Welcome to Second Grade!  This will be an exciting year in which students will build upon their primary learning experiences as they transition into the intermediate school years.  While basic skills and competencies are taught in all classrooms, teachers never lose sight of the child as an individual learner.  Teachers value the thoughts, ideas, and questions of every student and provide choice and flexibility to challenge each child to his/her highest potential.  The second grade curriculum and environment fosters increased responsibility and independence for all students. 

GRADE-LEVEL SPECIFIC INFORMATION

Communication with Your Child's Teacher

• The partnership between school and home is crucial to your child's success.  Parents are encouraged to contact their child's teacher at any time during the school year to discuss any concerns or problems.
• Students will receive three report cards (November, March, and June).
• If you need to drop something off for your child, please go directly to the main office.  The item(s) will be sent to your child’s classroom.
• Parents are advised to keep changes in transportation to a minimum.  Please notify your child’s teacher in writing of any changes in advance.

 Parent/Teacher Conferences

•  There are two parent/teacher conferences scheduled during the year, one in November and one in March.

SUBJECT OVERVIEWS

Health/Science

The second grade health program implements The Great Body Shop.  Children receive a monthly magazine focusing on various health-related topics.  

Students will have full use of our Science laboratory with wonderful experiments waiting for them. In second grade students will learn about thinking, questioning, hypothesizes, and experimenting. We also learn about the different mammals in our world. Example: bats, polar bears, whales butterflies, and birds. 

Social Studies

The second grade social studies program enables students to learn about our community through exploration.  We also have in-depth discussions about our National and Federal holidays. Geography and map skills are introduced and developed to aid students in understanding their place in the world and how it relates to others. 

Reading

The goal of the second grade reading instruction is to create independent readers.  By carefully assessing each student’s strengths and weaknesses, teachers are better able to guide them in selecting appropriate literature for their reading level.  Here, students can practice such skills as decoding, fluency, and reading comprehension.

The second grade reader’s workshop is structured so that each student will have the opportunity to learn various reading strategies through the class mini-lesson, practice it during their independent reading and/or guided reading group, and reinforce what they learned through whole class book talks.  Students also learn to respond to literature through the use of reading journals and graphic organizers.

Students focus on various units of study (author and character study) throughout the year.  Here, they develop a true appreciation for literature.

Students will be asked to complete a book report every month. they are fun activities to help engage students into a book and its purpose and elements. Example: Diorama, Cereal Box Book Reports, Book in a Bag, Message in a Bottle, etc...

Writing

Writing is a multi-faceted subject in the second grade, as it encompasses both technique and creativity.  Students are taught how to write letters and short essays using the Teacher's College Models.  We also focus on proper sentence structure, grammar, paragraphing, capitalization and punctuation. Students will keep a journal and writer's notebook. They will also keep a portfolio of all their work. Parents will be invited at the end of the year for a "Portfolio Celebration." 

Second graders explore a variety of genres in the Writer’s Workshop. Students build confidence while learning skills.  Writing occurs daily in the second grade.  Students leave second grade more confident in their ability to organize their ideas into concrete text, enjoyed by both the reader and the author.

Writing Titles:

• Narrative Writing
• Informational Writing
• Gripping Stories
• Poetry
• Writing About Reading
• Lab reports & Science Books
• Arguments

Mathematics

The second grade mathematics program reinforces and expands the concepts and skills of adding, subtracting, graphing, time, geometry and money.  As children at this stage of development need concrete materials to develop their mathematical skills, hands-on activities and games are used in conjunction with published materials.  The program uses problem solving approaches to investigate and reinforce all mathematical topics.  Students are encouraged to explain their thinking in words when solving problems.