boxes and buckets
and boles.

For this rhythm activity, students will need 2

sticks--pencils, Popsicle sticks, or chopsticks would all
work.

Students will explore 3 rhythms from the story: rain,

pigeon wings, and bells. Print several copies of the
pictures and cut them apart.

Kids can tap on their shoes, thighs, desks, or if you’re pitter-patter pitter-patter
feeling adventurous, let them find an object in the room
to use as a makeshi drum (maybe don’t allow drumming
on a fellow student). flap flap flap flap
Introduce the pictures one at a time. Their tapping
should match the syllables of the words. For the rain, clang clang
pier-paer, they should give 4 quick taps (think eighth c 2014 Second Story Window

notes). With the pigeon (I know pigeons aren’t green, but

I wanted something colorful!) students should give 2 taps
(like quarter notes). The bell is one tap like a whole note.
Because you can’t hold out a tap the way you can a note,
this would sound more like a tap and then a pause.

Once students are comfortable with the different

rhythms, put 2 or 3 pictures on the board and practice
tapping the sequence. As they improve, lengthen the
sequence. For example:

clang clang pitter-patter flap flap flap flap pitter-patter clang flap flap

You will need to establish a start and stop signal.

c Second Story Window
 pitter-patter pitter-patter

flap flap flap flap

clang clang
c 2014 Second Story Window
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the 2nd Day
of 2nd Grade?

2
Steps
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Back to School in nd Grade!

A Celebration of All Things  for the

 Day of  Grade
nd nd

Second Story Window

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