Posts in 2nd Grade
2nd grade - foreign language

Foreign Language

The Greene School Foreign Language program is intended to develop listening comprehension and verbal skills in young children with classes three times a week. Skills in speaking, listening, reading, and writing are developed in this course. Students acquire language proficiency with visual and interactive support using grade level vocabulary and techniques such as Total Physical Response (TPR) and Natural Approach. The goal of both of these strategies is to allow students to learn a second language in the same way they learned their first language – through their senses, encouraging long-term retention of the language.

Second grade students use the ¡Qué chévere! and Realidades curriculum textbook which integrate development of language proficiency into cultural understanding using project-based learning activities, multimedia resources, songs, games, and stories.

  • Students will learn recalling, interpreting, and pronouncing the vocabulary appropriately.

  • Students will learn grade level subject pronouns, subject-verb agreement, adjectives, adverbs, people, verbs, clothes, objects/other nouns, places, sports/entertainment/music, foods, prepositions, time/days of the week, and colors.

  • Students will converse in short conversations, in familiar contexts.

  • Students will converse using short, simple messages and announcements on familiar topics.

  • Students will learn to translate simple stories or narratives.

  • Students will learn to follow short and simple directions.

  • Students will learn to recite the numbers from 1-40 in the target language.

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2nd GradeSamantha PennForeign Language
2nd grade - science

Science

Students will be exposed to examples for each category: Earth Science, Life Science, and Physical Science,

  • Students will learn to discover the world around them as they test predictions through creative thinking.

  • Students will learn to explore energy changes through motion and movement, energy in the form of sound and light, the significant impact of water and climate, the roles of plants and animals in their environment, and the structure of life in an ecosystem.

  • Students will learn how energy can be changed through motion and movement. Students will learn to recognize forces at work.

  • Students will understand the roles that plants and animals play in their environment and they will recognize the structures of life.

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2nd GradeSamantha PennScience
2nd grade - social science

Social Science

Our second grade social studies curriculum builds on the foundation created in first grade. Units are integrated into other subjects and based around current events (such as holidays and current themes). Student learning is based on questions, goals, understanding, and evidence, a learning plan is established using project-based learning that often employs technology.

  • Students will learn geography and map decoding skills.

  • Students will learn to describe the absolute and relative locations of people, places and environments.

  • Students will learn about the world around them through weekly current events activities and research.

  • Students will examine places and regions and the connections among them.

  • Students will learn to describe governmental institutions and practices in the United States and other countries.

  • Students will learn to compare and contrast everyday life in different times and places around the world and recognize that some aspects of people, places and things change over time while others stay the same.

Students will participate in project-based-learning activities such as (but not limited to):

  • Constructing questions about a topic, identify resources, and collect and organize information about the topic into a short report.

  • Designing and presenting projects on a selected country with special attention to the allocation of scarce resources in societies through analysis of individual choice, market interaction and public policy.

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2nd GradeSamantha PennSocial Science
2nd grade - mathematics

Mathematics

Our mathematics curriculum uses Pearson Envision math textbook and is supplemented with various project-based activities where students are encouraged to collaborate and work through real-life problems. The overall focus of mathematics in second grade is to promote number sense and problem-solving skills to allow students to work through problems that require multiple steps.

Students work through the following concept areas: Operations and Algebraic Thinking, Number and Operations in Base 10, Measurement and Data, and Geometry.

Within each area, students make real-world connections through word problems. While we differentiate within these concept areas for each student’s individual needs and skill set, all necessary benchmark milestones are covered. Students will learn to:

Operations in Algebraic Thinking

  • Use addition and subtraction within 1,000 to solve and two-step word problems.

  • Fluently add and subtract within 20 using mental strategies.

  • Determine whether a group of objects (up to 20) has an even or odd number of members. Use skip counting by 2 as a strategy.

  • Use addition to find the total number of objects arranged in rectangular arrays with up to 5 rows and 5 columns; write an equation to match the array.

  • Interpret products of whole numbers; understand that 5 x 7 is 5 groups of 7 objects.

Number and Operations in Base 10

  • Understand that the three digits of a three-digit number represent hundreds, tens, and ones.

  • Count within 1000; skip count by 5s, 10s, and 100s.

  • Read and write numbers to 1000 using base-ten numerals, number names, and expanded form.

  • Compare numbers using <,>, and =.

