Second grade
Second grade is an exciting year during which students begin to use the skills that they learned in first grade and kindergarten as tools for further discovery. Students work independently and in small and large groups. We emphasize independence, cooperative learning, problem solving and approaching problems from multiple perspectives.
Language Arts
The second grade language arts program concentrates on guiding each girl to develop herself as a reader and writer who has preferences and makes thoughtful decisions. We work in small groups and as a class to support each student’s development. During this time, we implement and practice word attack skills, comprehension strategies, and strive to develop confidence and fluency in each student’s reading.
The word study component of the language arts curriculum has its foundation in children’s developmental spelling stages. We work with the girls to recognize patterns in the English language through dictation, sorting, letter/sound manipulation activities, and games.
The writer’s workshop occurs several times a week in second grade. Each girl is encouraged to express her thoughts and ideas through the writer’s process. During writing lessons and in literature study, we place special emphasis on the traits of organization, ideas, word choice, sentence fluency, voice, and conventions. Our goal during writer’s workshop is for each girl to see herself as a writer who is able to clearly and confidently convey herself through her writing.
Mathematics
The second grade math program emphasizes study in the following areas:
- Numeration and Counting
Saying, reading, and writing numbers; place value of whole numbers; fractions. - Operations
Number facts; fact families; addition and subtraction with tens and hundreds; introduction to multiplication. - Geometry and Spatial Sense
Exploring two and three-dimensional shapes and classifying polygons. - Measures and Measurements
Using tools to measure length, weight, capacity, and volume; exchanging money amounts, using money as a tool for place value and decimal concepts. - Reference Frames
Activities involving clocks, calendars, thermometers, and number lines. - Patterns, Functions, and Sequences
Functions, relations, attributes, patterns, and sequences. - Algebra and Uses of Variables
Missing numbers, properties of operation, What’s my rule? and games.
These concepts are taught through the use of large and small group activities, individual instruction, guided practice, and games.
Social Studies: People Who Make a Difference: American Experiences
We begin the year with a study of families. The class will explore the definition of family and discuss the different types of families who make up our community.
Following this, we will begin our geography unit. The girls will learn to find their own home and places far away by using atlases and globes and to understand and identify landforms.
In light of this year’s presidential election, we will spend two weeks discussing the meaning of democracy, the process of electing a president, and the jobs of the president and vice-president. We are especially interested in the ways citizens and the president can make a difference in our country. We continue with a focus on the inhabitants of North America in 1620. The girls will explore the life of the Wamponoag people and their relationship with the Pilgrims.
In January we will study the Civil Rights Movement in America by examining the lives of the participants as well as how their actions affected all Americans. Our next unit will be about American women who were pioneers in their field. We will study the challenges they overcame and discuss how they created opportunities for girls today. We conclude the year by studying the Westward Expansion, concentrating on the geography, native peoples, and difficulties faced on the journey west.
As an extension of these units of study we will be having a Three Sisters Lunch, Women’s Symposium and Tea, and Pioneer Day. We will also perform a play related to one of our social studies themes.
Class Meetings
Both second grade classes have regular class meetings. The purpose of these meetings is to help the girls develop and strengthen their inter-personal skills. The girls have an opportunity to discuss school problems and seek advice on solving these problems. Sometimes we use this time to divide into small groups to discuss topics dealing with interpersonal skills chosen by the teachers or the girls.
Homework
Formal homework begins in second grade to provide practice on concepts presented in class and to develop the students’ organizational skills and sense of responsibility. We expect students to spend approximately thirty minutes a night on this work.
