The second grade math program provides students with a broad background in mathematics. It embeds the Connecticut Core Standards in a curriculum that is designed to foster mathematical thinking and understanding of mathematical concepts by relating them to real world experiences. Teachers will use a variety of strategies and approaches for classroom instruction. Students are exposed to a variety of processes and procedures for addressing and solving mathematical problems. Our curricular resource is McGraw-Hill’s My Math. Students will also have online access to the resource materials from home.
Program highlights include:
A problem solving approach
Partner and small group activities to promote cooperative learning
Concept and skill development through hands-on learning
Opportunities to discuss and communicate mathematically
Math Standards
The second grade math program covers the following content:
Operations and Algebraic Thinking: represent and solve problems involving addition and subtraction, add and subtract fluently to 20, work with equal groups of objects to gain foundations for multiplication
Number and Operations in Base Ten: understand place value, use place value and properties of operations to add and subtract
Measurement and Data: measure and estimate lengths in standard units, relate addition and subtraction to length, work with time and money, represent and interpret data
Geometry: reason with shapes and their attributes
Mathematical Practices: make sense of problems and persevere in solving them, reason abstractly and quantitatively, construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others, model with mathematics, use appropriate tools, attend to precision, look for and make use of structure, look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning
For more information about each of the math units, please read the Family Letters posted on the Second Grade website.
Fact Fluency
“Knowing” the basic number facts is as important to learning mathematics as “knowing” words by sight is to reading.
In math class, memorization of basic facts is referred to as fact fluency. By the end of second grade students should master the addition and subtraction facts (sums and differences) to 20. Students should be able to recall these facts quickly.
Students will learn and practice all of the basic number facts in many different ways without having to complete an overwhelming number of drill pages. They will play mathematical games and work with fact triangles.
It is imperative that these basic number facts be practiced at home in addition to at school. Basic number facts will be assessed through timed tests and a grade will be noted on the report card.
Fluency assessments will be given twice a semester beginning in the first trimester for grade two. The first assessment is given mid-trimester prior to the progress report being sent home and the second assessment is given at the end of the trimester. Practice opportunities are provided throughout the trimester to increase student performance. The report card reflects the highest grade the student earned for the trimester. Following are the specific fluency assessment reporting standards for each grade level.
Second Grade
Will correctly complete 45-50 addition/subtraction problems in 3 minutes
45-50: Met Expectation
25-44: Progressing Towards Expectation
0-24: Needs Improvement
Homework
Your child will bring home math homework Monday through Thursday. Encourage your child to “teach” you the math skills and concepts he or she is learning. If your child appears to be confused with the homework, please write a note and return it to your child’s teacher. In addition, students will also have access to the IXL website for additional practice.