Grade Two Curriculum

Morning Work – As the students arrive at school they get right on task. After interacting with the morning message they begin the day with a math warm-up. When this is complete, students may read, write, or finish other work that needs to be completed.

Morning Meeting – Each day starts with the whole class coming together as a community for our Morning Meeting. Meetings begins with the students greeting each other in creative ways. After the greeting students take part in an activity. Some of these activities involve getting to know each other better while others are tied to the academic curriculum. Morning Meeting is also a time for students to share any news with each other and/or discuss whole class issues.

Phonics - During this time, students work on the daily phonics lessons using the Bradley Language Arts Program. This method is a multiskills, multisensory approach to reading and language arts. The components of the program include phonics, reading, spelling, and the writing process.

Readers' Workshop - The goal of Readers' Workshop is to help students foster a life-long love of reading. Readers’ Workshop allows students to practice strategies aimed at improving their fluency and comprehension. Readers’ Workshop also exposes children to a wide variety of different genres and authors.

During this time students work on literacy activities, participate in whole-group mini-lessons, read independently, and practice applying skills and strategies. The reading program used for teaching these strategies is the Houghton Mifflin Basal Reading Series. Students also read leveled books in small guided reading groups with the teacher. During guided reading, the children read at their instructional level.

Math – The 2^nd grade math lessons are standards-based. They are created using a variety of different resources aimed at reaching all learners. The primary program used for formal math instruction this year is the Scott Foresman Math Series. This series will be supplemented with the TERC Investigations program as well as other resources such as Everyday Math. Students also work on math in a variety of ways throughout the day using warm-up exercises, the calendar, the schedule, math games, and math journals. This year we will work on the number system, sorting and graphing, geometry and fractions, measurement, and adding and subtracting large numbers.

Writers' Workshop – The ultimate goal of the Writers’ Workshop in 2^nd grade is to allow children to effectively express themselves through writing. During Writers’ Workshop the class engages in interactive mini-lessons to help students develop the craft of writing. The children then write independently in their personalized writers’ notebooks while the teacher has writing conferences with individual students. Students also get an opportunity to peer edit and share what they write with other students. Over the course of the year students will explore many different types of writing. They will create personal narratives, letters, fairytales, poetry, and non-fiction.

Social Studies - The curriculum for the students this year is "From Many, One". Students will learn about communities, citizenship, and traditions. Additionally, we will explore geography through the use of maps and globes. Students will identify continents as well as major U.S. and world landmarks.

Science - The science curriculum includes the following components.

Life Science: insects

Earth Science: pebbles/sand/silt

Physical Science: comparing and measuring

Technology/Engineering: materials and tools

 

Special Subjects

Gym - Mrs. Holmes
Art - Ms. Sallen
Music - Mr. Ward
Computer - Mrs. Smith
Science – Ms. McClure