Curriculum

 

Here is an overview of the second grade curriculum for the 2023-2024 school year:

READING/LANGUAGE ARTS

This year's reading curriculum will come from Units of Study for Teaching Reading by Lucy Calkins.  In second grade there are four main units: Reading Growth Spurt, Reading Nonfiction, Amping Up Reading Power, and Series Book Clubs.  While reading literature, students will study plot and characters.  They will learn to think deeply about lessons an author is trying to teach the reader and ways authors use figurative language in both stories and poetry.  Second graders will also spend time reading nonfiction.  They will learn to identify main ideas and supporting details.  They will learn to recognize a variety of common nonfiction structures such as how biographies are written in chronological order or weather books focus on cause and effect.  Finally, students will move on to reading longer series books, following a character across a variety of adventures.  Their stamina for silent reading will dramatically improve as they consider how each chapter builds on the next.  

To reach all levels of readers, teachers will use a workshop approach that includes targeted mini-lessons, independent and partner reading opportunities, and differentiated guided reading groups.  Each classroom has a 600 book library that will allow opportunities to both model reading behaviors using high quality children's literature and allow for students to have choice in their independent reading material.  A reading W.I.N. (What I Need) Time that will occur four times a week for half an hour will allow teachers to meet and support small groups of students at their instructional reading level as well.  Reading specialists will also use this time to help students struggling with grade level material to boost their progress. 

WRITING/LANGUAGE ARTS

Our core writing program comes from Writing Units of Study by Lucy Calkins and aligns directly to the reading program.  Students will learn to write narrative, expository, and persuasive pieces.  They will learn to write “small moments” from their own lives focusing on zooming in on details and elaboration.  They will also learn to use their creativity to organize fairy tales, adding dialogue and exciting events.  Second graders will also learn how to write nonfiction books focused on a single topic by organizing information into separate chapters and paragraphs.  They will learn to include facts, keywords, and text features (such as diagrams, glossaries, and maps).  Finally, students will learn to write about the books they are reading by sharing their opinions and including reasons and specific examples.  Second graders will review sentence structure including correct grammar and usage of capital letters and punctuation.  They will also be expected to correctly spell sight words learned in kindergarten and first grade.  Those words will be reinforced on a word wall displayed in the classroom.  They will also learn to use spelling patterns and a student dictionary to move toward conventional spelling of most words in their writing.

HANDWRITING

Second graders will review proper formation of manuscript letters at the beginning of the year following the “Handwriting Without Tears” program.  Starting in the second trimester we will begin to introduce and practice cursive lettering.  In the third trimester we will introduce typing using the district’s online typing training program.

SCIENCE

Our second grade science units are based on the Next Generation Science Standards.  Our science units will be Solids and Liquids, Pebbles, Sand and Silt, and Plants and Insects.  All science units focus on exploratory and hands-on learning as well as reading related material and writing about their learning.  Students are taught to make observations, form hypotheses, conduct experiments, and develop conclusions.  

 

SOCIAL STUDIES

In social studies, we will use the overarching theme of Communities to explore geography, history, culture, government, and economics.  Through a variety of multimedia presentations and hands on activities students will be excited to learn about these social studies topics.  

MATH

In math we will be using the Eureka Math program to teach to the Common Core Math Performance Standards.   Students will develop fluency strategies for quickly and accurately adding and subtracting numbers through 20.  They will learn place value concepts for understanding numbers through 1,000 and strategies for adding and subtracting 2 and 3 digit numbers.  Students will be introduced to foundations for multiplication using repeated addition.  Students will also learn about measurement, graphing, geometry, and fractions.  They will learn to count money and tell time.  Most importantly students will use all these skills to solve a variety of real world word problems that involve multiple steps.  

Standardized Testing

In second grade students will participate in MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) testing provided by the NWEA (Northwest Evaluation Association).  MAP testing is administered in the fall, winter, and spring.  MAP tests are computer-based adaptive assessments. The assessment covers both reading and math and includes a variety of strands within each test.  The scores will be shared with parents during the first parent-teacher conference.