Second Grade

In second grade, students continue working in various studios, following the TAB methodology (Teaching for Artistic Behavior).  The focus is for students to explore a variety of media and art forms through studios which include drawing, painting, pottery, collage, paper sculpture, and printmaking. Students are encouraged to spend time in each studio throughout the year as they work to hone their skills and develop new passions.

Our second grade language arts program helps students develop a love of literature as well as builds a strong foundation for communication skills, both written and oral. With Daily Five, Guided Reading, and Puzzle Piece Phonics, we use an integrated curriculum of word study, spelling, vocabulary, grammar, and reading selections. Additionally, our students participate in grade-wide projects that integrate co-curricular learning with relevant themes that produce lively discussions and interesting writing and creating.

Our students are given many opportunities through hands-on activities, independent study, small and whole group instruction to use and explore their reading and writing skills.  Writing stories from wordless book prompts, research-based writing, and journaling are only a few of the ways our students become engaged and excited writers!

Second graders are exposed to cultural diversity in literature, learning about Folktales from around the world.  Students continue to hone their research and technology skills diving into topics such as camouflage and Dinosaurs. Students intertwine their research skills with their love of literature by reading non-fiction and fiction books about the topics above.

In second grade, our Everyday Mathematics program strives to move students beyond basic arithmetic to higher order and critical thinking skills, yet recognizes the importance of teaching basic skills, including “automatic fact recall.” This is accomplished using everyday, real-world problems and situations. Paper and pencil tasks are integrated with hands-on activities. Using a variety of manipulatives, children are encouraged to build their own mathematical understandings. Working with partners and in small groups, students share problem-solving strategies with their classmates.  Students explore concepts including place value, whole number operations, measurement, data analysis, money, time, geometry, and patterns. These concepts are practiced throughout the year allowing students to gradually master these skills.

On a daily basis, teachers incorporate fun, hands-on activities through center based learning.  Our students get excited when they participate in independent and partner  rotations.  This gives them confidence and a love of math without even realizing they are learning!   Math is linked to other subject areas and is incorporated in activities throughout the day.

The use of the Orff Approach continues in second grade music. Singing in harmony is introduced with simple rounds and melodic ostinati. More advanced combinations of rhythmic and melodic patterns are introduced for performance, listening, movement, and notation. Continued progress in the area of "keeping the beat" to music is advanced through the use of circle games and folk dances. Students use classroom percussion instruments and Orff instruments to create and perform music. Examples of classical, folk, contemporary, and world music are used throughout the school year to enhance each student's development in understanding musical concepts. Students are able to audition for our annual Lower School Talent Show and all students perform a Spring Concert at Arts Jam, a schoolwide celebration of the arts.

In second grade PE, students demonstrate mastery of basic locomotor and nonlocomotor skills while performing to changing conditions and expectations.  Students progress towards mature form in complex manipulative skills such as foot dribble and throwing. They are able to  sustain physical activity for longer periods of  time and have a deeper understanding of  the benefits of physical activity. Students work independently and in small groups during our games and activities. Second grade students should also exhibit consideration for and cooperation with classmates and teachers. Students are given the opportunity to participate in activities such as target throwing games, soccer, gymnastics/tumbling, scooters, tee ball, track and field, basketball, running/jogging, tennis, jump rope, dance, recreational games (corn hole, horseshoes, bowling) and marshmallow ball throughout the year. Students in second grade also participate in The Cannon Health and Performance (CHAMP) Test. The assessment includes a variety of health-related physical fitness tests that assess aerobic capacity: muscular strength, muscular endurance, speed, power and flexibility. Scores from these assessments are compared to our overall class averages to determine students’ overall physical fitness and suggest areas for improvement when appropriate. Our goal as a Lower School Physical Education Department is for all students to be equipped with appropriate knowledge of varying sports and to develop a lifelong love for fitness.

The Lower School years are ones of rapid growth and development. Each new birthday brings tremendous change. Typical challenges and characteristics of children, by age and developmental stage, can be found on the School Counseling webpage along with recommended resources.

Second graders love to conduct experiments! A major goal of second grade is to do real experiments which can lead them to scientific conclusions. They jump right into the year by taking a look at the cosmos, leading to a study of Earth and its landforms. Second graders love dirt! They study soil and its importance for all types of life. Students study soil properties like absorption and permeability and do fun experiments like filtering water and examining sedimentation. They examine properties of water and rocks. Later in the year the students will learn about seed germination, plant growth, and examine animals in a variety of ecosystems.

The second grade social studies curriculum builds a solid foundation for understanding our place in the world historically, culturally, and geographically. The students are introduced to a wide variety of topics from historical events such as early immigration to contemporary government and how it runs. Some of the other topics they are exposed to include citizenship, geography, public and private community service, and having a voice in our community.

The program is a marriage of the Communicative Language Approach (CLT) and the Foreign Language in the Elementary School (FLES) approach. Both approaches encourage self-expression and communication.  Furthermore, the FLES approach emphasizes cross-curricular content and tasks at grade level.

Students expand on the units learned in first grade by doubling the vocabulary and learning interrogative sentences where they learn you variation for verbs want/love/have.  They handle plural descriptive sentences and dive deeper into gender in Spanish nouns and adjectives.  They start practicing a restaurant script that enables them to greet, order, and comment on food at a restaurant. They do grade-level math with numbers 0-100 and work through 8 levels of Spanish phonics.  Their personal information Q&A’s set is expanded and memorization is encouraged.  For the culture segment, they study all the Spanish-speaking countries in South America, learn about more fauna and flora, as well as remarkable landforms and bodies of water.

In Lower School, our learning design involves high engagement, structured so that students are drawn into appropriate levels of challenge. Curiosity and creativity are nurtured, along with consistent encouragement for teamwork and partner work. Students are encouraged to try new things, and to think and talk through problem-solving steps. Students follow core values as they use media and technology.

During the second grade year, students experience coding, robotics, and computational thinking through the use of developmentally appropriate resources.  Students use digital resources alongside hands-on learning. They participate in a variety of hands-on maker challenges and creative presentations.

Technology is integrated into classroom curriculum units to promote information literacy, creative work, and critical thinking. Students also use quality learning software appropriate to their developmental level in the areas of literacy and reading, and in math and problem solving. In information literacy, we emphasize comprehension, communication, organization, and research skills. This program helps students increase their sophistication levels in currently available technology, but also incorporates "learning to learn" in a way that will transfer to the technology tools of the future.