Second Grade Curriculum

Subjects of Study:

Reading
Students will:

• Master basic decoding skills using phonics
• Master oral fluency when reading aloud
• Develop reading comprehension skills
• Summarize the main idea; continue using cause and effect, author’s point of view, comparing and contrasting, sequencing of events, and identifying fact and opinion
• Retain specific details
• Use context clues
• Make inferences; interpret and evaluate reading selections
• Identify various literature genres, such as fiction, non-fiction, classics, contemporary works and poetry

Phonics
Students will:

• Continue to reinforce the decoding skills learned in previous grades (the program works with the spelling program to ensure students receive a balanced amount of decoding and encoding practice)

Spelling
Students will:

• Correctly spell frequently used and common words
• Practice encoding; learn spelling rules and apply them through a variety of activities such as spelling games and spelling dictation

Writing
Students will:

• Write 1 paragraph using correct grammar and punctuation
• Understand basics of the writing process through the Lucy Calkins writing program
• Write legibly in both manuscript and cursive
• Plan, draft, revise and edit short stories, letters, poems, essays, and short reports
• Organize, develop key word outlines, and expand on ideas
• Practice using more complex and compound sentences in their writing

Handwriting
Students will:

• Continue to build a solid mastery of proper handwriting in manuscript and cursive

Listening, Viewing and Speaking
Students will:

• Maintain sustained attention for a minimum of 35-40 minutes
• Exhibit good listening skills
• Appropriately ask and answer questions
• Recite poems and passages from memory
• Use proper etiquette when speaking

Math
Students will:

• Further develop addition and subtraction skills
• Further develop understanding of patterning, fact families, estimating, place value even and odd numbers, time, money, measurement, fractions, and geometrical figures and concepts
• Solve word problems
• Interpret graphs and tables
• Practice mental math; enhance skills in mental computation, speed math, problem solving, and mathematical reasoning and inquiry
• Develop understanding of Roman numerals
• Introduce and start memorization of multiplication tables (specifically 1-12)
• Develop understanding of simple division

Science
Students will:

• Explore topics of study including life cycles of plants and animals, energy and motion, Earth science, and the human body and its systems
• Practice the scientific procedure including observing, describing, comparing, measuring, classifying, predicting, inferring, hypothesizing, and experimenting in order to better understand the world around us
• Appreciate how life on Earth is a balance that is often shifted by our actions or lack of action
• Complete a Science Fair Project together in class

Social Studies
Students will:

• Continue to develop chronological thinking, changes over time, and communities
• Focus on Ancient Civilizations (Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Rome)
• Review leaders, way of life, traditions, religion, values, culture, achievements, inventions, rise and fall, historical figures from these time periods, national and local historical event celebrations and holidays, national and local patriotic symbols (U.S. flag, Statue of Liberty, U.S. Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Lincoln Memorial, Bald Eagle
• Focus on basic topography: landforms, waterways, cities (of Ancient Civilizations)
• Study maps and globes: keys/legends, symbols, compass rose, cardinal directions, hemispheres, equator, poles, types of maps

Religion
Students will:

• Focus on the basic premises of moral law as a foundation for conscience
• Further study the Bible and the Sacraments of Reconciliation and First Communion
• Understand how their body is a gift from God through the Theology of the Body curriculum
• Study how their body should behave during Holy Mass through the Theology of the Body curriculum
• Use Sacred Story as a reflective practice to learn how to pray

Second grade students also attend classes in Art, Music, Spanish and Physical Education.

Contact Us