Welcome to second grade!  I hope this is an exciting and challenging year for your child.  The goal of our program is to cover the California State Standards for Education in each subject area.  I hope to do this in a way that motivates your child and gets him/her interested in learning.  We work to develop higher-level thinking skills and hope to create life-long learners.  Listed below is a general outline of the things we will cover this year listed by each subject area.  The list includes standards we will teach and textbooks we will use.

 

Language Arts

Reading, writing, spelling, phonics, phonemic awareness, language skills, vocabulary development, speaking, listening, and English language development are all included in this area.  We will be using the Houghton Mifflin Reading Series.  As we read the stories from this series, we work to develop many reading strategies and skills.  Different techniques are used to ensure each child is an accurate and fluent reader.  Developing good comprehension skills and creating a love of reading and writing are important in second grade.

 We use the writing process to implement the writing strands for second grade from the California Standards. We focus on the six writing traits- ideas, organization, conventions, word choice, sentence fluency, and voice. We use the Four Square Writing program to help with ideas and organization. We teach the children to write a well developed sentence with the correct conventions including - capitalization, spelling, punctuation, and grammar.  We instruct them to organize their ideas and to create complete sentences to build a well good paragraph.

Our spelling program is based on the spelling lists from our reading series.  The words are grouped by phonetic rules and may include a challenge word list.  Phonics is taught through our reading series and our spelling program.  Developing and expanding spelling and writing skills is ongoing throughout the year in all subject areas.

 

 

Mathematics

          This year we have adopted a new math series called Houghton Mifflin Math Expressions. Our math program is organized around the strands designated in the California Math Framework.  Specific standards have been set for each of these areas:

number sense                                             

algebra and functions

measurement and geometry                       

statistics, data analysis, and probability

mathematical reasoning

 

We will cover these units in our new book:

Understanding addition and subtraction

Measurement and Shapes

Solving Story problems

Quadrilaterals

Addition to 200

Time

Tables and Graphs

Diagonals and midpoints

Subtracting two-digit numbers

Shapes and patterns

Three-digit addition and subtraction

Metric measurements and 3-D shapes

Multiplication and fractions

Non-standard and standard units of measurement

 

          Mastery of the addition and subtraction facts to 20 was a major part of the first grade curriculum.  We will continue to review and reinforce these facts.  Facts should be practiced at home daily to ensure mastery by the second trimester.  There are some new strategies we will be teaching from our math book.  Individual testing will encourage and show progress in this area. 

This program includes teaching problem solving strategies.  The children will learn to clearly explain their thinking in solving a variety of different problems.  They will learn to use tools such as manipulatives, sketches, and charts.  Students will note connections between problems.

          Addition and subtraction of numbers to 200 is an important second grade math concept.  Our new series explores different ways to problem solve and helps the children understand different methods to find the solution to these problems. Children, also, need to master their math facts and understand the importance of place value.  We will put these skills together as the children add and subtract larger numbers.

          Learning the 2, 5, and 10 multiplication facts is a required standard for our district.  We will be learning these facts and introducing basic division concepts.

          Our social studies book is Reflections, People We Know by Harcourt Brace Publishers.  We integrate the Social Studies State Standards into our language arts curriculum in many of our units.  Some of the major topics we cover in our book include families – now and long ago, the land around us, government, using our resources, people in the marketplace, and people make a difference.   We will be exploring geography and developing map skills.  You will be able to explore your family history and ancestors with your child this year.  Important Americans will be the focus of our biography unit later in the year. 

 

Science

          Second grade covers several topics from different areas of science. In earth science, we will be studying rocks and soil. In life science, we will be studying how animals meet their needs in different ways and look at predictable life cycles.  We will study the life cycles of insects.  In physical science we will be learning about balance and motion. We will be using the scientific process to conduct investigations and experiments. We will use hands-on activities, the scientific method, and literature to learn about these concepts. 

 

Physical Education and Health

          The goal of this program is to encourage healthy physical development.   Please wear athletic shoes on those days.  We will learn about things that can be done to have a healthy life style.  This will include “Red Ribbon Week” and health/nutrition lessons. We will be implementing the health units from The Great Body Shop. The children will learn how to have a healthy life style.

 

Music and Art

 The district will be providing music about every other week.  The classroom teachers will supplement by doing some music in our classrooms that match our units of study.  A District Art Specialist will be coming in during the year to give lessons to the children about seven times this year. We will supplement those art lessons with some lessons from the Arts Attack program, which is a series of art lessons on video, and art lessons to match our units of study.

 

Computers and Library

          Students will go to the school computer lab for a variety of activities twice a week.  They will do a variety of activities to supplement our curriculum including writing, reading, math, word processing, and internet activities. During their weekly library time, the children will have the opportunity to go to the library and check out books.