Second Grade Curriculum
Art
The elementary visual arts curriculum helps
students understand how media, technique and process are used
to create works of art; how artworks are structured and how art
has a variety of functions; how to identify, analyze and select
subject matter, symbols and ideas for personal/cultural expression;
how historical and cultural contexts provide meaning for works
of art, and how to assess the merits of their own artworks and
the artworks of others.
Resources
Adventures in Art, Davis
Topics
- Different types of media
- Using familiar media in new ways
- Viewing different media and techniques in
artworks from around the world
- Visual elements of line, shape, texture,
form and space
- Design principles of balance, emphasis, movement,
pattern, proportion, rhythm, unity and variety
- Common functions of art
- Artworks, and how the elements and principles
of design can elicit responses
- Creating artworks using a variety of subject
matter and themes
- Ideas and symbols in the artworks of various
cultures
- Viewing varied styles and types of art with
greater emphasis on the cultural origin, function and style
- Explaining and comparing their own reasons
for making art with the reasons of others
Guidance
Guidance, which is integrated into other curriculum
areas, helps establish goals, expectations, support systems and
experience for all students. It is designed to enhance student learning
by helping students acquire and use lifelong learning skills in
three broad areas of development: academic, career and personal/social.
The curriculum employs developmentally appropriate strategies to
enhance academics, provide career awareness, encourage self-awareness,
foster interpersonal communication skills and convey life success
skills for all students. The guidance and health curricula complement
each other to provide knowledge and skills in the area of drug prevention.
Resources
Variety of district-selected materials
Topics
Students will acquire knowledge and skills in the following areas:
- Improved academic self-concept
- Improved learning
- Plan to achieve goals
- School success
- Career awareness
- Organization and time management
- Self-knowledge
- Interpersonal relations
- Personal safety
Health
Development of self-awareness (emotionally, socially
and physically) and the best ways of keeping well (healthy decision-making)
are emphasized. Topics introduced in the first years are reviewed
and discussed in more depth each year along with new topics. The
health and guidance curricula complement each other to provide knowledge
and skills in the area of drug prevention.
Resources
Your Health, Harcourt, Inc.
Topics
Mental/Emotional/Social
- Sharing feelings
- Conflict resolution
- Cooperation
- Respect
- Differences
Chemical Health
- Medicine
- Illegal drugs
- Say NO to drugs
Safety and First Aid
- Fire safety
- Bus safety
- Emergencies
Nutrition
- Food guide pyramid
- Reading a food label
- Healthy food choices
Environmental Health
- Protecting the environment
- Saving energy and resources
- Reduce, reuse, recycle
- Pollution
Decision-Making
- Choosing healthy behaviors (decision-making
model)
- Reinforcing healthy decisions (refusal skills)
Language Arts
Reading, writing, listening, speaking, spelling and handwriting are all-important components of language arts. Skills and strategies in each area are modeled, taught and practiced, taking into account the unique needs of each learner. Knowledge and skills are acquired through connected experiences between home, school and community. Students read from a variety of texts, including fiction (short stories and whole books), poetry and nonfiction (textbooks, newspapers and magazines). Students read (or are read to) and write daily.
Resources
- Guided Reading Resources
- Classroom Libraries
- Invitations to Literacy, Houghton Mifflin
- Writing-Units of Study for Primary Writing
- Word Study - Phonics Lessons: Letters, Words and How They Work (includes spelling, phonics and vocabulary)
- Handwriting - District developed
Topics
Reading
- Main ideas and supporting details
- Main events or ideas in sequence
- New word pronunciation
- Reading aloud fluently with appropriate expression
- Appropriate techniques for learning new vocabulary
- Character traits, plot and setting
- Distinguishing between fact and opinion
- Using graphophonic (sounds), syntactic (language) and semantic (meaning) strategies to understand text
Writing
- Planning, composing and editing pieces of writing
- Editing to correct grammar, sentence construction, capitalization, punctuation and spelling
- Writing personal narratives, reports, instructions and a friendly letter
Speaking and Listening
- Multi-step oral directions
- Correct grammar in speaking
- Oral presentation
- Identifying purpose and summarizing ideas of an oral presentation
Word Study (includes spelling, phonics and vocabulary)
- Spelling patterns
- Spelling frequently used words correctly
- Finding the correct spelling of an unknown word
- Vocabulary development
Handwriting
- Legible printing of numbers and letters unig uniform shape, size, placement and spacing
Mathematics
While connecting mathematical
experiences to the world around them, young children are challenged
to become increasingly sophisticated in dealing with mathematical
concepts. The elementary mathematics curriculum builds on students'
math understanding, skills, and proficiency at each grade level,
as appropriate, by integrating concepts such as number and operations,
algebra, geometry, measurement, and data analysis and probability.
Students also engage in problem solving, reasoning, and communicating
ideas while making connections to the world around them.
