Second Grade Curriculum Overview

At the beginning of each school year, students are tested utilizing Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) 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 students’ DIBELS 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 and custom learning programs for each child.

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
  • Class host All-School Mass
  • Adoration in Chapel
  • Adopt A Child from Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos
  • 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 Operation 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

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

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