Grade 2 Curriculum

Overview Grade 2 Curriculum Overview

The Second Grade classroom at All Saints encourages children to learn in an environment where their natural curiosity and strong internal desire to discover and invent is supported. Calm, industrious and determined, Second graders are hard workers who are determined to do their best. They become more confident and respond well to class projects and traditions which build a sense of unity and cohesion. They respond well to studies of other cultures, and stories that concern fairness and justice. Interested in classifying and discovering how things work, the Second Grade projects of studying and building bridges as well as learning about areas of the United States are a wonderful match for this age. Second Grade is a year where seven- and eight-year-olds truly practice working independently and cooperatively.

Language Arts

The beginning of the Second Grade is marked by a class of students who are well on their way to becoming fluent, independent readers. In this grade, students make the critical shift from “learning to read” to “reading to learn.” Throughout the year, students sharpen their reading strategies by reviewing and applying strategies used by good readers: predicting, questioning, monitoring, summarizing, and evaluating. Students are exposed to a wide variety of literary genres as a way of sparking interest in new and expanded opportunities for reading pleasure and discovery. Conventions for written language (spelling, grammar, usage, etc.) come into more serious focus in Second Grade, and students are asked to edit and revise their written work as a method for improvement. Major writing projects focus on poetry using the five senses, formal paragraph structure, letter writing and exploration of sending letters (writing out envelopes), “how to” writing using time-order words, writing biographies about members of the community, and the construction and completion of their very own memoir. While writing, students focus on the following grammatical concepts: homophones, endings, punctuation, synonyms and antonyms, proofreading, alphabetizing, compound words, plurals, word families, irregular verbs, and adjectives.

Mathematics

Throughout the year, students use a variety of activities to strengthen their number sense including math games that allow them ways to strengthen their recall of their tens and doubles facts. Students are now asked to think critically about math and to explain their thinking that goes into problem solving. Second Graders are expected to demonstrate proficiency with addition and subtraction facts, and many will dive into studying multiplication facts up to five by the end of the year. Curriculum units in Second Grade include: addition, subtraction, single-digit word problems, tens and doubles facts, number words, tens and ones, skip counting, even/odd, money, estimation, telling time, graphing, calendar, measurement, geometry, capacity, volume, and weight.

Science

In Second Grade, the main goal for science is to encourage students to further develop their emerging skills in observation, description, record-keeping, and investigation. Students are asked to think and act like scientists and to use their knowledge from the outside world to enrich their scientific learning. Examples of science labs include: observing rocks, soil and erosion, imprints, and matter. Students share their learning during Open Science Morning. One of the most exciting units is at the end of the year when they must use their knowledge of bridge structure to design a bridge with a partner. This bridge must withstand the weight of 50 pennies and a simulated earthquake! Many aspects of the Science curriculum support learning that takes place in Social Studies. For example, the study of saving earth’s resources links to the study of the community, and saving resources in Social Studies and their study of bridges links to the Hoboken-New York study in Social Studies along with the study of the history of the Brooklyn Bridge. These opportunities for cross-curricular connections reinforce student learning and support authentic discovery.

Social Studies

Second Grade Social Studies is a broad-based course of study nurturing the developing sense of one’s self in relationship to one’s neighborhood, community, the state, and the world. Students review the makeup of a community, including the people, businesses and municipal structures in place to ensure the safety and rights of its inhabitants. Throughout the year, students are introduced to famous Americans who changed the face of history and our nation, and are asked to consider the character traits required to be a responsible citizen in a democratic, pluralistic society. Curriculum Units include: neighborhoods, mapping and cardinal directions, landforms, natural resources, government, homelessness, Hoboken-NYC connections, Rosa Parks, and Rachel Carson.

Co-Curriculars

Grade 2 Students partake in several co-curricular activities such as music, dance, art, physical education, and world language. Please see our Beyond Core Academics page.

Grade 2 Milestone Projects

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Grade 2 - U.S. Postcard Project

In Second Grade, learning comes alive for students as they explore their country’s geography, national monuments, and historic landmarks through the collection of postcards from across the United States.

As the postcards arrive, the students excitedly locate the state on the map and hang up the card. In doing so, the students gain a better understanding of state placement. They also use a tally chart to record the number of postcards that have been collected. Throughout the project, the students also work on puzzles, play games, and read books about the United States. After December break, the students use learned skills to write letters to chambers of commerce in the states from which they have not received postcards. After each state is represented on the class map, the group compiles the data during math class and creates a bar graph.

To culminate the study, each student chooses a state to research and, using various research materials, creates a travel brochure. The students hone their technology skills when searching for data on the internet and creating a number of the brochure pages digitally. This project allows students to explore the United States in a way that is meaningful to them and to complete learning projects across the curriculum. Each year the class collects over 100 postcards and receives at least one postcard from each state!