Resources
Scott Foresman/Addison Wesley Mathematics
Investigations in Number, Data, and Space - Dale Seymour
Publishers
Topics
NUMBERS AND OPERATIONS - Understanding
of and proficiency with counting, numbers and arithmetic, as well
as an understanding of number systems and their structures
- Sense
of numbers
- Basic
counting techniques
- Size
of numbers
- Number
relationships
- Place
value
- Addition
and subtraction
- Computational
fluency
ALGEBRA
- Relationships among quantities,
including ways of representing mathematical relationships and expression
of relationships by using symbolic notation
- Classification,
patterns and relations
- Operations
with whole numbers
- Use
of step-by-step processes
GEOMETRY
- Geometric shapes and structures, and how to analyze their characteristics
and relationships
- Explore,
investigate and discuss shapes and structures in the classroom
- Become
proficient in describing and representing shapes in their environment
- Learn
to represent two- and three-dimensional shapes
- Recognize
and create shapes that have symmetry
MEASUREMENT
- The assignment of a numerical value to an attribute of an object;
understanding what a measurable attribute is, becoming familiar
with the units and processes used in measuring attributes
- Attributes
of length, volume, weight and time
- How
to measure using standard and nonstandard units
- Select
appropriate unit and tool for attribute being measured
- Use
repetition of a single unit to measure something larger than the
unit
DATA
ANALYSIS AND PROBABILITY - How to collect, organize and display
data in graphs and charts that will be useful in answering questions;
methods of analyzing data, and of making inferences and conclusions
from data
- Pose
questions to investigate
- Organize
responses
- Create
representations of data
- Sort
and classify objects according to their attributes
- Organize
and display data through graphical displays using counts, tallies,
pictures and graphs
- Analyze
and describe data
PROBLEM
SOLVING - Engaging in a task for which the solution method is
not known in advance
- Develop
and broaden range of problem-solving strategies
- Pose
or formulate challenging problems
- Monitor
and reflect on their own problem-solving ideas
- Solve
problems from a variety of contexts, from daily routines to mathematical
situations in stories
Music
The music program focuses on making music, and
listening to and responding to music others have produced. Students
sing, play instruments, move and create music. They learn to read
music, and analyze and evaluate the music of others.
Resource
Music and You, MacMillan
Topics
- Matching pitches
- Singing in a group
- Playing simple rhythmic and melodic patterns
- Using a system to read basic music notations,
rhythmically and melodically
- Improvising simple rhythms and melodies
- ABA forms and call and response form
- Recognizing the expressive qualities of dynamics
Physical Education
Physical education is based on learning basic
movements and skills, and refining these movements and skills into
specific activities. Skills include locomotor movement, non-locomotor
movement, perceptual movement and manipulatives.
Topics
- Physical activities
that develop motor skills and physical fitness
- Rules, skills, strategies and team building
associated with individual and team activities
- Age-appropriate physical fitness
- Safety and etiquette in physical activities
- Fitness planning
Science
The science curriculum provides opportunities
for students to learn science concepts through hands-on activities.
Students learn to observe, compare, collect data, organize and analyze
information, and communicate what they have learned. The investigations
focus on physical and life science concepts.
Resources
Full Option Science System (FOSS) kits
Topics
Balance and Motion (physical science)
- Stable and unstable systems, center of gravity
and two classes of motion
- Observations of balanced systems
- Making a mobile
- Observing objects in rotational and linear
motion
- Recording and communicating observations
Insects (life science)
- Differences in the life cycle and behavior
of insects
- Organizing and communicating observations
Pebbles, Sand and Silt (earth science)
- Sorting rocks into groups by properties including
color, shape and texture
- Properties of different rocks
- Separating and grouping river rocks based on
particle size
- Observing and comparing soil samples from different
locations
Social Studies
The social studies curriculum provides the opportunity
for each student to acquire knowledge and develop skills necessary
for social, political and economic participation in a diverse, interdependent
and changing world.
Resources
District-created units of study
Variety of district-selected books
Topics
Neighborhoods
- Components of a neighborhood and reasons for
location or features of communities
- Comparing and contrasting their neighborhood/community
with others
- How wants and needs are responsibly met in
the home, school and community
- How people define, build and name places and
develop a sense of place
- How neighborhoods change over time
- Accessing information from maps, globes, charts
and pictures
- Identifying cardinal directions (north, south,
east, west) and using them on a globe and desk map
- Major geographical features and regions of
the earth's surface
We Are Earth (environmental awareness)
- Positive and negative consequences of environmental
situations
- How people have adapted to and modified their
environments, and how personal choices or behavior are related
to conditions of people in other places
- How the personal use of materials, energy and
water impacts the environment
- How American Indians adapted their way of living
to their environment
- How places can be damaged, destroyed or improved
through human actions or natural processes
- How different people may respond differently
to the same event
- Taking informed actions about issues by planning
on how to improve the school, community or environment
On the Move - Transportation
- Community interaction in terms of transportation
- Ways in which people move themselves, their
products and their ideas around the world
- How changes in transportation technology influence
the rates at which people, goods and ideas move from place to
place
Communications
- Community interaction in terms of communication
- Interpersonal communications and social participation
- How changes in communication technology influence
the rates at which people, products and ideas move from place
to place
Economics
- Economic terms
- The interdependent and dynamic nature of humans
and their social, economic and political communities across cultures,
time and space
Neighbors Around the World
- Comparing and contrasting the traditions of
the countries studied
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