Second Grade

“Second Graders are building confidence and are eager to explore using their developing skills. As they build individual confidence, their friendships become more flexible and tolerant. While encouraging independence, parents still need to be involved in guiding homework, friendships and academic growth.” ~~ Bonnie Martin, Russell Elementary School

Language Arts

Themes: Something New: Being Me, Helping Hands, Our World; Just in Time: Imagine That, Neighborhood News, Travel Time

• Learning to read independently
• Preview text (title, headings, chapters, cover, table of contents) to set a purpose for reading, recognize author’s purpose and make predictions
• Use sight word vocabulary
• Use knowledge of phonics and word analysis to decode new words
• Use initial and final sounds, and long and short vowel sounds, to decode words
• Develop knowledge of phonics (digraphs, blends, etc.)
• Use context cues to understand new words
• Reread to self-correct miscues
• Retell and summarize ideas in nonfiction and fiction
• Clarify ideas and understandings through rereading and discussion
• Reading Critically
• Distinguish between fantasy and realism, and between fact and opinion
• Make inferences and draw conclusions based on text
• Read and understand documents
• Identify and use a variety of media
• Analyzing & Interpreting Literature
• Recognize types of text (narrative, informational, etc.)
• Identify literary elements (events, characters, setting, problem, solution)
• Identify literary devices (repetition, personification, rhyme, etc.)
• Read and respond to fiction, nonfiction and poetry
• Identify dialogue
• Act out story in play format
• Types and Quality of Writing
• Write with a clear focus, identifying topic, purpose and audience
• Write using content appropriate to topic
• Write showing main idea and supporting details
• Write in sequence with a beginning, middle and end, using key words for sequencing (first, next, finally)
• Revise and edit writing
• Spell frequently used words correctly
• Use capital letters and punctuation marks correctly
• Learning to Learn
• Discuss and locate topics of interest for research
• Locate appropriate resources for a task
• Use traditional and electronic resources
• Describe appropriate listening, speaking and turn-taking behaviors
• Exhibit persistence in completing tasks
• Follow classroom rules
• Strive for accuracy

Social Studies

“Neighborhoods” Building on the kindergarten and first grade introductions, Social Studies in the second grade uses an interdisciplinary approach, looking at the four areas of the Social Studies in the everyday life of the child. Exposure to Pennsylvania and World History, important documents in history such as the Constitution, and the five themes of Geography are key parts of the second grade Social Studies curriculum.

The following Social Studies units are included in the second grade curriculum:

• Communities
• We Meet Our Needs
• Rules and Laws
• Community Changes

Science

“The Life Cycle of the Butterflies” In this unit, students observe the life cycle of the Painted Lady butterfly. Through their experiences, they are introduced to the following science concepts:

• The different stages of a butterfly’s life cycle are egg, larva, caterpillar, chrysalis, and adult.
• Caterpillars need food, air, and space to live and grow.
• The caterpillar forms a chrysalis, and a butterfly emerges from the chrysalis.
• A butterfly needs food to live, but it does not grow after emerging from the chrysalis.
• A butterfly lays eggs, which hatch into larvae.

“Balancing and Weighing” In this unit, students expand their understanding of the relationship between balance and weight as they explore activities in balancing, comparing, and weighing. Their experiences introduce them to the following concepts:

• Balance is affected by the amount of weight, the position of weight, and the position of the fulcrum.
• Weighing is the process of balancing an object against a certain number of standard units.
• The weight of an object is not determined by its size.
• Equal volumes of different foods will not all have equal weights; equal weights of different foods will not all have equal volumes.

“Plant Growth and Development” Plant and Development is an eight-week unit during which the students experience the complete life cycle of a plant in a very short time and learn that the cycle includes germination, growth, development of specialized parts, and even death, with the promise of new life in the seed.

The unit opens with lessons on observing seeds and brainstorming about what the students already know about plants. These lessons are followed by a planting activity that stresses following directions and working independently.

The unit emphasis then shifts to the theme of interdependence and explores the reasons why the bee and the flower need each other.

Throughout the unit, students are encouraged to make frequent observations of their plants using as much sensory information as possible. Students continue to record these observations in writing and drawing.

Finally, the students harvest and thresh the “crop” and determine their yield.

Mathematics

The focus of Level 2 Mathematics is the mastery and application of addition and subtraction and subtraction facts. Other important topics studied are

• The introduction of basic multiplication concepts and facts
• Place value
• Time
• Money
• Graphs
• Measurement
• Geometry
• Problem solving strategies