Second Grade Curriculum Overview

At the beginning of each school year, students are tested using Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS), Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) and Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) systems to determine the course of curriculum for each individual child for the upcoming year.

Using the results from testing, we focus on creating differentiated curriculum and custom learning programs for each child. Testing is done again in the middle and end of the year to assess if we are meeting the needs of each student.

Along with the concept of meeting the student’s individual needs, our curriculum pulls resources from many places depending on the student’s needs. Here 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

Language Arts

Textbook: Houghton Mifflin: Journeys

  • Small Group Instruction
  • Reading Centers and Reader’s Workshop
  • Grammar
  • Spelling
  • Supplemental Literature-based units
  • Accelerated Reader
  • Writer’s Workshop (prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing)
  • Writing applications (persuasive, expository and narrative)
  • Editing & journaling experiences

Social Studies

Textbook: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt:  Families Living and Working Together

Second graders will develop an understanding of different types of communities, the roles people play within the community, and how communities function.

  • Social Justice
  • Economics
  • Government - branches, voting, rules and laws, citizenship
  • History
  • Geography

Mathematics

Textbook: Houghton Mifflin: Saxon Math Level 3

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

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 new interactive touch screens and a minimum of six student Chromebooks. We use the following technology-based programs in various subjects:

  • IXL (reading and math)
  • Xtramath (math facts)
  • Accelerated Reader

Enrichment

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

  • Physical Education (2x/week)
  • Spanish (2x/week)
  • Library
  • Music
  • Art Masterpiece