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Second Grade Curriculum
MATH
Our Everyday Mathematics program emphasizes: · a problem solving approach to develop critical thinking · practice of basic skills through math games · activities that explore a wide variety of mathematical content with opportunities to apply basic fact skills to geometry, measurement, and algebra. · an instructional approach that reviews topics regularly to ensure full concept development We start the year with a review of numbers. Mastery of the basic addition facts to 20 is stressed first semester. Mastery of both the addition and subtraction basic facts to 20 is required by the end of the year. Adding and subtracting 2 and 3 place numbers with and without regrouping is developed. Multiplication and division is practiced through hands on activities. Other topics of study include place value, geometry, time, money, fractions, patterns, functions, algebra, measurement (experiences with standard and metric measurement are provided), and understanding data through charts, tables, and graphs. LANGUAGE ARTS Our language arts curriculum focuses on the Guided Reading Strategies in both Comprehension Connection -Bridges to Strategic Reading by Tanny McGregor and Making the Most of Small Groups by Debbie Diller. We use the PM Benchmarking assessments to individualize each child's reading level to allow for direct instruction on a very focused level. The Seven Strategies include: 1. Metacognition- Reading is thinking. 2. Schema- Prior knowlegde leads to better understanding of text. -Text-to -Self - Text-to Text - Text-to-World 3.Inferring- Clues and Evidence lead to a better understanding of text. 4.Questioning-Questioning causes us to dig deeper into the meaning of the text. 5.Determining Importance- What matters the most as I read a text? 6.Visualizing- Can I create a picture of hte text in my mind as I read? 7. Synthesizing- Ideas build one another so as I read I understand the text in better detail. We incoporate these strategies into large and small group instruction daily. Second graders work independently in literacy stations that are related to any one of these strategies during any given week at Bright School. Second Grade strives to individualize our reading program to meet the need of our students. We do expect children to improve their fluency and comprehension as a result of these strategies. Social Studies Our second grade curriculum covers four nine week units. Our first nine weeks we study respect and how we function in a community of learners. We establish classroom rules and guidelines and discuss the rights and responsibilities of all of the members of the group. Our class play follows this theme. The second nine weeks we study oceans, continents, fossils, and dinosaurs. We learn the regions of our world by studying maps and drawings of our continents and oceans, and where we are located in relation to other parts of the world. We discuss the history of fossils and dinosaurs by drawing murals, making our own fossils, panning for fossils at Raccoon Mountain, and reading about fossils and dinosaurs in our reading classes. The third nine weeks we study biographies and the contributions that famous people have made to better our world. We work with time lines, list common traits of famous leaders, read biographies, and give reports about them, dressed as the character portrayed in the book. We also discuss the ways countries and organizations contributed to the lives of the key people described in the books we read. The fourth nine weeks we study Australia. We examine geographical characteristics that influence the way the Australian people live. We study characteristics such as rivers, fields, forests, and hills, and how they determine the way people would survive in a certain region. We talk about how the Australian people have adapted to and modified their environment. We learn Australian songs, eat Australian food, study Australian animals as well as the history of Australia and how it was established. |