  • Fluently add and subtract within 1,000 using strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction.

  • Mentally add 10 or 100 more to a given number within 1,000.

  • Understand a fraction as the quantity formed by 1 part when a whole is partitioned into equal parts.

Measurement and Data

  • Measure the length of an object by selecting and using appropriate tools, such as rulers, yard/meter sticks, and measuring tape.

  • Estimate lengths using units of inches, feet, centimeters, and meters.

  • Measure to determine how much longer one object is than another.

  • Tell and write time from analog and digital clocks to nearest 5 minutes, using a.m. and p.m.

  • Solve word problems involving dollar bills, quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies, using $ and ¢.

  • Draw a picture graph and a bar graph (with single-unit scale) to represent a data set with up to four categories. Solve simple one to two-step word problems and compare the information presented in the graph.

Geometry

  • Recognize and draw shapes having specified attributes, such as a given number of angles or a given number of equal faces. Identify triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons, and cubes.

  • Partition a rectangle into rows and columns of the same size square and find the total.

  • Partition circles and rectangles into two, three, or four equal shares, describe the shares using words halves, thirds, half of, a third of, etc. and describe the whole as two halves, three thirds, four fourths. Recognize that equal shares of identical wholes need not have the same shape.

Examples of project-based activities include:

  • Creating a Gold Rush Mining Camp Map demonstrating an understanding of geometric shapes, area, and perimeter. (Cross-curricular with Social Studies and Language Arts).

  • Planning a Halloween party on a budget. Students must plan accordingly for the number of people that they plan to invite.

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2nd GradeSamantha PennMathematics
2nd grade - language arts

Language Arts

Our language arts curriculum utilizes a balanced approach to literacy including interactive read alouds, guided reading, shared reading, independent daily reading, and word study.

Reading

Second grade is a pivotal year for students as the focus moves from learning to read toward reading to learn. Instruction focuses on multiple intelligences and various learning styles present among students. Students will be reading for knowledge across all subject areas. Autonomy is the main objective. Students are encouraged to become independent, self-reliant learners as they explore multiple genres and expand their reading repertoire.

Reading skills include demonstrating an independent interest in reading-related activities, and listening with interest and purpose to stories and other texts read aloud.

  • Students will learn to listen to mentor texts that model reading strategies.

  • Students will learn to construct meaning from print and interpret stories and short passages.

  • Students will learn to decode new words by using phonics and/or contextual clues.

  • Students will learn to demonstrate an understanding of stories by identifying the main idea and main characters, placing events in sequence, and predicting the outcome.

  • Students will learn to summarize stories.

  • Students will learn to identify the difference between fact and opinion.

  • Students will learn to respond to who, what, when, where, how and why questions and include the same thoroughness in their story writing.

  • Students will learn to identify the main idea and details of a story, including retelling a reading selection.

Writing

Writing is incorporated through a cross-curricular approach. Students are encouraged to focus on the writing process. Focus is based on content and quality over quantity.

  • Students will learn the value of the editing process and how to use editing symbols.

  • Students learn to conduct research and use the information to write detailed stories.

  • Students will learn to utilize a myriad of graphic organizers to generate ideas, show their thinking, and establish a reference point for writing.

  • Students will learn to write a clear topic sentence, focusing on the main idea and including details that elaborate on the main idea.

  • Students will learn to use transition words for sentence variety.

Writing activities include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Students will use a writing folder to organize writing assignments and to keep track of the stages of writing.

  • Students will write friendly letters, research papers, realistic fiction stories, written responses to reading, persuasive essays, and narrative essays.

  • Students will complete a five-paragraph narrative story.

  • Students will write poetry (including bio poems, haiku, triante and acrostic style).

  • Students will write regular reflections in a journal.

  • Students will develop public speaking skills by presenting many writing assignments to groups.

Grammar and Vocabulary

Grammar and vocabulary will be taught in application. Grammar will be a focus during the editing phase of the writing process. Parts of speech and figurative language are highlighted and practiced throughout ELA class through the use of mentor texts and independent practice. Vocabulary for each subject is reviewed in context. Novel study provides a foundation for vocabulary acquisition and usage.

Handwriting

Cursive handwriting is introduced and practiced regularly. Students continue to use and practice manuscript handwriting. Students practice reading cursive writing and are prepared to write short stories in cursive by the end of the school year.

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2nd GradeSamantha PennLanguage Arts