Reading:
During our 90 minute reading block each day, I will be incorporating the Daily 5 and Cafe models into my instruction. Both of these models are research-based programs and work hand-in-hand with each other. The Daily 5 includes five components: read to self, read to someone, word work, work on writing, and listen to reading. Students work independently on these rotations while the teacher confers one-on-one with a student or works with a small group of students. Cafe stands for: Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, Expand Vocabulary. During mini-lessons and small group instruction, lessons will focus on strategies from these four areas that will help students become better readers. After the lessons, the students work on these strategies during their Daily 5 rotations. Second grade students are making the transition from learning to read to reading to learn, which is an exciting time for young readers! Passages for reading assessments and weekly vocabulary quizzes will be read aloud during the first quarter. Starting in the second quarter passages will not be read aloud so students can get used to reading grade level text independently. Students’ reading levels are formally assessed three times a year to determine their instructional levels. Their progress is informally monitored regularly throughout the year as well. Differentiated instruction allows me to meet students’ needs through small group instruction. Some of the comprehension strategies we will be working on this year are checking for understanding, making predictions and inferences, using text features, finding the main idea and details, and explaining cause and effect relationships. We will also be focusing on reading texts accurately and fluently, as well as expanding our vocabulary. We also have a daily phonics lesson that students will participate in. The phonics program we use is called 95% group. This curriculum focuses on different skills of reading such as phonemic awareness, sound-spelling mapping, grammar, sentence structure, comprehension, and more. Students will be formally assessed on their phonics skills every few weeks.
Spelling:
I implement a spelling curriculum called “Chunk Spelling.” The foundation of this program is "chunks.” Each week, upon introducing a new chunk, students are challenged to use a sound board and their minds to come up with words that contain that chunk, whether it is at the beginning, middle, or end of the word. For example, if the chunk were "ack," students could think of words such as rack, crack, package, and acknowledge. After individually brainstorming, we make a chart of words as a class. I am passionate about this spelling program for multiple reasons! Students are learning spelling patterns that they can generalize to their writing and reading. On Fridays, we will introduce the new chunk, brainstorm words, and make spelling lists. A copy of these lists will be sent home on Friday afternoon. Spelling tests will then be given the following Thursday.
Writing:
Students will move through the Writing Process: Prewrite, Draft, Revise/Edit, and Publish. During independent writing time, I will meet with individuals or small groups. We will use picture books to help us study different writing genres, specifically narrative writing, opinion writing, and informational writing. Writing will be assessed during one-on-one conferences, pre- and post- writing assessments for each unit of study, and writing samples taken during each unit of study.In addition, students will advance their grammar skills, specifically with nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, and their conventions of writing, specifically with correct capitalization and punctuation.
Math:
TSC uses a math series called Ready Math. This curriculum encourages students to think deeply and explain their thinking, especially in writing, which is not something students are used to but is an important skill! Most days will start with a mini-lesson at the beginning of math with some guided practice, followed by math stations. Stations will depend on the concept, but could consist of work out of the Practice and Problem Solving book, partner or group games, task cards, flash cards, or chromebook games apps. While students rotate through these stations, I work with small groups of students to practice, reinforce, or expand on the current concept. Second grade math tackles a lot of important mathematical concepts, such as even/odd numbers, representing and comparing three-digit numbers, adding and subtracting three-digit numbers with and without regrouping, representing fractions, telling time to the nearest five-minute mark, and counting a collection of coins and bills. Many of these concepts are a foundation to other mathematical concepts and should be practiced at home if possible!
Science :
Science lessons in second grade will center around four main categories: physical science, earth and space science, life science, and engineering. We will study topics such as solids, liquids, and gasses, seasons and weather, life cycles and animal adaptations, and the design process. Students will also be participating in numerous STEM activities (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math), which provide them opportunities to create, explore, test, and collaborate.
Social Studies:
Social Studies lessons in second grade will focus on the broad concept of the local and regional community. We will explore the early settlers, community leaders and citizenship, maps and location, productive resources, and more!