2nd Grade

Second Grade

The second grade year builds on the foundation laid in first grade in all academic areas and the development of independence in each student is a year-long goal of second grade. Children are encouraged to assume increasing personal responsibility for their assignments and their materials, as well as for establishing continuity in their home/school communication and interpersonal relationships.

In Language Arts, a balanced literacy approach to learning to read is utilized. Students read a variety of print material as they participate in shared reading, group reading and independent reading. A basal series, leveled readers, fiction and non-fiction books and poetry are just a few of the materials used. Instruction concentrates on phonemic awareness, spelling and vocabulary, oral language, writing, grammar, usage and mechanics, reading comprehension and information and study skills. A wide variety of instructional strategies are employed including word sorts, flip books, poetry, phonics readers, original sentence writing, Daily Language Review, Drops in a Bucket, phonics centers and word work.

The Lower School uses the Everyday Mathematics program, incorporating a rich curriculum which enhances the ability to develop an understanding of numbers and acquire knowledge and skills from students’ own experiences. Students are guided as they move from concrete operations to abstract concepts and mathematical experiences are expanded through integration with other curriculum areas. The Everyday Mathematics series focuses on numeration, counting, operations and relations, patterns, geometry, measurement, fractions and decimals, and rules and functions. Manipulatives, slate routines, math games and drill are a part of the program.

In science, some of the science topics investigated by second graders are weather data which they gather and record and observations of weather patterns, magnets and their characteristics and properties, the properties for solids, liquids and gasses and how they change from one state to another, how some animals go through distinct changes during their life cycles while others generally resemble their parents, the changes that affect habitats over time, rocks, weathering and erosion. During these units, students are called upon to compare and contrast, demonstrate, examine and describe, identify, measure, predict and interpret.

In social studies, topics of study include a comparison of natural resources and capital resources, including making choices when resources are limited, responsibilities involved in citizenship, famous Americans who improved the lives of others, customs, traditions and characteristics of North American Indian tribes, locating on a map the continents and oceans, where the student lives and where the Indians studied live.

In addition, all second graders have instruction in library, computer and keyboarding skills, foreign language, music, art and physical education.