Curriculum Overview
Grade 2
MATH 2 PROGRAM
OVERVIEW
Saxon Mathematics
Math 2 is a success-oriented program It enables
all children in a heterogeneous class to develop a solid foundation in the
language and basic concepts of all areas of mathematics.
Mathematics builds on prior learning. In Math 2, new learning is presented in
increments, with time provided between increments for practice. This is similar to spreading each unit
throughout the year.
Each day the child will participate in a
speed drill practice. Mastery of the
basic facts is crucial to continued success in the program. The Lesson is a new
objective, or increment and is introduced through a carefully selected group
activity. Children use materials, engage
in discussions, work in cooperative groups, and work together to help each
other learn. The Lesson includes
individual written practice to follow the skills.
Oral and cumulative written assessments are
built into the program. Oral assessments
occur after every ten lessons and written assessments after every five
lessons. All assessments occur after
children have practice a skill for at least five days.
READING PROGRAM
OVERVIEW
McGraw-Hill guided reading series is used as
a basal text in the second grade curriculum.
It is divided into three parts: Start
Together is the initial component where students read aloud,, are introduced to phonics skills, build background for
selection, and work with selection vocabulary.
Meeting Individual Needs consists of the core selection, leveled
books to meet individual needs, and leveled practice. Finish Together incorporates phonics,
comprehension, vocabulary, study skills, and assessment.
Recent research findings have strongly
concluded that children with good phonologically awareness skills are more
likely to learn to read well. These
skills can be improved through systematic, explicit instruction involving
auditory practice. McGraw-Hill Reading
develops these key skills by providing an explicit Phonologically
Awareness lesson in every selection at grades K-2. Motivating activities such
as blending, segmenting, and rhyming help to develop children’s awareness of
the sounds in our language.
Research has clearly identified the critical
role of phonics in the ability of readers to read fluently and with good
understanding, as well as to write and spell.
The McGraw-Hill programs provides daily
explicit and systematic phonics instruction to teach the letter sounds and
blending. There are three explicit
Phonics and Decoding lessons for every selection. Daily Phonics Routines are provided for quick
reinforcement, in addition to activities in the practice book.
Research on reading shows that guided
instruction enables students to develop as independent, strategic readers. Through the guided-reading lessons provided
for the leveled books offered with the program, teachers work in small groups
of students of different ability levels, closely observing them as they read
and providing support specific to their needs.
The McGraw-Hill Reading provides successful experiences for every child
by providing a rich collection of leveled books for easy, independent, and
challenging reading.
Frequent assessment in the classroom makes it
easier for teachers to identify problems and find remedies for them. McGraw-Hill Reading incorporates formal and
informal assessments. Weekly selection
tests and criterion-referenced unit tests help to monitor students’ knowledge
of important skills and concepts. Weekly
lessons on test preparation, including test preparation practice books, help
students to transfer skills to new contexts and to become better test takers.
In addition to the guided reading series
previously stated, Accelerated Reader is widely used by the children. First, their ZED (zone of proximal
development) is determined by taking the STAR reading test. Their reading level is then determined, which
greatly aids in their selection of books when they go to the library. We call this supplementary program,
“Adventure Reading” and the children reach certain levels in their journey to
“Survivor.” Prizes and incentives are
given as they reach their goals.
McGraw-Hill Spelling
is used in addition to the reading series.
A pretest is taken on Monday, with a Spelling workbook that is done
during the week. A formal pretest is
administered on Wednesday, and the final test on Friday is given, along with
three dictation sentences.
LANGUAGE PROGRAM
OVERVIEW
English 2 by Houghton Mifflin is used in the
second grade. Sentences, nouns and pronouns,
verbs, adjectives, capitalization and punctuation are taught in units. A unit assessment is given to check
mastery. The writing process is a
wonderful part of the second grade program.
The children learn to write their own personal narrative, write a
description, and write to express an opinion.
The second graders culminate the year by the
actual writing of their own hardback book.
The complete writing process is followed from rough draft to final
copy.
HANDWRITING OVERVIEW
Zaner-Bloser Handwriting is used in the second grade
curriculum. Proper letter formation,
spacing, and slant are emphasized in this process. It is a continuation of the instruction used
in our first grade curriculum. Cursive
writing is not introduced in our second grade program.
BIBLE OVERVIEW
Our Bible curriculum for Grade 2 is
Finding God’s Promises. Positive
Action for Christ is the publisher. The
life of Moses is the major thrust of the curriculum. Bible verses are given weekly which
correspond with the weekly Bible lesson.
A workbook is used and Bible tests are also administered. Music is greatly incorporated into the Bible
program. The year is culminated with all
second graders participating in a Moses program complete with costumes and
band.
SOCIAL STUDIES
OVERVIEW
MacMillan/McGraw-Hill- We
Live Together (2003) is
used in the second grade curriculum.
This series contains geography skills such as maps and globes, symbols,
location and direction, and scale and distance.
History is taught through reading as well as flocculates, tall tales,
and realistic fiction. Citizenship is
taught to encourage students to make a difference in our democracy using
real-life examples. Unit reviews contain
questions that encourage critical thinking.
Tests are used to monitor student progress and to promote success on
standardized tests. Visual aids such as
posters and maps are used throughout the book.
SCIENCE OVERVIEW
The second grade science curriculum consists
of three hands-on science kits. The
hands-on kit called “Changes” allows the children to investigate examples of
changes in their daily lives. The
children explore the differences between solids, liquids, and gases, and with
water as it freezes, melts, evaporates, and condenses. This kit lets the children investigate
changes involving mixtures, combines solids and liquids, and then separates the
mixture through filtration and evaporation.
The live cycle of the butterfly is explored in the second kit. The children will experience the wonder of
the butterfly’s life cycle as it goes from a tiny caterpillar that is
transformed into an adult butterfly. The
children will have the opportunity to observe the emergence of the butterfly
from the chrysalis and record the differences and similarities between the
different life cycle stages of the insect.
The third kit provides activities that help children explore the
relationship between balance and weight.
The children construct a balance beam and an equal arm balance. These two different types of balances are
tools the children use to compare objects.
The children put objects in order from lightest to heaviest.
SPECIAL AREAS OF
INSTRUCTION
Second graders go to music twice a week. Physical Education is offered four times a
week. An art teacher has direct art
instruction once a week. The children go
to library once a week for checking out books and special instruction given by
the librarian. Spanish is offered once a
week by a qualified instructor.
Computers are integrated into the curriculum. Our reading curriculum offers numerous web
sites for the children, along with a phonics CD ROM for additional practice in
phonics. Teacher-guided use of computers
is integrated into the various areas of the curriculum.