Second Grade Curriculum Overview

At the beginning of each school year, students are tested utilizing Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Testing to determine the course of curriculum for each individual child for the upcoming year. Testing is done again in the middle and end of the year to determine if we are meeting the needs of each student.

Using Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Testing, Benchmark assessments and the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) results from the end (spring) of the previous year, we focus on creating differentiated curricula to meet the needs of our students.

To this end, our curriculum pulls resources from a variety of sources depending on the student’s needs. Below is an overview of materials and resources we use during the year:

Religion

Textbook: RCL Benziger: Blest Are We: Faith In Action

  • Sacrament of Reconciliation
  • God’s Forgiveness
  • Liturgy
  • Catholic Church as a Eucharistic Community
  • How Catholics Live, Worship, and Pray
  • Our Lady of Guadalupe Play
  • Both classes co-host All-School Mass
  • Adoration in Chapel
  • Theology of the Body

Language Arts

Textbook: Benchmark Advance

  • Small Group Instruction
  • Reading Centers
  • Phonics and Spelling
  • Grammar
  • Supplemental Literature-based Units
  • Accelerated Reader
  • Writer’s Workshop (prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing)
  • Writing Applications (persuasive, expository, and narrative)

Mathematics

Textbook: Saxon Math Level 3

  • Operations and Algebraic Thinking
  • Numbers and Operations in Base Ten
  • Measurement and Data
  • Geometry
  • Mathematical Practice

Social Studies

Textbook: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: Into Social Studies: Neighborhoods and Community

  • Community and Neighborhoods
  • Economics
  • Government — branches, voting, rules and laws, citizenship
  • History
  • Geography and Mapping

Science

Textbook: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: Science Dimensions

  • STEM Activities
  • Structure and Properties of Matter
  • Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems
  • Earth’s Systems: Processes that Shape the Earth
  • Engineering and Design Process

Technology

Our classrooms are equipped with 1:1 student Chromebooks and a OneScreen touchscreen. We use the following technology-based programs in various subjects:

  • IXL (reading and math)
  • Xtramath (math facts)
  • Accelerated Reader
  • Chromebooks used during math and reading
  • Understand how to use a keyboard to enter data
  • Use interactive and skill-building software
  • Recognize and locate letters and numbers on a keyboard
  • Use drawing software to create pictures
  • Navigate through a multimedia presentation
  • Use internet sites to play appropriate learning games, color pictures, etc.
  • Demonstrate correct care and use of the computer
  • Identify the computer as a device that helps people work and play
  • Use of Media Room to create videos

Discipline with Purpose Skills

  • Listening
  • Following Instructions
  • Asking Questions
  • Sharing
  • Social Skills

Student Learning Expectations (LASER Skills)

  • Life Long Learner
  • Active Catholic
  • Self-Aware Individual
  • Effective Communicator
  • Responsible Citizen

Enrichment

Students attend at least one of the various enrichment classes each day:

  • Physical Education
  • Library
  • Music
  • Spanish
  • Art

Diocesan Standards