Contact the Second Grade Teachers

In addition, second grade teaching focuses on the skills outlined below in reading, language arts and composition, and math.

Reading
Students are assessed on a regular basis to determine the appropriate instructional and independent reading level.  Some concepts studied include:  sequencing, reality/fantasy, classifying information, making predictions, main idea/details, oral summaries, written directions, parts of a book, drawing conclusions, alphabetizing, cause/effect, setting and characterization.

Language Arts and Composition
Students in the second grade will have many experiences in using the writing process such as:  prewriting, drafting, writing person experience stories, writing friendly letters, describing pictures, writing informal responses to literature, and describing character, plot and setting. Basic grammar will be studied including parts of speech, punctuation and capitalization.

Math
Second graders are responsible for learning addition facts to 18.  They will be able to do subtraction facts from the same "family" (6  + 7 = 13 OR 13 - 7 = 6) By the end of the year students should know the basic facts well enough to respond within 3 seconds.  Other math concepts include:  rule out irrelevant information in story problems, problem solving, place value, counting money, telling time, measuring length, capacity, and weight using customary and metric units and gather information from pictographs and bar graphs.

1st Six  Weeks
Overarching Concept:  Systems
Organizing Idea:  How Do We Connect in Our World?

Summary:  This organizing idea focuses on systems and their maintenance.  Students discover how systems work.  Tools and strategies that will be used throughout the year will be introduced and taught during this unit.  Students discover that they are a part of the classroom system.  They explore how keeping themselves healthy is an important part of keeping the classroom system going.  Throughout this Organizing Idea, students develop a portfolio which is a system of assessment and self evaluation.  They use their portfolio to showcase their work at Open House.

2nd Six Weeks
Overarching Concept: Balance and Stability
Organizing Idea: Where is Harmony in Our World?

Summary: In the unit students will learn about harmony and the importance of living in harmony in the world. They explore and research the Earth's habitat regions. They learn how animals and plants adapt to their habitats and live in harmony. Students are introduced to the concept of endangerment and extinction by studying causes of extinction and how to prevent it. As a culminating activity for this unit, students look for examples of harmony in the world with magazines, newspapers, and news reports.

3rd Six Weeks
Overarching Concept: Diversity
Organizing Idea: How Are We Alike and Different in Our World?

Summary: Students explore the meaning of the word diversity in the third six weeks unit. They study diversity as a condition of being varied or different, yet part of a whole. Students discover how each one is different from another person, yet they are bound to each other by common things. Students explore how cultures are the same and different around the world. To end this unit, students will present the findings of research on different cultures with a presentation tool found in the computer program, Friends Across the World.

4th Six Weeks
Overarching Concept: Continuity and Change
Organizing Idea: What Impacts Our World?

Summary: This Organizing Idea discusses how things that create an impact cause some kind of change. Students explore music, art, and literature, and the impact that each has on life and culture. Students examine people who have made an impact in their life and write a letter to one of those people. Students examine the impact of water pollution and what each can do to help solve the problems of the world.

5th Six Weeks
Overarching Concept: Interactions
Organizing Idea: How are Communities Interdependent in Our World?

Summary: This Organizing Idea focuses on the interdependence of rural and urban communities and how that contributes to the relationships of producer/consumer, and goods/services. Recycling is studied as a way communities work together to protect the environment. Students learn about transportation as the movement of goods and services and a way of connecting communities.

6th Six Weeks
Overarching Concept: Communication
Organizing Idea: What Does Evidence Tell Us About Our World?

Summary: This Organizing Idea deals with using evidence as a means of communicating. Students learn from their study that evidence is a form of communicating about the past. They explore evidence such as: fossils, dinosaurs, clues in mysteries, and everyday objects as to the information they communicate. Students use "Message in a Fossil" simulation on the computer and apply problem solving techniques to solve a mystery.

Second Grade is SUPERB!