Language Arts
Students work on building reading fluency and comprehension through continued phonics instruction, small book groups, guided reading experiences, partner reading and Readers Theater.
Teachers and the reading specialist offer extra support and enrichment through small groups and individual work.
Fiction, nonfiction, and poetry are used for direct reading instruction and read-aloud, and are integrated within science, social studies, and mathematics thematic studies.
Writing is integrated across the subject areas. Students participate in writers' workshop and develop their skills through the writing process. Lucy Calkins' Units of Study act as a guide. Topics include personal narratives, authors as mentors, informational writing, and poetry.
Mathematics
Illustrative Mathematics is a problem-based core curriculum for 21st century learners designed to address content and practice standards to foster learning for all, preparing students to solve problems, reason, communicate, and think critically in the classroom and beyond. Instruction is provided as a whole group as well as in small, guided math groups. Emphasis is placed on:
- place value
- addition with regrouping
- subtraction and its relationship to addition
- patterning and skip counting
- data and graphing
- time and money
- geometry and spatial relationships
A variety of materials and problem-solving strategies are used to develop flexibility and fluency with mathematical thinking.
Science
- Life Cycles: frogs, butterflies, plants
- Rocks and Minerals
- Balance and Motion
Social Studies/Geography
Long Ago and Far Away:
- Acton Long Ago (1900s)
- Ghana and the Ashanti People
Students build understanding of people's basic needs and wants and how they change over time and place. Timelines, storytelling, geography, hands-on explorations, and the arts are integral to these studies.
Related Studies
A variety of field trips are important to the various second grade studies, including outdoor hikes, nature trips, and museum visits, as well as occasional special grade level activity days.