Curriculum

Academic Program -- 2nd Grade

Language Arts

Language Arts is composed of several interrelated areas: reading, writing, spelling, listening, and speaking. At the elementary level, the student is encouraged to learn to communicate clearly through development in these five areas. The 6 + 1 Trait Model is utilized for teaching and assessing writing. This model focuses on qualities that define strong writing: conventions, ideas, organization, word choice, sentence fluency, and voice. 

Reading

·         Utilize and apply a variety of reading strategies (e.g., picture clues, decoding, context clues, and rereading for meaning) for the purpose of comprehending a text
·         Interpret figurative language (e.g., synonyms, antonyms, homonyms)
·         Use a variety of strategies to connect important ideas in text to prior knowledge and other readings
·         Identify fiction and nonfiction and differentiate between fact and opinion
·         Read age appropriate material aloud with fluency and accuracy
·         Identify purposes for reading
·         Make, confirm, modify, or reject predictions before, during, and after reading
·         Ask questions in order to continuously check and clarify for understanding during reading
·         Use evidence and information in text to form questions, verify predictions, generate and respond to questions that reflect higher level thinking skills
·         Utilize the strategies of inferring, comparing, and evaluating of text
·         Use information from simple tables, maps, and charts to increase comprehension of a variety of age-appropriate materials, both fiction and nonfiction
·         Identify story elements (e.g. characters, setting, problem, solution)
·         Engage in discussion through retelling and analysis
·         Investigate literature from a variety of time periods/cultures/genres
·         Make text to self, text to text, and text to world connections
·         Explain how major children’s authors and illustrators express their ideas 

Writing

·         Continue to focus and maintain the following conventions:
·         Appropriate capitalization
·         Appropriate punctuation
·         Concept of a noun
·         Concept of a complete sentence
·         Focus on:
·         Parts of a friendly letter
·         Concept of verb
·         Introduced and focused on:
·         The stages of the writing process (e.g., prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing)
·         The development of paragraphs exhibiting the traits of good writing (e.g., ideas, organization, sentence fluency, voice, and word choice)
·         The correct spelling of high frequency (commonly misspelled) words (e.g., said, friend, what)
·         The correct use of phonemic word families (e.g., all, ball, call)
·         Developing a narrative, expository, persuasive, creative, and research piece of writing
·         Utilizing available technology to support the writing process 

Spelling

·         Use phonemic clues phonetic and/or developmental spelling to spell unfamiliar words
·         Correctly spell appropriate high frequency words
·         Correctly use and spell phonemic word families (e.g., all, ball, call) 

Listening

·         Listen attentively by facing speaker, making eye contact, and paraphrasing what is said
·         Listen to and follow a story orally read
·         Ask questions and respond to questions from the teacher and from group members to improve comprehension
·         Follow oral direction

Speaking

·         Retell a story in the correct sequence
·         Participate in discussions around a common topic
·         Present brief oral reports, using language and vocabulary appropriate to the message and audience (e.g., show and tell)

Mathematics

Everyday Mathematics encourages teachers and students to explore more of the spectrum of mathematical ideas through a deeper understanding of key mathematical concepts and an in-depth study of all the content strands of mathematics.

The curriculum allows students to construct an understanding of mathematics from their own experience, and includes practical routines to build arithmetic skills that are essential for building number sense, estimation skills, and flexibility in a problem-rich environment. Important concepts or skills recur with variations throughout the curriculum, and concepts are introduced and revisited in a variety of formats providing considerable practice.

Our focus is to have students recognize that there are various ways to accomplish a task, and to use the best tools and strategies for solving problems. This is done by establishing a framework for dialogue about mathematics between the teacher and students.

Content strands include:

·         Operations and Computation
·         Numeration
·         Patterns, Functions & Algebra
·         Data and Chance
·         Measurement and Reference Frames
·         Geometry

 

Science/Health

The purpose of science is to provide students with balanced, (Life, Earth, Physical and Health) relevant, hands-on opportunities and experiences to better understand science and to promote scientific literacy. 

Second-Grade topics include:

·         Life – Life Cycles
·         Earth – Water Cycles
·         Physical – Sink or Float
·         Health – Nutrition

Each Unit or Kit is explored over a period of several weeks.

 

Social Studies

Second grade expands on the concepts and skills of first grade. Units include:

·         Our country’s history
·         Needs, wants, and goods of our economy
·         Communities and citizenship
·         Concept of government
·         Maps to identify landforms and bodies of water

 

Physical Education

Students learn, develop, and apply skills needed for participation in personal fitness and lifetime activities that contribute to a healthy lifestyle. Concepts introduced and developed include:

·         Fundamental gross motor skills
·         Movement and spatial awareness
·         Health-related fitness
·         Cooperative skills

 

Visual Arts

The purpose of the visual arts curriculum is to have students grow creatively, intellectually, emotionally, and aesthetically. The content standards include:

·         Understand and apply media, techniques, and processes
·         Use knowledge of art elements and principles of design
·         Choose and evaluate ideas, subject forms, and symbols
·         Understand visual arts in relation to history and cultures
·         Reflect on and assess student work
·         Make the connections between arts and other disciplines

 

Music

The general music program will develop the students’ understanding and the relationship of music to other disciplines and cultures as well as history. Content standards include:

·         Singing
·         Performing on a variety of instruments
·         Improvising melodies
·         Composing and arranging
·         Reading and notating music
·         Listening, analyzing, and describing music
·         Evaluating music and musical performances
 

General Information

Technology

The goal of technology education in District 204 is to provide students with the opportunity for technological literacy starting with the elementary curriculum. Our emphasis with students is the application of technology across all grade levels and curricular areas as well as the development of problem-solving and critical-thinking skills.

Reporting to Parents

Classroom progress is reported through quarterly report cards, annual conferences, and informal parent-teacher communication. Student evaluation is consistent with District goals and State Standards.

Testing

The District achievement testing program assesses the strengths/needs of our instructional programs and measures the achievement of individual students. Testing includes standardized tests, State tests, District assessments, and classroom evaluations.

Homework

Homework at the elementary level begins in an informal fashion but becomes more formal and requires more time and effort as the child progresses through each grade.

Parents are expected to be sufficiently interested in their child’s education to commit the time and energy needed to monitor/supervise the child’s home study and thereby insure that he/she makes a reasonable effort to complete homework assignments.